Public Periscope

Time Flies, Part One

During a summary judgment hearing last week over the city of Spokane’s involvement in the River Park Square project, Superior Court Judge Kathleen O’Connor made it perfectly clear she wasn’t going to spend all day listening to attorneys argue points they’d already explained in hundreds of pages of documents … The hearing started at 2:30 p.m., and O’Connor said she planned to leave by 4:30 p.m … “You folks could go on forever,” she said to the attorneys, “and I don’t have that kind of staying power.”

Time Flies, Part Two

A spat of sorts arose between Judge O’Connor and attorney Steve Eugster when the judge asked how much time Eugster would need to make his argument in the lawsuit decrying the city’s involvement in River Park Square … Wanting to be certain the other side didn’t get more time than he did, Eugster replied, “I need as much time as they’re going to take.” O’Connor wasn’t pleased and demanded that Eugster set a time limit … “I don’t mean to be glib or cute,” Eugster replied, then continued to ask for as much time as the opposing attorneys. The exchange flew back and forth a few times, with the judge demanding a time limit and Eugster saying he wanted the same amount as the other side … Eugster finally settled on 30 minutes, after which O’Connor also gave the other side 30 minutes.

Timely reinforcement

Spokane’s city clerk just started reading an ordinance that calls for spending $121,000 to upgrade City Cable 5’s equipment when the channel lost its signal … TV screens across the city - along with those in the council chambers - filled with fuzz … A few minutes later, the channel came back up … Communications Director Laurie DeVarney recently asked the council to update the aging equipment because the channel has had repeated problems with “dropout,” or losing its signal … Point accidentally proven, the council approved those improvements.

Government in the dough

U.S. Sen. Connie Mack, R-Fla., faxed off a news release last week offering taxpayers a bread sack full of reasons they should grumble as they send off their tax returns Tuesday … Mack said research by the Joint Economic Committee found a single loaf of bread bears more than 118 direct and indirect taxes. Those taxes include everything from business income taxes to property taxes, highway tolls to utility taxes, unemployment taxes to gasoline taxes … “Multiply all those taxes … and the total rises faster than the dough,” Mack said.

The Woodstock crowd will bring their grandkids

Hats off to Jim Frank’s Greenstone Corp. for sponsoring a series of concerts this summer at Liberty Lake’s Pavillion Park … But the Periscope finds it curious that Brewer & Shipley found its way into a “family-oriented” concert series … The rock-folk duo’s one big hit was 1971’s “One Toke Over the Line,” a song full of marijuana references.

Tag, you’re it

Mayor Jack Geraghty traveled last week with several business leaders to Nishinomiya, Japan, to explore potential trade opportunities … Geraghty said the trip was a wonderful chance to talk with the country’s leaders face-to-face, adding that Japanese leaders visit here frequently. “It’s protocol in these things,” he said. “If you can do it, there should be a return visit.” Geraghty said the business contingent would pick up the costs of air fare and hotel rooms, while city taxpayers would pay for meals.

Hope they had enough energy to celebrate

Spokane County and the city of Cheney were among 10 governments statewide to be honored recently by Gov. Gary Locke for efforts to save energy in public buildings … County buildings Director James Manson and Cheney building official John Montague received the awards for their jurisdictions.

, DataTimes MEMO: Public Periscope, published Mondays, is compiled by Kristina Johnson from staff reports. If you’ve got a question about local government, growth or development, we’d like to help you find an answer. You can write us c/o The Spokesman-Review, Box 2160, Spokane 99210. Or e-mail to jimc@spokesman.com. Or fax to (509) 459-5482. Or call Cityline at 458-8800 on a Touch-Tone phone, then press 9120 to leave a message.

This sidebar appeared with the story: HOT TOPICS Spokane Regional Health District board members will discuss the “sexuality attitudes” survey Thursday at 1:45 p.m. in the Public Health Center, 1101 W. College.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Compiled by Kristina Johnson from staff reports.