Letters

City Council: Here’s a list; keep it handy

Reading the article from the Valley Voice Sept. 18 brought me once more to the very brink of total frustration with the current Spokane Valley City Council.

This present City Council has a history of power hungry, legacy building and deaf ears to citizen input. So, here goes one more time! We the citizens of the city of Spokane Valley ask you to write these facts, wants, and don’t-wants down and keep them in front of you since our perception is you can’t hear our voices.

Facts: Economy down, unemployment up, taxes down, costs up.

Wants: We want the contract for law enforcement with the sheriff renewed; we want you to quit spending money on ludicrous ideas and frivolous studies; we want the city center (when there’s money for one) located near the facilities that make a city center, i.e., near the Valley Mall; we want the Valley Mall sheriff’s substation; we even want law enforcement training back at CenterPlace; we want Sprague/Appleway extended; and we want you to start listening to the citizens.

Don’t-wants: We don’t want Sprague/Appleway changed; we don’t want the city center at Sprague and University; we don’t want more high-cost consultants and studies telling you what we want. We trust and approve of the sheriff as he’s not told us half-truths and skewed facts to get what his office requires and desires; we don’t trust the city of Spokane Valley City Council as you have given half-truths, skewed facts, and have a history of public input meetings that are completely ignored when decisions are made.

Gary Wheeldon

Spokane Valley

‘Revitalization’ raises several questions

Taxpayers of the city of Spokane Valley beware. After almost $1 million dollars spent on an unfunded mandate to drastically overlay and rezone an almost six-mile swath through the Spokane Valley (I-90 Sprague overpass to Conklin Road) under the guise of “revitalization,” here are some questions:

After you are smothered in detail, ask who gains monetarily. What part of the Valley is favored over another? How will the degradation and eventual elimination of many businesses especially at the east end aid in eliminating competition for many in the west such as in the city center area (University City) and auto row?

Won’t the diminished tax base affect residential rates eventually? And taxpayers, how is that new utility tax on all phones working for you? Were you really happy with the city snowplowing this past winter? Can you really see “McMansions” on Appleway and Sprague? Do you really want to walk and pedal to the new city center from Greenacres and Veradale, let alone Ponderosa? Will you shelter from the rain and snow under canopies at U-City? Why are they trying to change your way of life?

Powerful and entrenched interests are working for this plan. Opposition is demeaned and dismissed, as I will be, but right is right, and wrong is wrong.

Elizabeth Grafos

Spokane Valley