RE: Legislative "mechanics" of a $5,000,000 windfall ....

["Shahab Mesbah" <meteor2@moscow.com>]

Dearest friends,

I agree with Sam but I am certain that the city hall would like to do what
the citizens want. It is important for us to let them know what we think.
One of the comments councilmen Mr. Busch had at the meeting we had a month
or so ago was that the council tries to do what the community wants... the
problem is that they often have no idea what we want!! Of course the other
problems is that we seem to have a problem deciding what to do ourselves. It
is true that our form of government is not a pure democracy but it is a good
thing to increase the democratic process. As I posted before... freedom is
earned... we have to be active in our government or we have no right to
criticize them. We have to learn to make decisions for the betterment of the
society not ourselves. The selfish pursuit wealth and power is the cause of
most of the world's problems. We need to consider the impact of our
decisions on the whole community... even the whole world.

Your brother in arms,

Shahab...

Shahab Mesbah
Technical Director
Meteor Light Labs
Voice (208) 883-9765
Fax (208) 883-2678
www.meteorlabs.com

-----Original Message-----
From: SMW Scripter [aka MoscowSam] [mailto:MoscowSam@moscow.com]
Sent: Saturday, March 25, 2000 1:31 PM
To: Vision2020
Subject: Legislative "mechanics" of a $5,000,000 windfall ....

Sam I am, a puzzled Sam, that is ... puzzled over a $5,000,000
inheritance to the "City of Moscow!"

As many have written to V2020 already, I also favor NOT using
the money, "wholesale," to buy immediate City needs, or to bolster
other elements of City operations by diverting ordinary Parks
and Recreation funds to other City budget elements.

My dilemma regards the legislative "mechanics" of bringing
about what most of your comments on this email list have
suggested.

The Mayor and Council were elected to carry out the governance
of our community.

It strikes me that the DECISION on the disposition of the
$5,000,000 is theirs!

Ordinarily, members of legislative bodies do not reveal their
positions in advance by participating in discussions, in order
to keep their options open for formal voting.

The email-list forum is an interesting mechanism because those
who choose, such as you (very plural), comment freely on the
subject.  The City Council and Mayor know what you are thinking,
but the converse is not so.

This means of communications seems to be a one-way street.  We
are insulated from really knowing what "they" are thinking and
may not know until a binding vote is taken!

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Sam MW Scripter, Moscow, IDaho, USA       (AKA MoscowSam)
 MoscowSam@moscow.com  http://users.moscow.com/scripters
        WalkerSam, RiderSam, GeoSam, PiperSam ...
                SamTheHam, Sam I am !!!!
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