[Vision2020] Lambert and Pall differ on wages, parking

[Moscow Cares]

Complete videos and photos of the Moscow League of Women Voters Candidates Forum will be made publicly available later this morning.

Courtesy of today’s (October 5, 2017) Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

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Lambert and Pall differ on wages, parking
Moscow League holds forum for mayor and City Council hopefuls

Moscow Mayor Bill Lambert and his challenger, former City Councilor Linda Pall, agreed there are problems with parking and housing in downtown Moscow but disagreed on what to do about them Wednesday evening.

They and five candidates for three four-year City Council positions and two candidates for a two-year position in the Nov. 7 election attended a League of Women Voters of Moscow candidates forum at the 1912 Center and answered questions from the audience. University of Idaho Law School professor Richard Seamon moderated.

Pall, responding to a question about potential parking issues around the recently approved New Saint Andrews College music conservatory in the former CJ’s building on North Main Street, said, “CJ’s is a tough site to work with. Folks need a place to store their cars or we have to do something else.”

What that something else is, Pall said she isn’t sure. She said in the future she would like the issue of parking addressed before a project has gone too far.

Lambert compared the NSA conservatory with the lack of parking spaces around Gritman’s new Medical Office Building where the WWAMI program will serve 80 medical students. He said parking will continue to be a consistent problem for residents of Moscow because the reality is “we do have schools downtown.”

As for affording decent housing while working a minimum wage job, Lambert said, “It’s not a big issue” because it is not difficult to find a decent-paying job in Moscow.

“We have limited housing here in Moscow and always have had it,” he said, and that makes affordable housing an issue.

Pall disagreed with him on the issue of minimum wage. In the early 2000s Moscow had a living wage ordinance, she said, which she would like to impose again so that every person in the city can make living wages.

She agreed with Lambert that Moscow lacks affordable housing, suggesting there is plenty of vacant land within walking distance of downtown that could be maximized with small homes.

During the two minute long opening speeches, Pall addressed concerns she has regarding climate change. Lambert, along with almost every City Council candidate, addressed concerns about the sustainability of Moscow’s water supply, which comes from constantly shrinking underground aquifers.

Issues ranging from how the Moscow Police Department can crack down on illegal lane changes to the proposed Third Street bridge were also discussed and, for the most part, the majority of candidates did not have a wide variance of opinions from question to question.

When the issue of climate change was posed to the candidates Pall said that although Moscow is making an effort to move away from fossil fuels, the city isn’t moving fast enough. She and Lambert agreed a joint effort with Avista is needed to enact more climate protections in Moscow.

Lambert cited the 50 LED street lights already installed by Avista that are more energy efficient and safer for the community.

“We are a team — this is a collective effort,” Lambert said during his closing remarks, echoing many of the candidates before him who stated that in the next 10 to 15 years it is going to take the whole community to make some of the currently proposed changes a reality.

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Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .

"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)
http://www.MoscowCares.com
  
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

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