Letters for Feb. 27, 2022

Spokane’s continued cold shoulder to the homeless

As I’m writing this, the temperature in the sun is 12 F, with a wind chill that feels like minus 2. Humans should not be out in this weather unsheltered. Why is the warming center not reopening? It should have opened last weekend. When will the city take action? Continuing to be surprised by predictable weather patterns is disappointing, to say the least.

I support policies that aid and protect all our citizens from harm, from hunger, from freezing temperatures likely to cause frostbite, hypothermia and death. It breaks my heart to know people are freezing on my city streets because the government continues to be negligent providing for basic needs. There is federal funding for this, why aren’t we using it? Why isn’t the warming shelter open? Why do we continue to fail the houseless community?

I continue to be astonished at the level of silence, apathy and callousness my city, particularly the mayor’s office, show toward the vulnerable and homeless population of Spokane. We have a government infrastructure and social services to prevent this, why do we continue to fail? At the very least, now is the time for the city to be proactive, enacting measures to be ready for fall and winter 2022-23.

As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said in 1964, “There is nothing new about poverty. What is new, however, is that we have the resources to get rid of it.” Spokane has those resources. We can do better.

Susan Goertz

Spokane

Leadership and implement

Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward has neither shown the leadership skills nor the will to implement reasonable and responsible solutions to our community’s homeless population‘s housing needs. She should already have in-house as well as community resources to assist her in making decisions to address this need. Apparently, this is not her intention. Doing nothing seems to be her solution to our city’s urgent homeless housing situation.

Mike Adolfae

Spokane

Developing land previously cleared for I-90 corridor

I grew up in the East Central area of Spokane from 1944 until 1963. I attended Edison Elementary School, Libby Junior High and Lewis and Clark High School. I walked to school until using the city transit system to reach high school. Our parks were Underhill and Liberty. When land began to be cleared for the I-90 corridor, our home was far enough away from that area to be spared, but many of our friends and classmates from grade school had to relocate due to the demolition of their homes.

I note in the Getting There article on Feb. 21 that much of that land, now owned by the Department of Transportation, sits unoccupied. The bill making its way through the state Legislature proposes leasing that property back to the community or to the Department of Commerce for affordable housing, new businesses or parks. There is nothing to address the need for schools in that area.

With McKinley, Alcott and Edison schools all having closed long ago, there is no grade school between Scott (formerly Sheridan) and Grant in that lower east-side geographic area.

Affordable housing would include family homes which often include school-age children. Lately, busing seems to be a somewhat unreliable means of transporting school children, especially those in the lower grades.

While I applaud any increase to the supply of “affordable housing” in our community, I wonder how attractive it might be to families most in need of it, if there are no grade schools within a reasonable walking distance.

Carole Asher Williams

Spokane

Fertility services

As one of only two reproductive endocrinology and infertility physicians in Eastern Washington, I have seen the devastation that infertility inflicts on its victims in the Inland Northwest. This disease affects 15% of couples. Furthermore, there are many young people in this area who are diagnosed with cancer. Fortunately, there are many treatments that can save their lives; however, many of these same treatments render them sterile. It is alarming that people can get coverage for many of the cosmetic side effects of their treatments, but not their future fertility. Young persons should not have to choose between their life and their future ability to be a biologic parent.

Right now, there is no universal coverage for fertility and fertility preservation services in Washington state. People simply do not have access to the care they need. Several states in our country do require insurance coverage for fertility services, which allows people with less means to access this vital care. I am pleased that there is a new bill in the Washington State Legislature, the Washington State Building Families Act (HB 1730 and SB 5647) that would ensure that health plans provide coverage for the diagnosis of and treatment for infertility, and for fertility preservation for those at risk of medically induced infertility. I urge you to support this legislation to help those suffering from the devastation of infertility.

Brenda Houmard

Liberty Lake

Washington Parent Alliance

The last Central Valley School Board meeting (Feb. 14) is a perfect example of a loud, obnoxious minority running amok.

Maybe it was because the Washington Parent Alliance calls itself a “grassroots movement of citizens” when it is part of a national movement supported by dark money to mold communities into their ultraconservative, white nationalist, pseudo-Christian dream world.

Or maybe it was the paper-whipping delivery of documents to board members, public records requests looking for information that no sane person would expect the school district to have. Fulfilling that request will waste vital district dollars, to say nothing of the time, both of which would be better spent on our students. That the lawyer preparing the documents is not a lawyer is laughable and, sadly, not surprising.

Add the fact that days later an expensive, slick mailing from the PAC Citizens for CVSD Transparency arrived in the mail, it seems like the loud minority is force-feeding us their beliefs on someone else’s money. That they want to keep critical race theory, sex education and mask/vaccine mandates out of school shows they fear science and they want us all to demand that teachers teach their beliefs. Why don’t they home-school?

That the board won’t deny maskless people entry to meetings, nor allow comment on a falsely advertised “public” meeting for their supporters only, shows the intimidation is already working.

It’s time for the silent majority to stand up to the bullies.

Dave Trimmer

Spokane Valley

Evil genius

At the end of WWI, Germany was broken and humiliated. Crippling reparations imposed by the Allies made everyday life miserable. Predictably, a demagogue arose telling the Germans what they wanted to hear – that they were a great and powerful race, that the defeat was not their fault, that a cabal in international Jews was responsible and it was time to rise to greatness. The demagogue preached a list of imaginary grievances while building a powerful army. First, he claimed Austria and then the Sudetenland, a predominantly German speaking region that was incorporated into Czechoslovakia at the end of WWI. British PM Neville Chamberlain met with the demagogue who provided his personal guarantee this “reclaiming” was his last. Soon thereafter, the demagogue manufactured a “false flag” crisis and invaded Poland, initiating the worst tragedy in human history.

At the end of the Cold War, Russia was broken and humiliated, The economic ruin of the USSR made everyday life in Russia miserable while the U.S. gloated over its victory. Another demagogue assumed power spouting a list of imaginary grievances and blaming the West in general and the U.S. in particular for its problems. He restored Russia’s military might while annexing the Russian-speaking enclaves of the Donbas and Crimea, which belong to Ukraine. Who’s next?

Winston Churchill wrote, “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Hitler was pure evil. Please, Mr. Trump, do not praise Putin as genius and savvy, unless this is how you feel about Hitler.

Jim Baumker

Liberty Lake

Is the sky green?

Reading Eugene Robinson’s bit on Feb. 22 (“With Biden standing firm, Putin must wonder: Where’s Trump when I need him?”) was like reading someone’s attempt to make the reader believe that the sky is green not blue on a clear summer’s day. To say Biden is strong or even a leader is so far from the truth that it makes me think Robinson isn’t playing with a full deck.

Let’s look at Biden’s leadership in our country this past year: 1) Biden caused gas prices to soar because he killed the Keystone Pipeline. 2) Biden abandoned hundreds of Americans and green card holders in Afghanistan and they are still there. 3) Biden allowed millions of illegal aliens into our country through our southern borders. And the list can go on and on.

But to say Biden is better than Trump at keeping Putin in check is what a swindler does. ER’s quarter-page article tried to make us believe the opposite of what we know to be true, that Biden is a weak and ineffective leader. Attempting to prove his point he says that Putin wishes for Trump to be president. We can’t prove this … or can we?

How about this: Putin did NOT do this during the four years of Trump but at the end of the first year of Biden. In fact, in August, Biden botched the Afghanistan evacuation and months later Putin started building up troops near Ukraine.

Don’t tell me the sky is green, Robinson. I won’t buy what you’re selling.

Lonnie Castillo

Liberty Lake