Response to Vestal

Shawn Vestal hit the Pavilion issue on the head, calling for public input. Feedback is also missing regarding the Bosch lot at Monroe Street Bridge. The Utah-based climbing gym proposal began with City Council.

Changing our Charter to give City Council more power is no solution. At the last three Parks meetings I

waited hours to testify two minutes on Bosch. Parks, with a heavy agenda, lacks a trigger mechanism for

public input. Feedback propelled Parks to void a consultant’s plan to make Manito accessible by bus

only. Parks held four forums to hear if Murphy Park at Twenty-Seventh should be relocated for a shopping mall. One City Council meeting is not enough.

Send RFP’s Design team to neighborhood councils or libraries to hear the public after explaining issues. Likewise Parks needs to get public input on a nine-story gym by our falls, where membership costs 3 times more than the Y and 2 and a half times at Wild Walls. No other bids allowed.

Let’s study a handicapped Veterans Park with Native/local sculpture for Bosch. Hear the taxpayers. Vestal concluded Parks cannot be opaque on the Pavilion; likewise, on the climbing wall idea.

Carol Ellis

Spokane