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<DIV>Joan et. <SPAN class=correction id="">al</SPAN>.</DIV>
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<DIV>Joan wrote:</DIV>
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<DIV> >><FONT face=Arial>Traffic congestion? That's when you're the fourth car in line at the <SPAN class=correction id="">stoplight</SPAN> on Third and Jackson. </FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Joan, sometimes with your style of humor it is hard to tell if you are joking or not. But perhaps you have not been driving in Moscow at rush hour lately. Moscow has developed traffic jams far more than just being the fourth car in line at Third and Jackson. You are joking, it must be. Because at various tight flow points for traffic in Moscow you can be backed up ten to twenty cars and sit through sever<SPAN class=correction id="">al</SPAN> cycles of red green red green light changes. Of course this is small time compared to a complete stop on a 6 lane freeway in <SPAN class=correction id="">Los</SPAN> <SPAN class=correction id="">Angeles. B</SPAN>ut I would rather stop the development of traffic jams getting any worse here than just going along with such developments because it is not as bad as LA. I don't even want to use major urban areas as a reference point. The way major urban areas of the USA h!
ave developed should never have happened in the first place.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Ted <SPAN class=correction id="">Moffett</SPAN></FONT></DIV> <BR>-----Origin<SPAN class=correction id="">al</SPAN> Message-----<BR>From: Joan <SPAN class=correction id="">Opyr</SPAN> <auntiestablishment@hotmail.com><BR>To: Vision2020 Moscow <vision2020@moscow.com><BR>Sent: Sun, 3 <SPAN class=correction id="">Apr</SPAN> 2005 01:04:13 -0800<BR>Subject: [Vision2020] Moscow, growth, and <SPAN class=correction id="">MHS</SPAN> (was School Levy)<BR><BR>
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<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10">My friend Ted writes:</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10">"The <SPAN class=correction id="">Palouse</SPAN> 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 appe<SPAN class=correction id="">al</SPAN>ing outdoor recreation opportun<SPAN class=correction id="">it</SPAN>ies within <SPAN class=correction id="">a </SPAN>days drive<SPAN class=correction id="">, </SPAN>and property can be bought in <SPAN class=correction id="">Latah</SPAN> 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 n!
ot 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"</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10">Now, Ted, you know that I haven't been body-snatched. What self-respecting alien would pick me when it could have Jennifer Lopez? I'll bet she's been body-snatched at least half a dozen times. That would explain her string of 3-month marriages. No human being could possibly be that fickle.</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10">About Moscow becoming a bedroom community of Spokane -- could I just say politely and respectfully that I very much doubt it? I drive the road to Spokane often enough to know that it's 1) no great shakes in the winter time, and 2) that I average at least three near-death experiences per trip. Highway drivers between Pullman and Spokane love to pass on blind curves, up hills, and across the double yellow lines. Between the 18-wheelers, the suicid<SPAN class=correction id="">al</SPAN> maniacs, the Shameless Speed Trap that masquerades as the City of <SPAN class=correction id="">Colfax</SPAN>, and farmers transporting heavy equipment, I don't see how anyone could consider the 160 miles from Moscow to Spokane and back a reasonable daily commute. </FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10">[And don't tell me that drivers can go the back way through <SPAN class=correction id="">Palouse</SPAN>; the state of Washington dismantled that road sometime last spring and it seems to have no intention whatsoever of rebuilding it. Highway 12 is nothing but rocks and mud from the Idaho border to the <SPAN class=correction id="">Ringo</SPAN> Road. Perhaps Palouse has been taken over by your Jennifer Lopez body-snatching aliens, and Washington is conducting an experiment to see how long they can live on only creek water and wheat tailings?] </FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10">As for reasonably priced property in <SPAN class=correction id="">Latah</SPAN> County, where are you finding this magic<SPAN class=correction id="">al</SPAN> acreage, Ted? Because I want some. I happen to have on my desk both the <SPAN class=correction id="">Latah</SPAN> County "Parade of Homes" and a Re<SPAN class=correction id="">al</SPAN> Estate guide for Wilmington, NC, a popular seaside city with a strong economy and a population sever<SPAN class=correction id="">al</SPAN> times larger than <SPAN class=correction id="">Moscow's</SPAN>. Care to guess where it's cheaper to live? Or who has better weather? And really great seafood? </FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10">I am not dismissing the attractions of <SPAN class=correction id="">Latah</SPAN> County; far from it. There's a reason I live here and not in Wilmington, but our booming economy is not one of them. And I'm still waiting for that massive influx of <SPAN class=correction id="">billionaire</SPAN> Californians that native <SPAN class=correction id="">Muscovites</SPAN> have been warning me about since I moved here in 1993. Where the devil are they? And why aren't they spending their money here in town? Do they get all of their clothes from a catalog and have their food shipped in from <SPAN class=correction id="">Fortnum</SPAN> and Mason? The inconsiderate (and invisible) bastards. </FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10">Unless glob<SPAN class=correction id="">al</SPAN> warming continues to give us winters like the one we just had, I don't see <SPAN class=correction id="">Latah</SPAN> County suffering the kind of population growth that has plagued little backwater towns in Georgia, Florida, Texas, and Arkansas. Eric <SPAN class=correction id="">Estrada</SPAN> is not on his way here to film one of those commercials touting the joys of our sunny golf courses and cheap tract housing. And a good thing, too, because we none of us want that -- that sort of growth would be horrible. But unless our winters become perpetually mild and our community's economic engine starts running on more than two cylinders, Eric <SPAN class=correction id="">Estrada</SPAN> will confine his tan and his teeth to those small Southern he!
ll-holes that are so popular with retiring <SPAN class=correction id="">snowbirds</SPAN>. Latah County has the university, and it has agriculture. That's not enough to make us the next Denver, Colorado. That's not enough make us the next Lizard Lick, North Carolina. </FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10">Traffic congestion? That's when you're the fourth car in line at the <SPAN class=correction id="">stoplight</SPAN> on Third and Jackson. Urban sprawl? How about rur<SPAN class=correction id="">al</SPAN> sprawl? We haven't yet gotten to urban. I hate to see us conjuring up difficulties for ourselves. We have re<SPAN class=correction id="">al</SPAN> problems with water. We have re<SPAN class=correction id="">al</SPAN> problems with a state legislature that chronically under-funds our university. We need a more diverse and a more resilient economy. You mentioned Moscow prospering just fine in 1965 with a population of only 13,000, Ted. In 1965, Moscow was the hub of higher education for the entire state of Idaho. Forty years ago, who went to <SPAN class=correction id="">BSU</SPAN> or <S!
PAN class=correction id="">ISU</SPAN> if they could get into the University of Idaho, the state's flagship institution? </FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10">Once upon a time, Moscow High School produced the best graduates in the state. <SPAN class=correction id="">Melynda</SPAN> tells me that in 1981, a quarte<SPAN class=correction id="">r </SPAN>of her graduating class went on to universities like Yale, Princeton, Stanford and several of the larger land grant universities. Many more went on to the University of Idaho, which justifiably prided itself on the number of Rhodes scholars it produced. </FONT></FONT><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10">The primary reason I intend to support the faciliti<SPAN class=correction id="">es</SPAN> levy is because I think one of the strongest values Moscow holds as a community is the near-universal belief in the efficacy of a good public education. I underst!
and that you can be both pro-public education and still oppose the upcoming levy, but we've gotten seventy good years out of the current high school building, and, in a changing world, what was <SPAN class=correction id="">go</SPAN>od enough in 1965 isn't cutting the mustard today. I want my kids to have decent science labs, a real music room, and a safe and adequate gymnasium. I want them to have the same or better opportunities as students at <SPAN class=correction id="">MHS</SPAN> that <SPAN class=correction id="">Melynda</SPAN> had, or that you had, or that their grandmother, the former Rosemary Amos, Class of 1963, had. </FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10">If I thought they could get that in the current <SPAN class=correction id="">MHS</SPAN> building, I'd say damn the levy. I'd say new high school my Aunt Fanny. But <SPAN class=correction id="">MHS</SPAN> is not the facility in 2005 that it was in 1965. Forty years have passed, and you can't expect an IBM <SPAN class=correction id="">Selectric</SPAN> to do the work of an IBM <SPAN class=correction id="">Thinkpad</SPAN>. Change is upon us, whether we like it or not, and we can either stand up and greet it, or we can turn our backs and let it beat us about the head and shoulders. </FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10">The facilities question is open for discussion until April 26th. After that, we'll either be screwed or renewed. I'm not ashamed to hope for the latter.</FONT></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10">Joan <SPAN class=correction id="">Opyr</SPAN>/Auntie Establishment</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><SPAN class=correction id="">PS</SPAN>: Donovan mentioned in an earlier post that the high school was perfectly adequate when he attended 13 years ago. One of my favorite pictures of <SPAN class=correction id="">Melynda</SPAN> is of her marching downtown to protest the inadequate facilities at <SPAN class=correction id="">MHS</SPAN> . . . in 1981. One of the things we need to acknowledge in our discussion (argument?) over the future of <SPAN class=correction id="">MHS</SPAN> is the role played by the emotion<SPAN class=correction id="">al</SPAN> attachment of its graduates to the physic<SPAN class=correction id="">al</SPAN> space that the high school now occupies. Melynda was marching to protest the facilities in 1981, but it makes her sick to think of the school moving out of downtown and "way out" onto the Trail property.&n!
bsp; </FONT></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 face=Arial size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10">Who says liberals march in lock-step? We can't achieve agreement in this house much less in this town about what needs to be done regarding <SPAN class=correction id="">MHS</SPAN>. The only thing that we agree upon is that current facility cannot offer our kids what they need, but it may well be the case that when we go to the polls on April 26th, <SPAN class=correction id="">Melynda</SPAN> and I will cancel out one another's vote. In our 13 years together, that will be a first. </FONT></FONT><FONT face=Arial><FONT lang=0 size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"> </FONT></FONT> </DIV>
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