[Vision2020] More on the ice rink

[Mark Solomon]

A major issue (aside from Joel, Randy and Gary) is the difference in 
infrastructure capacity between the city and county. Latah County has 
no road or street responsibilities as that is covered by the North 
and South Latah Highway Districts. The city has a full street 
department. Beyond issues of staffing, it means there are very 
different revenue streams to tap for things like small paving 
projects. Put simply, the city has a budget, the county does not. The 
only source of possible funding for the county to pave the ice rink 
lot is the fairgrounds budget (a mix of property tax revenues and 
user fees) or the parks and rec budget (property taxes) Both property 
tax levies are limited by state law making fairground user fees the 
likely source which would mean a lot of community groups would have 
to pony up a lot more money to use the fairgrounds for meetings, etc. 
Which begs the question, why is this paving necessary? The lot is 
either frozen or wet during the winter use months so dust can't be 
the issue. I say leave it as it is and move on to something that 
matters.


Mark

At 6:47 AM -0800 1/22/07, g. crabtree wrote:
>Actually, I have spoken with Joel (pre current issue) and he always 
>came across as an OK guy. Admittedly I have never had to work with 
>him on anything related to his official capacity.
>
>What I was shooting for with my question was the general rational 
>behind the pavement decree. Is there some legitimate reason to see 
>all parking lots paved or is this a case of the city being a bit 
>overly fastidious and using its 800 pound gorilla power to enforce 
>its whims?
>
>I couldn't help but notice that the city ponyed up a not 
>insignificant sum of our tax dollars to pave the parking lot on the 
>NE corner of Third & Jefferson. A lot that is chronically under 
>utilized, pre & post pavement. It would seem that the city isn't 
>asking the co. to do anything it doesn't do itself, I'm just curious 
>as to the rational.
>
>g
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Andreas Schou" <ophite at gmail.com>
>To: "g. crabtree" <jampot at adelphia.net>
>Cc: "Bruce and Jean Livingston" <jeanlivingston at turbonet.com>; 
><vision2020 at moscow.com>
>Sent: Sunday, January 21, 2007 11:00 PM
>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] More on the ice rink
>
>>On 1/21/07, g. crabtree <jampot at adelphia.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>Can anybody tell me why the city has such a burning desire to see pavement
>>>on every parking lot? It would seem that increasing impermeable surfaces
>>>would be a detriment to overall water quality in local waterways. What is
>>>the rational behind this requirement?
>>
>>Joel Plaskon. The man is beyond impossible to work with, assuming that
>>you ever speak with him, rather than just someone from his office --
>>and this is from someone who hasn't ever owned property in Latah
>>county.
>>
>>-- ACS