Letters To The Editor

GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

Spokane can be great if we will but try

Spokane has tremendous opportunities on the horizon, just waiting for us to seize. Bernard Daines’ Valley start-up - Worldwide Packets, Avista’s subsidiary growth (particularly fiber and Internet software), a brand new downtown office tower and the long-awaited north-south freeway, just to name a few.

Unfortunately, I fear that all these great strides toward turning Spokane into something very special will be unrealized if we meet these challenges with a defeatist attitude. Any longtime Spokane resident knows the stigma: Spokanites never want to do anything.

Too often, we as a community sit back and let people like Steve Eugster - who makes an enemy of anything that remotely smells like progress - have the last word on decisions that affect Spokane’s future.

I love this city and think it’s a great place to live. But a city that stagnates, that let’s its downtown core die and doesn’t do everything in its power to attract and build new business, is destined to fade away. I don’t want to see that happen and I have a strong suspicion that neither does the majority of Spokane.

I call on every Spokane citizen to stand up for the Spokane they want. Do whatever you can to get involved in the community, whether it be through business/work, volunteering, political action, etc. It’s time to recapture that Spokane pride and spirit that was at its apex during Expo. I believe this city and its people can accomplish anything if we really want it. Spokane deserves to be the best city in the United States of America, period. Colin J. Fukai Spokane

Don’t persist in what doesn’t work

The low rating that Spokane received from Forbes Magazine gives us a reality check on how we as a community are functioning. We were 161st out of 162 metropolitan areas in economic growth. To the average citizen, this means a stagnating economy, declining real incomes and diminished prospects for our children.

This result was caused by choices which we as citizens have made through our public officials and community leadership. It would be nice to think simple solutions could easily change this dire future but the origin of our predicament is something more fundamental.

Historically, our region has produced wealth by extracting and processing raw materials from mines, forests and fields. This traditional economy gave us certain economic and political assumptions. In other successful regions, knowledge-based companies are the engines of economic growth. The prosperity of these firms is based upon valuing and nurturing their human capital..

One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Business as usual cannot produce a better outcome. We must discard our obsolete beliefs and transform our public policy to reflect modern realities. We must be conscious of human capital in making public choices. There are no guarantees we will succeed. However, if we continue to defend the status quo and operate from obsolete assumptions, we will continue to lose vitality. Frank A. Malone Spokane

We’re using `Low-cost labor’ as bait?

I’m not sure how to react to Thomas White’s July 2 letter about bringing higher-paying jobs to Spokane. On one hand, I am happy to hear economic development officials report on efforts to attract new companies willing to pay higher wages. On the other hand, I saw a full-page ad in the June issue of Sales and Marketing Management which began with the words, “Spokane’s low-cost labor … ” The ad was placed by The Spokesman-Review and the magazine is one of the key national trade journals for business.

I am a member of Spokane’s low-cost labor force and the steady wage earner for my family of three. My husband is a downsized member of the work force with high-tech skills. He has been looking for a permanent job here for three years. We both have masters degrees. We both want to stay in the area. To put it succinctly, our buying power and discretionary income are such that not many Spokane businesses are going to make money from our purchases. My income does not cover our monthly basic living expenses.

In light of these seemingly opposite positions, what are we, as members of the local work force, supposed to think? Are our economic development recruiters really trying to find companies that will pay a living wage?

Are our elected officials creating a business climate that attracts businesses willing to pay a living wage? As long as the powers that be keep talking out of both sides of their mouths, I wonder. And I know I am not alone. Pat Munts Spokane

North Bank expansion is crucial

I am disappointed that you devote so much coverage to the question of purchase price of Riverfront Park’s north bank property and so little to its vision and potential.

The question of purchase price is valid. Maybe a few inches should be given up for the naysayers’ best shots (including Mayor John Talbott, who maligns the land appraisal but voted previously to approve the purchase option for the land at the agreed price).

That story might have researched prevailing land costs in the downtown vicinity, i.e. that land in downtown Spokane costs $10-$50 per square foot. We’d pay about $14 per square foot for the north bank’s 5.7 acres.

The more important and neglected question is: Why do we need this land? The answer lies in Riverfront Park’s present problems and future potential.

The problems are acute: the strain to accommodate events, the constant pressure to develop its open space, the deterioration of the Pavilion, maintaining the right balance between developed attractions and green space.

The north bank land provides relief to all these problems. In addition, it has fantastic potential as an activity complement to the urban refuge qualities of Riverfront and the events of the Arena. It’s not hard to picture days where people might enjoy the natural beauty of Riverfront, tour a north bank science center or children’s museum, take in some amusement rides and food service, and cap things off with a concert or sports event at the Arena.

The north bank land is essential if we are to realize this potential. Steve McNutt Park Board member, Spokane

Facilitating more traffic is a mistake

When are the supporters of the north-south freeway going to realize that such a project will cause this community considerable and irreversible damage? The issue is not one of “being afraid of change.” Rather, it’s one of doing the right thing based on experience and knowledge.

We only have to look at other cities in this country that have built more highways to relieve inner-city traffic problems - Indianapolis, St. Louis, Houston, Phoenix, Sacramento, among others. While they solved their short-term traffic problems, they are now dealing with the problems created by urban sprawl, impoverished neighborhoods and ultimately, more traffic flow that has risen to meet the capacity of the new highways.

The solution for Spokane is for people to change their habitual desire to use the automobile and to support the development of a usable mass transit system. San Francisco and Boston have both successfully utilized these strategies.

Spokane is too good of a city and has too much potential to be permanently altered for the sake of accommodating more automobiles. Eric C. Ross Spokane

Make fuel depot welcome addition

Re: the Burlington Northern Santa Fe fueling depot.

The worst threat to our aquifer is not a company willing to use every safeguard available to prevent pollution to our water but the rapid-growth-at-all-cost attitude, with ugly urban sprawl, more strip malls, roads, cars and people on a very unique piece of land we call the Rathdrum Prairie.

Wake up, Kootenai County. Here’s a chance to get much-needed tax revenue without our taxes going up to build roads, schools and infrastructure for our exploding population. High-tech industry and service jobs don’t pay the bills.

I’m tired of hearing people say the railroad doesn’t contribute to this area. Have you driven from Athol to Spokane along the railroad track on any day and counted all the BNSF vehicles and people? They all live in Idaho and Spokane County. The railroad has hired lots of local people in the last six to seven years. I know many of them. These are good-paying jobs with excellent benefits. Can you say that about any new company recruited here in the last 10 years?

We’ve seen a net loss of jobs here and should all be concerned about Kaiser’s lockout of Steelworkers. A multi-billion dollar company like BNSF will be here long after high-tech companies boom and bust.

Let’s encourage BNSF to grow here. It is a good neighbor with new, modern ideas and environmental concerns. Bill Cleveland Rathdrum

Speak up about Sundance Plaza

Recently, 200 neighbors and I attended a meeting concerning Sundance Plaza Shopping Center, a proposed 30-acre commercial development in the north Indian Trail residential area. We were asked to listen to presentations by the developer, their architect and a city traffic engineer, then comment or ask questions on such things as layout, traffic, noise, lighting, environmental impacts, stormwater runoff, etc. We were told that our input was important and would make a difference.

Questions from the group were cogent, addressed a variety of concerns and were generally asked in a nonconfrontational manner. Unfortunately, many were glossed over. The presenters had few substantive responses but an abundance of no answers, glib retorts and much bureaucratic doublespeak. We were told the site plan was only a drawing, no tenants were signed up and there would be absolutely no guarantees.

The majority seemed opposed to the project for reasons that included a lack of need, infringement on residential properties, increased traffic and an eight-year completion cycle. The traffic implications seemed overriding. In its wisdom, the city has decided Indian Trail should be a two-lane arterial. No other shopping center in the area is known to exist, let alone thrive, on a two-lane road.

Neighborhood residents need to become informed and attend a hearing next month at City Hall to express their views, before the bureaucracy and money interests steamroller the project into existence as planned. Frank R. Schoonover Spokane

BUSINESS AND LABOR

Wal-Mart is a good place to work

I feel I must respond to Larry S. Hall’s letter of July 2.

I stated that unless you plan on going into management, Wal-Mart is an entry level or second income job. If retail management is what one wants, there are excellent opportunities at Wal-Mart. Many assistants, managers and district managers started out as stockers or cashiers, several from our store alone.

Does anyone expect to support a family serving hamburgers at McDonald’s? No, but if they would like to manage or own one, it’s a place to start.

I don’t hate unions. I thank them for the laws that ensure that I have a reasonable work schedule with breaks and lunches, and a safe environment to work in.

Today, it seems that unions are all about money. When they were started, they were about 12- to 14-hour work days, six- to seven-day work weeks, unsafe work conditions and retirement. We have had upgrades in our insurance programs and the addition of a 401k plan because associates asked for them. These are in addition to profit sharing, bonuses, stock purchase, paid vacation, personal time and sick time.

Is Wal-Mart perfect? No, but it is a good place to work.

Can someone explain to me the love-hate relationship with Wal-Mart? Most of our customers love us. Others out there hate us. Why don’t Kmart, Target and Fred Meyer generate these strong feelings?

When the Kaiser strike is over, just how long will it take them to earn back all they have lost while on strike? Ellen C. Hulslander Colville, Wash.

Kaiser lapses could prove fatal, big time

Re: “Kaiser employee kills himself after mill injury” (June 30) and “Kaiser plant explosions injure 19” (July 6).

For the past nine months I have listened to Kaiser’s production and maintenance stations on my scanner. It seems like every time I tune in there is an accident, a fire or a job being done in disregard for job safety practices and work rules developed over the past 50 years by the workers of Trentwood to protect themselves and the equipment from damage.

So, contrary to what Kaiser spokeswoman Susan Ashe says, it was not unexpected that an employee died as a result of one of those accidents. It was just unimportant to Kaiser.

How many more people must die before the Spokane business community withdraws all support for Kaiser in this lockout? The people who die next may not be Kaiser scabs. They could just as easily be firemen or paramedics responding to one of Kaiser’s many calls.

Or, the next fatalities could be the residents of the Trentwood area, should a cloud of chlorine gas escape Kaiser’s scab work force. This is a real possibility, as Trentwood’s railroad chlorine tank cars now stand within 100 feet of its two Ajax Induction Furnaces which, if mismanaged, could explode, creating a crater the size of a city block.

Can you say Bhopal, India? Margaret Larive Spokane