Farigrounds in Moscow a Bonus

Letter to editor of Daily News, submitted 9/8/08

Its Fair time again. Reading about the Palouse Empire Fair last weekend got me thinking about the differences between our two area events. Whitman County's fairgrounds is five miles west of Colfax, and twenty-plus miles from the major population center. No child walked to that fair after school. No parent dropped their teenager at that fair with $20 and instructions to walk home before dark. And most likely, no families wandered over for dinner and an hour of music.

I grew up in St Paul, Minnesota, walking distance from the State fairgrounds. The major bus routes ran along the edge of the site. Salem, Oregon has the state fairgrounds in the city, served by transit, and used for a variety of community functions.

From time to time the idea surfaces to move the Latah fair a few miles out of town. Most recently a site near Mill Road was suggested. At that location, Latah could join Whitman county in having little walk-in traffic, few kids dropped off to make their way home. And no public transit to the Fair.

If Latah County’s Fair moves out of town, will the many groups that use the facility throughout the year move out too- Elections, Parent-Toddlers, auctions, and a variety of meetings? Most likely they will need to find new venues within the city.
The Fair is an intense use, with traffic and noise. Thanks to Eastside Marketplace and NRS (old Tidymans) for helping with parking. I live close enough to experience it.

Three days is a small price to pay for having such a resource in town. In an era of high gas prices, a walkable fairgrounds, with no entrance fees, is a wonderful recreation option. I hope everyone got a to the fair and enjoyed the enjoyed the richness of having it in town.

Mithun - ideas for Legacy Crossing

I attended a good lecture yesterday by Bert Gregory from Mithun of Seattle. It was interesting to see the work they have done (conceptual and planning) for revitalizing urban areas in Portland and Seattle and at the same time making them resource efficient. On their website (which does not make it easy to link in) look at the expertise section/ urban planning and the Lloyd center project. I also found a south Lake Union/ Seattle Center project that he talked about, but can't find it again.

It would be worth looking at this more closely as an inspiration for our Legacy Crossing area.

The WSU blurb on the talk read

As President and CEO of Mithun, Bert Gregory has led the 220-person firm to national recognition for concept-based, environmentally intelligent design. He is renowned as an expert in the development of resource-efficient structures and communities, and serves as a national leader, speaker and advocate for sustainable building and urbanism. His perspective reaches beyond traditional architecture to merge science and design – an interdisciplinary approach that creates lasting places for people. With Mithun’s expansion in 2008 to a second office in San Francisco, Gregory strives to expand the reach of the firm to inspire a sustainable world through integrated design. Awards include four AIA COTE Top Ten Green Projects, two ASLA national honor awards, and the AIA national honor award for regional and urban design. Gregory serves as Vice-Chair of the USGBC LEED® Neighborhood Development core committee, and the Washington Clean Technology Alliance steering committee.

This presentation is co-sponsored by the Institute for Sustainable Design, the Office of Research, and the Center for Environmental Research, Education and Outreach.

DATE: Friday, September 5, 2008
TIME: 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
PLACE: Compton Union Building, Butch’s Den

You make your own judgement

Here is an email dialog -- I put it in chronological order so you can read down the page. While the Commute Trip Reduction policy seems like a useful tool, the implementation leaves something to be desired in my judgement:

From: "Dain"
Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:44:44 -0700
To: "Peterson, Nils"
Subject: here's an odd one...

Hi Nils,

I just noticed a policy in the BPPM (http://www.wsu.edu/~forms/HTML/BPPM/80_Services/80.86_Commute_Trip_Reduction.htm) that states:

“Prepaid, subsidized transit for employees and students. Under this program element, all employees and students are allowed to use local transit systems by simply showing their CougarCard. This element is considered a de minimus nontaxable benefit under IRS, Section a32(f)(2)(A).” (emphasis added)

From: Peterson, Nils
Sent: Monday, August 25, 2008 14:50
To: Shaheen, John Anthony
Subject: BPPM 80.86 Commute trip reduction

John,
This policy is an interesting one. The rider points at one question — is Wheatland one of the “local transit systems?” If not, what distinguishes a local transit system for purposes of this policy, given the stated aims of the policy?

And, how are bus riding employees represented on the University Parking and Transportation Task Force (UPTTF) which serves as the WSU Pullman CTR Committee?

Thanks

On 9/2/08 10:48 AM, "Shaheen, John Anthony" wrote:

Nils,

Good question. We did not have Wheatland Express in mind when we refer to local. The distinction is the purpose of that service and the joint partnership with UI which prevents any commitments we could make in a WSU policy. Thanks for bringing this to our attention. We should clarify this in our BPPM.

John


John A. Shaheen, CAPP
Director of WSU Parking, Transportation & Visitor Center
Washington State University
Email: shaheen@wsu.edu
Phone: 509.335.4911
FAX: 509.335.1316

WSU is a proud member of the following organizations:
Northwest Parking Association
http://www.nwparking.org/
International Parking Institute
http://www.parking.org/
Collegiate Information and Visitor Services Association: http://civsa.org/