Fact-free Council decisions

On July 1 the Spokane City Council held a public hearing to decide if they would approve vacating Adams Street in downtown.

Decision-making is a funny thing. We as humans make a multitude of them every day. From small things like, “do I wear this shirt?” to more important things like “do I buy that house?” But no matter what decision it is we are making, we always make better ones when we are educated. As our chief decision makers on items big and small in this fine city, one would hope it would be a priority for City Council to be informed when making decisions impacting tax-paying constituents.

As the one single holdout council member brought up multiple times, a two-week delay would allow the city leadership to look at both sides of the matter and understand the facts. It would allow adjacent property owners more than three minutes to show how this will harm our business of over 20 years, when VOA had months.

All of them knew about the Hope House project. A few of them knew the details of the street vacation. But only one of them was willing to go get the facts before making a decision. Now all of them have pushed the negative consequences on us.

This was a poor showing, and a poor decision with lasting consequences to our families and businesses. Thanks, City Council, for proving that the homeless and your politics are more important than those who fund your city.

Valerie Coffey

Spokane