[Vision2020] Downtown Parking

[Tbertruss at aol.com]

Bill et. al.

Parts of this "argument" are not based on a fair factual investigation of the 
actual financial conduct and behavior of the individuals in question.  It is 
easy to create a scenario out of thin air comparing 150 teenagers with sparse 
allowances depriving another group with a median income exceeding $75,000 from 
spending their riches downtown to make this argument, but this scenario is 
almost certainly hyperbole, and is tangential from a strict legal standpoint to 
deciding whether or not NSA is legally operating downtown.  The writer also 
misses the point of one of Donovan Arnold's arguments in defense of NSA's 
current location based on economic issues.

NSA may very well subtract from the total cash spent in the downtown core 
from what was being spent when Verizon operated the NSA building.  But I don't 
think the actual facts of who spends what in what circumstances when parked in 
downtown Moscow is written into the law as a determining factor regarding what 
sort of school is allowed in the downtown area.

What is the disposable cash of NSA students and faculty and where do they 
spend it when parked downtown?  The writer might present some actual data to 
support his assumptions.  Why assume the students are teenagers with "sparse 
allowances?" Some private schools have rather privileged students in attendance.  
And I doubt that NSA faculty are limited in their expenditures downtown to 
dropping "a dime at Zume."

Let's assume that NSA students and faculty have more disposable income than 
most who park downtown, and they spend it downtown when parked there.  It would 
not really matter regarding whether NSA is legally operating downtown.  This 
would not change the application of the law regarding operation of an 
"educational" noncommercial school in the downtown area, if this is indeed what NSA is 
doing.  It would still be illegal, according to this interpretation of the 
law, even if all NSA associated individuals were millionaires dropping thousands 
every day into Moscow's downtown while they parked their Rolls- Royces.

I think Donavan's point about NSA students was that when they sit in class, 
they are using a service they have purchased with cold hard cash.  So the 
comment that "NSA students fill up spaces not to shop, but to sit in class" misses 
Donovan's point.  They shopped for a school and purchased the product NSA 
offers, with some of this money they spent for this product no doubt coming back 
into the Moscow economy somewhere.  If I purchase a year's worth of massage 
from a local masseuse who operates in downtown Moscow, and drive downtown and 
park to get my massage every week, am I driving downtown just to get rubbed, not 
to shop?  No, I am using the service I purchased with cash when I shopped for 
a masseuse in downtown Moscow, and the service I shopped for, that I paid good 
money for in downtown Moscow, happens to be provided in downtown Moscow over 
a period of a year.  Ditto for NSA students, if you follow this argument.

Suggesting extreme unfounded scenarios to argue against NSA, and overlooking 
the fact that, as Donovan points out, NSA students have shopped and spent 
money for a service NSA is providing in downtown Moscow, suggests bias whether or 
not the person creating the scenario intends this or not.

Ted Moffett
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