Even Two-Bit Terrorism Qualifies As A Fool’s Bargain

I’m so angry at Spokane County’s nongovernment right now that I could spit nails. Our organization - Friends of the Little Spokane River Valley - is having problems with a couple of developers and the county has created the atmosphere in which some of these folks run unchecked. Confronted by a nongovernment that doesn’t listen to individual citizens, and by a wealthy developer who likes to sue, we are feeling pretty powerless.

I could have an urge to “solve” the problems by lashing out, yelling at someone, pounding on tables, to make them see what I think is wrong. Maybe strike a little fear in their hearts. Then they would listen. Perhaps make a couple of anonymous phone calls or …

Now there’s a bad notion.

I’m not really the kind of person to lash out. As with most people, the thought might flit through my mind but I reject it.

Some folks, however, do strike out, perhaps thinking that a little fear will make people see things their way. Coercion through fear: That sounds a lot like terrorism.

Someone in our neighborhood has graciously provided us with a lesson on how terrorism, even on a small scale, makes solutions more difficult.

In Friends of the Little Spokane River Valley, up north of Spokane, we’ve done things like promote parks, gather countywide support for the Conservation Futures program, promote planning - and oppose excessively dense, potentially harmful developments. We have two of those going right now.

One developer, a real heavyweight, wants to put 40 houses, on septic tanks, where four are allowed. With a series of delays, errors and questionable decisions by the county commissioners, we have been prevented from introducing additional evidence showing how much damage those septic tanks might cause. We are pretty darned angry with the county nongovernment over this.

Fortunately, we’ve kept our cool and are pursuing our right to be heard through the system. It’s in opposing another development effort that we are learning how terrorism makes solving problems more difficult.

Back in June of ‘96, developer Jim Markley wanted to change zoning on a three-acre parcel on Little Spokane Drive at Highway 395 to put in a bunch of apartments. We’re pretty sensitive about rezoning like that because it’s the first rezone in an area that does all the damage. In Spokane County, all a person has to say is, “I want to increase zoning density because there’s high density just down the street,” and she gets her approval.

Some people aren’t too keen about apartments, either, but the rezoning is the biggest problem.

I guess someone got severely unhappy and decided it would help the cause to spray paint Markley’s hearing sign, stick up a few signs of their own on his property and, just to wrap it all up, threaten his wife.

Bad idea.

It turns out that Markley might have been willing to talk to neighbors to resolve some issues, but he wasn’t much in the mood after his wife was threatened.

Markley’s first try at rezoning was denied but his second attempt, with a much smaller increase in density and fewer apartments, was approved. We tried to work with him, and I think we were partly successful, especially after I told him I was sorry to hear about the threats and offered to help repair the vandalized sign.

But those threats - that terrorism - really made it difficult to find common ground. And that’s not all. Since the threats were mentioned in a recent newspaper article, we may have lost much of the credibility that Friends of the Little Spokane River Valley has built up.

As president of our organization, I hope those responsible are not members. Terrorism is not what Friends of the Little Spokane River Valley is about, nor is it what the many good people who live in this area - most of us - are about. But someone made threats and we will all be tarred with that brush.

Developers and neighborhood groups don’t get along (surprise!). Developers think opponents keep them from making a fair profit and homeowners think developers are trying to make huge profits at the expense of existing homeowners.

Both are wrong - but in some ways they are right, too.

We were trying to develop a reputation for being reasonable. Now, because someone decided their ends justified any means, we are likely to be branded as hotheads and will find it more difficult to work with developers and planners.

Yeah, those cowardly acts hurt the developer a little but they damaged our objectives even more.

It doesn’t take a brave person to skulk about, make anonymous threats and destroy property. What takes courage is stepping out into the open and working within the system to make changes. That’s difficult, frustrating, depressing, painful and slow. And being in the open can be frightening. But, in the long run, it works better than any possible gains from threats and violence.

For all of you who are unhappy with your city or county governments, come on out. Join with your neighbors or others who feel as you do and become a chorus. Individuals can be ignored easily but politicians listen to groups - who vote.

Threats and violence - terrorism - cannot succeed. Working with groups in the open will.

MEMO: Tom Hargreaves, a member of The Spokesman-Review’s Board of Contributors, is an engineer, artist and writer and was a combat pilot in Vietnam. He has edited an environmental newsletter and a literary journal, and is active in organizing his neighborhood and improving local government.