[Vision2020] Downtown Parking

[James Nelson]

Visionaries,

I am thankful that a thread or two considered downtown parking 
because it gives me another opportunity to mention Moscow’s 
Comprehensive Plan, which addresses the subject very clearly. 
Section 4–3 states: “The largest and most convenient parking lot to 
the central business district core is the Jackson Street lot.”

Further down the page, the Comp. Plan specifies the fifth objective
for Friendship Square: “Provide adequate parking in the central
business district for shoppers and employees.”

Ironically, NSA’s occupation of the Verizon building has created
the need for additional downtown parking, not because they bring
more shoppers to the area, but because they (faculty & students)
use parking spaces that would otherwise be filled by “shoppers and
employees.” In other words, NSA’s presence downtown frustrates
specific objectives declared by the city planners. (Hopefully most
people can distinguish between a student shopper and business
shopper.)

Title 4 Section 11-1 of Moscow City Code provides a remedy for this
irksome problem. It states: “If the Zoning Administrator shall find
that any of the provisions of this Zoning Code are being violated,
the Zoning Administrator or designee shall notify in writing the
person responsible for such violations, indicating the nature of
the violation and ordering the action necessary to correct it. The
Zoning Administrator or designee shall order discontinuance of
illegal use of land, buildings, or structures; removal of illegal
additions, alterations, or structural changes; discontinuance of
illegal work being done; or shall take other action authorized by
this Zoning Code to insure compliance with or to prevent violation
of its provisions.”

I know that some may consider this remedy draconian, but I would
remind them that this problem will only worsen over time, as NSA’s
faculty and student body grow in numbers. And their growth will
impose no small burden on the taxpayer to account for our want of
parking spaces.

I would also remind you that NSA’s administration (the Kirk
leadership) has flouted the law for years, thumbing their nose at
our community with a taunt (their evasion of property tax is the
most recent offense and perhaps the most expensive to date), and
they have shown us no reason to believe that they won’t continue as
scofflaws if they get a pass this time.

We should ask ourselves, “Does Moscow have a moral obligation to
hold NSA to the law? If so, by what standard?”

Sincerely,

James Nelson
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