Project promoting unity draws concerns

Moscow city councilors hope that an effort to promote unity in Moscow will not further polarize the city.

The Moscow Human Rights Commission is planning to roll out the Moscow Together Project that allows businesses and nonprofits to advertise themselves as inclusive.

Businesses and nonprofits who participate in the project will sign a commitment statement.

“To enable everyone in our diverse, inclusive community to feel valued, safe, and welcome, I/we commit to treat every individual equally with dignity and respect in a safe and welcoming environment,” reads the statement. “I/We agree to join MOSCOW TOGETHER and will display the Moscow Together logo decal or poster to indicate commitment to a welcoming, inclusive, caring community.”

They will then receive decals and posters indicating they are part of the Moscow Together Project.

Ken Faunce, chairperson of the Moscow Human Rights Commission, said this effort is in response to reports of individuals saying they do not always feel safe and welcome in Moscow.

“The idea behind the project is to advertise and bring together Moscow as a welcoming, inclusive, safe place to live,” he said.

Faunce explained the project Monday to the Moscow Public Works and Finance Committee, which includes city councilors Maureen Laflin, Hailey Lewis and Gina Taruscio.

The Human Rights Commission is asking the city council to endorse this project. Faunce said all the funding for the project will come from the Human Rights Commission budget.

Faunce stressed that any business or nonprofit without a decal or poster should not be considered unsafe or unwelcoming.

“We don’t want a list of, ‘Here’s the good, here’s the bad,’ that kind of thing,” Faunce said. “That’s not what it’s going to be.”

Additionally, businesses that sign up for the project will be asked to remove the decal or poster if they are found to continually discriminate against individuals.

The Human Rights Commission is planning to officially launch the project in September.

Laflin, Lewis and Taruscio expressed concerns about how this project will be perceived by the public.

“With the goal of promoting unification and safe zones, does (Moscow Together) actually, in some respects, further polarize us?” Laflin said. “I just have to say we need to think about how we can overcome that.”

Taruscio stated she would like the Human Rights Commission to further clarify that this project is not a list of businesses that “are approved or not approved.”

Lewis wondered if this project should be focused less on businesses and more on individual vows.

Faunce said the Human Rights Commission plans on allowing individual residents to sign up for Moscow Together posters, yard signs and possibly T-shirts in the future.

The Public Works and Finance Committee agreed to allow this topic on the regular agenda for next week’s Moscow City Council meeting.

Also on Monday, the Public Works and Finance Committee recommended the city council accept a bid of $49,925 from Western Construction to add landscaping to the roundabout being constructed on Mountain View Road and Sixth Street.

The plan calls for the installation of five trees, 25 shrubs, decorative grasses, mulch and irrigation.

The roundabout is one of several construction projects occurring on Mountain View Road this summer. Cody Riddle, Moscow deputy city supervisor, told the Daily News that construction on the intersection of D Street and Mountain View Road is on pace to be completed in the next couple of weeks before the school year begins.

The D Street and Mountain View Road work includes eliminating left-turn lanes, replacing sidewalks and installing pedestrian ramps.

Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.