[Vision2020] Open government, open criticism

[Joan Opyr]

Dear Visionaries,

Idaho is a sunshine state, meaning we enjoy (or should enjoy) the 
benefit of our state's open meeting laws.  I believe in open meetings; 
I believe in open government.  I believe in openness, period.  And so, 
I'm sharing with the list my critique of the Moscow City Council's 
decision on Monday to fling the NSA zoning complaint back into the lap 
of Planning & Zoning with the briefest of "thanks for your work" from 
JoAnn Mack and what I took to be a complete dismissal of P & Z's time, 
effort, and hard work this summer taking testimony (much of it 
acrimonious), listening to constituents, and working like stink to 
hammer out a compromise re: New St. Andrews' location in the Central 
Business district.  Planning & Zoning is comprised of volunteers.  
They're not elected, and they're not paid.  I think they've been 
treated disgracefully and dismissively by the Moscow City Council, 
which essentially ignored P & Z's recommendations on Monday night, 
tossing them aside as if they were written in crayon on toilet tissue.  
I've written a piece on New West (www.newwest.net) expanding on this 
idea and, at the same time, taking Jim Fisher to task for calling those 
of us who favor equal treatment before the law "liberal jihadists."  
I've got a bone to pick with Mr. Fisher -- it's his cranium.  I fear 
it's begun to calcify his brain.

Anyhow, the piece is in the Northern Idaho section of New West.  Just 
scroll down until you find "Head in the Sand, Ass in the Air: Moscow 
City Council Gets The Ostrich Flu."

Maybe you'll agree with what I have to say.  Maybe you won't.  You'll 
have an opportunity to comment at the end of the piece.  In the 
meantime, I would like to extend my sincere thanks and appreciation to 
the members of the Planning & Zoning Committee, chaired by Jerry 
Schutz, for all of the work they did this summer and for the time they 
took to listen, to learn, and to try to fix a nasty and seemingly 
intractable problem -- a problem that was not of their making and, 
ultimately, should not have been made their responsibility.  Having sat 
through those P & Z meetings, I have nothing but admiration for the 
spirit of community service that motivates the group's members.  It is 
they, and not our paid elected officials, who continue to give me hope 
for our city and our government.

Joan

Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment
www.auntie-establishment.com
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: text/enriched
Size: 2444 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20050923/c8b1ef17/attachment-0001.bin