Letters for Feb. 28

HB 1217 will help housing crisis

I’m a single parent of four children, one with a disability. I’m trying hard to do the right thing, but each rent hike makes it harder for me to stay in my home and makes tight finances trickier to manage.

HB 1217, a “rent stabilization” bill, is about establishing stability and predictability in the tenant-landlord relationship. For many tenants, especially those on low or fixed incomes, sudden rent hikes are a leading reason that they could face housing insecurity.

Rent prices are skyrocketing, far outpacing family incomes and even the inflation rate. New census data shows that Washington has the fifth-highest average rent among all states. We need relief soon.

Passing HB 1217 won’t solve our state’s housing problems by itself, but it will give tenants like me much needed peace of mind and help us plan for the future. I hope the Legislature will pass this bill.

Asmin Lewis

Spokane Valley

Baumgartner needs to support federal workers

Congressman Michael Baumgartner is clearly complicit in the lawlessness and chaos that is sweeping our country at the hands of Elon Musk and Donald Trump. As Baumgartner sits on his hands, federal workers in his district, about 30% of whom are military veterans, are being demonized by immigrant Musk. They are all but accused of not working and just sitting around collecting a paycheck. Many were provided with little notice that their dream, a job with the federal government, was ending due to “poor performance.”

In my 20 years as a former disabled veterans outreach specialist in the Inland Northwest, I have provided hundreds of veterans with employment assistance for federal jobs. Not one of those veterans deserves to be living in fear of Elon Musk and his “DOGE” agency. As a veteran and a lifelong advocate for veterans, I am outraged at the hostile work environment that now exists within our federal government. It is evident that Musk and Trump simply do not care about our Veterans, only their vote. It is time that Baumgartner and his colleagues grow thick skin, push back against this insanity, and honor those who served and still serve our country.

Robert Shoeman

Liberty Lake

Figure out this Spokane riddle

Here’s a riddle for Mayor Brown and Spokane’s council members.

Who has to pick up trash around the workplace entrance?

Who has to remove feces and excrement from in front of the workplace door?

Who has to cover their nose so they won’t inhale secondhand fentanyl smoke while walking on a downtown sidewalk?

Who has to use their shoe to scoot numerous pieces of burnt tinfoil from the sidewalk to the gutter?

Who thinks about small children or dogs touching that tinfoil?

Who has to clean spit off the workplace windows before the business day starts?

Who has had illegal drug users laugh in their face when asked politely to move out of the business doorway?

Who has to lock the business door early because of a very high, threatening and aggressive transient, banging on windows and screaming at the top of their lungs?

Who has witnessed multiple emergency vehicles tending to an overdose situation, on multiple occasions?

Who has wondered how many citizens who needed services had to wait because of it?

Who has to call the 911, crime check, almost daily, sometimes many times daily?

Who has to carry a taser and pepper spray to a downtown parking garage to feel safe when going home?

Who feels like the drug dealers and homeless have more rights than they do?

Who?

Answer: Me and numerous other law-abiding, tax-paying citizens just trying to live and make a living in Spokane.

Elizabeth Willard

Spokane

Some leftovers are delicious

So a recent writer referred to Washington State and Oregon State as the “leftovers from the Pac-12.” Well, one of those “leftovers,” Oregon State, beat your highly vaunted Zags and is 20-10 and in fifth place in the West Coast Conference, three games back of the Zags. Not a bad place to be as a “leftover.”

Steve Hintyesz

Spokane