Letters To The Editor

Sat., Feb. 18, 1995

SPOKANE MATTERS

Need is for savvy management

For the last quarter century before retirement I worked as an estimator for several structural steel fabrication firms in Seattle. Moving to Spokane to retire, I worked about a year for a local firm, then part time for a while after.

I estimated material, labor and overhead costs, submitted bids, negotiated contracts and negotiated any change orders that might come later. The architect had to stay within the contract price for the investors had budgeted a fixed amount from the business and would not allow any more. If it was determined a change involving more money was desirable, the cost was made up by reducing the cost of some other item. The contract was sacred.

If the contractor went broke, others would learn to whittle their pencils sharper the next time.

I am not criticizing the transit system. The bus drivers, maintenance crews, office and support personnel deserve full praise. A competent outside manager should be hired for these projects and given complete authority within prescribed parameters.

We should insist that the country bumpkins who have fouled up so many projects stay away from work details in progress. It’s our money, shouldn’t we be allowed to say something? Clyde F. Jarvis Spokane

Angove deserves appreciation

Over the past 20 years it has been my honor to work with Sam Angove on numerous Parks and Recreation projects. As parks director, Mr. Angove has demonstrated an unyielding commitment to public parks, recreational facilities and open space.

During these times when we ask for efficiency and effective leadership from our public officials, Mr. Angove stands as a model of everything that is right about government. Working with limited financial resources from the county, he has left us a legacy of public parks and open spaces that will last for generations.

Mr. Angove is a man of great vision who continually strives to get the best he can from everyone he works with. His leadership will be missed.

I hope every resident of Spokane County will join me in prayer for his speedy recovery and return to public service. Jim Frank Liberty Lake

Get ready to hold a costly bag

Once again, The Spokesman-Review slants the story to its view and not to our fine taxpaying citizens.

Feb. 9 was the day the anointed or appointed Spokane Park Board approved the Pacific Science Center lease in our Riverfront Park pavilion area.

Mark Virden, U.S. Bank commercial banker and park board member, launched into a speech on the Nov. 8 election and the need to privatize public business. Nice speech but the Pacific Science Center needs over $6 million in federal and state funds to be built and hundreds of thousands in federal, state and city money to operate. That’s not privatization, it’s a shift in where tax dollars are appropriated. It’s still our money!

I suggest that we get back to reality and publish accurate Riverfront Park dollars, not preliminary “savings” that do not forecast or include all costs.

Why didn’t The Spokesman-Review include in its science center article of Feb. 10 the $700,000 (quoted from Frank McCoy, park director) needed to relocate park offices, etc., the Park Board’s failure after two promises to provide dollar figures for relocating the popular pavilion rides, and no financial guarantee of success for this project from the Pacific Science Center?

When this financial Titanic goes belly-up, semi-trucks will load up all of the displays, etc., and head West on I-90, leaving the taxpayers of Spokane holding the bag. Jonathan Swanstrom Sr. Spokane

Support science center, zoo

The Spokane Park Board made a good decision by approving a leasing contract for the Pacific Science Center in Riverfront Park.

The Spokane area will certainly benefit from this educational, hands-on facility. I urge the City Council to vote yes on this proposal next month.

There is another important decision coming up, to be made by the county commissioners, regarding the fate of Walk in the Wild Zoo.

The natural setting of this beautiful piece of land lends itself so well for a zoo. The clean, spacious animal enclosures are nicely and safely done and careful consideration has been given to the setting and special needs of each animal species.

It is a wonderful experience to be able to observe the three snow leopards, bobcat, white arctic fox, two Alaskan brown bears, cougar and tiger pairs, otter, owls and birds of prey, plus many other birds and animals in a natural setting. The domestic animal exhibit is equally appealing and allows young children to see and sometimes touch these animals, including a pot-bellied pig and llamas. Visit this zoo now and see what a treasure we have.

As the Spokane area grows, we must give up some of the small town atmosphere of city and country. In return, we’re ready for special facilities such as a science center and a zoo.

Contact the people voting on these issues and encourage favorable decisions for our community and citizens, present and future. Elita Jones Spokane

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

Ignorance drives spite from the right

Cal Thomas has it wrong. It is not the same old ideas that don’t work. It is the hate and bigotry of conservatives who refuse to admit to a problem that can be solved by new ideas. The ideas might indicate their spiteful rhetoric and character assassination are just part of the problem.

Dr. Henry Foster Jr. seems to be an idea person, a person willing to find ideas and work toward solutions to problems. That is what we need in the surgeon general. But because he performed a few abortions, he is being made out to be a criminal and one of those physicians who have made abortion their only procedure for the big bucks.

How about the right looking at Dr. Foster’s real qualifications instead of looking for a party philosopher entrenched in unworkable ideology? How about the religious right looking for a man of compassion instead of for a Pharisee stealing the two minims from the poor?

The Republicans’ hate and money machine will attempt to oppose Dr. Foster on all the false accusations and propaganda possible. This debate is just a smokescreen to avoid tackling the real issues. The many problems of AIDS, drug use, unwed mothers, low birth weight babies, the aged, declining immunization rates, restricted access to preventive medicine and hungry children are not going to be solved by acrimonious and irresponsible debate.

If Dr. Foster can help solve these problems, he should be named surgeon general. Richard H. Stalter Ephrata, Wash.

Privatization no panacea

The Feb. 12 story on wasteful spending at Hanford was very informative. Thomas Grumbly, head of the Clinton administrations’ nuclear waste cleaning effort, made a remark that government leaders throughout Washington state should remember.

According to Grumbly, Hanford’s financial problems are due in part because “The people who were supposed to be the protectors of the taxpayers’ dollars haven’t been adequately skillful or in enough numbers to challenge what’s gone on.”

Our state legislators will be looking at several privatization bills during their session. A few legislators will toss out huge numbers representing alleged savings taxpayers will achieve with privatization. The truth is, their numbers are guesses; they don’t know if they will save money or not.

State and local governments are woefully short of management talent. Many individuals in positions of responsibility are there due to political camaraderie, not from any identifiable skills as managers. Many do not have even a rudimentary knowledge of areas they manage, yet they are responsible for decisions costing millions of dollars. Private contractors will tie them in knots.

State and local government classified employees in Washington have excellent training and are very loyal to their organizations. No matter how good your work force is, if you don’t have solid management, your organization will not be cost efficient.

Ineffective management is the problem facing government at all levels and privatization won’t solve that problem. If you think otherwise, look at Hanford. Tom McArthur Spokane

Wage adjustment just adds to cost

The Davis-Bacon law was enacted in 1931 as a floor for wages on federally funded jobs. Over the years, we’ve seen these federally mandated wages go through the ceiling. And the states have mirrored these requirements on state and local public works.

The Davis-Bacon Act has nothing to do with quality and everything to do with adding to the taxpayers’ burden for work performed on public projects.

Two things happened when the government imposed wage criteria, known as the “prevailing wage.” One is the creation of a large bureaucracy to establish, oversee and enforce this. The other thing is that the easiest way to determine a prevailing wage is to simply adopt union scale, and this is what’s done. In most of this country, union scale is not the prevailing wage. Both things cost us lots of money.

As a recently retired general engineering contractor in heavy construction, licensed in California and Nevada, doing public works exclusively, I have some examples.

The California Department of Transportation publishes quarterly a general prevailing wage rate book. After counting over 1,000 wage classifications, I quit. This is pretty much the bible on wages for the state. For 1991, here are some comparisons for union and non-union wages, respectively: Journeyman carpenter, $26.66 vs. $12 to $18; general construction laborer, $23.60 vs. $8 to $12; and Teamster, $28.32 vs. $12 to $15.

It’s time for a change. The marketplace takes pretty good care of the private sector. Let’s see what it can do for the public sector and the taxpayer. Holman D. Pettibone Spokane

What about executives’ inflated pay?

The Feb. 12 story on the $2.6 million end-of-year bonus to the CEO of the Mesa Air Group was rather interesting (Spokesman-Review, Business section). According to the story, Mesa stock, which was trading at over $22 in October 1993, is now trading at about $6.50.

Perhaps George Will, who is urging repeal of the DavisBacon Act, in part because of the inflated wages of skilled craftsmen, might find time to write a critical review of the excessive remunerations of corporate executives. Fred J. Meyer Coulee Dam, Wash.

Gingrich not as he’s portrayed

This is in answer to Sandi Deccio’s Your Turn column (Feb. 11), with respect to the effect of House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s policies.

Based upon what she has heard about him from the media, I agree that she has much to fear. But what Rep. Gingrich says and what the media say he says is so far apart as to be journalistic malpractice. Those interested should watch C-SPAN, especially should tune Channel 17 on Saturday, 6:30 a.m.

His approach doesn’t fit within the present top heavy bureaucratic system. His approach isn’t to cut money for money’s sake but to introduce a new way of doing things that will improve the quality of Ms. Deccio’s life.

Money savings will be the result of using the Demming model of management, not the Taylor model that’s now in place in most government approaches.

With respect to welfare, those who are able but unwilling will be hurt. However, those who are able but don’t know how will be taught, and those disabled or in other unfortunate situations will be helped to have a more fulfilled life, most probably with increased spending. Social Security death benefits surely won’t be touched.

I do hope the Social Security disability program will be changed, especially to get the alcoholics and drug addicts off. It isn’t fair to have our money go to those who have decided to destroy their lives. If the government wants to finance alcohol and drug habits, that program should be outside of Social Security. Robert L. Dunning Spokane

Unlike Gingrich, Gore checked

Concerning Matthew Crain’s comparison (Letters, Feb. 11) of House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s book deal to that of Vice President Al Gore’s informative “Earth in the Balance,” it should be mentioned that then-Sen. Gore submitted his book deal to the Senate Ethics Committee before signing the contract. The committee checked to see that the publisher, Houghton Mifflin, had no congressional business involvement with either Sen. Gore or any committees upon which he served.

Newt Gingrich ignored established ethics procedures with his book deal. Sharon Leon Spokane

Legislature change makes sense

Once again, The Spokesman-Review has criticized someone without doing its homework.

Our Congress is divided into two houses: the House of Representatives, the membership of which is apportioned by population and established by the 14th Amendment; and the Senate, the membership of which is apportioned at two per state by Article 1, Section 3 of the Constitution.

Rep. Cathy McMorris’ proposed realignment of our state Senate is nothing more than structuring our Legislature along the same lines as our Congress - House by population, Senate by geographical area. Jack Ranck Loon Lake

SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION

Tight-fisted voters hurt education

These past few months I have seen voters come into our school and vote no on our maintenance and operation levy three times. I have noticed that many of them do not know what these levies are for and how they hurt the students when the levies don’t pass.

Our school is not the only one this happens to, and it really makes me mad. Schools have to make cutbacks in many things that are essential for learning. Then people wonder why students don’t learn everything that is possible.

Teachers are having to pay for classroom materials out of their pockets and aren’t even able to buy new textbooks to replace the ones that are out of date.

I think communities should understand how these levies affect students. Our parents tell us to think about all the options before making a decision, so why don’t they? Tammy Brown Loon Lake

Teachers know own training needs

(Opinion editor) John Webster’s “Pay them to teach” dissertation in Monday’s paper would be worth about a C or a C-minus in any Journalism 101 class. In reading it, all kinds of questions arise:

What are his sources? Does he have more than one? Has he observed any of this firsthand?

It sounds like all of his data and, worse, his conclusions, are based on a single article that appeared in The Spokesman-Review about a week ago. Even worse, he is critical of teachers getting college credit for popular classes and union seminars.

Seminars and classes about what? Teaching children? Violence in the classroom? Drugs in our society? Multicultural sensitivity? Abusive relationships, etc.?

What a shame it is that teachers can claim credit for popular classes and union seminars that deal with topics such as these.

It seems to me that a person the public charges with teaching a classroom full of students ought to be the one best equipped to make decisions about what is needed in terms of continuing education to best meet the needs of these students.

The old adage sure rings true here: The one with all the answers is the one who doesn’t even have enough information to understand the problem. Lynn R. Jones Spokane