School Gets Its Light After All Signal Will Be Torn Out In 2002; Council Kills Move On Garage

The City Council voted to resolve one long-simmering issue Monday, but another looks like it will continue to linger.

After months of squirming over the consequences of an impromptu vote on a traffic light for Fifth and Freya, the council voted to install a permanent signal, knowing that it will be torn out in two or three years.

The council also killed a resolution that was linked to a failed settlement of the River Park Square garage controversy.

The traffic light was initially approved by the council in a spur-of-the-moment vote in March, before it found out the light would cost $210,000 and that the project would be ripped out as part of a larger Thor-Freya couplet in late 2002.

The city’s engineering staff had proposed a temporary alternative to the new light, a pedestrian island, but East Central community members urged the council to stick to its promise.

City Manager Hank Miggins placed it on Monday’s agenda, saying the city needed a decision if it was to install the light before school started.

Neighborhood residents have been asking for the light for 14 years to help children cross Freya on the way to Sheridan Elementary School.

“We’re courting disaster here,” said Sheridan PTA president Mickey Tillet. “We’re bickering over a $210,000 light. The next child that’s hit, we’re looking at $1 million of my tax dollars for a liability suit.” The council voted 5-1 to install the light, with Rob Higgins opposing and Steve Eugster absent.

Higgins, who was absent when the council initially approved the light, said the light was too expensive considering that the intersection didn’t meet the requirements for a signal.

“There are areas all over the city where there are schools that are on arterials,” Higgins said. “As a council, we have to look at things in the whole perspective of the city.”

Councilwoman Roberta Greene said the neighborhood was counting on the council.

“If I were living in the East Central neighborhood, I would be getting this jerking sensation, this back and forth, back and forth,” she said. “We made a commitment and we’re going to do this.”

While the light issue may have been resolved Monday, the garage dispute appeared no closer to conclusion.

The resolution would have moved $450,000 - the loan amount initially requested by the agency that manages the struggling garage - into a special account. The measure, which was devised by the council in a closed-door meeting last week as part of a settlement offer, was described as a step toward loaning the funds if the downtown mall’s developers accepted the deal.

The city’s offer was rejected by the developers Friday, and Councilman Steve Corker suggested the city withdraw its resolution.

Corker also noted the city received a letter Monday from the developers’ attorney demanding the city loan $604,000, as ordered by a Superior Court judge May 24.

“When the offer was presented, I was shocked that the developers rejected it in a matter of minutes,” Corker said. “I see nothing in their response publicly or privately that warrants this good faith effort from the council.”

Mayor John Talbott said he was in favor of the resolution until he saw the letter.

“I was very disappointed that a hard line was going to be drawn and that further negotiations would be difficult.”

But Greene, who voted for the resolution, said the developers’ position was simply part of negotiating.

“Just because someone has come back with a hard line doesn’t mean we stop talking,” she said.

“It’s crucial that our community show to the rating agencies and investors that we are a community that honors its commitment.”

River Park Square is being developed by an affiliate of Cowles Publishing Co., which also owns The Spokesman-Review.

The City Council in 1997 passed an ordinance that pledged a loan to support the garage. The current council voted against making the loan because of concerns that it could never be repaid.

The developers successfully sued the city, which has appealed.

The city is back before Judge Michael Donohue today to explain why it hasn’t loaned the money as ordered.