Mayor decides Coeur d’Alene deserves an ‘A’

As a former teacher, Coeur d’Alene Mayor Sandi Bloem loves giving report cards, especially when the one for the city is excellent.

That’s the grade Bloem gave Coeur d’Alene Tuesday morning for its 2004 performance during the annual State of the City address at the Coeur d’Alene Resort.

“We’re building a reputation as a city that does a lot of things right,” Bloem told about 200 people gathered for the Coeur d’Alene Area Chamber of Commerce event.

And she eagerly listed all the town’s accomplishments, from having a balanced $60 million budget to attracting new businesses such as Costco and the US Bank call center to creating a storm water utility that will help preserve water quality in Lake Coeur d’Alene and the Spokane River.

Adding to the accolades, Bloem said 451 people applied for a single open firefighter position this year and that Coeur d’Alene was the only town in the region to have no potholes reported in KREM-2 television’s pothole score card.

Yet Bloem barely mentioned several controversial issues that have kept her and the City Council busy all year – for instance, the latest debate over Duane Hagadone’s proposal to close two blocks of Sherman Avenue for a memorial garden dedicated to the native businessman’s parents.

Bloem and the City Council were up late Monday night hearing Hagadone’s official proposal in a public workshop that drew about 200 locals and a cable television audience.

The mayor’s report card evaluation noted that Coeur d’Alene does face challenges in 2005, and Bloem ticked off a list of issues but gave no specifics.

That list included a February advisory vote on Hagadone’s garden proposal along with the two other issues that have characterized the controversy in Coeur d’Alene this year – working out a solution for the battle over who can use Sanders Beach and preservation of Canfield Mountain and other landmark areas.

The council won’t decide until Tuesday whether to put the Hagadone proposal on the ballot that already includes two bond measures – one for a $3 million downtown library and the other for $7 million in public safety needs. Each bond measure must get a two-thirds vote to pass.

One of the other hot topics in Coeur d’Alene is the long-standing debate over who has the right to use Sanders Beach, the popular sandy stretch between 12th and 15th streets that locals have enjoyed for more than a century.

The city filed a lawsuit in October because city officials want to end, once and for all, the fighting – and the potential for violence – over the ownership of Sanders Beach. The suit asks a 1st District Court judge to determine the ordinary high-water mark, which shows where private land ends and where publicly owned waters begin.

Homeowners between 12th and 15th streets believe their property extends to where Lake Coeur d’Alene laps at the sand. Yet many other Coeur d’Alene residents, including members of the Sanders Beach Preservation Association, believe the beach is public because people have been using it for years, and they assume it’s part of the state-managed land, just like the lake.

Homeowners are often upset the city refuses to enforce trespass laws. Beach users are often mad that the city won’t stop homeowners from attempting to kick them off the shore.

Also at issue in Coeur d’Alene is how to preserve the area’s landmarks from development. The question of how to buy and preserve open space became a main focus this summer after a developer proposed building a housing development on the west side of Canfield Mountain.

More than 1,000 people signed a petition saying they were willing to pay higher taxes if it meant stopping the development of local landmarks such as Canfield Mountain.

The council asked the city staff in October to research various funding options for buying open space in the area, including the idea of putting an open-space preservation bond on the February ballot along with the library, public safety and Hagadone garden proposals.

Nothing of the sort has happened, but the city is preparing to appoint an open space committee to investigate options.

In the meantime, the developer has proposed a new plan for the 49 acres off of Shadduck Lane that would include 40 homes with standard-size streets, no gates and about 30 acres of open space on the steepest portion of the treed hillside. The Planning and Zoning Committee will have a public hearing in January.

The developers have said they are still willing to talk to the city and neighbors about how to preserve the hillside that’s been left open in the latest plan. Some people, including Canfield Mountain Alliance, are upset the city is moving so slowly.

“We may lose the whole mountain,” alliance member Jay Walden said in a press release Tuesday.

Donna Valencia, who attended the chamber event, said it’s not surprising Bloem didn’t dwell on these controversial issues, because the address was focused more on the city’s successes.

“It’s not an appropriate time to bring up anything,” she said. “It’s not fitting.”

Valencia added that it’s a tough job to try to please such a diverse community.