Paulos: Box Stores, Growth, Stars, My Oh My

Bob Paulos (defending box stores): The population growth has brought the “big box” stores, the retail industry term for the large national chains, and with them, the big chain operations keep local dollars at home to support our community, rather than feed those dollars into Spokane coffers. Meanwhile, Spokane suffers from who is going to pay for the downtown parking garage and its deteriorating infrastructure and fights to scrape the mud off its city government.

… growth and movie stars: As for this continual California bashing, I would offer four examples that fly in the face of this criticism — Patty Duke, Steve Shortridge and Ellen Travolta and her husband, Jack Bannon. All four have made significant contributions to life in our little city by the lake. In addition to becoming one of the most enthusiastic fans of local parades, Patty has staged a local book signing, has become a strong supporter of Kootenai Medical Center, even appearing in a series of newspaper ads for KMC, and lending strong support to a number of community and charity events.

For the rest of Bob Paulos’ Sunday column in the Coeur d’Alene Press, click here .

Question: Is the city of Coeur d’Alene better off today with the box stores, growth and movie stars than it was in the 1980s with the depressed housing market but room at the beach for the locals?