Art Bettge (Moscow) Twenty QUESTIONS WITH PALOUSE PROACTIVE CITY COUNCIL & MAYOR POSITIONS Please respond on a separate, typed document 1. What, in your opinion, is the most pressing issue facing Moscow? What, if anything, do you plan to do about it if you are elected? There are always issues facing our city. If there weren t, we wouldn t need elected officials. I see issues as short-, medium- and long-term challenges. In the short-term, we need to see to the fundamentals of city services. Most pressingly, maintaining our streets in a navigable condition. Medium-term, expanding our economic base by providing pre-zoned land (perhaps a South Industrial Area in conjunction with the URA?) and available infrastructure for industrial and manufacturing enterprises. And as an extension to that, having a place for entrepreneurs from the University or those wishing to establish a business to locate. Also, encouraging continued development of the Legacy Crossing area needs to continue to be an emphasis. Long-term, we must locate an additional source of water for town. Conservation efforts help greatly, but we really need to begin now to implement a program to supply additional water for the long-term future of Moscow. 2. What can be done to attract new businesses to the city and encourage existing businesses to expand? We can provide pre-zoned land that has infrastructure already in place to accommodate new businesses. Collaboration with Moscow s Urban Renewal Agency (URA) is key to this effort. We can provide the environment for businesses to locate and grow, and we can market ourselves as a good place to do business, but we can only offer that meager assistance to businesses, being limited by state law as to what monetary benefits we can offer. We also must maintain Moscow s character and quality of life as a major benefit to locating here (businesses are composed of people and people like to live in an environment that is pleasant and welcoming). 3. What role do you see city government playing in the larger political discussions currently facing the US such as white supremacy, DACA, and LGBTQIA+ rights? We must remain an open and welcoming community in which all are not only treated equally, but welcomed. We have in place anti-discrimination ordinances that prohibit discrimination based not only on religion, age, and gender but also sexual preference and gender identity. We have recently put in place a resolution declaring Moscow as a welcoming community for everyone. We need to assure these ordinances are not only followed, but that they become a part of our daily lives. In terms of a larger influence on DACA and LGBTA rights, we should continue to encourage our state and federal representatives to enact greater protections for these groups. And keep bringing the issues up until action is taken. 4. Describe your vision, if any, for bringing environmental and sustainable initiatives to Moscow. We already try to be forward-thinking on these issues. In conjunction with the University, we re-use water from our water reuse operation; tiered water use fees are in place to discourage over-use of water; we have instituted single-stream recycling to
encourage greater recycling efforts; we have in place the eco-driver program in the city (which has lowered fuel consumption to less than was used 9 years ago) and we continue to look for ways to expand our implementation of other programs to enhance sustainability in Moscow. 5. Do you feel the city is sufficiently transparent in its operations? Why or why not? The city does try to be transparent in its operations and decision-making. However, citizens need to pay attention to the information that is provided. Sometimes, lack of transparency is due to citizens not understanding the legislative process the city is legally required to adhere to. The information is there, but the degree to which any issue is important to a citizen is very much an individual issue and asking citizens to become active, participants in the process is sometimes difficult, but is the other facet of transparency that needs to be considered. 6. List what you believe are the three most important duties of the City Council or the Mayor s Office. 1) Provide the fundamentals of city government reliably: water, sewer, roads, waste collection, police, and fire. 2) Provide for economic growth, jobs and encourage businesses 3) Provide a platform for lively cultural growth and a sense of place that makes Moscow the unique city that it is. 7. What improvements do you think could be made in the relationship between the city and UI? How would like to see UI students engaged in the city? The city and university collaborate administratively in a great many, frequently behindthe-scenes matters. Coordinating services to provide back-up support for water and sewer services are one example. Police, fire and streets are further examples of wellcoordinated efforts. Socially, progress has been made recently with two-way cultural events and activities. Involving UI students can be difficult as students see Moscow as only a temporary stop in their lives. Involving them takes a lot of outreach. Moscow leadership is engaged with student leadership through the ASUI and is active in programs to try to invite students into more interaction with the community. 8. Are there any city boards that you believe should be eliminated or added? Please explain. We have a thirteen city commissions at the moment. More can be created as need arises. Personally, I would like to see a commission on promotion of economic growth, perhaps an extension of the Chamber of Commerce. The city is good at governing and providing services, but could use some better advice on how to promote the economy, tourism and businesses. 9. What should the city do to deal with the issues created by population growth (i.e., congested streets, limited parking)? First, the city can continue to work to provide safe and convenient routes through town that encourage biking and walking. The city has been doing that for the past 3 5 years, and should continue to do so. The Pathways Commission was created from the Paradise Path Taskforce 3 years ago. Greenways (bike routes) have been established and posted as such to facilitate biking on the most convenient roads. Safe routes to school have been identified and posted. Secondly, expansion of SMART transit routes
and hours are issues that need to be addressed more assiduously in the near future. The two existing routes are too limited given the city s expansion to the south and east. Further, there is less ridership than there might be due to the limited evening hours of operation, which should be extended. Identifying funding to provide these alterations needs to be undertaken. 10. What should the city do regarding emergency planning? Reexamination of routes out of the city, should an emergency ensue is needed. Broadly, there are only single routes out of town in most directions. Alternatives need to be identified and developed. Planning for flood events, although some plans exist, need continual updates. Planning with the police department for human-initiated emergencies is well developed, as is collaborative planning with regional fire and police services, but requires continual updating in light of the ever-changing nature of threats to public welfare. 11. What should the city do to promote the use of transportation other than single rider autos? I sort of hit this one in question 9 12. What are your thoughts on fair and affordable housing for low-income households in Moscow? If you support it, what steps you might take in creating more fair and affordable housing? Working with developers to identify grant funding to create more affordable housing would be beneficial. However, developers depend on higher cost housing development to make a living. Working with financial institutions to provide more flexible loan options to home-buyers would be beneficial, as would identifying flexible loan pools through state agencies could also help. Increasing density of development in Planned Unit Developments, in Legacy Crossing and enabling increased height of developments could also assist in providing more affordable (not necessarily to be identified as low income ) housing in town. 13. What do you think should happen regarding the 3 rd Street Bridge project? The bridge should be built, but traffic calming through use of stop signs, parking on both sides of the road and other measures to keep traffic slow and minimize use of 3 rd Street as a most favored route for motorized vehicles should be undertaken through the Transportation Commission (where citizen volunteers work on issues such as this). 14. In February 2017, Moscow passed a Welcoming City resolution. In your opinion, does this do enough to ensure that Moscow is a safe and welcoming place for ALL residents? It is a step in the right direction. The resolution provides a sense of the direction the city and its citizens wish to go. However, education and a commitment to make this attitude intrinsic to the community will be an on-going effort. Though discouraged by the intent and language of the resolution, some citizens continue to be insular and intolerant of others who are not like themselves. Commitment to the goals of the resolution are needed now and will be into the future. This commitment needs to be actively supported and implemented by Moscow s citizens as the city government alone cannot make this change strictly through resolution. 15. What, if any, efforts should the city support to prevent and reduce violence against women locally?
As in #14, the city is not a monolithic entity. It is, at its foundation, made of citizens. When violence against women, or anyone else, becomes abhorrent and unthinkable among its citizens and where people look out for their neighbors, then prevention (not reduction, but a complete elimination) of violence against women will occur. The city, through its leaders, should set the example by establishing a culture of nonviolence and indicating, through resolution, its active discouragement of violence, and pursuit of addressing legal responses to those who engage in it. 16. How can the city support a healthy relationship between local law enforcement and the community? What are your thoughts on community policing and de-escalation training as strategies for local law enforcement? The law enforcement establishment in Moscow is dedicated to community policing not a punitive, ticket-writing, overzealous enforcement agency, but one where prevention, collaboration and stopping crime before it happens is the emphasis. The police department offers an annual citizens police academy class for anyone who wishes to learn more about how the department does its business. There are outreach events each year where citizens can interact with police officers in an informal fashion. Officers engage in continual training in de-escalation and the department leadership, and city leadership, is dedicated to employing and retaining only officers who are dedicated to non-authoritative, community policing practices. 17. How might the city support more women and people from diverse backgrounds in local leadership? Actively discussing positions within city commissions and elected official positions is the most important step. Frequently citizens think that they don t have the knowledge, skills or experience to contribute. It should be pointed out that if they have the desire, the knowledge, skills and experience (KSE) follow and these attributes can be developed and subsequently leveraged to move into progressively more responsible roles. Motivating women and other folks representing diversity to participate at levels at which they don t have the KSEs needed is a disservice, as performance may be impacted. But getting these same individuals started and mentoring them so they can perform well at progressively higher levels of responsibility to the benefit of the city and themselves is a worthy and rewarding thing that needs, desperately, to be undertaken by all in any position of authority in the city government and administration. 18. According to the City Code, the Central Business District (CBD) is meant to be the most intensive commercial Zoning District in Moscow. The question of whether to expand the presence of educational institutions in the CBD arose in recent City Council meetings. What is your vision for Moscow s CBD? Educational institutions can be beneficial to the CBD. Moscow High school provides a large lunch rush into the CBD each day. The UofI has the Prichard Gallery in the CBD as a major cultural focus point and the WWAMI program located in the new Gritman building benefits the hospital and the rest of the CBD. NSA has been a presence on Friendship Square for years (and provided bathroom facilities on Saturdays when Farmers Market is occurring). They have recently expanded to the old CJs building, which is more problematic. The loss of tax revenue due to the change of a building to
tax-exempt status is an issue. Parking is also an issue in that a tax-exempt entity does not contribute funds to maintain public parking in the CBD as do other brick-andmortar businesses in the CBD. So parking may be required to mitigate the impact. The problem with that is the question of when does the parking mitigation require parking lots that are so large that they detract from the character and operation of the CBD? The decision on what the limit is, as defined by cumulative impact, will likely need to be considered as a more qualitative than quantitative determination. I feel that educational institutions have a place in the CBD, but that the cumulative impact may be currently reached in terms of both mitigation of impact and the loss of tax revenues that places disproportionate burdens on the businesses that currently exist in the CBD. 19. Describe how you engage with people with whom you disagree. This is a difficult issue. First is the presupposition that those with whom we may disagree are not misguided or bad. They have a point of view that should be heard (not just listened to). Establishing the facts surrounding an issue, both legal and pertinent to the particular discussion and trying to parse out the reasons that an issue may be provoking an emotional response is needed to establish a common basis upon which to pursue the discussion. Listening, hearing and trying to understand how a person s point of view was formed can be productive. In fact, others who have a differing point of view may know more than I know and can change my views on a topic. I don t know everything and being in a position to make decisions requires I listen to differing points of view, consider them and either make clear the reasons that I believe the way I do on a certain point of view, or change my conclusions based on the new facts presented. I strive not to be too quick to judge or respond; but to establish facts so everyone is talking about the same set of facts concerning issues; defuse emotion to the extent possible and be a good hear-er. 20. Why do you think you would do a good job as a member of City Council or as Mayor? I do my homework. I pay attention to what people have to say. I try to have both a view of where the city should be not only in the near term, but years from now. I try to be pragmatic about what the city can do, mostly due to financial and legal constraints, but also implement the citizens vision of what they want their community to be. I think I do well at hearing what people want and then doing what I can to see those desires incorporated into the city s government. I work for the city as a whole and try to keep my personal views moderated during decisions. But mostly, I love Moscow and want it to continue to be the thriving, diverse community that it is.