‘Listen To Us’ Is Message Citizens Send To Council

An echo bounced through Spokane City Council chambers Saturday.

While it never sounded exactly the same - its voice was young, old, male and female - it carried a familiar message for city officials.

Listen to us.

“It’s high time the public had some voice,” said Steve Thompson, one of at least 225 people who packed council chambers and spilled into the foyer for a “citizen’s retreat.”

Organizers touted the retreat as a priority-setting session for residents who wanted a say in how their government runs.

“It shows there’s a lot more than seven or eight people who feel strongly about Spokane,” organizer John Talbott said of the high turnout. “They want change, and they want to be a part of it.”

A panel of eight residents, some who have served in or run for public office before, sat in the council members’ chairs, ready to answer questions on topics such as “city taxes and you,” “land use,” and “council responsibility.”

Outside council chambers, handouts on the city charter, city management salaries and land-use laws covered tables. Inside, people came to the podium to talk about everything from code enforcement to conflicts of interest, annexation to the Pacific Science Center.

“It would be the opinion of some people that this is just a group of whiners and losers who have nothing better to do,” said Five Mile resident Doug Metcalfe.

“What we are is victims of the city of Spokane who have stayed and fought and tried to correct the problems of the past,” he said.

At one point, Talbott urged speakers to avoid council bashing.

“They have a job to do,” he said. “We want to tell them very clearly how they may be able to do it better.”

Hillyard resident Mary Gaddy immediately popped up with a suggestion, urging the council to do something about poor accessibility to the recently refurbished council chambers.

“There’s no accessible automatic door for people to get in the door,” she said. So why doesn’t the council pass an ordinance requiring disabled people be consulted during city construction projects? she wondered.

“That’s one way to make sure it fits the needs of those affected,” Gaddy said.

Two weeks ago, the retreat’s future was uncertain. The council rejected Councilman Chris Anderson’s request the $285 rental fee for the chambers be waived, and instead demanded payment up front, in cash.

Anderson sponsored the retreat.

Since then, people from as far away as Newport, Wash., have sent checks to Anderson, Mayor Jack Geraghty and the retreat’s organizers. Cash donations and pledges total nearly $1,900.

On Saturday, council members Mike Brewer and Joel Crosby stopped by City Hall to see how the retreat was going.

The high attendance showed Crosby “the council has a problem communicating with certain elements of the community,” he said.

“I think there’s obviously a lot of criticism, but it’s difficult to do things without criticism.”

Mary Ann McCurdy said she came to the retreat to hear firsthand what went on in city government. She came away believing that “if you’re unhappy…you can do something about it.”

Several people asked the panel to put together another retreat in the near future.

Anderson said the message he would take back to the council was clear: “The people of Spokane want to be a part of the decisions their elected officials are making.”