The Emerging M-P Future

[Ken Medlin <dev-plan@moscow.com>]

Spokane's "Area Economic Developent Council" has ambitions, and already 
substantial influence, affecting a 200-mile radius which certainly 
includes our 'twin cities', higher education, the infrastructures and 
urban culture (cf. the WSJ piece 10-20-99). It's time that those who 
prefer the quality of community life we now enjoy to make inquiries of 
our elected and appointed officials, and of civic bodies like the 
Chambers of Commerce, to report on records of all communications that 
relate to future political and economic designs in the Spokane planners' 
proceedings. Without such information, we will have little or no 
opportunity to impact on what's coming down the pike. What could well 
come down that pike, before we are given any choice,  are things like --

     1) loss of local banking systems thru regional and national mergers, 
whose services will be practically beyond our abilities to influence -- 
our liquid assets and notes will be transferred to some distant bank 
bureaucrat who's responsible to a board hundreds/thousands of miles away 
which doesn't have any interest in our community.
     2) "invasions" of mega-retailers a la Walmart and more eatery chains 
on a scale that reduces home-owned enterprises to small niches in the 
market place, or to extinction. Some of this is already taking place.
     3) Conversion of hiway arteries into 'freeway tubes' for the 
national trucking industry to bring us most all our goods and foods 
(already well  underway) -- ergo, complete dependency on exterior sources 
of material life --, and gradual transformaiton of our small urban 
centers into service stops for the big traders replete with overpasses 
and byways that hum with the fevers of vehicles 24 hours a day. 
     4) Large scale migrations of people in-and-out of the area, some 
displaced (or impoverished) because they haven't the skills or coping 
abilities needed for the new life styles; others shipped in to run the 
new systems  installed by corporate bosses from some distant place. 
Community becomes a makeup of unkown factors, unpredictable behaviors 
(including sub-cultures -- have you heard about Spokane's struggle with 
the gangs?). It doesn't HAVE to be.
      And, all of the above entail increasing tax burdens for the average 
citizen -- those who will control our lives do not give any free lunches 
-- it's always pay more for more 'services' with less satisfaction. 
Choose your menu: "Dial 1 for your balance, 2 for other services, 3 
for....."  Get the picture? Does anyone know if downtowns REALLY care 
what happens to these two charming communities? Where is their 
leadership? Who stands for quality of life?

    These are only some of the changes that can be predicted. It has all 
happened before, elsewhere -- why not here? I've been around for over 50 
years as an economically active person and have observed first-hand these 
outcomes of this usual kind of 'economic development' (the West Coast, 
East Coast, MidWest, Southwest, and now the Inland Northwest). This is no 
fantasy. The steamroller is gathering up steam and the strips are being 
laid. Citizens can either lie down and take what comes, or they can get 
educated on the issues, make their votes count, demand accountability 
from all levels of officialdom, patronize preferred places of business, 
embrace their spiritual foyers, and defend their homes and families. Who 
is preapred to make the effort?  Yours truly, Ken Medlin (World War II 
vet -- I defended the America I knew and love). [PS: I am working on a 
piece that includes this brief analysis and request that any sharing of 
it by others attribute my reference]

------------------------
William K. Medlin
Dev-plan associates
930 Kenneth Street
Moscow ID 83843
208/892-0148
dev-plan@moscow.com