Re: Moscotopia

["Douglas Whitney" <dwhitney@moscow.com>]

I don't often agree with Evan, but these ideas are intriguing, and make a
lot of sense. While we're at it, what about taking  that gymnasium money and
giving it to the school district for something that will really benefit the
youth, like academic programs? (After deleting 50% of the administrator and
100% of the athletic coach positions, I would hope)

Doug Whitney
----- Original Message -----
From: "Evan or Nancy Holmes" <ncmholmes@moscow.com>
To: <vision2020@moscow.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2002 9:15 AM
Subject: Moscotopia


> 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
>