[Vision2020] Remarks concerning NSA at the BOA meeting

[keely emerinemix]

I don't think "well done" even begins to cover it, Rose . . .

keely

From: DonaldH675 at aol.com
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: [Vision2020] Remarks concerning NSA at the BOA meeting
Date: Fri, 31 Mar 2006 04:08:09 EST

What a splendid opportunity to correct any misconceptions Mr. Crabtree  
might
have about my remarks Tuesday evening at the BOA meeting.

1.    Believe me, Mr. Crabtree, Ms. Lund and I  understand that NSA claims a
tax exemption under IC  63-602E.   NSA is situated on a very desirable piece
of real  estate in the heart of the central business district.  If the 
building
were  on the tax rolls NSA would be sharing the cost of parking lots and
street  maintenance with other Moscow businesses.  Instead, Moscow business
owners have the burden of subsidizing a private religious  college.  By the 
way,
the administrators of NSA have NEVER, repeat  NEVER, provided any specific
financial records or independent audits to  substantiate their claim of  
non-profit
status to the Latah County  Board of Equalization or the Idaho Board of Tax
Appeals - despite the  fact that they provide that information annually to
their accrediting  agency.  Perhaps I am more sensitive than you, Mr. 
Crabtree,
but the  specter of pigs gobbling at the public trough all the while 
squealing
and  grunting about the dirty hand that feeds them is remarkably offensive 
to
me.  NSA refuses "on principle" any government funding for their  college
while at the same time they greedily insist that property owners in  Moscow 
have
an obligation to give them a free ride.

2.  The notion that NIC or LCSC might find branch campuses in Moscow  an
attractive idea is not some pie-in-the-sky, self-serving fantasy of  mine.  
Nor is
it unimaginable that the University of Idaho might like a  presence 
downtown.
   What possible rationale could the City  legitimately advance that would 
bar
a public institution from the central  business district after granting a
private college free access?  Do  you really think that tax payers will be 
happy
about the expensive  litigation which will follow if other educational
institutions are denied  Main Street locations?  And, do you really think 
the City
will have a  viable argument in a courtroom if they try to limit other
institutions?

3.  In the material presented to the BOA, Dr. Atwood claimed that  NSA had
invested  more than a million dollars in a “vacant  building.”  I 
understood
Dr.  Atwood's remark to mean that the cost of the renovation and 
improvements
were in  the hundreds of thousands dollars range.  This claim is not
substantiated by the building permits issued by the  City of Moscow to NSA.

Permit No.
Date
Contract Amt.
Contractor
EL2003-35
11/27/2002
4,000
Heirloom  Electric
BP2003-13025
1/7/2003
2,000
Unknown
ElL004-75
1/13/2004
600
Heirloom  Electric
EL2004-321
8/10/2004
150
Heirloom  Electric
PL2004-218
8/12/2004
600
McCoy  Plumbing
BP2004-13922
8/12/2004
2,200
Gressard  Construction
No Number
5/3/2005
3,000
Gressard  Construction
Total
$12,550

$12,550 dollars is the  total amount of reported construction contracts to
remodel the  building.  Based on these city  records,
I am left with two  possible explanations; either hundreds of thousands of
dollars of construction  and remodel work was done
without permits, or  Dr. Atwood mislead the BOA.  And, by  the way, the
purchase price for the building was less than  $500,000.
Old Roy, must have a mighty fine desk and  credenza in his office to account
for the "missing" half a million  dollars.
(The personal property at NSA - i.e.,  computers, furniture, decorative
items, library books, etc - are not  investments "in a building")

4.    I said that the  building was beautiful - even glorious.  It is.  I
also said that the  fact that NSA students dressed nicely or
were polite was immaterial in reference to the CUP process.  I  didn't say
(but wished that I had) that those kind of remarks in  defense of NSA's
violation of the zoning code are as breathtakingly  superficial and silly as 
the
people who said them.  You were correct in pointing out that  many people 
testified
in support of NSA.  When we subtract the number of NSA students, who  
frankly
have a bias, and the usual number of Christ Church and Trinity  Reformed
members who happily rally to the Kirk cause they aren't to many  other folks 
left.
  You don't imagine that the majority of those supporting  NSA were just
plucked willy-nilly from the streets of Moscow, do you?   Of  course, Shelly
Bennett testified in favor of granting a CUP, but  then, she was the realtor 
who
brokered the sale.  I guess that would  also make her the realtor who would 
have
some responsibility to help her  client clarify any zoning issues prior to 
the
sale - but maybe not.   Is that something a realtor might have an obligation
to look  into?  There was also a banker who spoke.  I'm probably just
suspicious by nature, but do you think maybe there is a financial interest  
involved
in that as well?

5.    I have no idea if you are a hayseed or not, Mr.  Crabtree.  I'm happy
to be a simple old county woman myself.

  6.    As I have said countless times I don't  care if Doug and the boys 
want
to play school.  But I believe that  they have a legal and moral obligation
to follow the same zoning code  regulations that the rest of us do.  I am
baffled that they  whine when they are held to a common standard.  I am gob
smacked that their tantrums work like a charm for them  every  time.  The 
sad thing
is that good hearted people, as I presume you are, Mr.  Crabtree, continue 
to
buy into it.  You are not, I hope some latte sipping  liberal, are you?  I
mean, I have grown to expect that old liberal  knee-jerk response from the
touchy-feely crowd, but somehow, I imagined that you  might have a more 
pragmatic
approach.

Rose Huskey
"First  they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then
you win."  Mahatma Gandhi


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