Changing His Tune Mayor-Elect Talbott Extends Olive Branch To City Council He Once Asked To Resign

The man who once asked most City Council members to resign praised each one individually Thursday as a key to bringing the city into the next century.

The council hasn’t changed that much since John Talbott said most of them should step down for agreeing to vacate part of a downtown street.

But Talbott has. Then he was a citizen activist and council critic. Now he’s the mayor-elect, about to lead that council.

“You know, if you’ve read the paper, that I’m not well-received down there,” Talbott told some two dozen people gathered for his first speech since being declared the official winner of the Nov. 4 election. “They’re afraid I’m going to tear everything apart. Well, you can’t do that.”

Talbott talked about economic development, new priorities for city spending and more efficient ways to deliver city services.

But a key feature of his speech to the Northside Republican Action Club was an olive branch offered to the council he previously has criticized.

Some of those same council members had balked at Talbott’s postelection comments that he would be assembling a team to advise him on city issues.

The council is the team, they replied.

Talbott made it clear Thursday that he wants the council on his team, complimenting each member for a talent he hopes to tap.

Orville Barnes is someone who can help the city hold the line on taxes, he said. Phyllis Holmes is a diligent supporter of neighborhoods. Roberta Greene knows how to ask the tough questions, and Jeff Colliton knows how to attract the business Spokane needs.

Cherie Rodgers - the one sitting councilmember Talbott didn’t ask to resign in July because she did not vote for the vacation of Post Street - is a strong researcher who speaks her mind, he said. New member Rob Higgins knows traffic and budgets and can help find the money the city needs to fix its streets.

The change of tone may be pragmatic. But winning an election can change a candidate’s perspective - particularly if he wins by only 433 votes out of more than 57,000 cast.

“There’s no mandate here,” he told the crowd, which included some of his most avid supporters.

Talbott promised that by mid-January, they would hear about plans to “reinvent” government and know how they can participate.

He called for an economic summit which would bring business leaders from around the nation to Spokane and would include any citizens who want to participate.

“Let’s have them tell us just exactly what it would take to get them to (bring jobs) to Spokane,” he said.

The different business groups should work with the city Planning Department to develop a strategy for downtown, Talbott said. The Spokane Area Economic Development Council should help neighborhood centers improve the economy of the neighborhoods, from Shadle to Hillyard to the East Side.

The city should pour any discretionary spending into streets and public safety, he said. Anything else will have a hard time getting extra money or more staff.

No one who needs help should feel “bogged down” by the bureaucracy, Talbott said. But everyone who asks for help should do everything possible first to solve his or her own problem.

“Government does work, but it only works if we require it to work.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo