Public Periscope
Give them a bus token of our appreciation
It’s the end of the route for two of Spokane Transit Authority’s faithful. The STA board on Wednesday honored Art Thoma, retiring as director of STA projects, and Bev Numbers, who must leave the board because she lost re-election to the Spokane City Council … Thoma said he oversaw many “interesting, challenging projects” in his 11 years, the most recent being the downtown bus station. Numbers chaired the committee that oversaw that construction … County Commissioner Steve Hasson also is leaving the board. The vacationing Hasson didn’t attend Wednesday’s meeting but doesn’t think he would have been honored anyway. “Good riddance, that’s how I view my seven years on that board,” said Hasson, an outspoken critic of STA and the bus station.
What’s next? Channel 5 without pictures?
State Internet types have put together something for government junkies. It’s called TVW’s Audio on the Internet, and those with World Wide Web software and a sound card can check it out at http:/ /www.tvw.org … On it, computer users hear, over a modem or direct Internet connection, sound files of press conferences, court cases and government hearings. One can hear, for instance, a portion of the Supreme Court’s oral arguments involving former Loomis Armored Inc. guard Kevin Gardner, who was fired after leaving an armored truck to help disarm a man holding a bank clerk hostage … TVW is a non-profit group that helps provide citizens information on state government, that hopes to become the state equivalent of C-SPAN (which has its own web site, by the way, at http://www.c-span.org.)
A sign of the times
One reader found it mildly ironic - and so do we - that the sign at the entrance to the Police Guild notes that the premises “are secured by Sonitrol.” Not much of a vote of confidence for its members, she noted.
It’s all in the numbers
Numbers from the state Office of Financial Management may make the politics of growth management hot and heavy next year. The agency says Spokane County could have between 475,000 and 550,000 residents in the year 2015 … That estimate is important because local governments can plan for no less or no more than the population the state projects for their community. Spokane currently has 401,200 … Planners are concerned the 75,000-person range in the state estimate gives elected officials a lot of wiggle room … County commissioners planning for the top figure would approve far more subdivisions - as well as roads and sewers - than if they plan for the lower figure. Stay tuned.
Campaign season already
State Sen. Nita Rinehart found herself doing something most politicians try to avoid - giving money back to people who want her to have it for her campaign for governor. The Seattle Democrat returned $2,355 to contributors who got the money to her after the Dec. 8 deadline … That was the point - 30 days before the start of the session - at which members of the Legislature and the incumbent must stop accepting contributions under the state’s campaign financing law … Good-government types might applaud Rinehart for her attention to detail; cynics might say she’ll get that much worth of publicity for doing something she was obligated to do … It’s Christmas. We choose to do the former.
, DataTimes MEMO: Public Periscope, published Mondays, is compiled by Jim Camden from staff reports. If you have a question about government, growth or development, we’d like to help find an answer. Write us c/o The Spokesman-Review, Box 2160, Spokane 99210, by fax at 459-5482, or by e-mail at jimc@spokesman.com. Or call Cityline at 458-8800 on a Touch-Tone phone, then press 9120 to leave a message.