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Joan et. al.<BR>
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Joan wrote:<BR>
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"Moscow has been growing to the North and East for some time now, and it is a simple matter of economics that in order to prosper, we must continue to grow. Even with a new school on the edge of town, it will still be possible to park oneself in the middle of Moscow, drive in any direction for five minutes, and wind up smack dab in a wheatfield. The Palouse is not the Treasure Valley, and it never will be. Our location is just too damned inconvenient."<BR>
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Wow. What the heck!? Is this the Joan I know and love? Has she been "body snatched?"<BR>
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I think you are being a bit too optimistic about the impact of growth on the quality of life in Moscow and Latah County, and naively dismissive of the possibility of the amount of growth possible here. In fact right now growth has resulted in a traffic snarl during some times of the day that can ensnare you in the downtown core for over over five minutes! I have experienced this numerous times in the past year. Once I was headed east on Third Street at the corner with the railroad tracks just before Lilly Street, and the traffic was piled up from the Jackson Street stop light, with vehicles on Almon and Asbury Streets impatiently trying to enter Third. After waiting what seemed like 10 minutes, but probably was only 3 or 4, I turned onto Lilly to use 6th Street instead. Someone from Boston might think this a trifling traffic jam, but my reference point is Moscow in 1965 with a population of, what was it, around 13,000? Back then you could drive five minutes and be out in an "agricultural" area. That was no exaggeration. Now it is sometimes an exaggeration, one that will become even more exaggerated with continued growth.<BR>
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In 1965 with a much smaller population in Moscow we "prospered" just fine, thank you! Why is the inevitability of growth linked to the well being of humans so often with no mention of the fact that the Earth has a finite surface with finite resources? Why is the idea of a steady state economy that provides for the needs of humans in a reasonable manner such a derided notion? At some point in the future, coming sooner than it appears many people think, given that the people of earth are just warming up for the "plundering in earnest" that a very smart friend of mine predicts is coming, the 10 billion plus humans that will be crowded onto our beleaguered Earth will be forced to think more in terms of a steady state economy. If I continue with this argument the issues will become very complex and heated in the next nanosecond, so I will stop now, except to say...<BR>
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They thought Las Vegas had limited potential for growth, they told those dreamers who wanted to build a city in the middle of nowhere in a desert! You like where you live because you are in the middle of nowhere, you have privacy, but sooner than you can say "billionaire investor," your little corner of the woods may become the new expansive "Rolling Palouse Hills" development, appealing to burned out on the city upper middle class and up urbanites who want to escape to the middle of nowhere for their privacy.<BR>
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The Palouse is beautiful and peaceful. Crime is limited, the air is clean (well, now in Moscow there is more and more of a "choke" factor with all the vehicle exhaust), there are numerous appealing outdoor recreation opportunities within a days drive, and property can be bought in Latah County for prices that are attractive. There are two major universities adding a cultural and entertainment mix to a rural agricultural/forest resources economy that is a draw to people who want the country life and still have some big city culture. Spokane is close enough, and the roads good enough, to make a one day shopping trip complete with dinner and a film. I'm not saying we are about to become another Denver, but it seems apparent that there are enough positive variables to attract enough people to the Moscow area that growth could seriously negatively impact the small town rural life that Moscow represents, or did represent.<BR>
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And so ends today's soapbox spiel!<BR>
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Ted Moffett<BR>
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