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<body class='hmmessage'>In my opinion, it is really quite simple, Mr. Falen.<BR>
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The retail stores will follow the high tech jobs into town alot quicker than high tech jobs will follow retail stores.<BR>
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As more and more high tech jobs are available here in Moscow, more and more people will seek those high-tech (pronounced "high paying") jobs.<BR>
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As more and more people fill those high tech, high paying jobs, the more money there is flowing around the city of Moscow.<BR>
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Also, as these jobs develop into careers, people holding those jobs evolve from a person to a couple to a family.<BR>
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As more and more money is distributed around the city of Moscow (by these persons, couples, families), more and more retail outlets will establish themselves in Moscow.<BR>
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And just FYI, Mr. Falen: That, to me, is GROWTH.<BR>
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If you think that by flooding the city of Moscow with retail store after retail store after retail store, this will attract the high tech jobs, you are only fooling yourself.<BR>
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Tom Hansen<BR>
Moscow, Idaho<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>
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> From: london@moscow.com<BR>> To: lfalen@turbonet.com; vision2020@moscow.com<BR>> Date: Wed, 24 Oct 2007 11:36:59 -0700<BR>> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] real economic development in Moscow<BR>> <BR>> R-<BR>> You missed the point.<BR>> These high-tech jobs can go anywhere. All towns want them.<BR>> The entrepreneurs can be choosy, and they are choosy. They want towns with <BR>> a high quality of life.<BR>> If Moscow sacrifices its high quality of life for (what you describe as) <BR>> "almost anything that will provide jobs, increase the tax base and improve <BR>> the overall economy", then we lose what now attracts these high-tech jobs.<BR>> You just can not have it both ways.<BR>> I want to live in a town that maintains its high quality of life and <BR>> therefore is attractive to high-tech jobs -- not a town that has no <BR>> standards but goes for any growth.<BR>> BL<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> ----- Original Message ----- <BR>> From: "lfalen" <lfalen@turbonet.com><BR>> To: "Bill London" <london@moscow.com>; "v2020" <vision2020@moscow.com><BR>> Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2007 10:34 AM<BR>> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] real economic development in Moscow<BR>> <BR>> <BR>> >I can't argue with bringing in high-tech companies, I'm all for it. I think <BR>> >Moscow should try to attract all kinds of businesses. It is fine to place <BR>> >controls on those that would create undue pollution. Other than that <BR>> >promote almost anything that will provide jobs, increase the tax base and <BR>> >improve the overall economy.<BR>> > Roger<BR>> > -----Original message-----<BR>> > From: "Bill London" london@moscow.com<BR>> > Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2007 09:58:18 -0700<BR>> > To: "v2020" vision2020@moscow.com<BR>> > Subject: [Vision2020] real economic development in Moscow<BR>> ><BR>> >><BR>> >> Today's Tribune article about the MCA forum held last night is a great <BR>> >> summary of the choices facing Moscow voters in this council election. <BR>> >> Vote for the future with MCA endorsed candidates and Moscow will aim for <BR>> >> both maintaining its uniqueness and attracting more entrepreneurial <BR>> >> businesses. My thanks to the MCA board for sponsoring this forum. BL<BR>> >><BR>> >> ----------------<BR>> >> Is high-tech the key to Moscow's future?<BR>> >> Forum sponsored by Moscow Civic Association brings together business and <BR>> >> community leaders<BR>> >> By David Johnson<BR>> >> October 23, 2007<BR>> >><BR>> >><BR>> >> MOSCOW - The economic future of Moscow will depend more on attracting and <BR>> >> retaining high-tech companies than encouraging more housing and retail <BR>> >> business, members of a panel agreed Monday night.<BR>> >><BR>> >> "In the basic form, economic development is jobs," said B.J. Swanson, <BR>> >> vice president of AmericanWest Bank here and chairwoman of the board of <BR>> >> directors for Gritman Medical Center. "But not just any job." She said <BR>> >> jobs should provide enough money to offer a reasonably comfortable <BR>> >> living.<BR>> >><BR>> >> Robin Woods, president of Alturas Analytics located in Moscow, said 100 <BR>> >> percent of her bio-tech business comes from outside Idaho, most of it <BR>> >> from the San Francisco Bay Area. Yet, she and her partners opted to <BR>> >> locate here because of the quality of life that's available<BR>> >><BR>> >> "Probably it would have been better to locate in San Francisco or <BR>> >> Seattle, but with Fed Ex and the fiber-optic that we have ... and with <BR>> >> the Internet, the world is flat and we can conduct our business here," <BR>> >> Woods said.<BR>> >><BR>> >> David Alexander, a UI graduate and CEO of Ivus Industries, a small <BR>> >> business he decided to locate here, said Moscow is an ideal location for <BR>> >> entrepreneurs to tap into a high-tech labor pool that spins off both the <BR>> >> University of Idaho and neighboring Washington State University in <BR>> >> Pullman.<BR>> >><BR>> >> "What the business is, is a focus on extremely fast-charging rechargeable <BR>> >> products," Alexander said of his startup company. He said the company, <BR>> >> which has four employees, is currently developing a fast-charging <BR>> >> flashlight.<BR>> >><BR>> >> Judy Brown, an economist and director of the Idaho Center on Budget and <BR>> >> Tax Policy, said research shows if a community creates a good living <BR>> >> environment, jobs will come. "The key thing that attracts" entrepreneurs <BR>> >> and businesses to an area, Brown said, is quality of life, not tax <BR>> >> breaks.<BR>> >><BR>> >> "Quality of life and the ability to work either from home or near home," <BR>> >> she said, "are the two really key things in deciding where people locate <BR>> >> those kinds of businesses."<BR>> >><BR>> >> The forum, sponsored by the Moscow Civic Association, comes two weeks <BR>> >> prior to a city council election here that many say hinges on attitudes <BR>> >> about economic growth. Bruce Livingston, president of the MCA, said the <BR>> >> forum was called in part to dispel the notion that the MCA is <BR>> >> anti-economic growth. He said the MCA is "pro business, pro growth and <BR>> >> pro community."<BR>> >><BR>> >> About 30 people, including several council candidates, attended the forum <BR>> >> at the 1912 Center.<BR>> >><BR>> >> Swanson said Moscow needs to wean itself from a housing and retail <BR>> >> fixation about growth. "Our voracious appetite to approve subdivision <BR>> >> after subdivision, to build high-end homes, has run out of high-end <BR>> >> people to occupy them," Swanson said, adding that new retail businesses <BR>> >> seem to be only replacing old ones.<BR>> >><BR>> >> "Over-built housing and replacement retail is not a good economic model," <BR>> >> Swanson said.<BR>> >><BR>> >> According to statistics presented at the forum, Moscow has a population <BR>> >> of about 22,350 and UI employs about 2,870 people. Gritman employs 431, <BR>> >> with the Moscow School District and Wal-Mart, by comparison, employing <BR>> >> 350 and 207 people, respectively.<BR>> >><BR>> >> Swanson said it's time for the community to get back on the right <BR>> >> economic track with the primary focus on good-paying jobs and a secondary <BR>> >> focus on housing and retail business. "And as always, focus on anything <BR>> >> that will help the University of Idaho. They've carried us for years. <BR>> >> It's time for us to get out and carry ourselves."<BR>> >><BR>> >> All the panelists said Moscow city officials and members of the city <BR>> >> council have been extremely pro-business.<BR>> >><BR>> >> "Our intent is to hire WSU and University of Idaho graduates," Woods said <BR>> >> about her expanding business. She said that all but one of the 30 people <BR>> >> working at Alturas Analytics are from the two universities. Woods said <BR>> >> it's important for Moscow to complete it's rewrite of the comprehensive <BR>> >> plan, and to keep tech businesses together to encourage more business.<BR>> >><BR>> >> "I think it's important to have kind of a think-tank atmosphere," she <BR>> >> said, "kind of a campus atmosphere in your tech park. So I don't think <BR>> >> it's a good idea to scatter things here and there."<BR>> >><BR>> >> Swanson pointed out Alturas Technology Park, located on the southeastern <BR>> >> edge of town, had modest beginnings, but now is home to around 150 jobs <BR>> >> that have annual salaries of $50,000 and up. "And those jobs really <BR>> >> contribute back to the community," she said.<BR>> >><BR>> >> ---<BR>> >><BR>> >> Johnson may be contacted at deveryone@potlatch.com or (208) 883-0564.<BR>> >><BR>> >><BR>> >><BR>> > <BR>> <BR>> =======================================================<BR>> List services made available by First Step Internet, <BR>> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994. <BR>> http://www.fsr.net <BR>> mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com<BR>> =======================================================<BR><BR></body>
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