Strings In Talbott’s Back Reach To Seattle

Sun., Jan. 18, 1998

John Webster For The Editorial

Northtown developer David Sabey has begun to get his money’s worth out of John Talbott, who was elected Spokane’s mayor with help from attack ads that Sabey funded.

Even before he took office, and without notice to the public or City Council members, the mayor-elect began working hand-in-glove with Sabey’s lobbyists, to sabotage Sabey’s commercial competition in downtown Spokane.

On Dec. 16, Talbott sent the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development a letter, asking “as mayor of the entire community of Spokane” that HUD meet with him to discuss his concerns about a federal loan, needed soon, on which the downtown improvement project hinges.

On Jan. 8, Sabey lobbyists sent HUD a letter and memo detailing issues the mayor wanted to discuss with HUD, at the upcoming meeting which was not yet public knowledge. The letters to HUD claimed, in Talbott’s words, that the project was flawed by “a very limited public process.”

This, from a man who spoke at some of the many long public hearings the City Council conducted on the project. This, from a man who brought (and lost) public lawsuits challenging the project.

All this, from a man who complains city officials are too much in agreement with the business people attempting to invest in downtown renovation. How is Talbott’s back-door alliance with Sabey more defensible than the very public business alliance he condemns?

What irony. And what a crippling blow Talbott has delivered to his credibility as mayor.

He claims to be concerned for financial viability of the downtown project. Where did he get the idea that financial viability was not foremost in the minds of business interests who actually are investing in the project, as well as city officials who have scrutinized the project for several years on the public’s behalf?

Last week when City Council members learned of Talbott’s maneuver, five of them sent HUD a letter to set the record straight: The project was approved by repeated public votes of the council after intense public debate and numerous revisions that responded to the debate. The council and the developer worked assiduously with HUD to ensure the project’s eligibility for HUD’s urban-improvement programs.

City Council Member Phyllis Holmes says she’s optimistic HUD will recognize for whom Talbott does and doesn’t speak. He doesn’t speak for city policy or for the council that sets it. Nor does he speak for the public interest, defined when Congress decided to aid urban areas, and when the City Council agreed downtown Spokane must be saved from decay. The authentic message to HUD from Spokane is this: The future of our central business district depends on timely approval of this loan. Do it now.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = John Webster For the editorial board

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