Much Has Been Accomplished In Past Year

Sat., Dec. 9, 2000

Steve Judy Special To Handle Ex

Over the past year, the City Council and I have made a special effort to share what’s happening in our beautiful city with you, the citizens of Coeur d’Alene.

Of course, it’s just as critical to hear what your thoughts are. Toward this end, we conducted a quality of life survey in the spring, and discovered that many of you have concerns that we were either in the process of addressing, or had plans to accomplish.

Over the past year, we have accomplished a great deal as a team, and as a community. We’ve gotten the Permit Center up and running and, in the process, have broadened our entire staff focus to be service-oriented.

The Walker-Macy concept was approved, and a committee appointed to determine the best way to implement priority projects. Northwest Boulevard is becoming a grand gateway into our blossoming city, with the beautiful bookend projects of Riverstone and McEuen Terrace.

We welcomed the new Dollar-Rent-A-Car building to Northwest Boulevard, and look forward to North Idaho College’s new Health Sciences Building, as well as Kootenai Medical Center’s new McGrane Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Care Center. At the northwest part of the city, we added our largest elementary school in the Coeur d’Alene School District, Skyway Elementary, that had its grand opening Aug. 31.

We added several pieces of public art to our city - three at City Park, and one at the Police Station - and received the Association of Idaho Cities City Achievement Award for our ordinance for the arts. We also hosted the annual statewide cities conference in June, and had one of the most successful conferences in the association’s history.

This year, we’ve had great success in recruiting excellent people for top management positions. Bill Panos joins us as City Administrator, and we welcomed Police Chief Tom Cronin, Finance Director Troy Tymesen, and Fire Chief Kenny Gabriel. In our fire department, we put the first 100-foot ladder into service in North Idaho, and also approved construction of Fire Station 3 at our 15th and Hazel property.

In addition, the council approved locating a new library on city property when funds are available. Finally, we completed major renovations on the Jewett House, two years ahead of schedule, and constructed the first roundabout in North Idaho.

Several times this year, you’ve been invited to fireside chats. These chats have been held in varying locations, and at different times of the day to give you as many options as possible to talk about what’s on your mind.

One of the things we heard most during these discussions, and from many of you individually, is that the city needs a long-range vision. Since I’ve been mayor, the City Council has considered the need for a community center, a new fire station, and has weighed other needs such as a new library, new parkland development, a performing arts center, a carrousel, and other large capital projects, including the Walker-Macy concept.

We realized that unless these community needs are placed within the framework of a larger, strategic plan, individual initiatives would continue to compete with other, equally important initiatives the end result being little progress and much community division.

We want to bring our community together. As a community, let’s look forward into the next 20 years. It is our goal to have a community-created, strategic plan for the city of Coeur d’Alene by Oct. 1, 2001.

We invite your input, and we ask for your help. This is your community. Your children and grandchildren will inherit the decisions made by all of us now. Let’s make careful, well-thought-out decisions together, as a community, and meet the future with hope and excitement. Let’s go forward to Coeur d’Alene 2020, making it your perfect vision.

It would be wonderful if you could join us for the State of the City Address at 7 a.m. on Tuesday at the Coeur d’Alene Resort and be part of Coeur d’Alene’s future. Please call the Chamber of Commerce for ticket information at 664-3194.

Remember to visit our Web site at www.coeurdaleneidaho.org.

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