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I have cc'd the Mayor and balance of the Council so they will for sure find out what I'm saying about our activity. If this is a duplicate for anyone, please let me know and vision2020 only will be sufficient for you. Thanx!
THE CITY THIS WEEK: AN OCCASIONAL VIEW FROM A COUNCIL MEMBER
August 27 to September 3, 2001from Linda Pall, Moscow City Council
Dear Visionaries,
This past weekend I was taken back to late August, 1993, as I watched parents help settle their offspring into WSU and UI… Hopeful young people, carrying boxes of gear, new towels and crisp sheets, armloads of books and a giant sucking sound of money leaving parental and student accounts for the University, the bookstore, and Moscow businesses.
The beginning of the academic year coincides with the August 29 birthday of my son, Zach (and Charlie Parker), so I get to walk down memory lane every fall as I recall those warm August and September days of parenthood, getting to know the new little guy on the block. As every other mom must say at a time like this, I can’t believe it’s already 27 years!
I ran into Kathy and John Warren, celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary. Now, THAT’S a long time! Congrats to the entire Warren family.
Palousafest and Paradise Path Task Force at the UI…
Last Saturday, the welcome information festival next to the University Commons was a huge, as in really big, success. The Paradise Path Task Force had a table that was beautifully decorated by Task Force coordinator Becky Chastain with the donated shrubs of Pat O’Connell of North Country Landscaping. I almost made away with the burgundy colored leafy shrub.
The Task Force volunteers who helped (Margaret Littlejohn, Steve Drown, Jessica Maxwell, Damon Burton and Judy Brown) restrained me while they were answering questions, scooping up volunteers and generally filling new students in on the trail system the City’s Task Force is busy creating.
The Great Room of the 1912 Center Is Just About Here!
Both the Administrative Committee and the Public Works/Finance Committee are reviewing use fees and policies for the Great Room at the 1912 Center with an eye to bring this to the Council on Tuesday, September 4. A lively discussion at both Committees on August 27 gave Parks and Recreation and Committee members some good ideas for consideration. The final recommendations will be part of the Committee meetings on September 4 and up for adoption at that evening’s council meeting. If you would like more information, call Randy Rice at Parks and Recreation, 883-7000.
The Party Rolls On…
Thursday at 1:30 P.M. the formalities of opening the south couplet will include most of the movers and shakers associated with the project. Stop by and check it out.
My own feeling is "It’s about time." Of all the people interested in the project still active in local government, I think this is an example of an good idea that could have been a whole lot better a whole lot earlier. My first public activity in Moscow involved the couplet project… in 1973! In 1973 and 74, the Idaho Highway Department, now the Idaho Department of Transportation, was expecting the whole project to be accomplished in three or four years at a cost of about $1.5 million. It’s been more than 25 years and the cost is a lot more than a million five. We have reason to celebrate but still, we do not have a bypass for the behemoth truck traffic…
The Palouse Mall Plantings… Take a Look, Tell Us Your Views!
The Tree Committee will be reviewing the Palouse Mall Landscape Plan Wednesday, August 29, at 4 P.M. on the second floor of City Hall. Take a very careful look and tell the Committee your ideas, what you like, what can be improved. The Mall management deserves thanks for taking on an ambitious project.
However, we all need to look carefully at the water usage (leave the green grass and xeriscape), providing pedestrian access that is well-protected from the noise, grit and grim of five lanes of traffic on the Pullman Road, and greater use of native plants (reduce the number of honey locusts and even those Norway maples with their incredibly fecund seed pods and increase the number of oaks and conifers).
This is likely to come back to the Council on September 4 (Tuesday after Labor Day) so do not dawdle with your comments. Send ‘em on!!!
The Public Works Committee On the Road…
Move over Jack Kerouac. The Public Works Committee is going on tour. No, as chair of the Committee, I haven’t hired any good looking roadies but we will be looking at the City’s waste water treatment plant construction, water conservation projects, and related facilities during the next few weeks of September. Stay tuned to Vision 2020 and City Clerk Chris Bainbridge’s postings of agendas.
Reuse of Effluent for Irrigation…
Okay, I know it sounds gross. The water from the sewage (pc term: waste water) treatment plant when it’s all been treated is practically drinking water standard. Kimball Engineering was commissioned to study whether we can reuse this water for city park and facility irrigation. The study is most interesting and brings up several important issues. Steve Busch, Council member and fellow Public Works Committee member, had a wonderful insight. If the waste water is of such a high quality, why not bring it the last step and consider recharging the upper aquifer? That would bring the city far closer to a ‘sustainable use model.’ You can get a copy and take a look by calling Public Works Director Mark Cook, 883-7000. We’ll be talking more about this. Check out the agendas.
Association of Idaho Cities Legislative Committee…
Gary Riedner, City Supervisor, and I arm wrestled for the right to attend the AIC Legislative Committee September 7 and Gary won. The Committee will be entertaining proposals to present to the Idaho Legislature next session that would be of special interest and import to cities and the people who live in them. We have some very important energy conservation legislation coming through the pipeline. If you have an idea of what’s important and would like to be part of the discussion, contact me (882-7255) or Gary (883-7006) and make your views known.
Labor Day… Celebrate Working People!
I believe that would be you and me? Right? It’s teachers and professors. It’s the checker and the box person at the grocery store. It’s our union brothers and sisters. Most importantly for the City This Week, it’s all those great city employees and volunteers who are dedicated to high quality service and customer satisfaction. (Do we make it every time? No. But we sure TRY every time.)
I could go on and on, but how about the street department that gets up at all hours any time of the year and cleans up our messes whether snow, flood, crud or, in 1980, Mt. St. Helens volcanic ash?!? How about the superior people skills and training our human resources director, Leslie Moss, provides? What about the personable greetings from Patty, the clerical person who often is the voice you hear directing you to the right person to get your question answered? What about our police dispatchers, including Tom, who handled everything, including an errant dump truck, last Friday night with skill and style?
Thanks to all of the people who work to keep us together and make us better.
Labor Day Shift Council to Tuesday…
Remember: eat another hot dog next Monday night and save yourself for Tuesday night’s city council meeting! I know you just can’t wait for another Channel 13 installment of reality TV but you’ll have to hang on until Tuesday, 7:30 P.M.
All the best this week,
Linda Pall
Moscow City Council
THE CITY THIS WEEK August 27-September 3, 2001.doc