Street fee needed

There are Third World countries with better streets than Spokane.

You might ask why are we having all the problems with potholes. They are not happening on streets that have been repaved in the last seven years, but on streets that haven’t been repaved in 25 years. These streets have patches on their patches and should have been repaved.

The city used to do asphalt overlays where they ground down the edges and added 1 1/2 inches of new asphalt to the existing roadway. Now they wait until the street fails and has to be torn out to subgrade and completely replaced, which is twice as expensive.

We need a street utility fee like the ones used by sewer, water and refuse so we can pay for the streets we so desperately need. The method they are now using isn’t working, and they are expecting the streets to last for 25 years.

We can afford to pay the city spokesperson $87,000 a year but we can’t afford new streets. What’s wrong with this picture? Contact your city council person and demand new streets in a timely manner.

Rick Johnson

Spokane