Letters

Munson is wrong, a ‘poor loser’

Rich Munson believes the new Spokane Valley City Council is off to a bad start (Valley Voice Jan. 23). I disagree. The old City Council was the bad one.

When we voted in the new city, the purpose was simply to protect ourselves from Spokane city intrusion. Not to build this new shining example of government at work, like a new grandiose city hall or change our streets after we already paid for street changes.

What we voted for was to protect our semirural lifestyle. Every city council we voted in from the beginning wanted to change it all. I guess to leave some kind of legacy that they were in power. They never listened to the citizens who crowded city council meetings to standing-room only, just plowed ahead with their ego to satisfy whoever was the money behind them.

Now we have people who listened to us and we voted them in. I don’t care where they have their unofficial meetings, coffee shop, back room, someone’s house, as long as they are doing what we want. And I’m not talking for everyone, just the majority who voted them in.

So I say to you Rich Munson, back off, you do yourself and your buddies no good by whining and throwing dirt. By the way, I truly like the wide, one-way streets. And I do shop along those wide streets and it is much easier to get to the business I wish to go to than it used to be with two-way gridlock. I appreciate those who can lose gracefully. I despise poor losers.

Gary Challender

Spokane Valley

Munson’s points are ‘sour grapes’

I thank the recently unseated council members for their service. That said, here’s why I really am writing.

Several points were made by Mr. Munson which smacked of sour grapes over being soundly removed from office. First, if a gathering for coffee in a public place where God and everyone can see you is a meeting where “secret deals” are concocted, it must be pretty hard to keep it secret; perhaps if they put an announcement in the paper that they were having morning coffee it would be more public?

Second, it seems to me that a resignation from Mr. Mercier doesn’t exactly fit the definition of dismissal, and speaking of Mr. Mercier’s leaving and the ludicrous amount he’s to be paid ($200,000 of taxpayer money) who are the idiots that approved that contract? It was you and the other recently removed council members.

Third, Mr. Munson stated that some actions by the new members were, “…ethically…shameful,.” you would be an expert in that area as it has been ethically shameful the way you and the other members would ask for citizen input and then completely ignore it and do what you had decided prior to asking for input, i.e., money spent on law enforcement studies, Sprague/Appleway debacle, city hall mansion plans and unwarranted arguments with the County Commissioners. Should the new members of the council revert to the level of distrust that you and your council members exhibited they’ll only last until they can be removed just as you were.

Gary Wheeldon

Spokane Valley