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THE CITY THIS WEEK: AN OCCASIONAL VIEW FROM A COUNCIL MEMBER
October 10 to October 17, 2001
from Linda Pall, Moscow City Council
We’re losing a treasure…Dale Pernula
This week Dale Pernula, Moscow Community Development Director, announced his resignation to take the Community Development Director’s position in Juneau, Alaska.
I spent a lot of time wondering how long I would be in prison if I just trussed up both Dale and his wife, Michelle, and refused to let them leave. They are both wonderful people and we will sorely miss them both. Dale has been a rock for the City, something akin to El Capitan, for the honesty and integrity he has brought to city planning in Moscow.
Twenty years ago, a gabillion meetings ago, and into the middle of a changing, exciting Moscow, came Dale, fresh from the oil boom of Wyoming. He helped finish up our downtown revitalization. He went through comprehensive plan revisions that were complete rewrites and reviews of who we are and where we want to be with our planning.
He worked hard to encourage a more global view of planning and encourage citizens to get involved. Planning: it’s not just cookie-cutting the land: it’s trying to make sense of neighborhoods, of commercial areas, of new subdivisions, of needs for industrial use areas, of needs to retain our historic fabric from residential neighborhoods to public buildings to downtown. It’s more than streets and utilities but that’s the skeleton. It’s more than tree lawns and buffer strips and trees in downtown but those amenities set the tone for a town.
Dale would gently but firmly work with the Planning and Zoning Commission to get needed data and formulate important policies. He had the grace to deal with cranky developers and cranky neighbors alike. He even dealt gently with cranky city council members on occasion.
Dale leaves the legacy of a superior civil servant: he has given Moscow so many years (nights and weekends!) of his time and expertise to work calmly and collegially for a better, more cohesive and more humane community.
We in Moscow are the better for it and we thank you, Dale, from the bottom of our hearts and wish you the best with your new challenges in Alaska’s most beautiful city.
Historic Preservation and Downtown: A Prelude for Next Week’s Downtown Meeting
The Moscow Historic Preservation Commission will conduct its first "Downtown Historic Walking Tour" to highlight potential in Moscow’s core for historic district designation this Saturday, October 13, beginning at 11:30 AM from Friendship Square and the Farmer’s Market.
The tour will be led by Commissioner John Campbell and will last about an hour, culminating in refreshments at Advantage America Mortgage, 121 East Third Street, hosted by Commissioner Tim Kinkeade. Trish Canaday and Ann Swanson of the Idaho State Historical Society, will be guests Saturday and will answer questions concerning historic district designation processes.
Commissioner Mark Mumford who is also on the Downtown renewal Committee has taken a special interest in the potential of downtown historic district designation. Here’s his take on this: "Moscow's downtown is remarkable for its historic consistency. The benefits of an historic district nomination are many, including federal and state tax incentives, community block development grants, and other economic resources that are essential for commercial and economic vitality. Building owners lose none of their rights and powers to use their buildings as they see fit. Perhaps more important than tax incentives is the pride a district nomination engenders in the community."
The Commission, under the leadership of Nance Ceccarelli, will staff an information table at this Saturday’s Farmer’s Market so that people with questions about the activities of the Commission and downtown historic district status can get more information and meet the rest of the Commission.
The Commission includes Jack Porter, chair, Susan Seaman, Janet Fiske, Doug Whitney, Rita Styer and Bob Weisel, in addition to Campbell, Kinkeade, Mumford, Ceccarelli. This is a great group to work with. I have the honor to be the Council representative to the Commission. Be sure to come by and introduce yourselves Saturday.
Only pouring rain will cancel this! We are not wimps!
(strains of Petula Clark’s "Downtown" chorus in the background…)
THIS WEEK, IT’S DOWNTOWN!!!
Okay, I’ll stop shouting about it but it’s so exciting I can hardly stand it! DuFresne-Henry and Hatch-Mueller (the tag team consultants who are helping us with this project) will be putting on the ritz this week.
Tuesday, October 16 at 6 PM in the community room of Gritman Hospital, the first charette will commence (remember, we canceled the first one because of the September 11 tragedy). I trust that all of you who have any vision at all for what you’d like to see as Downtown’s next chapter will be there. This will be a great opportunity for you to express yourself on this subject, listen to your neighbors and talk with the consultants about what’s worked and what hasn’t.
A charette is a hands on session with architects and citizens and a lot of marking pens and cute stuff that allows adults to dream and think about the future, with scissors, sometimes paste and stickers.
Seriously, I implore you to attend these charettes. Students, high school and university, are especially encouraged to come. You are the folks we NEED to hear from. What would get you excited and keep you excited about downtown? My person favorite idea is a 24 hour coffee hour with study tables and comfortable surroundings.
These charettes are the most important opportunities you will have to shape some of the critical policies that will determine the downtown/university connections along 6th Street, the celebration of Main Street and the continued effort by our entrepreneurs to place exciting, engaging and welcoming fare before us (and keep our economy alive and well in the bargain).
Please come! Consider this your personal invitation!
THIS FRIDAY NIGHT IN MOSCOW IS HOPPING!!!
The Co-Op and Linda’s Farmer’s Market Photographs: 5 PM
A selection of my photos of the Moscow Farmer’s Market will be exhibited at the Moscow Food Coop Art Gallery with an opening reception from 5 to 7 on Friday night, October 12.
Native American Students Assn. at UI sponsors Annual Pow Wow: 7 PM
Real excitement, the original Americans, and some of the most talented young Native American dancers will be welcomed by the City of Moscow (indeed the City is a co-sponsor of the event!) at the Kibbie Dome Friday night at 7 PM. I have been given the honor of presenting the welcome in the Mayor’s absence (he’s hunting in Canada this weekend, a long-time date that couldn’t be moved). I am excited about this pleasurable duty and hope that many of the community will come and join us.
Next Monday, October 15, City Council Highlights:
Come to the Public Works Finance Committee for an update of emergency plans concerning our current crises. We can and are getting it together. Local government is your first defense.
We’ll be looking at the final report from our e-911 study and consultants. Interoperability is the watchword.
I will be reporting on my representation of Moscow and Idaho at the National League of Cities’ Information, Technology and Communication Steering Committee that proposes national municipal policy for these subjects. The meeting was held in Mesa, Arizona, and we have some great lessons to learn from this city and its approach to communications. Stay tuned….
THE CITY THIS WEEK October 10-17, 2001.doc