Matthew Weaver

"It looks like you took pictures of angry people," a co-worker says while looking through photographs of Tuesday evening's study session about revitalizing downtown Moses Lake. "Were people angry?"

Well, angry might be too strong a word, but certainly some people did not appear entirely pleased with every going-on as people from the community gathered to continue the discussion of how exactly to go about improving their community.

But that's part of the reason to attend these study sessions — to watch and to participate actively in the decision making process, regardless of whether one agrees or disagrees with the steps the Moses Lake City Council is taking.

It's the democratic process in action — the sharing of ideas, the voicing of opinions, the continued discussion as people from different angles share their viewpoints.

On one hand, you have the people who absolutely want to revitalize downtown, in an effort to bring in more people to a dwindling economy. On the other, you have people who want the same thing, but might not agree with every step (read: the removal of parking spaces, for example) that is being discussed to get there, and the impact that it may have on existing businesses, some of whom are already struggling in that aforementioned dwindling economy.

Growth of the city is important, but so are the opinions of those businesses making their contributions to the community.

Rock, meet hard place. Hard place, rock. Or that's what it can seem like, at times. Yet people remain civil at these study sessions. Even friendly, as everyone comes together to seek forward momentum. The mood is kept relatively light as everyone strives to do what must be kept done.

And there's humor.

At Tuesday's meeting, after he and many other people in attendance noted that they were surveying the goings-on of Third Avenue, Moses Lake businessperson Jeff Foster said, "With everybody that's been going up and down Third Avenue, we've probably had more traffic lately …" to appreciative chuckles.

And city council member Lee Blackwell said he had a comment to make, only to defer to audience member Ralph Kincaid. When Kincaid protested that Blackwell had something to say, Blackwell responded amiably, "You're more important."

Lighter moments like these in the midst of discussing important things reminds us all that everybody involved in these meetings is still a real person with his or her own viewpoint, and should be treated as such. These are all members of the same community, many of whom have known each other for years.

It's fascinating to watch all the individual stories at play. One businessperson is concerned that those consumers shopping downtown for extended periods of time take away from the parking for his customers, who might need to just pop in for 10 minutes or so. A resident wants to see an interactive fountain put in to draw more people downtown. These and other tales make for edge-of-your-seat, pass-the-popcorn viewing. Who needs TV?

When the final decision is inevitably made, and the resulting cry of protest is heard (some people, it seems, will protest no matter what happens, as city council member Dick Deane and others pointed out during the discussion at the city council retreat in February), will those people be able to say they at least took part in the process of public discourse along the way?

Those who don't agree with the final decisions but were at every, most or any meeting, will at least be able to seek comfort in the fact that they stood up and spoke out when it counted most.

Those who kept still and are unhappy with the final outcome after the fact should maintain their signature silence.

The next meeting is Tuesday at 6 p.m. in the city council chambers.

Matthew Weaver is the business and agriculture reporter for the Columbia Basin Herald.