Letters To The Editor

SPOKANE MATTERS

STA plan sacrifices access

As anyone who rides the bus knows, an essential service provided by Spokane Transit Authority is transporting those who can’t move themselves. They include the poor, the elderly, the impaired - less fortunate, perhaps, but citizens going about their business nevertheless.

It’s less obvious that access - in the way of modest walking distances to a bus stop - is also essential. I have in mind a mother cradling a fussy baby, the man whose leg appears normal until you see him struggling with each step, the 80-something woman bent with osteoporosis but shuffling proudly toward the bus stop.

Fortunately, buses currently meet these folks at a nearby stop. Alas, STA’s proposed service plan abandons meandering routes with their nearby bus stops in favor of achieving 15-minute service on mostly straight, arterial routes. The plan narrowly focuses on “consolidation and elimination” of these neighborhood routes to attain dubiously swift travel along a few major streets.

Who’s left out by this plan? You guessed it! J.B. Rivard Spokane

Geraghty bungled downtown policy

Mayor Jack Geraghty, his City Council and city manager ignored my many pleading letters to save downtown retail. Geraghty’s consensus nature destroyed my historical Davenport Sport Shop and Boutique, downtown retail (the tax base) and cost downtown property owners more taxes.

John Talbott is my choice for mayor. Talbott’s motto at all times is to use his God-given qualities: honesty, integrity, loyalty and strength. His dream as mayor is to restore all of the existing downtown to protect the $100 million of invested public money allocated to River Park Square, and to make downtown Spokane great again for a better, vibrant Spokane prior to 1999.

Vote for Talbott for mayor to save us all and downtown Spokane. Lilo Harris International Enterprises and Downtown Specialists, Spokane

Sack all the incumbents

Wake up to reality, Spokane. Do not vote for past or present city officials. Stop the dishonesty. Remember, not only were the state laws amended to circumvent your vote on the aquifer legislation, but your vote was taken away on the waste-energy legislation when your city officials sued you. Judge Durham stated that the Supreme Court 5-4 decision was a disgrace and cast a pall on the initiative process.

It just never stops. In stopping two paving projects, I found that local improvement districts were being formed with illegal petitions. I also found that our professionals at City Hall actually were unaware of the boundaries of one of those projects. I cannot trust professionals who make such a ridiculous mistake, and I object to residential taxes being used to remodel the downtown area.

Be involved. Vote. Mayme V. Gerimonte Spokane

City gets it half right, anyway

Regarding the efforts to revitalize downtown Spokane.

Most encouraging sign: Skywalks are being taken down.

Most discouraging sign: There are plans to put them back. Stephen J. Franks Spokane

Let county residents vote in city races

I’m a registered voter in Spokane County, and I exercise that privilege regularly, but I am prevented from voting in city elections by law because of my residence being outside the city limits.

This requirement may have been valid in the days of the horse and buggy, when visits to the city were monthly. Many of us now frequent the city on a daily basis. I breathe the air, drink the water, travel the roads, use the parks, patronize the businesses, pay the taxes, etc.

Solution: change the law. Enable residents of the county to vote in city elections for mayor and City Council positions.

While you’re at it, elect John Talbott mayor. I know this guy, and he doesn’t want just to be mayor. Talbott wants Spokane to be a better place to live. He has no ax to grind, no political agenda or business interests, and his family and moral ethics are an example for all of Spokane. So vote him in. I sure can’t. Alan M. Robinson Mead

Gilmore showed me she really cares

As a young person, I encourage others to vote for Judith Gilmore in the upcoming election.

A year ago, when Gilmore was working in the governor’s office, I went to her with a problem I had concerning enrolling in the community college. At the time, I was working for minimum wage and really had no hope of improving. Gilmore worked to help me get enrolled and encouraged me to pursue the training I would need to make a better living. She did not give me empty promises, but took the time to contact the college and help me get enrolled.

I will finish my two-year degree in May and look forward to working in my new career field.

I believe Gilmore when she says she will work to improve and provide living-wage jobs. I also know from my experience that age, background or social status do not determine Gilmore’s response to a person’s needs.

Voting for Gilmore for City Council position 2 would be a wise choice if you really want a council member who listens, cares and accomplishes what individuals need. Zeke A. Bibby Spokane

WASHINGTON STATE

I-676 is simply about kids’ safety

The sole purpose of Initiative 676 is to protect the lives of children. It’s about handgun safety in handling, use and storage.

It takes no rights away. It extends present gun laws to include handgun safety only.

Give the kids a better chance at growing up. Vote yes on Initiative 676. Betty J. First Spokane

Heston’s badmouthing unseemly

So, Charlton Heston, the demigod from Hollywood and vice president of the National Rifle Association, came to town and told his worshipers Initiative 676 is so evil it should have been called 666. In doing so, he did the same thing to the people who wrote the initiative as we did to Japanese Americans during World War II that resulted in them being confined to concentration camps, the same thing we did to German Americans during World War II that resulted in many of them changing their names. Shame on Heston!

The people who wrote initiative 676 are well-intentioned citizens trying to solve a very real problem. They were also trying to make their solution enforceable.

Yes, I believe they went too far, and I oppose I-676 for that reason. But that’s no reason to make comments that suggest these good people, many of them believers in the same Christ I believe in, are somehow subhuman or demon-possessed.

Because of Heston’s notoriety and his early movie career playing religious roles, many of the rabble he appealed to think the writers of this initiative are the very devil incarnate. We do not need people of Heston’s caliber in this city, this state or even this nation. Instead, we need informed voters who will vote their conscience, not the ill-conceived opinions of obnoxious demigods like Heston. E. Arthur Seaton II Spokane