Schools, yes; park, no

Just three months after we are to vote on the $64.3 million bond issue for Riverfront Park, we will be voting on the Feb. 10 Spokane Public Schools bond issue ($176 million in local funds). The major defeating weakness of the Riverfront Park plan is that it spends like a drunken sailor on a single downtown storefront enhancement.

The coming SPS bond issue on the other hand is a marvel of citywide needs analysis and long-range foresight. With the SPS bond, the entire city of Spokane will be raised to a higher level. The voters of Spokane should hold the conceivers of the Riverfront Park bond issue to the same citywide planning standard that the SPS has so brilliantly provided.

Councilman Mike Fagan is right that the timing is wrong to be spending $64 million on Riverfront Park. We have more pressing ways to spend our money. Anyway, the park will easily survive as it is for another 10 years.

Please vote no on the $64 million Riverfront bond issue, yes on the streets levy proposal, and yes on the SPS bond in February.

By the way, while you’re being an intelligent voter, vote for Ozzie Knezovich, too.

Larry Vandervert

Spokane