Three Strikes, But Is It Out?
With a vote on Spokane city-county consolidation less than a month away, Mary Mitchell of the Spokane Valley asked for some history on efforts to form a separate city in the Spokane Valley. Tell readers how many times it’s been on the ballot and what the results were, she suggested.
Three times. It got 34 percent of the vote on Nov. 13, 1990; 44 percent on April 5, 1994; and 41 percent last May 16. It’s been a recurrent topic, however, since at least the late 1950s.
Tax dollars down the drain?
Nancy Uht, Spokane: “I have to comment on the washing of the streets. If that isn’t the most unneccessary expense. I’d rather see them picking up the leaves than washing the streets.”
Step on a crack, get government off your back
While Spokane city officials have been nagging some small business operators to get their sandwich signs off the public sidewalks, owners of The Mars Hotel downtown have been erecting permanent construction on the one in front of their establishment.
Are they in trouble, too? Nah.
Even though City Attorney Jim Sloane says the business should have obtained a city permit for encroaching on the city sidewalk before actually doing it, Irv Reed, the city’s director of planning services, said, “It could have been miscommunication.”
Only a couple of years ago it took a flap over the smoking ban at a sidewalk cafe to draw attention to the fact Nordstrom was delinquent in the fee it pays to use the public right-of-way.
What do “Bagpipes” readers think? Are the city’s regulatory folks asleep, or just sensitive to public rage against overreaching, demon bureaucrats?
A long walk to the bus stop
Whether Spokane County voters do or don’t approve city-county consolidation Nov. 7, residents of the entire area are connected in a variety of socio-economic ways.
In some outlying areas north of town, for example residents near Elk, Deer Park, Riverside and Chattaroy, want to come to Spokane frequently for shopping, entertainment, work and health care.
But unless the Spokane Transit Authority expands service to them, they won’t be able to take the bus.
What is transit service’s role in uniting a community? For that matter, what other services and activities connect us, regardless of political boundaries?
, DataTimes MEMO: “Bagpipes” appears Tuesdays and Thursdays. To respond, call Cityline at 458-8800, category 9881, from a Touch-Tone phone; or send a fax to 459-5098 or e-mail to dougf@spokesman.com. You also can leave Doug Floyd a message at 459-5577, extension 5466.