Commons Crest Room 9-19-02, 3:30-5:00

Presenters: Janet Hohle (Planning, geology); Tom Lamar (PCEI); Brenda von Wandruska (real estate); Paul Kimmell (BOCC, COC)

Intros by Kenton (Mention of optional meeting 9/26 in the Food Court to plan Silver Valley trip. Bill McLaughlin reiterated value of journaling by participants.)

Panel Discussion moderated by Kenton: (Note, questions are paraphrased-)

What does the Palouse mean to you?

Janet: diverse terrain, definitive geology & watersheds, centered around natural resources

Tom: freedom of movement without cars

Brenda: lack of economic-, political-, and social stratification; lots of overlap among residents

Paul: landscape as a marketing theme (shared examples on COC brochures)

Kenton: farms becoming home sites

Why live where you do? (Question related to living in the country vs. living in town-)

Janet: economics, i.e. it costs less to live in rural areas; it’s quiet in the country; Moscow is not cosmopolitan, so it lacks special enticements of a large city.

Paul: "free house!" (available from his wife’s family). He added, "I’ve never slept as well as when I farmed."

Tom: "Pam’s ducks!" (Tom remarked that when he met his wife, she kept ducks there.) "Peaceful…Feels like country." He added, "I can’t imagine having any more than ½ an acre to take care of!" He also likes where he lives because it is conveniently located one-mile from downtown, easily reached on bicycle.

What are your thoughts about the trend of building homes on ridge tops?

Brenda: (This area offers a) "commodity made scarce" by planners who devised the 40-acre rule. The result is that only the very wealthy will be able to afford to live outside of town, like "nobles living on hilltops."

Group briefly discussed the increased cost of services to outlying developments and the availability of water. (To learn more on that subject, rec. work by Neil Meyer, Ag Econ/Rural Sociology)

Paul and Brenda discussed the global economy’s connection to Latah County, in that the area draws entrepreneurs who can enact business over the Internet, even from rural locations, and the fact that Latah County produces huge globally-demanded farm crops. Discussion led to the next question…

What is your vision of the (economic) future of Latah County?

Tom: agricultural diversity, smaller alternative crops, changing educational influences…"Growing a second college in this town could change things"… new businesses through the Sweet Avenue and Alturas Incubators

Paul: Latah County has experienced a 1.4% growth per year shift from in-town living to ridgetops, but not population growth, per se. Genesee has grown 30% in the past 10 years. In Latah County and Moscow, 46% employment (6,500 jobs) are in the government sector, 25% (3,500 jobs) are in retail trade, 17% (2,400 jobs) are in services, 4% (600 jobs) in manufacturing, and the rest, including construction, are <2%. Farming and forest jobs make up 1%. The unemployment rate in Moscow is 3-1/2% and the rural unemployment rate is 20%. Paul pointed out that because of the global nature of crops grown here, farmers on the Palouse prefer a weak dollar. He mentioned the potential for new business development, including the Straw Exchange that turns waste material from farming into fuel logs, and kaolin clay, feldspar, silica extraction, potentially to create a high-quality ceramic/porcelain for niche markets.

Session adjourned on time, at 5:00.