Stop The ‘Nos,’ Stand Behind Riverfront Park

Now even Riverfront Park, the crown jewel of Spokane, has been politicized.

The park that so defines Spokane and gives us a place of beauty and common ground, is about to be dragged into one more divisive, us vs. them crusade that so diminishes local politics.

If ever there were a time for people to rally around Riverfront Park, that day would be Sept. 14.

Mark your calendar.

On the second Tuesday of September vote on behalf of Riverfront Park and secure for your children and grandchildren the opportunity for the park to grow and prosper.

And that’s just a part of it.

A vote for the park will send a loud, clear message to the “Nos” (naysayers and opportunists) whose political careers depend upon dividing the North Side from the South Hill, downtown from the neighborhoods, the little guys from the movers and shakers.

They are trying to use Riverfront Park as their latest Ping-Pong ball, and it shouldn’t happen.

Here’s what the $15 million in park bonds would do.

For the first time in 12 years, money would go to 27 city park playgrounds from Indian Trail up north to Manito in the south.

City swimming pools in Hillyard, Cannon Park and elsewhere would be repaired, along with tennis courts all around town.

There would be funding for three new parks, one in the Ben Burr neighborhood, one in West Spokane and one on the Five Mile Prairie.

All of this would take about $7.6 million of the bonds.

Another $3 million would be spent on the unglamorous, but necessary, rebuilding and relocation of the city’s park maintenance building.

The last $4 million would go to the purchase and cleanup of 6 acres on the north bank of the Spokane River that would be developed as the first significant expansion of Riverfront Park in 26 years.

All this would cost homeowners less than $20 a year.

As Spokane Park Board chairman Mark Casey succinctly puts it, “We have a chance to do something right for Spokane, a plan that is best for the city as a whole.”

That notion strikes fear into the political strategy of the “Nos,” aka the naysayers and opportunists.

They frame every civic debate as an us vs. them argument.

Don’t talk about civic good.

Instead, they fragment and divide the city into warring factions.

Once again, Spokane Mayor John Talbott and Councilwoman Cherie Rodgers are leading the charge to divide and conquer.

Talbott and Rodgers suggested the Riverfront Park portion of the park bonds be broken off from the neighborhood park portion and voted on as separate items.

Downtown vs. the neighborhoods once again.

Have they no shame?

After they laid out their divisive tactic, the man who killed Spokane’s chance to have the Pacific Science Center in Riverfront Park in 1995 jumped on board.

Steve Corker, the radio talk show host who tried to build a personal political base by saying the Pacific Science Center should be located on the north bank of the river, has abandoned the very plan he proposed in 1995. He now says he will oppose the park bonds and a proposed north bank location for a science center because the bond vote isn’t divided between neighborhood parks and Riverfront Park.

Why would Spokane voters, who have a 100-year history of supporting parks, fall for these tactics?

Riverfront Park is the most most beloved place in the entire city.

Most citizens understand that park improvements, like road improvements, and schools, necessarily must be considered as whole, community-binding packages.

That is the way civic improvements generate support across neighborhoods and natural boundaries.

Everyone gets something close to home. Each of us has a chance to feel part of something larger, more long-lasting in our community.

It’s not a plot; it’s a practice of good government.

The “Nos” cannot be satisfied, much less survive, with moderate, nondoctrinaire solutions to public problems.

What a sad, sad political spectacle.

Expanding Riverfront Park and improving the neighborhood parks should be embraced as something Spokane can do for the good of the people who live here now and will live here in the future.

It’s that simple.

Sure, spending $4 million for 6 acres of urban land sounds expensive.

But it will only grow more expensive each year. Or, more likely, the opportunity to buy more urban park land will disappear forever.

Yes, some costs will be incurred with cleaning up the vacant land to turn it into a park. Aren’t these costs worth it?

In less than a decade, the acreage on the north bank likely will emerge as Spokane’s premier public place. A new IMAX theater is planned for the expanded park, along with an expanded children’s museum and a branch of the Pacific Science Center, all of which will make even more precious the added 6 acres.

On Sept. 14, voters can not only save the city’s parks but send a message to those who thrive on divisiveness as the sour milk of their politics.