[Vision2020] Mayor Chaney and our council

[Chasuk]

When I moved to Moscow approximately 8 years ago, it was a deliberate
choice.   The population suited me, the mix of businesses and services
suited me, the relative liberality suited me, and the lack of any real
traffic was wonderful.  I also liked the big city culture that a
university attracts to a small town environment.  It seemed nearly the
perfect blend.

Keeping this in mind, how does growth benefit me?  How does it benefit
anyone who presumably moved to Moscow (or chose to stay in Moscow)
because they liked it the way that it was?

Not all growth is automatically golden.  I am glad that Moscow has
high-speed Internet access; I would find it difficult to cope without
it.  Between wireless, DSL, cable, satellite, and Clearwire, we are
fairly well catered for.  I like the mix of bookstores.  Hastings,
BookPeople, Waldens, TJ's, Ball & Cross.  We have several well-stocked
video stores.  There are enough cinema screens for almost every taste.
 There is very little merchandise that I actually need to buy
elsewhere.  We have a fairly decent selection of restaurants.

Moscow isn't perfect.  Here is my list of possible improvements:

1.  I would love a few more restaurants.  I love Indian food, Thai
food, Vietnamese food, and Korean food.  A spaghetti house and a
vegetarian restaurant would be nice.  I am not desolate without these
cuisines, but they would enrich my life (and my waistline) somewhat.

2.  I hate snow.  The city doesn't do an adequate job of keeping it
off the roads.

3.  I wish our Sikh, Muslim, and Jewish populations were a little more obvious.

4.  I'm not a huge jazz fan.  I wish Moscow sponsored a world-renowned
folk festival instead.

However, Moscow is still the second best place I've ever lived, and
I've lived in many places (Bury St. Edmunds, England, qualifies as the
best place I've ever lived).  Exactly as it is, it is wonderful.
Minimal growth might be nice, but it isn't necessary.  Swap a few
burger bars and pizza joints for the ethnic restaurants, and I would
be in heaven.

Chas