vision2020
RE: City Council Update
Pam,
Thank you for keeping the list members informed. I believe you
presented a nice summary. I would like to clarify two points, if I may.
1) I did vote against the MOTION, not the ordinance (as you surmised).
This was not a protest vote, merely proper procedure. If the motion
failed that does not mean the ordinance would fail, rather, another
motion could then be made. As you surmised, I would have preferred the
motion pass the ordinance on the first reading under suspension of the
rules (which would have finalized the issue). Each council member voted
their conscience and that is the great thing about representative
government. We all carefully weigh our concerns when we cast our votes.
2) The ordinance came together quickly because it was modeled after
other community ordinances that have successfully endured high court
challenges. That does not mean it perfectly addresses every issue, but
that it represents a consensus from across the United States of wording
has been found to work for many communities. It provides clear, albeit
modest guidelines for dress.
I admire, and respect the other council members decisions because I
witnessed the struggle as they weighed the issues. Each member has a
desire to provide the best for our community and applies their judgement
to what that might be.
Thank you,
John B. Guyer
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
208.882.6584
johnguy@moscow.com
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
-----Original Message-----
From: Pam Palmer [mailto:ppalmer@moscow.com]
Sent: Tuesday, July 02, 2002 9:04 AM
To: Saundra Lund; vision2020@moscow.com
Cc: jmhill@moscow.com; jmack@turbonet.com; johnguy@moscow.com;
comstock@moscow.com; mthomason@avistacorp.com; pegh@uidaho.edu;
steveb@moscow.com
Subject: Re: City Council Update
In response to Saundra Lund's post last night, here's a brief summary of
the Council meeting.
The Council passed a Public Nudity ordinance on first reading, which
means they will consider it again at their next Council meeting. Three
Council members, Steve Busch, JoAnn Mack, and Jack Hill, wanted more
time to work on some of the language in the ordinance, which a first
reading provides them. Two Council members, Mike Thomason and John
Guyer, wanted to pass the ordinance as it was presented last night and
pass it under suspension of the rules requiring three separate readings.
They voted against the ordinance on first reading (presumably to protest
that it wasn't being passed last
night.) Mayor Comstock, although he couldn't vote last night, expressed
his interest to see the ordinance passed last night as well. (The Mayor
only votes in the event of a tie.)
The applicable section of the ordinance they passed under first reading
reads:
SECTION 1: That Moscow City Code Title 10, Chapter 1, Section 16(A)
(B), and (C) be, and the same is hereby amended as follows:
A. No person shall willfully expose to view or fail to cover completely
and opaquely any portion of such person's anus, cleft of the buttocks,
genitals, any portion of the pubescent female breast below the point
immediately above the top of the areola on or in any public place or
place open to public view.
B. It shall be a defense to exposure of failure to cover the pubescent
female breast below the point immediately above the top of the areola
that the person was in the act of breastfeeding at the time of such
exposure or failure to cover.
C. This Section shall not apply to a person who is prepubescent.
For the full ordinance, contact Moscow City Clerk, Chris Bainbridge
<cbainbridge@ci.moscow.id.us>. Or check out the city web site....
The City Council chambers were full last night, with people speaking for
and against the ordinance as presented. KLEW TV was videotaping the
proceedings and there were several newspaper reporters in the audience
(including the Argonaut), so check out local papers for their versions
of the meeting.
Most of the work for this ordinance was probably done in 1998, when the
Council was considering it at that time, so I'm not surprised that it
was fairly easy to pull it together in such a short time.
I appreciate Saundra's comments regarding breastfeeding. Our society
still has a long way to go to create a nurturing and positive atmosphere
that encourages mothers to breastfeed their children for the first
several years of their life. In over eight years as a childbirth
educator, I heard many stories about women who were shunned by family or
friends because of their decision to breastfeed, or because they
continued to breastfeed beyond the time that other people thought was
acceptable.
Let's get to work.
Pam Palmer
P.S. - It's a good idea that Saundra sent a copy of her post to the City
Council. I found out yesterday that the MV2020 comments aren't
considered by the City Council unless the email is addressed to the City
Council as well. I ended up forwarding every MV2020 post on the topless
issue to the City Clerk yesterday (before the Administrative committee
meeting) and asked her to make sure that they were presented to the
Council for their consideration. She forwarded them to Gary Riedner,
the City Supervisor, who was going to make the decision on what to do
with all the comments.
In the future, if you want your comment to count for something, send a
copy to all the City Council and the Mayor. Since it's the Council
members that make the decisions, I did not include the emails for the
City attorney and the City Supervisor in this message. Their plates are
usually pretty full, and it's the Mayor who will direct work assignments
to the City Supervisor, who in turn directs work to the City Attorney.
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