Letters To The Editor

Sat., Feb. 7, 1998

SPOKANE MATTERS

City entangled in its own red tape

I find it comical that the city of Spokane has been tripped up on the Lincoln Street Bridge by the very red tape it has created. The planning department has been a quagmire for years. The permit process is a mess due to the arbitrary rulings by each different examiner.

The recent article mentions the Growth Management Act, Shoreline Master Plan, five years to rewrite the plan, hours of hearings, state review and several layers of approval before $9 million is wasted.

Why can’t we streamline the process? Roland C. Lamarche Spokane

Foolish to stomp on First Step

I read with interest the recent story about the city of Spokane trying to shut down First Step Services, a private addiction recovery club, because of code violations.

The action was prompted by three complaints, two of them about drugs and sex being sold near First Step and one filed because a man gave First Step as his home address.

First Step has been in operation since 1994, but all three complaints were filed in the last few days. First Step has been giving intoxicated people a cup of coffee and a place to sit. A portion of the club is set aside as a sleeping area for people in trouble, referred by local social service agencies. First Step is supported totally by donations. But the city government feels First Step must be shut down because of a few complaints and some code violations. Sounds more like throwing the baby out with the bath water!

If there’s a problem with panhandling and the selling of drugs and sex around First Step, maybe the best solution is for the police to have a little higher profile there. Just because First Step tries to help those on drugs, prostitutes and homeless people, doesn’t mean it condones criminal behavior.

I would think city government would do all it could to help First Step, rather than hinder it. It is hassling an organization that helps those most in need of help and it doesn’t cost the city anything. Maybe city government needs to change its priorities a little. Robert C. Clausen Fairfield, Wash.

How about a ‘Jacobson’s Park’?

I was deeply saddened to read of the closure of Jacobson’s Greenhouse.

It was suggested that a park be put in that area. If so, it should be named Jacobson’s Park. They brought so much beauty to so many for such a long time. R.M. Clouse Spokane

Shadow Day help appreciated

Thanks to the efforts of many, Junior Achievement’s Groundhog Job Shadow Day gave 250 area students an up-close look at what a real job is like. Through a partnership between the business and education communities, Job Shadow Day provided an opportunity to show students how the skills they learn in school are applied in the workplace

Special thanks to the many businesses that opened their doors and made this opportunity available. In addition to participating in Job Shadow Day, it is the business community that provides the volunteers who work with the students in the classroom, teaching the Junior Achievement curriculum. These business volunteers become role models to students, presenting important life concepts through their diverse outside perspectives.

Thank you, to all who were involved, for making Groundhog Job Shadow Day a valuable experience for our young people. Eleanor Andersen, president Junior Achievement of the Inland Northwest, Spokane

HIGHER EDUCATION

West’s pro-WSU meddling senseless

In keeping updated on all the articles and proposed bills regarding the Eastern Washington University-Washington State University merger, it seems that the hidden agenda is now surfacing.

Initially, the object was to help EWU gain higher enrollment and become part of a larger school system that would promote more programs and offer EWU students more options. As of today’s revised bill, the focus seems to have changed to simply letting WSU take over the Riverpoint building and leaving EWU intact in and Cheney. To further this, EWU downtown programs would not merge, but would move to another downtown location to keep EWU students.

It seems clear that Sen. James West’s proposed bill is simply a favor to WSU. WSU has been trying to gain access to the Spokane market for years. This biased plan of West’s would allow this to happen, and in all the doing, keep EWU in its current as-is condition.

Leave EWU alone and let it evolve and make the changes it needs. EWU is stepping up enrollment plans as well as looking for a new leader with an entrepreneur’s thought process for the Spokane and Cheney area. Jonathan Ferraiuolo Spokane

Don’t give students the bum’s rush

An important caveat has been left out in the legislative bill that gives Washington State University control over the education offerings and facilities in the city of Spokane.

Currently, Easter Washington University’s College of Business and Public Administration is sharing a facility with WSU at Riverpoint Higher Education Park. EWU worked hard to establish a presence in Spokane for the many years WSU was reluctant to do so.

Now it appears that WSU has the right to evict EWU from its current Spokane location. It is essential that EWU maintain a presence in Spokane, since the population we serve consists of urban, nontraditional students who research professors are often unable to serve because of their time commitment to research.

If EWU is forced to move its programs back to Cheney, our students will experience far more inconvenience and expense. If we are evicted from Riverpoint but allowed to operate a program in Spokane, we must very quickly find a facility in a non-campus environment at a time when all East Side higher education institutions are experiencing low enrollments and depleted cash.

Many EWU students attend night classes and are “time-poor” working adults with spouses and children. They deserve to get their education in good facilities and an academic environment. Low-income EWU students missed out on the collegiate experience that others enjoyed in their teens and 20s. Students who are pulling themselves up by the bootstraps should not be penalized by having to extend their night travel to Cheney or by casting them off to a quick-fix rental facility. Patricia Nemetz Mills, Ph. D. associate professor of Strategic and Operations Management, EWU

SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION

Silk purse report for sow’s ear program

The citizens of this state have been duped by the superintendent of public instruction and other education bureaucrats into believing education reform has been successful in our state.

On Jan. 29, the Senate Education Committee held a work session titled “An Expose on the Schools for the 21st Century.” Three independent education researchers presented the facts:

1. Contractual obligations under the law for the 21st century outcome-based education schools were not met, even though state taxpayers spent $21 million on this project and it affected more than 52,000 students in 27 districts.

2. Evaluations of pilot schools were done by those in charge of individual projects. No independent, unbiased evaluation was ever done.

3. The 1995 final report to the Legislature on the schools for the 21st century program from the Washington State Board of Education and state superintendent stated, “Kids in schools for the 21st century are performing above the academic level of traditional schools.”

There are no baseline data or any other data that can be shown as reliable and valid to prove this statement.

4. The 38 elementary pilot schools scored lower on the new state fourth-grade assessments given in April 1997 than students in traditional schools, although the new test was designed to measure the outcome-based model of learning that had been used in the 21st century schools for up to nine years.

These are the schools upon which current education reform is based. Ask yourself if your children can afford to be part of an experiment that has failed? Gayle A. Corativo Spokane

Meet Our Journalists

Jesse Tinsley

Meet Jesse Tinsley. As a certified drone pilot, this veteran Spokesman-Review photographer often can be seen capturing beautiful aerial photographs of our region. Sometimes though, the job requires getting down with the dogs.
Jim Meehan

Jim Meehan is no stranger to Zag Nation. As the lead writer covering the Gonzaga men’s basketball team, he tells the stories behind the game and gets fans a bit closer to their favorite players.
Molly Quinn

There is no artist in Spokane like Molly Quinn. Her whimsical style is instantly recognizable to readers of The Spokesman-Review. She has painted gorgeous illustrations that instantly elevate the journalism accompanying it. She brings to life the stories that defy photography. She makes our pages better.
Rob Curley

Spokesman-Review editor Rob Curley loves to talk with people and learn about their lives, whether it's a best-selling author or a stranger he meets downtown on his walk to lunch. It's that inquisitive nature combined with a playful sense of storytelling that helps make our newspaper different than most.