Condemnation Not Fair Or Justified Breathtaking Even If The Project Proceeds, It Will Not Eliminate Public View.

The hardest choices are never those between right and wrong, but those between right and right.

It is right, for instance, to preserve open visibility of an aesthetic asset as striking as the Spokane River Falls. But it is also right to smooth the traffic flow to and through the city core, which is why a Lincoln Street Bridge is needed, even if it restricts certain views of the falls.

Likewise, it is right to reverse middle class flight from the urban center, right to encourage private investment downtown and right to bolster, rather than deplete, the property tax rolls.

For those reasons, the Spokane City Council should abandon condemnation proceedings over 1 acres of riverfront property between the Spokane Public Library and the falls.

Ten years ago, when property owners Steve and Leslie Ronald announced plans for a condominium project, city officials cheered.

But when the city built a new downtown library and realized the project would interfere with a panoramic view of the falls, the cheers ended. It didn’t matter that the city budget was so strapped that the library had to shut down eight extra days in 1996 - stunning view and all. Condemnation efforts began and the city offered the Ronalds $875,000.

When a jury ruled last month that the land was worth $2.184 million, City Manager Bill Pupo and Mayor Jack Geraghty said the city can’t afford that. Given such unmet city needs as police staffing and street maintenance, could they have afforded $875,000?

The city contended at trial that the property is worth much less because steep topography makes building on it economically forbidding. If so, the view problem solves itself at no cost.

But even if the project proceeds, it will not eliminate public view of the falls. Yes, it will block part of the view from the library during hours the library is open. But it will not affect the breathtaking experience of strolling the east sidewalk of the Monroe Street Bridge during high runoff, or pausing in grassy Veterans Court, where thundering whitewater hammers the basalt beneath your feet. The Ronalds’ own plans provided public view access on their property, by the way.

So far, the city has dwelled on one shortcoming of the Ronalds’ plan - obstruction of a splendid view. It is time to consider its many potential benefits and forget about condemnation.

, DataTimes MEMO: For opposing view, see headline: Negotiate fair price, that all may benefit

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