Huckleberries: Different piece of land but the same story

In his excellent new history booklet, “The Treasure Called Tubbs Hill,” CDA attorney Scott Reed recounts the story to preserve 34 acres at the hill’s top that applies today. Seems German investors were negotiating with a local group to develop the crown of Tubbs Hill. Their plan was to obtain crucial water and sewer service through a building lot developed on the north side of the hill under questionable circumstances by former city building inspector Ozzie Walch. Reed tells of the behind-the-scenes maneuvering involving a list of leading citizens that was necessary to block the development threat and to set the stage for the public to obtain title to the property for $250,000 (half of which was paid by Land and Water Conservation funds). Undeterred, Walch, who’d been fired from his city job for beginning to build a house on Tubbs Hill without a permit, lobbied in letters to the editor and newspaper ads against preserving the hill top for public use. In doing so, he offered the same lame argument that those opposed to the Education Corridor are using today – local governments would lose property tax if the top of Tubbs Hill was public. Some $135,000 per year. Remember this when some 21st century Ozzie Walch bellows that the proposed Education Corridor should be private rather than public to expand the tax base.

River side bargain

Some have questioned the $10 million asking price set by developer Marshall Chesrown for the 17-acre DeArmond Mill site along the Spokane River that is proposed to house the Education Corridor. In his Tubbs Hill history, Reed includes a document from county Assessor Mike McDowell. Who set the estimated value of the 134 acres of Tubbs Hill/McEuen Field on Jan. 1, 2005, at $177 million (if they were developed for high-end residences or condos). In June 2006, McDowell estimated the January 2006 value of Tubbs Hill at $246 million, using a general overall increase of county property of 40 percent. That pencils out to $1.84 million per acre. By comparison, Chesrown is asking North Idaho College to pay $588,235 per acre for his Spokane River front property (delivered with an environmental stamp of approval). Or about one third the 2006 value of Tubbs Hill acreage. Still think $10M is unreasonable?

Huckleberries

Poet’s Corner: You veer and you swerve/you cut and you squeeze,/for streets in Spokane/are much like Swiss cheese – The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Motoring Through The Lilac City”) … At 9:39 a.m. Wednesday, a disembodied voice on my office police scanner said: “Bring all your gusto with you because you’re going to have to strip ‘em.” Nothing more. Makes the mind reel … In responding to a proposed ban on all concealed weapons in Seattle public places, Berry Picker TUBOB commented: “Why in God’s name does anyone need to pack a handgun into a library? Seriously. Help me out gunslingers. Scary books? Dangerous librarians? Maybe you might get lost in the aisle with books on grizzly bears? Hell yeah, ban ‘em” … For those keeping score at home, Rebecca Mack, who was Mark Fuhrman’s sidekick on his ex-Spokane radio show, will be joining the SRadio lineup on KJRB 790 soon.

Parting shot

Whether intentional or not, one of the funniest Web comments I’ve read was offered by GOPTruth under an Idaho Statesman online story before the current Idaho GOP convention: “A note to the Ron Paul delegates going to Sandpoint. Please wear deodorant. There were many (as in more than 8) at the Ada County meeting who were elected to delegate positions that clearly were not up to speed on personal hygiene. This is not meant to be a ‘personal attack’ but a general piece of advice in order to help you conduct yourselves in a professional manner.” Now, there’s something you won’t hear Dems complaining about. They have patchouli oil to cover B.O.