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Show PAGE 24 THE ZEPHYRNOVEMBER 1995 Q & A (continued) The City Council Candidates town and see empty homes and sale signs. Most people are better off today. I know we need more affordable housing and I am willing to work to that end. Warner I believe that the growth in our community has many pluses and minuses, too many on both sides to enumerate. Moab has seen more than one boom and bust in it's history and has managed to survive. During a bust most everyone suffers, so too during a boom most everyone will benefit in one way or another. If you are among the five year survivors then you are no doubt better off today than you were five years ago. Interstate truck traffic on Main St. is increasing by 20 a year. Some trucks are carrying hazardous materials and the risk will continue to increase. What are you willing to do as a councilperson to deal with this problem? Does it include proposing a bypass that would most certainly require the removal of the Mountain View subdivision? (Not an easy question) Cockayne: This is not an easy question. It will surly require resurch and alote of concideration to find a good salution. Cooke: The police should agressively enforce speed and traffic laws with truckers. Hazardous materials and excessive speeds do not mix. While a bypass would help downtown be safer and more inviting to tourists, neighborhood disruption on the scale of removing Mountain View subdivision seems to outweigh the benifits gained. A route for trucks down 500 West and out Kane Creek Rd to 191 has some merit perhaps, but again the detriments to local citizens seem to me to be too great. I believe our neighborhoods should be preserved, not sacrificed to commercial expansion, so I have to say that for the forseeablc future Main St seems to be the best truck route here. Johnson: Everyone agrees that heavy truck traffic is a major problem and a dangerous situation! However, not everyone sees the same solution to this problem. As a city councilman I would seek a workable solution but I feel a bypass west of Mountain View Subdivision, though more expensive, would be preferable to removal. The point is somewhat moot since the final decision rests with the State Department of Transportation and not the City Council. It is and would be a national and state highway not a city street. are McDougald: The routing of interstate highways, state highways, and not controlled by local government. The safety controls of transporting hazardous and toxic materials is under the authority of the Interstate Commerce Comission, Bureau of Public Roads, EPA and NRC. They afford us through state enforcement and standards safety within state boundaries. Interstate highways and connecting state and federal highways will always accomodate some hazardous materials. Rails cannot compete with the massive trucking service industry. Average daily traffic flow largely dictates Based on recent DOT-locprojects. planning meetings I have attended it seems that a Moab k the Valley is not a priority. through 15 estimates of such a 25 are between and million dollars. The DOT seems to favor a East Moab versus the West rim. cost commercial establishments much business, resulting in loss of tax revenues. Mick: Interstate truck traffic on Main Street is defiantly a problem without as easy answer. I believe UDOT will eventually have to address this problem, as a Moab City Councilperson I am willing to work with them to find a workable solution. A wight station north of town possibly would discourage the amount of traffic traveling north and south through the Moab valley. The unofficial plan has been rumored to pass above Mountain View. This is not a workable solution. I am willing to listen to any suggestions you or your readers may have. Warner: I agree that we are seeing a lot of truck traffic. But, what to do about the trucks that carry hazardous materials? These trucks are regulated by State and Federal agencies and they certainly don't need every city across the country also trying to step in a regulate as well. As long as Main Street is a State highway and there is no s, I'm not sure the City can do a great deal. I for one would not The City has been concerned wipe out the Mountain View Subdivision for a for some time about the overall increase in traffic and how to deal with it. We asked UDOT to reduce the speed limits coming into town and also requested an additional traffic light at the McDonald's intersection. UDOT conducted traffic studies to address our requests. As a result the speed limits have been altered on the south end of town to slow the traffic entering town and a traffic light has been approved. However, the light will probably not be installed until late 19 due to higher priorities elsewhere in the State. by-pass- by-pa- ss es al by-pa- ss Ball-par- by-pa- ss by-pa- ss By-pass- es Would you be willing to commit city revenues to purchase some of the ever dwindling green space in Moab? and for the efforts Cockayne: I feel that our green spaces in the city limits are atiquit of city crews looking very good. Cooke: City revenues should not, in my opinion, be used to purchase open space. Preservation of this space can be better approached using other means including, the rate possibly, land trusts, transferred development credits, and in general slowing of city expansion by imposing impact fees for infrastructure, schools, police, etc. onto new development. Johnson: An easy question at last. Yes. McDougald: I would be willing to commit city revenues to complete the Millcreek Walkway. Existing parks and a large restrictive watershed with a very successful golf course are costly to maintain. Mick: I love green space. We have many beautiful parks and the millcreek flood control and parkway project. The City continues to acquire green space as needed and funds allow. Only a small percentage of Grand County is privately owned. Buying up large parcels of this privately owned land takes it off the tax rolls. When needed, I am in favor and have voted to spend city revenues to purchase green space. One example has been the expansion of the Rotary Park. Warner The City presently has three public parks and has continued to support the Mill Creek Flood Control and Parkway project. Also, the City has been very aggressive in requiring developments to provide reasonable amounts of green space in their development plans. As time goes on I can see that additional properties will be acquired for the Mill Creek project and possibly other areas where additional green space will be needed. Finally, do you like the changes that are happening here? Do you like New Moab? Cockayne: I love Moab, not all the changes, but I love Moab, I do want to live here for all my years! I don't want to be taxed out! Cooke: Growth is not going to just go away like some bad dream, in fact, there are some significant silver linings to this cloud you perceive to be enveloping us. Moab's economy is stronger and that is generally a good thing; the arts arc more evident and vigorous; and this will benifit our youth as well as make life more varied and interesting for adult residents. Moab can withstand growth, we can grow as a town and strengthen our community. To do so will require a city council that acts as an g advocate for the of Moab citizens and families, not simply its business sector. Growth will not pay its own way unless council-memberequire it to. I I like some of the changes and dislike others, remember anything that Johnson: doesn't change is dead. Change is the only constant. Of course I would really liked to have lived here when it was Utc and Piute hunting grounds. I like the New Moab. I liked the old Moab. I love Moab. McDougald: Yes, I do like the New Moab. I am old enough to remember the "old" Moab and appreciate it for what it was. It was not without its problems brought about by the uranium boom and subsequent "bust". I am young enough to welcome the exciting challenges of 1996 and beyond. Mick: If your interpretation of the New Moab includes five not four days a week school, babies being bom in our local hospital, clean drinking water, homes being lived in, parks being played in by families. If your interpretation means jobs for our families, freedom to choose where we shop, cat, and play. If it means reasonable use of public and private lands then yes I love the New Moab. With all of our faults I would move here to day as 1 did more than sixteen years go. I look forward to the many new challenges that face us in the future. The only constant I the universe is change whether we move forward or backwards is up to us. Warner New or old it doesn't really matter to me, Moab has been my home for 30 years and I love it. If I've learned one thing in the 12 years that I've served on the City Council it's that we may not like what's happening today. But, if your willing to stick around until tomorrow it will change. well-bein- rs by-pas- by-pas- s. M an, candidates are ' V- - Wte wer as those S - . v- long-wind- ed. Do you think It'll have any effect What election? y 4 tj tt VfcJ' ; r v- t- y COLORADO - MVlrr-vr- - ,L . r Restaurant & Bar ESTi vMOABsmsicm Ito;. |