Public utility district needed

Because of last winter’s cold weather, Avista made record profits. Now, the company is asking for rate increases, and it looks like it will get them. Cities and counties throughout the United States, tired of rate hikes, have created public utility districts. We have several colleges of higher learning that produce lawyers, accountants, and research-and-development grads. I believe it is time that we look into creating a public utility district for the City of Spokane, and use our publically educated students to do the research on this issue.

It has been pointed out to me that if a PUD was formed it would not have a source of power for generating electricity. To dispel that idea, we could put solar on all south-facing roofs through low-interest loans. I would also like to point out that over the last couple hundred years, corporations have used eminent domain to take whatever they want for their use that is considered in the public interest, so why not use eminent domain to secure the Post Street Dam for power generation? Now is the time to make the change.

Lawrence Schuchart

Spokane