Letters for Jan. 19, 2024

Invest in our future community

I’m writing to express my unwavering support for the upcoming Spokane Public Schools bond and levy measures that will significantly impact the future of our community. As the proud principal of Wilson Elementary, I see firsthand how hard teachers and school staff are working to provide every child with a top-notch education.

The proposed bond will ensure a safe and conducive learning environment at schools across our community. Just last summer, the bond funded the replacement of 18 windows in our historic 100-year-old school.

Equally vital is the proposed replacement levy. These funds are instrumental in fostering a well-rounded educational experience that goes beyond textbooks, enriching the lives of our students and preparing them for a successful future. At Wilson, the levy helps to fund a full-time counselor, nurse, librarian, seven para-educators and additional classroom teachers to ensure our class sizes stay low.

District funding for our extracurricular activities is also funded by the levy. At Wilson, this includes robotics, cross country, basketball, choir, art and drama, to name a few. This school year to date, we’ve already had 189 students participate in these extracurricular activities, which is 63% of our student population.

Investing in our schools is an investment in the future of our community. I urge our community to vote “yes” on the SPS bond and levy on Feb. 13, standing together in our dedication to shaping a bright future for the next generation.

Christina Admire

Spokane

Washington needs rent stabilization

In 2019, I invested a small inheritance left by my father to purchase my forever (mobile) home. My intention was to live the rest of my life here.

After Medicare insurance is deducted from my disability deposit, I have $1,600 per month to pay lot rent, insurances, gas, medications, food and unexpected medical fees outside my co-pay amount.

At 63, as a disabled, low-income senior, I have been forced to make the rounds of local, state and federal agencies to accrue enough assistance to offset my current 12% lot increase of $66. I have no idea what my options will be, if my next rent increase exceeds my COLA.

Rent control freezes rental rates, but rent stabilization regulates rent increases. Stabilization provides not only financial but emotional security to mobile home residents – often elderly, or disabled on fixed incomes who worry about being priced out of their homes by excessive lot rents.

Homeowners with kids should consider the impact of unchecked rent increases for their children. Can recent graduates or young adults entering the job market afford to leave home? What rent do you imagine their first job income can support? Now look at what rents are in your area. Crazy, right?

If your mortgage company gave you notice today the plan to bump your monthly payment by 25%, what impact would that have on you or your family? This is the reality felt by renters and mobile home park tenants.

Tina Hammond

Spokane

Things to know for election year

Now that we are in an election year, I’d like to remind the constituents of Cathy McMorris Rodgers about her voting record.

She voted against lowering insulin prices. She voted against the Inflation Reduction Act. She voted against Honoring the Pact Act. She voted against the child tax credit and help with the cost of child care. She voted against the Build Back Better act. She voted against the Freedom to Vote Act. She voted against the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. She voted against the Right to Contraception Act. She voted against ensuring Access to Abortion Act. She voted against the Paycheck Fairness Act. She voted against raising the minimum wage.

She has voted multiple times to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Let’s not forget that she signed an amicus brief in the Texas vs. Pennsylvania lawsuit to overturn the 2020 election. And that she was going to object to the verification of the 2020 election on Jan. 6, until she got scared by the rioters.

Also, let’s not forget that she was sanctioned by the House Ethics Committee for misusing campaign funds.

In 2022, it was reported that McMorris Rodgers was the No. 1 recipient of PAC contributions for any house candidate in the nation.

I don’t think anything more needs to be said.

Carrie Cadenas

Spokane

Elected officials should witness homeless situation

I hear a lot about the homeless situation in Spokane, and I keep thinking that people in government are more likely to fix problems when they feel those problems personally. Do you think that people in Spokane government might be more engaged in solving our homeless problem if every elected official was required to volunteer four hours a month with the homeless?

Jeremy Street

Cheney

Keeping it local

In response to The Spokesman-Review’s change in letters to the editor’s policy: Thank you. I was grateful as well when The S-R moved national news off the front page and replaced it with local news. I was so sick and tired of seeing the same old politics of division on the front page every day that I was about to cancel my subscription. I feel that the recent letters to the editor following changed guidelines have been elevated. Rather than complaints about right and left and division, I have read thoughtful prose suggesting actions that would benefit Spokane and Washington residents. Thank you, again.

Kathleen Smith

Spokane