In evaluating mayor’s latest mailing, it’s tense

Anyone paying attention in grade school grammar learned that verb tenses are kind of important. Mayor Dennis Hession and his campaign advisers might want to review that lesson, based on hizzoner’s latest mailing to voters.

The mailer, which probably just by coincidence arrived at the same time as primary ballots last week, is mainly about restoring integrity to City Hall. But on both sides of the card, it makes reference to staffing levels at the police and fire departments.

“More police and firefighters are being hired,” it says on one side.

“I hired a new police chief – and we’re hiring more police and firefighters,” it says on the other.

Present tense. Well, arguably present perfect in the first instance, but clearly an indication that the city is well in the middle of this hiring of more public safety personnel.

This will no doubt come as a shock to members of the City Council, who have been complaining for months that they set aside money to hire four new cops last December, and the mayor wouldn’t spend it. Or to the police and fire unions, who have been saying their numbers are down from a few years ago.

At the end of July, Hession announced that the economy was looking up, the city’s budget was looking up, and he thought the city could hire 24 cops and 10 firefighters without asking for an extension of the extra property tax levy. But those hires would come over the next two years, with 12 new cops in 2008 and 12 in 2009. And one does not simply snap one’s fingers and hire a ready-made officer. There’s that pesky civil service stuff, and then they have to go to the academy and learn all that important police stuff.

One can already hear certain council members saying that if he had hired the four officers we funded at the beginning of the year, they’d probably be on the streets by now and those verb tenses would be dead-on accurate.

But he didn’t. Hession said that’s because the council didn’t have a plan for the new officers, just numbers and “numbers are meaningless.”

Asked if his ad was pushing the verb tense a bit – perhaps he should be using the future tense – Hession insisted not.

“I directed the chief to get these positions filled,” he said.

To keep and bear paint

When spray paint is outlawed in Spokane, only young outlaws will have spray paint.

That seems to be the direction City Councilwoman Mary Verner is going in an effort to crack down on gang graffiti. She’s proposing an ordinance that says no one under 18 can have a spray can of paint on city streets or in any other public place in Spokane. No store could sell a spray can of paint to someone under 18 without parental permission. No one could give a spray can of paint to someone under 18 unless it is that kid’s parent or guardian.

The proposed ordinance makes no mention of large buckets of paint and brushes, or those wide-nib markers that also can fall into the wrong hands. Just remember, spray paint doesn’t cause graffiti, people cause graffiti.

Election reminder

Ballots have been mailed, for Spokane County residents who have a primary election to worry about.

Remember, not everyone does. If you live in the city of Spokane, Spokane Valley or Cheney, you do. If you live in the Orchard Prairie, Nine Mile Falls, Riverside or Newport school districts, you do. And the town of Fairfield has a fire levy.

If you live anywhere else, you’ll just have to wait until November to exercise your voting right.

If you live in one of those districts and you aren’t registered to vote, you have one last chance to cast a ballot. You can go to the Spokane County Elections Office at 1033 W. Gardner on Monday before 5 p.m. and register.

Be sure to bring a photo ID with you. Your own photo ID, of course.

Catch the candidates

Today

Noon: Mayor and council president candidates forum, sponsored by the League of Women Voters, taped on Cable Channel 5.

Thursday

6 p.m: Council candidates forum, sponsored by the League of Women Voters, taped on Cable Channel 5.

8:30 p.m.: Mayor and council president forum, sponsored by the League of Women Voters, taped on Cable Channel 5.