Kristina Johnson

Artist's illustration of the main entrance to River Park Square on Post Street.

With River Park Square demolition under way in the background, the Monroe Street Bridge stands in need of repair. Officials fear they lack funds to fix it and build a Lincoln Street bridge, too. Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review

With little comment and no changes, the Spokane City Council unanimously approved the 1998 spending plan drafted by the city manager. The plan passed Monday increases utility and cable TV bills but drops property taxes for most people. City residents will get another park, a new library and a public information coordinator.

The Lincoln Street bridge project will move ahead, but only after Spokane city officials prove to the City Council it's affordable. City Council members told City Manager Bill Pupo they wanted to know how the city could pay for both the bridge and desperately needed street improvements.

Spokane City Council members will confront three controversial topics tonight: proposed salary hikes for top managers, a 1998 spending plan and the Lincoln Street bridge project. The marathon meeting begins at 6 p.m. in the council chambers of City Hall, 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.

Spokane City Councilman Jeff Colliton wants to shelve the Lincoln Street bridge project indefinitely. Colliton plans to recommend to his colleagues Monday that the city complete the bridge design by February as planned but immediately halt all spending on the project after that.

A proposal to vacate a section of Adams Street in North Spokane hit a roadblock Tuesday when neighbors blasted the plan. Hi Bum Kim, owner of Beacon Cleaners, wanted the city to sell him a section of Adams between Mansfield Avenue and Northwest Boulevard.

Members of Spokane's gambling industry laid their cards before the City Council on Monday, once again requesting their taxes be lowered. For the third week in a row, owners of the city's rapidly growing gaming industry asked that the tax on card rooms be dropped from 20 percent to 5 percent. The testimony came during the fourth and final hearing on the city's proposed 1998 general fund spending plan.

The city of Spokane's proposed 1998 spending plan won't dramatically change the lives of its residents. There are no plans to slash the budget or boost it by millions of dollars. But residents likely will pay more for their utilities. And they may see a slight jump in their cable TV bills. But they could see their city property tax bills drop.

Spokane City Manager Bill Pupo wants to boost the salaries of 16 top managers and two administrative secretaries by nearly 2 percent, and possibly more through merit raises. The increase - if approved by the City Council - would be retroactive to Jan. 1, and cost taxpayers about $42,000, including benefits. The proposal has been discussed at least twice during council executive sessions that are closed to the public.

FOR THE RECORD (Wednesday, November 26, 1997): Clarification: Robert Saucier is the majority shareholder of the Mars Hotel Corp. The hotel's casino owes the city of Spokane $80,000 in gambling taxes. A Tuesday article about a City Council meeting was unclear on these points.

The Spokane City Council will conduct the third of five public hearings on the city's proposed 1998 spending plan tonight. City Manager Bill Pupo has proposed a $101.7 million general government budget that includes proposals to place a new tax on cable television and add a public information coordinator to the payroll. Directors of the city's three utilities propose raising rates for water, garbage collection and sewage disposal, increasing the average customer's bill by $2.87 a month.

1. Wonder what the view of the Spokane River gorge would be from the Lincoln Street bridge? Here it is. The new bridge would cross the river in line with Lincoln Street at a height about 20 feet above the Post Street Bridge, according to Jim Correll, chief engineer for the project at CH2M Hill. A Spokesman-Review photographer took these pictures from a helicopter hovering approximately 20 feet above the Post Street Bridge at the site where the proposed bridge would cross the gorge. Under the plan, the Post Street Bridge would be demolished and replaced by a smaller, lower bridge. The view below looks upstream across the Post Street Bridge toward the upper falls. The view at left looks downstream toward the Monroe Street Bridge and the lower falls. Photos by Dan McComb/The Spokesman-Review 2. A view of the proposed Lincoln Street bridge looking east, from the Monroe Street Bridge. CH2M Hill drawing 3. Below, a view upstream from the proposed Lincoln Street Bridge overlook, showing the proposed Post Street walkway in the foreground. Perron Collaborative drawing

View from the Monroe Street Bridge of the proposed Lincoln Street bridge project. The plan narrowly won approval of a citizens panel this week. Perron Collaborative drawing

By the slimmest of margins, the citizens committee charged with reviewing the Lincoln Street bridge voted Monday in favor of moving ahead with the project. The 9-8 vote will be sent as a recommendation to the Spokane City Council, which isn't bound by the committee's decision.

Spokane parks and library officials will debut their proposed 1998 spending plans to the City Council tonight. The presentations will mark the end of a three-part series of budget proposals being laid out for council members as they consider next year's spending plan.

Scrapping plans for the Lincoln Street bridge wouldn't keep taxpayers from spending millions of dollars on Spokane bridge projects. At least $20 million must be spent on bridge repairs and replacement even if the proposed bridge isn't built, city officials said Friday. And that doesn't count the $7 million already spent on the Lincoln Street bridge project, including $2.8 million to buy the former Salty's restaurant site and $3.2 million on a design contract with CH2M Hill.

Spokane residents likely will see an increase in their utility bills next year if the City Council goes along with proposed rate boosts. The cost of garbage collection, sewage disposal and water would increase $2.87 each month for the average customer if suggested rates are approved. The proposal's total tab for a year would be about $34.44. Department heads for three city utilities - solid waste, water and wastewater - debuted their proposed 1998 spending plans to the council on Monday.

Pupo

The city isn't adding any new police officers next year, but Spokane taxpayers will pay a lot more for the ones they already have. A $2 million federal grant awarded in 1993 allowed the city to hire 26 new cops. Federal taxpayers kicked in $25,000 a year per officer for three years, while the city picked up the balance.

A low-key debate between Spokane Mayor Jack Geraghty and challenger John Talbott on Wednesday led the political rivals to common ground. But they didn't stay there long. The hourlong debate sponsored by the Citizens League of Greater Spokane touched on myriad topics, ranging from public transit to the Lincoln Street bridge, downtown redevelopment to neighborhood councils.

Voters hear the refrain from candidates every campaign season: a pledge to search out wasteful spending like a cop on a criminal's trail. Spokane residents are getting an earful on the topic in this year's City Council races, with the twist that any money saved should go to street repairs. Mayoral candidate John Talbott lauds his plans for an independent auditor as the solution to nearly all the city's spending woes. Council candidate Steve Thompson proposes zero-based budgeting, where departments justify every budget item in detail every year.

Even as River Park Square's walls fall to a wrecking ball, Spokane City Council candidates keep debating the project's merits. The $100 million redevelopment of the shopping center - hailed by proponents as the first step to a revitalized downtown - is one of the campaign's most contentious issues. Two candidates point to the city's involvement in the project as a sign that City Hall doesn't listen to the people, that special interest groups rule, that neighborhoods are forgotten in the push to save two square blocks of downtown. Three other candidates - including two incumbents - consider the public-private partnership vital to saving downtown. Without it, they say, downtown's flagging sales tax revenues will continue to sink as more shops close, triggering further decline of the city's core. The redeveloped River Park Square is expected to open in mid-1999. It will include a new Nordstrom store, a multiplex, expanded parking, an atrium over Post Street and numerous shops and restaurants. Supporters say the project will create jobs, generate sales tax revenue and pump millions of dollars into the local economy. The debate largely is focused on financing plans approved by City Council members - and their decision to approve one aspect of the plan as an emergency ordinance that prevented the possibility of a petition drive forcing a public vote. The city is helping River Park Square's owners secure a $22.65 million loan from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. Council members also agreed to pledge city parking meter money to help pay expenses of a $26 million parking garage if it doesn't pay for itself. They passed the plan as an emergency, saying further delays could jeopardize the project's success - and, down the line, city revenues. Council candidate Steve Thompson, an outspoken critic of the plan, said he can't understand why the public is being asked to help a private developer. One project opponent has bought newspaper advertisements urging voters to "Stop the Cowles gang!" by voting against supporters of the project. River Park Square is owned by Citizens Realty Co. and Lincoln Investment Co., affiliates of Cowles Publishing Co., owner of The Spokesman-Review. "The first thing every investor wants to know is: What is the return on my investment?" Thompson said. Supporters say that's easy - it's all about jobs and money. The HUD loan guarantee requires that the project create or retain at least 700 jobs. Developers contend the project will create as many as four times that number. A 1995 economic study they commissioned said the project would create 2,800 jobs and generate more than $2.5 million a year in city taxes and $50 million in wages. Thompson and mayoral candidate John Talbott criticize the current City Council for not putting the pledge of parking meter revenues to a public vote. This year, $1.6 million in parking meter revenues went into the city's $11.6 million street fund. Talbott and Spokane residents Margaret Leonard and Dick Adams filed a lawsuit to stop the city's involvement in the garage. The pending suit questions the council's use of an emergency ordinance to move the project along. The lawsuit has delayed developers' plans to float revenue bonds to pay for the parking garage. Under an alternative plan, the developers would take out a private loan to pay for the garage. Mayor Jack Geraghty said he has no regrets about the plan's fast-track approval. "The only thing I would change would be to get it under way quicker. We need it now." Councilwoman Cherie Rodgers was the lone council member who supported a citizens initiative petition aimed at putting the use of parking meter revenues to a public vote. Rodgers, a lukewarm supporter of the public-private partnership, has other concerns about the project, especially the use of community development dollars to back up the HUD loan. "The Cowleses have put up no collateral for the loan, ... so that falls back on the city," Rodgers said. That's not true, said Betsy Cowles, president of both companies that own River Park Square. HUD officials require the developer to back up the loan with collateral other than the community development money. While the specifics of that collateral still are being negotiated, they include the revenue from the Nordstrom lease, rent from the parking garage and a reserve account expected to reach at least $4.6 million by the year 2002, Cowles said. "The bottom line is: There is collateral backing up the loan," Cowles said, adding that community development dollars are the very last line of defense against a defaulted loan. Geraghty also insisted that the community development dollars will be safe. "We're looking at this as closely and precisely as a steely-eyed banker would," he said. Geraghty and Talbott frequently clash over the project, with Talbott saying his opponent has tunnel vision regarding River Park Square while he ignores the rest of the city. Geraghty counters that redeveloping the shopping mall will be the catalyst for other downtown developments. Talbott has said the HUD moneys would be better spent investing in the infrastructure of downtown's east side. But Mike Adolfae, the city's community development director, said that's just not possible. The city can't use the money any way it pleases, Adolfae said. "You'd have to reapply for a new project." During a debate, Talbott also questioned why the city had dismissed a plan proposed by Eastern Washington University to develop the east side and bring "high-visibility jobs and opportunities to the city." Geraghty countered that the proposal was an interesting class project in the school's urban studies department, but it offered no funding options. Terry Novak, director of the Joint Center for Higher Education, backs up Geraghty's assessment. "This was a student project. There was no economic analysis," said Novak.

Spokane mayoral candidate John Talbott called on city leaders Monday to halt design work on the proposed Lincoln Street bridge while a citizens committee studies the project. Talbott criticized Mayor Jack Geraghty and the City Council for continuing to spend money on the project's design while the committee decides whether the bridge is necessary.