Apply vision to Playfair

I read The S-R’s recent articles about city leaders trying to sell the Playfair track property for a loss.

So the initial intent of the purchase didn’t come to pass. But the city has a gem and there is no one voicing a use other than selling it. As a child of the late ’60s, I was fascinated by Spokane’s downtown train system transformation into the World’s Fair of the mid 1970s. Where are those type of leaders with vision today?

I can foresee the Playfair property with huge public potential. It is geographically in the center of Spokane. It will have easy access to both the north-south and I-90 freeways. It’s close to the fairgrounds. The future of that area may come to include locations for a stadium or sports venue, a hub for government buildings, a park, just to name a few.

Even a natural and dog-walking area is better than selling and losing future potential uses. Open space in a city is precious and very hard to get after the fact.

Isn’t some lost tax revenue worth the cost in the long run? City leaders need to have vision and be good stewards of our open space.

Chip Magnuson

Cheney