Re: Saturday Session

["Shahab Mesbah" <moscadmin@moscow.com>]

Dearest friends,

I just wanted to mention that for me, who knew very few people there, the
introduction was the most important part of the day. we can always get
together again and discuss issues at a later date but now we have a tool to
work with. many times we forget to address the human side of interactions.
it is important for us to get to know each other. I think some of the
misunderstanding going on in the discussions here are largely due to the
fact that we do not know the ambitions and dreams of each other. if we want
to be a productive society we need to know the issues and we need to know
each other so we can deal with the issues in a productive and just way.

I have a proposal... what do you think about enhancing the Vision2020
web-page that has a list of the people on the list to also have a brief
introduction. I am very bad with names and it helps me to remember the
friends. also it would allow us to know a little about each other so that we
can hopefully communicate better. maybe we can make it a voluntary thing so
if people are uncomfortable with it they will not have to. could we set it
up so the friends can input their own information and update it as things
change? in this way the web-master does not have to be constantly
maintaining it.

Your brother in arms,

Shahab...

Shahab Mesbah
Technical Director
City of Moscow

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ken Medlin" <dev-plan@moscow.com>
To: "Moscow Vision 2020" <vision2020@moscow.com>
Sent: Monday, February 14, 2000 10:22 AM
Subject: Saturday Session


Dear Visionaries-Conferees:  Thanks to all those (some 30-odd) folks who
came out on a crisp morning to rub elbows and share ideas with
fellow/sister citizens having somewhat the same concerns about our
communities. Comments I heard indicate we have energies, visions,
obstacles and frustrations but still a lot of hope and optimism. Since
there are no budgets for this kind of citizen endeavor, space and other
limitations are  necessary realities, and timing of the event had to work
around so many schedules. And yet, we enjoyed  reasonable success. Only
so much can be done in a three-hour block and I think we did spend too
much time in 'grounding' and familiarization -- so many folks already
knew each other, and we facilitators failed to account for that. I'll
take the blame.
   As soon as a summary is readied, it will be shared with everyone (I
have to leave town early on Feb. 17 for about two weeks, and I hope it's
done by then). We welcome any and all comments, suggestions, criticisms
etc. on what we did, and ideas for where we go from here. I'm doing some
initial planning myself, with some advice from others, which can include
everyone. We learn as we go, and map as we go. At the same time, we can
aim realistically and seek to encourage wholesome, functional and benign
development policies and practices in our several environments.
    Hopefully it's now clearer than ever before to most of us why
citizens who love their community ought to register their views, choices
and goals in a public way whereby institutional policies can be
positively influenced. Ordinary patterns of representation don't always
seem to work in the general interest or move in the right directions.
  Hoping to hear from you, and thanks again.   Ken Medlin

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