City’s Signs Stirring Up Controversy Do Messages Advocate Passage Of Street Bond, Or Do They Simply Provide Information For Voters?

The signs can be found along 70 Spokane streets.

They say simply: “This arterial scheduled for improvement under city’s proposed street bond issue.”

Signed, “Your city government.”

Are they advocating a position or merely providing information?

“I consider them campaign signs,” said Indian Trail resident Jonathan Swanstrom.

Phil Williams, the city’s director of planning and engineering services, disagrees. “This is strictly an informational sign,” he said.

Who’s right? Top legal advisers in Olympia aren’t sure.

“This is not a nice bright line,” said Chip Holcomb, senior counsel for the state attorney general’s office. “It’s certainly in the eye of the beholder.

“Some people see it as advocating a position even if they mention it,” he said. But the signs are probably OK as long as they just give information about the proposal, Holcomb added.

City street workers recently posted dozens of signs along streets slated to be repaved if the proposed $37.3 million bond issue wins voter approval Sept. 17.

The signs - along with employees using staff time to gather information being used by the Yes! For Better Streets campaign - have some residents shaking their heads.

“In fairness to us that oppose more taxes on our property, this is not only an illegal and underhanded act by the city but an insult to the intelligence of the citizens of this fine community,” said Swanstrom in a letter to the City Council.

Swanstrom also questioned placement of the signs on city rights of way - often above “No Parking” or speed limit signs.

Holcomb said the state Public Disclosure Commission can’t be so quick to condemn the city’s actions.

“There is a line between providing information and advocating a result,” he said. The five members of the governor-appointed commission could decide whether the line has been crossed after seeing the signs for themselves, he said. But a formal complaint must be filed first.

A city employee can devote time to compiling brochures that detail costs and projects, Holcomb says. The city also can use city materials to post signs during regular working hours as long as the signs don’t advocate a particular result.

Williams said the city put up similar signs in 1987 when voters approved a $15 million bond for street upkeep.

This time around, taxpayers have spent about $5,000 on materials such as plywood and posts that can be reused, he said. City crews already out repairing or replacing other signs posted the bond issue signs, often above existing road signs to save money.

“Certainly, these people would and could be out doing other things, but this is not an additional cost,” Williams said. “It’s a re-prioritizing of what they’re already doing. We have an obligation to give out information to the public. It’s not optional.”

Bob Turner, a city transportation engineer, will devote about one-quarter of his time during the next few weeks to gathering information for the street bond campaign.

“We alone can describe what the project can do, what the costs are,” Williams said, adding that part of Turner’s regular job is to provide traffic information to residents.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Panel tries to pave way for bond issue If passed, the bond would cost the owner of a $100,000 home about $89 a year for seven years, or $7.43 a month. The plea to save Spokane’s streets sounded a bit like a late-night commercial advertising a bargain. For just $7.43 a month, residents can save the city’s crumbling roads - and save their cars from broken axles and cracked mufflers. “You have to ask, ‘Is it worth it to me to get these potholes fixed?’ We think it’s a nominal fee,” said Dale Stedman, chairman of the “Yes! For Better Streets” campaign, which kicked off Tuesday at City Hall. The 36-member committee - composed of labor leaders, current and former council members, engineers, contractors and developers - will spend the next seven weeks trying to convince residents to lay down hard cash for smooth roads. The issue goes before voters Sept. 17. If passed, the bond would cost the owner of a $100,000 home about $89 a year for seven years, or $7.43 a month. The city has run out of other financing options, Stedman said. Money from federal taxpayers has nearly vanished. Other ways to pay for street upkeep - a utility tax, a local gas tax, an added motor vehicle tax - were shot down by courts, voters and county commissioners. “Another avenue has to be found to finance keeping transportation at the level it needs to be,” Stedman said, adding the bond is the most timely option. The city plans to resurface 46 arterial miles and four residential miles if the bond passes, but there are “no guarantees” involving any particular street, said Irv Reed, a committee member who retired as the city’s planning and engineering services director last month. “There are too many unknowns,” Reed said. “We may have to tear up a street as opposed to repair a street,” which would cost more. Stedman said he realizes convincing homeowners to increase their property taxes won’t be easy. “We’ll tell everybody who will listen, it’s ‘Pay me now or pay me a lot more later,”’ he said. There is no organized opposition so far to the bond proposal. - Kristina Johnson