My 2 Cents: Souza’s Coeur d’Alene

I don’t share the faith that some of you do, that the city of Coeur d’Alene would have developed just fine if there hadn’t been the guiding hand of visionaries like former mayor Sandi Bloem and a funding mechanism like the urban renewal agency. I was here during the ‘80s when one group after another tried to get downtown Coeur d’Alene going only to be thwarted by the ever-present CAVErs (Citizens Against Virtually Everything). Coeur d’Alene would have developed hodge-podge without the visionaries. We would have had far less waterfront access. We’d still have an under-used McEuen Field with a huge mass of concrete on its northwestern edge. We would have no Kroc Center. Sorry, naysayers like Mary Souza, Kathy Sims and Dan Gookin won office by pounding away at the good work of those who saw a brighter future for this town than they did. And still do. Fortunately, Souza & Co. were unable to attract enough signatures to force recall elections on Bloem and council members Woody McEvers, Mike Kennedy and Deanna Goodlander. And another visionary mayor stepped forward to continue to lead our wonderful city in a positive direction: Steve Widmyer. We might — might — have saved a few cents on our city tax bills, if Souza had succeeded in her dastardly recall efforts. Or if she’d defeated Widmyer in the 2013 city election to become mayor. But we would have been much worse off than we are now/ DFO.