How Can We Approach Idea Of Science Center Constructively?

Opponents of putting the Pacific Science Center in Riverfront Park have said repeatedly they weren’t against the Science Center itself, just the way the idea was put before the public.

They say it was a list of unanswered questions that doomed the proposal on last month’s ballot. Proponents just didn’t address concerns about costs, about the fate of children’s rides that the center would displace from the Pavilion, about transportation, about access, and so on.

Now the idea of putting the plan on the ballot again has been shelved. Officials from the Pacific Science Center told backers that Spokane needs to overcome its civic disarray before they would be interested in another vote.

Good advice, especially since the nature of the opposition seems to leave room for some public dialogue about what the community would support.

If “Bagpipes” readers have ideas about how the issue could be approached more constructively, send them in. Addresses and phone numbers are at the bottom of the column.

Unrest in the Valley

A science center in Riverfront Park isn’t the only defeated issue that local voters may see again. Another incorporation movement is in the works in the Spokane Valley. Proponents want to form a new city called Lilac Valley.

Incorporation efforts have failed consistently in the Valley, as did this year’s proposal for city-county consolidation.

As the surfacing of a new incorporation plan proves (if any proof were necessary), failure of previous plans doesn’t mean area residents like the local government structure they have now.

But if that system is unsatisfactory, what would a satisfactory one look like? What needs are unmet now, and what would it take to address them properly?

What part of “Eastern” don’t you understand?

Even though officials and educators are worrying about how the state can accommodate an explosion of college-bound students, Eastern Washington University says it could handle twice as many students as now enrolled.

So Eastern wants to establish a $171,000 recruiting office in the Puget Sound area.

Should a state university spend its money competing with other state universities for students whose parents’ taxes are paying for it?

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