[Vision2020] Revitalizing Downtown: Alternate Suggestions

[Art Deco]

All,

Primary Premise

First, I like to say something before I piss a lot of people off:  The primary and overwhelming impetus and effort for revitalizing downtown Moscow should come from creative, determined, street-wise, honest entrepreneurs.

We now have sterling examples downtown of wonderful models of entrepreneurship.

1.    Earl and Bettina Aldrich  invested a great deal of money, ideas, effort, etc. and took a large risk in expanding Paradise Creek Cycles; it now also includes an art gallery.  The business is a pleasure to browse, seek advice, and buy in.  They sell high quality items.  They service what they sell and the environment is honest, straightforward, and friendly.

2.    A few years back, Bob Greene and spouse Betsy also took a large risk and made a large investment.  They moved BookPeople to a much larger store and now provide more and continue to expand their products and services.  Unlike the chain bookstores in the area, BookPeople does not stock items on "we don't sell it unless it turns over in x days policy."  The variety and depth of their offerings are always impressive.  No one in town is more responsive to special orders.

3.    The same can be basically said of WheatBerries, Wild Women Traders, etc.  I notice also that someone is investing a lot of money and risk into a new store at the NW corner of 6th and main.

These are the kind of people who give retail variety and vitality to downtown Moscow.

[I did not mention Zume for reasons which will shown below for the patient reader.]


Some suggestions/comments:

There is no doubt that parking is sometimes a problem for downtown shoppers.

However, I don't see that a parking garage on the site of the present city parking lot is a viable solution:

1.    I doubt that either the citizens of Moscow or the downtown business could be persuaded to finance this endeavor.  In fact, a special business taxing district might cause some struggling businesses to fail.

2.    I think that most citizens would see a parking structure as visual pollution.  The present lot is open and landscaped.   While it is not a glorious garden, I think most would prefer it to a three-story structure which would then hide main street businesses from those passing southward through town on the US 95 couplet.

Perhaps twice as much parking for shoppers and other business customers could be made available by:

1.    The city not selling parking permits on a monthly basis.  The vehicles of business owners, employees, NSAers, etc. now clog the parking lot all day long.   The parking lot needs to be filled with potential customers, not others.  Business owners, employees, and nuisance parkers should be encouraged to park elsewhere.

2.    The city could acquire additional nearby parking space -- for example, the vacant lot(s) across the street from the present parking lot and next to the Latah Eagle building.

3.    The city could manage their other parking lots better -- the ones behind city hall, for example.


The city could decide to become (gasp!) a Pedestrian Friendly city.  Not only could and would those within walking distance of downtown frequently forego vehicle trips, but they would feel much safer doing so as well as those who brave the downtown intersections now.


If, as suggest earlier, NSA and Anselm House moved to a larger, more accommodating, legal site, then both of those buildings could be altered to accommodate shops, galleries, offices, etc. as others earlier in this thread have suggested a need for.


Those of you that have a quick fuse and/or deplore confrontation and graphic descriptions are advised to stop reading here!


The Undesirability of Certain Downtown Businesses

Suppose the Aryan Nations opened a dress shop or a laundromat in Moscow.  Would you patronize it?  Suppose they erected/bought a mall/shopping center.  Would you patronize the business in it knowing that part of your expenditure would subsidize really foul beliefs and consequent hateful behaviors?

I suspect that most Moscow citizens would not.  The Aryan Nations have views repugnant to most of us.  Such views can lead to behavioral/social consequences which most would also find repugnant.

For the same reason, I and others do not patronize Christ Church Cult affiliated businesses -- for example:  Zume, Bucer's, Hall Closet Uniforms, Cleveland Street Mortgage, etc.

The Christ Church Cult, no matter how they cloth it in dishonesty, and paradoxically, biblical quotations is:  racist, sexist, homophobic, anti-democratic, anti-secular, anti-public education, pro-theocratic, tax cheating, "covenantally" dishonest, etc.  In spite of all their clever hype and flagrant posturing, they are a befouling, fetid, excrementitious taint on the City of Moscow, the County of Latah, and the rest of the world.

I will try very hard to prevent any of my money from being used for the repulsive propaganda, goals, and actions of the cult which means I will not knowingly patronize their businesses.


There is a great amount of commonality between the two crackpot cults (Aryan Nations, Christ Church Cult): 

Both ignore the almost unanimous agreement of trained historians both secular and biblical on certain subjects; both rely upon small snippets of mostly anomalous, stretched, or imagined truths or interpretation of scriptures; both are led by charismatic, manipulative, egocentric, megalomaniacal, do-not-ever-disagree-with-me, narcissistic men; both define racism differently and much narrowly than what is generally meant the term; both are pro-slavery, homophobic male supremacists; both repudiate the use of logic when it threatens their belief structure; and the members of both cults claim to be intellectually, spiritually, and morally vastly superior to the rest of us. 


There is not much to choose from between the two cults, except:

1.    The Aryan Nations are much more honest and forthright about their repugnant beliefs and political goals.

2.    Though Aryan Nations leader Richard Butler has been dead for several months, he still passes the smell test with higher marks than Cult Master Douglas Wilson.

Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
deco at moscow.com
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