[Vision2020] Mayor Chaney Responds to Article in Daily News

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (June 14, 2008) Daily News with appreciation for Mayor Chaney 
and here response.

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

Story was inaccurate, inflammatory

Capture your readers' attention. It's probably the first rule of 
journalism, or near to it. Editors expect it. Reporter Tara Roberts has 
earned my respect for her fairness and skill, but the lead-in sentence of 
her article, "Mayor, councilmen spar over LIFT letter" (Daily News, June 
10) [see attached document] was unduly and inaccurately inflammatory. It 
read, "Moscow Mayor Nancy Chaney wanted to send a strong message to 
Whitman County Commissioners." In fact, the opposite was true.

When I asked city staff to review and comment on the Local Infrastructure 
Financing Tool application, I was emphatic that our input would not be 
inflammatory. On the heels of the Hawkins controversy, there was reason to 
avoid inviting more. My intent was to provide thoughtful remarks so that 
Whitman County and the public would know that Moscow cares and that we are 
paying attention, as anticipated in any public hearing process. The 
proposed revenue development area is right next door. Commenting on it is 
the responsible and logical thing to do.

Whitman County mailed the city an invitation to provide comments for the 
June 16 public hearing on their proposed LIFT application to the state of 
Washington. I viewed it as an opportunity to provide input on elements 
that could affect Moscow, including safety of motorists, bicyclists and 
pedestrians; discontinuity of A Street; protecting the quality of Moscow's 
municipal water supply; and an offer to borrow ideas from Moscow's 
painstakingly assembled Large Retail Establishment Ordinance and Design 
Manual.

Some comments that the committee members asked me to omit might have made 
Whitman County's application more competitive. It was clear that they 
approached the matter from a common, immovable mind-set. The headline was 
accurate. We sparred, and that was the story, not the reasonableness of 
the content of my draft letter or the appropriateness of sending it.

Nancy Chaney, Mayor of Moscow

------------------------------------------------
Seeya at Farmers' Market, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"We're a town of about 23,000 with 10,000 college students. The college 
students are not very active in local elections (thank goodness!)."

- Dale Courtney (March 28, 2007)


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