Letters To The Editor

GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

Zoning changes harmful, unwelcome

I recently attended the rezoning request hearing for a 48-unit apartment complex west of Wandermere Golf Course on Little Spokane Drive.

Why are zoning laws so quickly disregarded? Are county zoning and development decisions dollar driven?

People locate where they do because of the character of the neighborhood, which is directly related to the zoning classifications. A change in zoning classification automatically changes that neighborhood’s character.

Our investment in our homes and neighborhoods is substantially changed when zoning laws are disregarded so that the few can make a profit at the expense of the neighborhood.

The rezoning of sections like that in northeast Spokane, i.e. the apartment complex and the proposed Wal-Mart on Newport Highway, forces changes in already established residential neighborhoods.

Did my family and I decide 10 years ago to move to this area of the county in order to be closer to the traffic, congestion and stress so many other neighborhoods must contend with? No!

Please encourage your neighbors to get involved and support your current residential zone classification. Debra Robinson Spokane

Don’t sell out homeowners’ interests

The proposed zoning change which would allow a huge area to be developed into a Wal-Mart and other businesses along the Newport Highway near Hawthorne should be denied.

By allowing uncontrolled growth, the county will continue to add to the terrible traffic congestion on Highway 2 and through the neighborhoods adjacent to it. The traffic in Camelot has tripled during the period October 1995 to April 1996, according to county traffic figures. After the county opened an arterial last September between Highway 2 and Hastings Road, through Camelot and Forest Glen, traffic has steadily increased.

In efforts to change zoning to benefit only large entities such as Wal-Mart, this area is losing the appealing features that draw people to Spokane: neighborhoods, safety and some semblance of small town America.

It’s time for planning officials and county commissioners to stand up for the rights of the majority of property owners: homeowners! Tom Reser Spokane

BUSINESS AND LABOR

Contributions truly voluntary?

It’s a wonderful idea for food servers to contribute tips to the Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery. However, I would like to know if the restaurants matched the tips.

It’s all well and good for Onion General Manager Janet Zabrocki to come up with this idea, but is she sure she is not putting her employees on the spot and making them feel like they have to contribute when they really need to feed their own children?

I’m not accusing anyone of anything. I just want, as Paul Harvey says, “the rest of the story.” Deborah Lawrence Hale Greenacres

SPOKANE MATTERS

Signs of trouble up ahead

In an article in the July 31 Spokesman-Review, planning and engineering services Director Phil Williams is quoted as saying the new signs being posted along city streets were, in fact, just informational. Informational? I think not!

Not only is Williams trying to mislead us as to the purpose of those signs, he is also insinuating that we are stupid. What happened to the money that was to be used this year on the streets? Where are the repairs being done? The streets are in terrible shape but very little is being done.

Is the work being put off until after the election to further coerce us into voting yes? Is our hard-earned tax money being used to help finance a favorable vote outcome?

Williams, and anyone else who claim these signs are “informational,” is flat-out hoodwinking the public. This should stop and the signs should be taken down.

Each year, money is set aside for fixing our streets. This is the money that should be used and accounted for by the departments doing the work. An additional $37 million for other-than-permanent repairs is just too much to ask for. Herb Wagner Spokane

Vote no on the street bond.

Proper management, budgeting and spending did it before they started cutting back and doing sloppy patches upon patches, with new pavement over patches to work through it. The city used to do a very good job. After some patching they tore up the street, paved curb to curb with no center joining of pavement to weaken the street, allowing water under the pavement to tear up the job like it does now.

Good work lasts longer, saves money and pays in the long run.

Our city needs to start budgeting our services and using our money for them.

A no vote should tell the city we want our money used for what it was paid to the city for - for streets, one of our essential services.

Vote no on more property taxes. Our property value went up, so will our taxes. We still have a bond to pay for. We have been paying our share, but the streets don’t show it. Don’t waste more money on another bond. Ruth Herman Spokane

Situation seems like blackmail

I wonder about the proposed bond issue to improve the roads in Spokane. Perhaps I just don’t get it.

It seems to me there has been no work to improve the roads, fill potholes, resurface, etc., while allowing the surfaces to deteriorate. Meanwhile, I am seeing numerous signs go up telling me that the roads are slated for improvement under the new bond issue. Could it possibly be that the powers that be are allowing the roads to deteriorate so people will be so fed up with conditions that they will approve the bond?

We already have one of the highest overall tax rates in the country. I would love to see an accounting of where the dollars I spent on auto registration and gas taxes went. Did we, perhaps, buy a freeway for Seattle? Money to repair roads should only come from the direct users of the roads, not the property owners. Perhaps a toll road or two? Robert J. Grant Spokane

Snow job insulting, a disservice

Re: “City’s signs stirring up controversy,” July 31:

Although the city may need improvement of its arterials, it needs more desperately improved credibility of its leaders and employees. The explanation of Phil Williams, city director of planning and engineering services, does nothing to enhance that goal. In fact, it undermines the weak, if any, support that exists for tapping again into the taxpayers’ pockets.

Williams’ explanation that the controversial signs he has placed along city arterials are only “information” is an affront to his credibility and taxpayers’ intelligence. They offer nothing as to how such an obligation will encumber the citizen.

A truly informative sign about how the taxpayer would be affected would read: Voting yes on Sept. 17 to improve this arterial will cost the owner of $100,000 home $623 over seven years. That $623, if placed in a savings account at 5 percent interest for the same time, would grow to $872.

Also, how about placing signs on streets that will not be improved: People using this street and none of the designated arterials will receive no benefits and higher taxes if they vote yes on Sept. 17.

Trying to ram this issue down our throats with our own money is a childish approach. The citizens of this city want to know the truth about the benefits and financial obligations of the proposed bond issue so they can decide accordingly. Arrogance on anyone’s part does nothing to further that. John Ryan Spokane

OTHER TOPICS

Canadian policy, execution faulty

Re: “Crackdown on America’s least wanted” by Jim Lynch: In July 1994, four friends and myself experienced similar treatment from the Canadian border officers north of Bonners Ferry. We had planned a two-day trip to Fort Steele and Radium Hot Springs.

Unfortunately, our honesty cut the trip short as two members in our party confessed to past DWIs. The fact that we’re all business owners with roots firmly planted in our community wasn’t considered. Nor was the fact that these offenses occurred quite some time ago.

These customs officers need some lessons in human relations. The elderly golfers said that they were treated with intimidation and rudeness. Our party was treated with outright hostility; one of the officers even ransacked the trunk of our car.

Interestingly, we were told that the United States has a similar policy against Canadians entering the United States, which I presumed to be true until reading the article

How does a DWI conviction make one a lifelong criminal? Why aren’t the same restrictions and fees imposed on Canadians entering the United States? How much tourism revenue is lost at the hands of Canadian customs?

I can understand being denied access if you are a murderer, rapist, child molester or, yes, even for a DWI repeat offender. No matter. In Canada, if you fall under any of these categories, you can cough up the dough, be labeled “inadmissible” and come on up.

I wonder if the $95 and $286 are in U.S. or Canadian funds. Ken Hill Coeur d’Alene

Help with animal moving costs

Walk in the Wild Zoo has never gotten a break from this newspaper. Now they need enough money to transport the animals to other zoos, or they will have to euthanize them. Please, readers, donate to the Inland Northwest Zoological Society for this purpose or Rosie the grizzly, the beautiful tigers, Leonard the golden lion and others may be destroyed.

People who say animals don’t belong in zoos don’t understand that we have taken almost the rest of the world away from them. Zoos are like a modern Noah’s Ark. Dorothy E. Carter Spokane

Register, study and vote

The most important privilege we have as U.S. citizens is being able to vote. To vote, you must be registered. Attend meetings to understand the issues and meet the candidates. If you’ve changed your address since you last voted, you must re-register by Aug. 16 in order to vote in Sept. 17 primary. For information, call the Spokane election registration office, 456-2320. L.J. McMullen Nine Mile Falls