[Vision2020] Alturas again

[bill london]

    Has anyone else noticed the similarity between the public discussion 
of Doug Wilson's slavery book and this discussion on V2020 about Alturas?
    In both cases, those who do not like the original message are 
attacking the messenger instead of responding to the message.
    In the slavery issue, Wilson's opinions about slavery are exposed in 
the Daily News.  Wilson and his supporters respond by focusing on a 
tangential issue (is the February conference about slavery, or will the 
February conference include a discussion of slavery?).  The point really 
is that Wilson has publicly supported slavery.
    In this Alturas situation, the question was raised: is the original 
job-creation mission of Alturas advanced by encouraging the shifting of 
businesses and professional offices from Moscow to that site?  Then on 
V2020, supporters of Alturas focus instead on tangential issues like 
whether a professional office moves from downtown if that office is 
located on A Street or on Jackson instead of on Third near Main.  The 
point really is that businesses are moving from the established 
business/residential core of Moscow out to Alturas.
    So, what exactly are the "KNOWN facts" one Alturas supporter mentions?
    That Alturas has created 82 jobs?  That is an opinion.  Many of 
those jobs just shifted from the downtown area.
    That Alturas is fulfilling its original mission?  Another opinion.  
Some of the Alturas tenants certainly are high-tech businesses lured to 
Moscow by this infrastructure--but definitely not all the tenants.
    That the zoning restrictions that govern Alturas should be opened to 
allow in virtually any business, as the Moscow City Council voted?  
Another opinion.
    There is another comparison here between Wilson's pro-slavery book 
and the V2020 discussion about Alturas.  Wilson bases his support of 
slavery on The Book that is unquestioned truth.  Do the Alturas 
supporters in this situation possess an equally unquestioning support of 
Economic Development (the worship of economic growth, whatever the impact)?
BL