Vision 2020 to unveil latest plan

Key downtown areas to be decorated with flowers

MOSES LAKE — 2005 might be known as the year of the flowery streets, if Vision 2020 has its way.

The group in charge of the revitalization and beautification of the central streets of the city is developing a plan to plant flowers alongside Broadway Avenue and the Neppel Crossing, among other places.

The plan, still in its early stages, hopes to receive a big boost, when it goes in front of the city council Jan. 11.

For now, Vision 2020 president Jacie Daschel said, the plan has the blessing of the city's park commission and it will go under the microscope of the city's parks department, before asking the city council for support.

Vision 2020 is starting to collect money, said Daschel, and it hopes to ask the city for matching funds. There are no set figures, but Daschel said the project might run a total of somewhere between $10,000 and $20,000, with the city and Vision 2020 splitting costs 50-50.

The flowerpots, Daschel said, might go on the west side of Broadway close to Interstate 90, on the entrance signs, along the dead-end guardrails at the intersections of Broadway and Dogwood, Cedar and Ash.

There would also be flowers along the sides of Neppel Crossing, she added.

The idea of bringing flowers, mostly annuals and a few perennials, is to bring some color to the central areas of the city during the summer months. The maintenance would be the responsibility of Eagle Scout volunteers as well as members of service clubs in the city, she said.

The hope is that by bringing color to the city, property owners would begin to mimic the idea, making it a staple of the city's summer and a positive, visible feature of the downtown area.