Letters

Let’s come together, look to future

Sally Jackson wants us to go back to the good old days, when we were not a city, but just a blip on the county radar screen. Let’s return to when the county had a surplus in its coffers because there was no 1 percent real estate tax lid and license tabs were expensive.

Let’s return to when the Growth Management Act didn’t require us to deliver city services, fewer law enforcement officers were on the streets, and they didn’t know the residents of their precinct. Let’s return to when the county banned all horses from the Valley, and we had more than 1,800 cases of junk in our neighborhoods. Let’s return to having no representation on 27 boards and committees, such as the Spokane Transit Authority, District Health Board, Solid Waste Board, Growth Management Steering Committee and Wastewater Treatment. While we’re at it, let’s go back to a minimum wage of $2.49 per hour – the same 1967 wage Mrs. Jackson advocates paying our City Council members.

As for me, I choose to focus on the future of our community. Because of cuts in funding from license tabs and real estate tax, both cities and counties are faced with bleak financial futures for funding such vital services as law enforcement and fire safety. Rather than dwell on a fictional utopian past, all of us need to come together and develop realistic solutions for a flourishing future.

Bill Gothmann

Spokane Valley