[Vision2020] Downtown Parking

[James Nelson]

Visionaries & Ted,

I predicated my argument on the Comprehensive Plan’s use of the 
word “principal,” which modifies the phrase “retail shopping area 
in Moscow.” I then illustrated my point, as it applies to downtown 
parking. However, I failed to note the obvious, viz., NSA does not 
fall into the category of “retail shopping,” or any other category 
mandated by the Comp. Plan for the Central Business District. They 
are in fact a learning institution, which Moscow code prohibits in 
that zone. These parts of my argument are factual. And to my 
understanding, this is the only legal issue on the table.

Re your assertion, “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,” I have to say that, in 
principle, I do not agree because City Code is essentially a 
codified version of the Comp. Plan, which clearly shows the 
planners sought to foster an environment desirable to shoppers: 
“The compactness of the downtown area and the variety of businesses 
there also encourage people to make the trip to downtown. Many 
different consumer needs could be met in the space of a few blocks” 
(Comp. Plan, 4–1).

Title 4 § 3-5(A) of Moscow City Code is entitled, “Central Business 
Zoning District (CB),” which states, “The principal purpose of the 
CB Zoning District is to provide a location for groups of 
compatible commercial uses having the common characteristic of not 
involving more than incidental and minimal assembly, fabrication or 
storage of commodities; for example, enterprises dispensing retail 
commodities, and those providing professional and personal services 
to the individual. The CB Zoning District is the most intensive 
commercial Zoning District. To promote pedestrian use, unbroken, 
street-level, commercial frontage is encouraged in this Zoning 
District.”

The framers’ intents seem plain to me.

This then becomes the premise for the code’s prohibition against 
learning institutions. City planners knew that institutions of 
higher learning evolve into land hoards. Indeed, the potential 
growth of higher-learning institutions should come as no surprise 
to Moscowans. In 1896 the first graduating class at the UI had only 
four members. Today, the UI student body has over 12,000. The 
history of NSA to date is remarkably similar, graduating only two 
in its first class but now having a student body of nearly 150, 
which explains why the city planners fenced the Central Business 
District from college campuses.

I aimed my argument at the parking issue because it illustrated the 
adverse ripple effects generated by only one “incompatible” 
business in the Central Business District. NSA’s illegal presence 
downtown has created a parking problem, which has some people on 
this list talking about parking garages. And as far as I can see, 
Moscow can remedy this parking problem with one swing of the gavel.

Or, to paraphrase Nancy Reagan, “Just say no to Dougs.”

Sincerely,

James Nelson



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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