[Vision2020] Quality of Life Issues Drive Ament's Bid for City Council

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (October 6, 2005) Moscow-Pullman Daily News with a special
thanks to Alexis Bacharach.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Quality of life issues drive Ament's bid for City Council; Controlled
growth, living-wage jobs a priority

By Alexis Bacharach, Daily News staff writer

Aaron Ament worries Moscow will be unrecognizable in 20 years if city
leaders don't get control of development.
 
"I'm concerned when we take away the quality of life from even a small group
of people," he said. "It starts there, but down the road we might not have
any (quality of life) anywhere." 

Ament said he decided to run for City Council to address problems with
traffic congestion, poorly planned development and other quality of life
issues that don't seem to be priorities under current city leadership. 
He pointed to a number of contentious issues, including a proposed
ball-field complex on Palouse River Drive and the proposed expansion of
Third Street over Paradise Creek as illustrations of the city's failure to
hear its residents. 

"These are the quality of life issues I'm talking about," he said. "We're
taking away the quality of life to the people in those neighborhoods." 
Ament said he's especially dedicated to protecting the interests of Moscow's
youth. 

"There's about $7 million left in the Hamilton Fund and the interest on that
has been dedicated to pay for the HIRC (Hamilton Indoor Recreation Center),"
he said. "I propose we leave that money alone for the next 17 years, so it's
there for our children's children." 

He said the proposed expenditure of $500,000 from the Hamilton Fund to pay
for ball fields is a misuse of funds. "That money was given to the city nine
years ago to pay for non-sports recreation activities," he said. "We need to
leave it alone." 

Ament said Moscow is an attractive place to live because of its small local
businesses, safe streets and civic-minded residents. 

"I've lived here for 18 years and love being on a first-name basis with the
people I shop with," he said. "I'm in favor of sustainable growth and
development that will bring living wage jobs to Moscow. That's what we need
here." 

Large-scale retailers like Wal-Mart won't provide that class of employment,
he added. 

"We need to do what we can to make sure our economic center downtown remains
strong," he said. "I don't want us to become a community like Seattle that
prices our children out of the town they grew up in." 

Candidate Bio:

- NAME: Aaron Ament 
- RUNNING FOR: Moscow City Council, two-year position. 
- PERSONAL: 56, married, three children 
- OCCUPATION: Self-employed carpenter

-------------------------------------------------------------

See you at the polls.

Take care, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"I think one of the best ways to support education is to make successful
private schools like Logos prosper through tax exemption."

- Donovan Arnold (July 11, 2005)