Moscotopia

[Evan or Nancy Holmes <ncmholmes@moscow.com>]

Dear Visionaries;

More food for thought.  If the local School Board, the Moscow City Council,
the Latah County Commissioners and U. of Idaho officials could unify on our
behalf then maybe we could see something like this:

1) Close West Park Elementary school then transform the building and site
into a new high school. This might require the city to abandon part of Home
Street and the U. of Idaho to sell or trade some of the Park Village
apartment land. Utilities, paved access, ball diamonds, tennis courts, etc.
are already in place. Use of the new U.of I. Recreation Center (across the
street) could be negotiated. Some students could attend classes at the U of
I. Paradise path provides good bicycle access and many students could still
walk. A closer connection to and understanding of the University would
result. In addition, perhaps mainly,  would be the benefit to taxpayers.
Surely this could be done more cheaply  than building a new high school
complex on twenty acres at the edge of town?

2) Transform the current high school:
   a) Sell the south wing to the county to meet the need for additional
office space and home for the motor vehicle and driverıs licensing
operations. 
   b) Using money from the Hamilton legacy, renovate the gymnasium and
lockers rooms and other parts of the building core as the new community
recreation facility. Create office space for Parks & Rec. Create a teen
center. Create a toddler play area similar to what was available at the mall
ten years ago (TumbleTown). Dedicate some low rent space to some long
standing community organizations.
   c) Tear down the north wing to expand parking and to expose/create two
acres of green space as a park and picnic ground. This area is hidden by the
current U-shaped configuration of the building.
  
3) Instead of building a 4 million dollar gym on the city land east of the
Aquatics center letıs plant trees and transform it into a park similar to
what appeared in some of the early design concepts for this property.

The result: more parks, less sprawl, downtown revitalization, retaining an
in-town high school, making use of existing buildings - all at a reduced
overall cost (planning, development and growth without the common bad side
effects). Plus, this might take some of the sting out of the closure of a
popular elementary school.

Novemberıs school bond levy is just the beginning of local govıt entities
asking for additional taxes. If future money requests were prefaced by
unified community planning and the expenditures were proposed for specific
projects then there will be a greater chance of voter approval.

All of our council members, commissioners, trustees, etc. expend a great
deal of time on our behalf - usually a lot more than they are compensated
for. Proposals such as Iıve made here are complicated, cross-jurisdictional
and demanding of compromise. This means more volunteer work for our elected
³governors². We can reduce this burden in many ways, not least of which is
to thank them at every opportunity and criticize them lightly, not vice
versa.  
       
                                          - Evan Holmes