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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>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?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>g</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=jeanlivingston@turbonet.com
href="mailto:jeanlivingston@turbonet.com">Bruce and Jean Livingston</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, January 21, 2007 1:40
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Vision2020] More on the ice
rink</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Donovan,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Thank you for your kind words about Nancy. I, too,
think she is a kind, warm, generous, giving and thoughtful person. And I
agree she is going through a tough time right now. Unlike you, I voted
for her, and I worked very hard to elect her. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>If only I wasn't so mad at her right now for signing
that cease and desist order... She works her tail off.
She tries to do her homework, in a way that I don't think Peg ever would
have done. I think you hit the nail on the head about her
being inexperienced; she is definitely getting some on-the-job training
in a job she loves, and thankfully, for her sake, a job for which she
doesn't have to stand for election until November 2009.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>I think this ice rink matter was very poorly handled,
and I disagree with those who think that the City should have "enforced the
law" and sent that cease and desist letter the day after last
Tuesday's </FONT><FONT face=Arial>Council meeting. We had a pretty
clear consensus on the Council that this was an unfortunate situation that was
hurting the ice rink. Really what was needed was someone to rope
everyone together in one room, including the recalcitrant County
Commissioners, and come to a solution for the common good. Have
that meeting, and if things don't work out, then enforce the law.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>The lawyers at the City, Randy and Gary (who was City
Attorney before he was supervisor), pushed this step. I think they
exercised appalling judgment, and I am sorry that Nancy paid so much attention
to them. Other than the fact that she listened to her lawyers, I don't
understand how she agreed to send that letter, when it seemed so
counter-intuitive to me and nearly everyone with whom I have discussed the
issue. All of us are taxpayers to both the City and the County, and
paving a parking lot that is probably going to have to be torn up is, well, as
Chris Storhok basically said, it's stupid, and it's going to end up costing us
money. Why didn't our lawyers advise the council to pass a moratorium on
enforcement for a brief period, maybe while delivering an unsigned cease and
desist order to let the County know what was coming, instead of egging the
parties into a game of litigation chicken? </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>I seem to recall the City staff -- that would be
Gary and Randy, the men of principle that believed in enforcing the
law at all costs against the skating rink and the County -- advised
the City not to enforce the law and seek to close down someone else a while
back. Remember? That would be when New St. Andrews was found to be
in violation of the zoning code a year or two ago. Why not exercise some
similar judgment now? Apparently, the reason is that with NSA, the
City's butt was in a sling for letting them move in and invest a lot of money
in refurbishing the Skattaboe Building when the code didn't allow a school
there. In my opinion, that was the right call then, NOT to boot NSA
after such an incompetent gaffe in the first place, (by a different
member of city staff who still doesn't recognize that he biffed it). If
that had been my investment and the City misled me into thinking it was ok to
invest, well, I'd have been mad as a hornet too, if they'd tried to kick me
out. So reason prevailed then.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Where is the reasoned judgment now?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Since it's somebody else's butt that is in the sling
now, the County Commissioners, well, our City's lawyers seem quite
comfortable moving right ahead with enforcement, notwithstanding the offense
to the skating community and the Moscow taxpayers who will have to deal with
some silly stop-gap measure that wastes more of our money. Why not
advise Council to pass a short-term moratorium against enforcement and get the
clear and focused attention of our County Commissioners, one of whom is brand
new?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>That wasted money from putting in a short-term,
possibly torn-up-in-the-near-future, parking lot: couldn't it be put
toward the much better use of building an enclosed skating rink, if not at the
Fairgrounds, then next to the HIRC, or at the ball fields, or somewhere else
in town? An enclosed skating rink is a profitable enterprise. It
is Smart Growth, because it builds community. It is economic
development, that increases the quality of life substantially, while luring
visitors to town, if only we would build it.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Let's take this opportunity to move forward and pull
together for something positive out of this. I am sorry that Nancy got
some bad advice. I do know she means well, and I wish Aaron weren't so
brutal to her, but I have got to say that he wasn't the one who signed an
imprudent cease and desist letter before exploring options just a little bit
more. I simply don't accept the City's lawyers' take that it was time to
go to the mats. I don't think the rest of the community does,
either. Maybe Bill Lambert really does think we should have sent that
letter and maybe he really was offended at the idea of letting the
Commissioners slide for even one more day, but frankly, Bill's a good man,
too, and like Nancy, I think he was listening to the City's lawyers.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>At some point, I wonder why we don't consider getting
another lawyer's opinion about what quasi-judicial really means.
Maybe then the lawyers would stop preventing our elected officials from
talking to their constituents about things in the community that our elected
officials ought to hear. Not all lawyers share Randy's, and maybe
(probably?) Gary's, very limited and, in my opinion, overly
conservative view of quasi-judicial matters. This last point on
quasi-judicial, it's a bit of a digression, but it's been bugging me for
a long time. There is a continuum of possible interpretations on legal
matters, many gray areas of differing degrees of
debatability, between the black and white extremes where the answer
is clear and not debatable. It is not always the most prudent course to
take the most risk-averse option in every instance, but that seems to be the
current philosophy of lawyers at City Hall. I think it is
ill-advised with respect to the extraordinarily narrow view of quasi-judicial
matters. Likewise, to the extent that there was no risk because the
County was in clear violation of the Special Use Permit, I don't think it was
well advised to push that cease and desist button as soon as they did, when
things could and should have been worked out in a more cooperative, we are one
community, manner.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Good night and good luck, and sorry to get on my
soapbox, but this has been a very frustrating week for me, along with so many
other good members of all spectrums of our community. </FONT><FONT
face=Arial>I wish Nancy the best and hope that she learns from this one, and I
hope the Council pulls together, and I wish John Dickinson hadn't
disappeared, and I really don't think any of these folks are bad people,
and I hope we move on to the best future we can make.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Bruce Livingston</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=donovanjarnold2005@yahoo.com
href="mailto:donovanjarnold2005@yahoo.com">Donovan Arnold</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=areaman@moscow.com
href="mailto:areaman@moscow.com">Dan Carscallen</A> ; <A
title=vision2020@moscow.com
href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com">vision2020@moscow.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Saturday, January 20, 2007 11:33
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Vision2020] More on the
ice rink</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>So now Aaron Ament knows why Nancy Chaney was elected??? To bring Randy
and Gary under control? </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Nancy was elected because the People of Moscow elected her. I didn't
vote for Nancy to be Mayor of Moscow. I voted for her for city council
though, and she was an excellent council woman. But I don't think, and still
don't think she was yet up to the task of being mayor with only two years of
experience, and think she is proving me correct. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I voted for Peg because I know that she had the experience, and the
understanding of the job. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Moscow has not done well under Nancy's time. She is a good person. She
means well, and is very determined to be a good leader. However, I think I
was correct to point out in 2005 that she was not yet ready. I am willing to
bet that she would not be reelected at this point because of the major
errors she has made. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>However, nobody is perfect and being mayor is a hard job. I hope
rather than bashing her like Aaron Ament does, we can help her out,
because her failure to lead and make good decisions makes all of Moscow
suffer. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I like Nancy, as a person, and think she is one of the kindest people I
know, remember she is a nurse. But clearly she needs some help in
this job she has taken on. I hope Aaron shuts his loud mouth, at least
around the DN and LMT and tries helping instead. I don't know of one
thing he has accomplished (besides ending the pledge) since being in office
unless complaining about others is an accomplishment. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Best,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Donovan</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><BR><BR><B><I>Dan Carscallen <areaman@moscow.com></I></B>
wrote:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=replbq
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid"><BR>Excerpts
from today's Daily News:<BR><BR>"'This is a slap in the face to the City
Council,' [Ament] said. 'It's<BR>against everything we'd discussed.'
<BR><BR><BR>Conflict between city staff and members of the City Council
has existed<BR>in the past, Ament said, including last summer's request by
the Moscow<BR>Police Department to unionize. <BR><BR><BR>He said city
administration officials like [City Attorney Randy] Fife<BR>and Moscow
City Supervisor Gary Riedner 'need to go.' <BR><BR><BR>'This is a strong
mayoral system but I don't see the mayor leading. I<BR>see city staff in
control,' he said. '(Mayor) Nancy Chaney was brought<BR>into office to
bring them under control, but that hasn't happened. If<BR>Nancy (Chaney)
doesn't want to step up to the plate, Nancy needs to<BR>leave
too.'"<BR><BR>Ament wanting to recall Chaney? Wow.<BR><BR>Looks like
someone other than the County Commissioners is "shocked" .
.<BR>.<BR><BR>DC<BR><BR><BR>=======================================================<BR>List
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