[Vision2020] Important meeting at City Hall tomorrow morning
Art
abettge at gmail.com
Wed Feb 25 14:03:21 PST 2015
Here is a link to the request for proposal document that was used for the
6th and Jackson.
http://moscowura.com/content/WYSIWYG/RFP%20for%206th%20&%20Jackson%20Property%2012-01-14.pdf
Note especially the document at the end concerning the Legacy Crossing
Overlay Zone and Design Guidelines, as well as the stipulations within the
bid document that needed to be addressed by those contributing bid
documents to the URA.
You might check with the interim URA Director, Gary Reidner for further
documentation.
Thursday morning will feature presentations from the 3 bidders (City Hall,
Council Chambers promptly at 7AM). The URA Board will discuss the
proposals and may make a decision, or may postpone that decision until a
later date if they feel more time is needed to deliberate.
I hope this helps cast a little more light than heat on the subject?
Best regards, Art Bettge
On Wed, Feb 25, 2015 at 1:44 PM, Darrell Keim <keim153 at gmail.com> wrote:
> This matches the vibe I got from one of the folks at Gritman when they
> mentioned it to me last week.
>
> I wonder why Gritman can't do something similar elsewhere in the URA.
>
>
>
> On Wed, Feb 25, 2015 at 1:41 PM, Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com> wrote:
>
>> The way I read today's Daily News article, it is my opinion that it is a
>> done deal in favor of Sangria.
>>
>> "Project review results indicate a mixed-use plan submitted by Sangria
>> Development for property at the southwest corner of Sixth and Jackson
>> streets in Moscow would best fit the long-term vision for the area.
>>
>> A six-member review committee gave the Sangria idea top marks. A Gritman
>> Medical Center concept for offices was rated No. 2. Two plans submitted by
>> the Anderson Group, which owns the nearby former grain elevator, came in
>> third."
>>
>> Pity, isn't it?
>>
>> Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .
>>
>> "Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)
>> http://www.MoscowCares.com <http://www.moscowcares.com/>
>>
>> Tom Hansen
>> Moscow, Idaho
>>
>> "There's room at the top they are telling you still.
>> But first you must learn how to smile as you kill,
>> If you want to be like the folks on the hill."
>>
>> - John Lennon
>>
>>
>> On Feb 25, 2015, at 1:13 PM, Rosemary Huskey <donaldrose at cpcinternet.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Visionaries:
>>
>> Tomorrow morning during a 7:00 a.m. Urban Renewal
>> <http://moscowura.com/content/WYSIWYG/Agenda%2002-26-15.pdf> meeting at
>> City Hall, Gary Reidner will announce the winner of the proposals for the
>> Legacy Landing development at the corner of Sixth and Jackson. The Daily
>> News covered this story extensively this morning (Thank you Terri Harber)
>> but I wanted to add some additional background. I’ve spent the last week
>> trying to get up to speed on the issues because the outcome has a profound
>> effect on Moscow the surrounding area.
>>
>> Gritman Hospital, in collaboration with Latah Community Health (CHAS aka
>> Community Heath Association of Spokane) proposes a building that will
>> provide expanded health care services including dental and mental health
>> (which are desperately needed) on a sliding fee schedule or at no cost for
>> low income and uninsured citizens. Gritman’s ethically grounded and
>> beautifully designed facility which will serve unmet medical needs on the
>> Palouse will also provide significant professional and skilled staff
>> employment opportunities with commensurate wages. It is positioned to
>> become a model for communities throughout the Northwest, notwithstanding
>> the rapidity with which it will become a valued member of the local
>> business community. The Clinic plan includes a cooperative training and
>> mentoring program with WAMI medical students at the University of Idaho.
>>
>> In competition, is a project proposed by the present partners of Sangria
>> Grill, Carley Lilly and George Skandalos. Their three story building
>> includes a restaurant / commercial space on the ground floor; 18 (300 sq.
>> ft.) mini- apartments – which do not appear to be handicapped accessible (
>> I hope that issue will be clarified tomorrow) on the second floor; and a
>> roof top bar and raised bed planters on the top floor. For the life of me,
>> I can’t imagine how the oh so trendy mini-apartments in the over-crowed
>> urban spaces of London, New York City, Seattle, and Portland found their
>> way to Moscow, but it does not seem to fit any recognized demographic or
>> commercial need. Moscow is not an urban center, with limited housing
>> opportunities. How eager would any of you be to live within a stone’s throw
>> of the only North – South highway in Idaho, (gotta love those chip trucks)
>> stacked above a restaurant / potential commercial space and wedged under a
>> roof top bar? This is a veritable Dagwood Sandwich of a building. It
>> seems silly to think for even a nanosecond that the mini-apartments will
>> provide what is commonly known as “affordable housing.” Nothing is sadder
>> (or more transparent) than substituting what I believe are the deeply held
>> community values of caring for those in need of accessible medical, dental
>> and mental health services in order to accommodate the elitist desire for
>> another restaurant/ chic housing/ and a pretentious roof top bar (partially
>> funded by local tax payers).
>>
>> According to URA guidelines:
>>
>> “Urban renewal and revenue allocation financing are the most significant
>> tools available to Idaho communities for attracting and retaining
>> businesses, generating economic development, promoting job creation and
>> encouraging development of deteriorating and underutilized areas.”
>> Source <http://moscowura.com/content/WYSIWYG/AICUrbanRenewal101.pdf>
>>
>>
>> If economic development and promoting job creation is a URA goal, how
>> does a restaurant and bar fit that criterion? Typically food service
>> establishments are low wage (often below minimum wage) jobs with no
>> benefits and high employee turnover. In this instance there may be limited
>> job creation since an existing Sangria restaurant will simply be switching
>> locations. I suppose the tenement-like arrangement of mini-apartments is
>> intended to generate additional income for investors. But who knows what
>> financial plans are pending since the Sangria proposal contains not a
>> single word about financial issues. This absence represents a major
>> oversight. How seriously can proposal reviewers, let alone taxpayers, take
>> a proposal that refused to include any information about funding
>> expectations, private investor or financial institutional backing, or even
>> expected financial support from taxpayers via the URA? A slickly designed
>> proposal is meaningless when it is composed of unverifiable fluff and pie
>> in the sky thinking. Why is all financial information absent? How did the
>> failure to provide financial data escape the notice of Mr. Reidner and the
>> review committee? This lapse alone should have been a monstrous red flag.
>>
>> What will these proposals cost tax payers in URA funding? The Gritman /
>> CHAS proposal is clear. They are paying market value for the land – and
>> are not asking for any URA funding. The Gritman /CHAS building will be
>> ready for occupation in ten to twelve months – i.e., early 2016. The
>> Sangria proposal is a five year construction project with obviously long
>> term traffic disruption on Highway 95 south and unsightly and intermittent
>> construction at a busy community corner.
>>
>> The attraction of another restaurant amongst a veritable cluster of
>> similar businesses offers little in the way of fresh, innovative uses of
>> the land. Compared to the unique academic contributions offered by
>> professional collaboration between the CHAS clinic and the UI WAMI program,
>> which could reasonably be expected to bring long term benefits to the
>> community and surrounding area, the Sangria proposal lacks both imagination
>> and lasting connection to the community. The CHAS clinic building will
>> offer a permanent home for local blood drives which also reinforces the UI/
>> community connection. Students are strong supporters of blood drives and a
>> dedicated space in a medical facility serves as another link between campus
>> life and the larger world. The number of professional providers and
>> para-professional staff will enrich the local economy – the old cliché “A
>> rising tide raises all boats” is applicable in this competition.
>>
>> So, speaking of rising, please rise and shine early tomorrow morning to
>> attend this meeting. The outcome matters.
>>
>> Rose Huskey
>>
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>> =======================================================
>> List services made available by First Step Internet,
>> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>> http://www.fsr.net
>> mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com <Vision2020 at moscow.com>
>> =======================================================
>>
>>
>> =======================================================
>> List services made available by First Step Internet,
>> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>> http://www.fsr.net
>> mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
>> =======================================================
>>
>
>
> =======================================================
> List services made available by First Step Internet,
> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
> http://www.fsr.net
> mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
> =======================================================
>
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