[Vision2020] conflict of interest

[Melynda Huskey]

Jon and Tom write eloquently about Moscow, lamenting recent events which may 
have done damage to Moscow's sense of community.  I'd like to suggest 
another perspective, which doesn't contradict theirs, but which may extend 
it.

Not everyone in our community *has* felt that sense of community, of 
inclusion, that Jon and Tom value.  The concerns which have emerged over the 
last year or so show clearly that some county and city residents have not 
felt included or heard by local government, businesses, and fellow citizens.

If we're part of a core group of folks with some influence and power, we may 
well feel that Moscow's doing just fine, that we're a real community.  And 
we deeply resent the implication that we haven't always acted fairly and 
with the best interests of the community at heart. But what if we feel like 
outsiders, and we're not being heard by those folks on the inside, who seem 
to be benefiting themselves and their friends at our expense, and who show 
little interest in our concerns?

I think what we're seeing is not a surprising split among Moscow residents, 
but a deep divide which has existed for some time, and which has finally 
gotten too deep to ignore.  The media isn't creating a division, it's 
reporting it.  If we want to work through that division as a community, we 
need to acknowledge that it exists, that it is real for citizens, and that 
it has consequences for all of us that stretch far beyond whether or not 
individual actors are nice people, or friendly, or good colleagues. The 
financial and ethical disasters at the UI, the ongoing concerns about water, 
zoning, development, taxes, public schools, conflict of interest, and the 
religious conflicts which continue to plague us:  these are not artificial 
or manufactured crises invented by meanspirited or careless or bored 
citizens.  We're going to have to *work* our way through them.

Sometimes we build community by our willingness to say, and hear, hard 
things about what isn't working--and I'd argue that it's a more resilient, 
inclusive, healthy community when we do that.

Melynda Huskey