City planning policy

["William K. Medlin" <dev-plan@moscow.com>]

Linda: Surely appreciate your initiatives in regard to 
improving/increasing citizen inputs into our planning process. The 
proposal under discussion has real merit but also would seem to focus 
too much on the case-by-case approach. The average citizen does not 
typically grasp all the technical and information bases involved in 
the case-level planning process, though certainly some individuals 
who are both highly qualified and well informed could make meaningful 
contributions, aside from others voicing opinions based on personal 
concerns.
    Some of us would like to see more focus on long-range goal 
setting, rather than on specific planning initiatives. Why could we 
not, under Council auspices, hold twice a year public meetings on the 
general directions that a majority of participating citizens might 
prefer the city going? Such gatherings could be reinforced or 
nurtured by Vision 2020 polls, or newspaper polls, of what people are 
most interested in. Both media could give out relevant information 
for people's education and consideration. Q & A could also occur at 
the "town hall" type meetings, but only for information purposes.
    Armed with these sources, the official bodies could then move 
toward serious planning, with further hearings down the road. This 
procedure would have the advantage of not encumbering city 
departments and managers with a lot of questions and interferences 
until the planning objectives were fairly well set. This policy 
would, if properly drafted, require city officials to follow up on 
the broad recommendations emerging from the town hall meetings, where 
perhaps resolutions could be passed as guidelines for the city and 
community as a whole.
    This kind of planning mechanism would get from the citizens what 
most interests or concerns them, while leaving technical planning and 
budget setting to the proper deliberative bodies. Same could be done 
for the MSD and for the County, it seems to us. We need to promote 
popular "visions" of what the area ought to look like 10, 20 or more 
years away.
     Your leadership in this matter is greatly appreciated, and 
hopefully these comments will be useful to you and your colleagues as 
you move along. Thanks again for your good wisdom!  We note that both 
Tom Trail and Shirley Ringo have expressed support for more citizen 
inputs. So, we are on the right track.Ken M.