THE CITY THIS WEEK: AN OCCASIONAL VIEW FROM A COUNCIL MEMBER

["Linda Pall" <lpall@moscow.com>]

THE CITY THIS WEEK: AN OCCASIONAL VIEW FROM A COUNCIL MEMBER

December 20 to January 7, 2001

from Linda Pall, Moscow City Council

Below, you’ll find:

Thanks for the memories from Linda

Strategic Planning update and future dates (1/16, 1/31 and 2/1)

January 17 public meeting on the activity center proposal next to the swimming pool: should the pool be covered as part of the project? Should the gym be part of a single center to be marketed as an activity complex? Does the plan meet the needs and desires of Moscow’s youth and can the city afford to keep the doors open? All good questions…

Pullman/Moscow Highway access hearing January 22: Wow!?!

Also, good news. Peg Hamlett tells me she will try to write regularly after the first of the year about Council matters on Vision 2020. Anybody can get into this and I think it would be fascinating indeed if every member wrote a little about their perspective and what’s up from their point of view… Imagine that much interest in civic events from us AND our political representatives!

THIS COULD BE THE LAST TIME… MAYBE THE LAST TIME, I DON’T KNOW… (George Harrison comes in and Ringo does a big bass drum riff)

I’m sorry. My life just seems to be orchestrated by the Beatles…

As my term on the Moscow City Council comes to an end, I want to pass along some thanks to people who have been critical to whatever pleasure and success I’ve enjoyed as a council member for the fourteen years I’ve had the pleasure to serve (77-83, 93-01).

First, thanks to you citizens. You have graciously, gratefully and sometimes crabbily gone along with me to do everything from nurturing the Farmer’s Market to improving sidewalks to revitalizing Downtown, then (1979-81) and now, to building parks, roads, LIDs, sewage treatment plants, a library addition, recreation paths, historic preservation and reuse of our city’s treasures, and a whole lot more.

Next, thanks to all the council members and mayors I’ve served with. Mostly we agreed and worked smoothly together. During those few occasions when we did not agree and the ride was bumpier than it should have been, I was always glad to be able to adjourn and realize we were friends and colleagues despite our differences. You have all been fun and I would never have gotten to know and respect many of you, but for the City Council connection we’ve shared. Moscow has been very lucky to have a distinguished group of local elected officials from the right and the left.

Also on the thank you list and probably should have been placed at the top: the City staff. Senior staff like Bill Smith and Gary Riedner have been critical to city success in every major project we’ve undertaken. I marvel at the amount of time senior city staff willingly invests that we can never possibly pay them for, the hours they are with the Council or with citizens or at hearings rather than with their families or exercising their hunting dogs or just testing the view from the Barcalounger. Our city is so fortunate to have this dedication and concern. As a council member, I’ve been fortunate to have good advice, encouragement, warnings and perspective from senior staff that have helped shape my views and make my work as a council member more effective.

I wish John Guyer, council member-elect, the best as he gets his sea legs. He will realize that he has won one of the best jobs he will ever have.

SO WHEN EXACTLY IS THE CHANGING OF THE GUARD?

OR: HOW MUCH CAN WE STILL GET OUT OF YOU, LINDA?

This is it, kids. The old Council will finish its business and the new Council will be seated Monday, January 7, 7:30 P.M., in the Council Chambers. It’s also the time when a lot of appointments to city boards and commission come due.

You have several wonderful opportunities to become active on appointed boards and commissions. Just check on the City’s website: www.moscow.id.us You’ll find there are a number of vacancies on the Parks and Recreation Commission, one coming up on the Health and Environment Committee and various others, etc.

All you have to do is pick a Committee or Commission that you’d be interested in and that you have some background in and write a short letter to Mayor Marshall Comstock (City of Moscow, PO Box 9203, Moscow, ID 83843) asking for consideration. It’s a great way to get a feel for city service if you’re thinking about running for the Council. Indeed, it is a VERY good way to indicate your interest and commitment to public service period!

One other indicator of the action is the Council’s reorganization itself: who gets the nod to be Council president, who will be council vice president, where council members will be out-stationed for liaison activities and the like. Council members can be great advocates and helpers for their commissions and committees. Keep your antennae poised for this information.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING YOU’LL REALLY LIKE…

Strategic planning!

Otherwise known as "I love it when a plan comes together." For those of you who were too intellectual or who were offended by the cartoon-like violence of the 1970s "A Team," you won’t remember George Peppard’s great final line of every show as Mr. T grunted happily at "the fools."

This is what we’re up to as a community. You should get a copy of the city’s citizen survey that provides for part of the information that will guide council decisions. It makes for interesting reading, generally showing that we absolutely LOVE the quality of life in Moscow but would like to see some improvement in various aspects of our community services (some city, some private sector).

Three day-long marathons are scheduled with Dawneen Blakeslee and Associates, the consultant firm that was hired to assist the city in the process.

The Past is Prologue…

Last Wednesday, the Council (old and new with Mr. Guyer participating) spent a day identifying the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) of the city government. It was no surprise that people were one of the great strengths as is the potential for visionary thinking and progress. It was also no surprise that communication issues were mentioned numerous times as weaknesses. We have lots of challenges but some great potential as well.

The Once and Future Mission… uh, Statement…

The next piece occurs January 16, another all day effort, to review and revise the city’s mission statement. The importance of this can’t be over stated. This mission statement will be the yardstick against which all city activities will be measured. If the activity promotes and complements the mission, it can be in the mix. If not, it’s out. So, if you are anxious to see the city take up certain activities, the mission statement had better reflect such activities as part of the city’s purpose.

How do you do this? Call your favorite city council member and chew on his or her ear. Talk to the Department heads you know and love because they have a seat at the table too. In the unlikely event that you have a whole day to blow on watching the city fathers, mothers, and staff do their work, attend the January 16 day to craft the mission. You will be able to watch rather than being an active participant. The process is designed for an internal review, relying on the survey information to help provide public direction.

Why not begin the discussion now? What would YOUR suggested Moscow mission statement look like and why? These columns would be a good place to start and there are always letters to the editor to stimulate the conversation…

And there’s more! Buy two and … oh, no; that’s the Ginzu knife gig…

On January 31 and February 1 (Thursday and Friday) you can test your employer’s commitment to civic activism and ask for BOTH those days off to watch the council do the whole enchilada: The Strategic Plan. Yes, all day… both days.

In view of the time of year, our generous spirited consultants have suggested a theme: Hawaii. The city officials and department heads deserve a little whimsy in the process. I think I’m glad I’m getting out when I am because a pig luau would just not work at all for us Jews and our Muslim friends. However, I have considered coming to watch the proceedings in my favorite vintage Hawaiian shirt with my boom box and tapes of Martin Denny (remember Quiet Village and the bird screeches?), Alfred Apaka singing "Blue Hawaii" with the slack strong guitar and Don Ho with several versions of his unforgettable "Tiny Bubbles…"

But seriously, folks, this is hugely important. Do you care about moving the 1912 project into the next phase successfully? Are you concerned that we follow through with downtown planning and innovative options for today AND tomorrow, along with the University of Idaho? What about path development for recreation and transportation in Moscow? Would you like to see a Children’s Garden as part of park development in Moscow and generally more attention to the under ten crowd? What about water conservation and thinking for the generations?

If any of those projects ring your chimes, or a host of others that I could have named, they had better have a home in the strategic plan because if they do not, they will not get done in the next two years.

THE STRATEGIC PLAN WILL SET FORTH WHAT THE CITY WILL DO DURING THE NEXT TWO YEARS. If some activity is not accommodated by the plan, it is not on the list, period. It won’t happen. Goodbye, sayonara and so long. Call us in two years.

Talk to your Council member and to your mayor. Their decisions during January, 2002, will set the tone and agenda for the next two years. It should include yours.

PUBLIC MEETING ON THE GYM/ACTIVITIES CENTER PLANS…

What’s worse than not having any money?

Having seven million dollars and knowing that it’s not enough to do everything that you want to do for kids in Moscow!

The City will have a public meeting to talk about the activities center project that planned for the F Street site in the vicinity of the swimming pool.

Despite original Dream Team public survey support showing that a wide margin of the citizens of Moscow wanted the pool’s usage extended through a portable cover system for part of the year, this idea has sunk like a stone. Many citizens have said that the $4 million pool makes the 80 or 90 days of its use very costly indeed when compared with facilities in other cold climates that have a much longer life, thanks to retractable bubble arrangements. Go figure.

The present idea (and a beautiful rendering it is) has a separate gym/multipurpose room office space facility adjacent to the pool, leaving both facilities as completely separate, free-standing buildings.

Now is your one and only opportunity to comment on these plans and ask for any changes if you feel changes are in order. If you love what’s presented, please confirm that, too. Be there and be vocal about what you would like. And most importantly, bring your kids!!!

State Route, better known as the Moscow-Pullman Highway, is again on the radar screen!!! The Corridor Ride Again!

January 22 at the Pullman City Hall from 4 P.M. until ??? the Washington Department of Transportation will be sharing with the rest of us the design progress thus far, including some reorientation and intersection design, all for the purpose of adopting a right of way design for the Pullman-Moscow Highway (SR 270).

AGAIN, this is IT! This is the public’s big-time, big deal chance to make your voice heard. The Project Engineer, Darrel McCallum, invites any questions by writing him at 2714 N. Mayfair Street, Spokane, WA 99207-2090, or by calling 509-324-6205. This Design/Limited Access Hearing opens again the debate about the future of the corridor and what we would ALL like to see for this critical transportation corridor.

I, for one, fervently do not want to see it become Strip Mall City (or Bedrock City). How the road is designed will be an important piece of the puzzle.

 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS OF ALL SORTS INCLUDING CHRISTMAS AND KWANZAA TO EVERYONE!!!

 

MAY 2002 BE ONE OF THE BEST YEARS OF YOUR LIVES!

 

Much love to all of you and, of course, all the best,

 

Linda