Council Rejects Petition Citizen Group Had Asked Public Vote On Project

The Spokane City Council on Monday rejected a citizen group’s request for a public vote on the city’s involvement in the River Park Square redevelopment project.

What some called a blow to citizens’ rights, others said was the only way to save downtown.

Last month, a citizens group known as Priorities First gathered 3,200 signatures on an initiative petition calling for a public vote on any pledge of parking meter money to an off-street parking facility.

The council had three options for dealing with the initiative: approve it, put it before voters, or declare it legally invalid.

In a 6-1 vote, council members chose the third option.

Cherie Rodgers cast the dissenting vote, saying she supports the project but feels the public is entitled to a vote.

But Councilman Orville Barnes said delaying the project could hurt the city’s tax base.

“The alternative of (the project) not going is a very, very expensive one,” he said. “Sure, we have put at risk the $1.6 million in parking meter revenues.

“But I guarantee you we would put at risk many millions more if it were not done.”

On Jan. 27, the council pledged parking meter money to help pay expenses of River Park Square’s parking garage if parking revenues fall short of projections.

The proposed initiative was retroactive, so the council’s January decision would have gone to voters for approval.

Monday night, City Attorney James Sloane trotted out case law and statutes supporting his opinion that the initiative petition wasn’t legally valid. Initiatives can’t take away certain rights given the council by law, he said.

Steve Eugster, attorney for Priorities First, countered by offering laws and past legal precedents in support of his opinion that the measure was legal. Legislative bodies derive their power from citizens who also have a right to take that power away, he said.

Sloane said the initiative presented “a Gordian knot” of legal problems, saying: “When you slice through one, you have another one to deal with.”

Eugster said courts historically have held the right of citizens to referendums and initiatives as “sacred.”

“I fear that the council will agree with Mr. Sloane, and it will yet have more litigation in what should have been brought to the public,” Eugster said.

The city already is in court on a referendum petition filed by Priorities First that attempts to force the council’s Jan. 27 decision to a vote.

Opponents and supporters of the downtown redevelopment project spoke for more than an hour Monday about why the latest initiative should or should not move ahead.

“You’ve heard the legal opinions and, quite frankly, it goes right over the top of my head,” said John Talbott, of Priorities First. “An awful lot of people signed an initiative … and they want to vote on it.”

Karen Valvano, of the Downtown Spokane Partnership, called the project a “catalyst to stimulate a lot of economic development in this community.” She urged the council to move ahead with the project.

River Park Square’s $100 million redevelopment would include a new Nordstrom store, a 24-screen cinema, and other shops and restaurants.

Construction is due to begin this month.

River Park Square is owned by Lincoln Investment Co. and Citizens Realty Co., affiliates of Cowles Publishing, owner of The Spokesman-Review.

, DataTimes