Think long term
We need affordable housing in Spokane, but not as dictated by the Spokane Association of Realtors. When Mike Lish pronounced, “I don’t see that it really matters what kind of housing it is, any housing is going to help the market,” read REALLY BIG RED FLAG. We don’t need City Council persons who vote yes to anything developers put in front of them. THINK LONG TERM.
Affordable housing is critical, but let’s do it in ways that improve our communities. Developers must be required to provide adequate off-street parking. (Look at the parking lots that are now the neighborhood streets of Browne’s Addition and residential outskirts of Portland and Seattle.) Working parents can’t just tie their kids to their bicycle and off they go. The bus usually adds another two hours to any outing. Only developers benefit from the bottom line of street parking. Not the city of Spokane. The developers and their families generally have two-plus cars, garages and neighborhoods that are NOT going to be “infilled.”
Does infill and street parking preserve the quality of our neighborhoods and lives of our growing families and elderly? Over the years many of our neighborhoods have become ghettos because of “infill” and poorly designed high-density buildings. The surrounding houses begin to sell off and deteriorate. This leads to entire tracts of what used to be well-kept small homes turning into gang-, weed- and trash-infested neighborhoods. What about the elderly and kids who then can’t get out. THINK LONG TERM.
Ruby Flanigan
Spokane