Re: Alturas Technology Park

[Greg Brown <gregb@alaskapacific.edu>]

Visionaries:

   Bill London's excellent report on the business park
confirms my prophecy...but I take no pleasure in
seeing my good friends in Moscow left holding the bag.
Back when the business park was proposed, I researched
this issue extensively and attempted to rally
opposition.  I found relatively few sympathizers willing
to go to bat with me although I did find sympathetic ears
with Bill London, Bill Voxman, Evan Holmes, and a few
others.  Ironically, I found my closest ally to be
Ron Rankin who documented similar abuses of
government power in Post Falls. (Those who know
the philosophical orientations of myself and Ron would
find this alliance somewhat amusing).

   I made sure that there would be an
extensive paper trail on this (now) scandal.  The City
Council attempted to subvert Idaho law by creating
the tax increment financing (TIF) district without
first designating a blighted area.  The intent of the
Idaho law was to encourage redevelopment/urban
renewal of degraded urban areas.  The then
pro development City Council saw an opportunity
to have taxpayers underwrite *clearly speculative*
economic development in a *rural* area.  Some
individuals had the gall to look me in the eye (with a
wink and a nod) and say that Moscow taxpayers
would not be at risk from the development.

    I challenged the City Council on the misapplication
of the law (is it not unethical for public officials
to use a law that was clearly designed for
different purposes?) and its actual implementation
(the City had failed to designate a "blighted" area
before creating the tax increment financing district),
a requirement of the law.  Then City attorney Gary
Reidner acknowledged that the City had erred in
its interpretation of the law.

   Upon receiving the bad news that I wasn't
going to allow them break the law, the City hired
a consultant to tell the residents of Moscow
that it now contained a "blighted" area.  Having
trumped up this alleged "blighted" area, the
City Council had absolutely no intention of
actually doing redevelopment of this area. The
Idaho law technically did not require that the
"blighted" area and the TIF district be
coincident.  I knew this and they knew this.

    By forcing the City to designate a "blighted"
area as per law, I gave the City a second chance
to do the right thing (or at least the better thing).
I did not feel that Moscow needed a "technology
park" but I felt that if it were going to be built, it
should at least be built close to the university in the
actual "blighted" area.  The City Council made the
decision to pave the Palouse and the rest is history.

    Personally, I think the City Council members involved
in this scandal should be exposed and held accountable,
in the media and the ballot box.  The paper trail is there
in the record.  This would be a good opportunity for some
of that good old-fashioned investigative reporting that
the Kenton Birds, Ken Olsens, Charlie Powells, Greg Burtons,
and Bill Londons came to symbolize on the Palouse.

     We all pay for irresponsible and unethical government
behavior.  The mastermind behind this fiasco was Larry
Hodge--the "Charles Keating" of the technology park.
Why did he push so hard for this development?  Was it
because as the primary design engineering firm in town,
he would financially benefit from the development?
I don't think so...I've never perceived him to be greedy
or motivated primarily by financial gain.
Individuals do need to be held accountable for
their decisions but the problem is actually deeper in our
society.  I think the answer lies in those "true believers"
in economic development who are blind to the true social cost
of development, who are willing to systematically engage
in unethical behavior to appease their god of
development.  That god is, after all, merciless in the
demands it places upon its subjects.

   There is a lesson here, but no easy solution.  How
does one (successfully) confront the maladaptive
development religion of the high priests of commerce
and government without becoming a martyr?

--
Greg Brown (gregb@alaskapacific.edu)
Associate Professor
Environmental Science Department
Alaska Pacific University
(907) 564-8267
http://polar.alaskapacific.edu/gregb