Letters for March 12

Baumgartner may have had epiphany

Wow! Rep. Michael Baumgartner publicly proclaimed President Trump lacks common sense. In the March 5 edition of The Spokesman-Review he and Edmund Schweitzer criticized the Trump tariffs for the harm they will cause to Eastern Washington. He correctly notes “… that for us in Eastern Washington, tariffs mean trouble.”

Rep. Baumgartner acknowledges that “… the economic reality is that they (tariffs) are taxes paid by American businesses and often passed down to consumers in the form of higher prices.” He goes on: “Tariffs disrupt supply and demand, increase costs at each stage of production and make U.S. companies less competitive … ” and are a “… gift to foreign competitors … ”

To Rep. Baumgartner, imposing tariffs shows a lack of common sense. He writes, “In time, we (Rep. Baumgartner and Schweitzer) believe common sense will prevail.” Since imposing tariffs proves common sense is not prevailing, the one imposing the tariffs (Donald Trump) obviously lacks common sense. Isn’t Baumgartner afraid his MAGA membership will be canceled?

Has Baumgartner really had an epiphany and come to the realization that the harm President Trump promised to cause is coming to pass? Or is he just afraid that the next election voters will hold him accountable for going along with the disastrous conduct of this administration? Will he actually take affirmative steps to ensure the Congress and the president govern with “common sense?”

Let’s see.

Roger Chase

Spokane

Give Baumgartner time

There have been more than 15 letters to The Spokesman-Review in the past two weeks, including three in one day, complaining about the new role of our U.S. Rep. Michael Baumgartner, who represents all of us in Congress. All the letters were complaining about what he hasn’t done yet. Only one letter was positive. The volume of negative letters appears to be an organized petty effort to discredit him upon his arrival. Is that fair and just?

All the negative letters were ankle-biting letters based on conjecture and assumptions. Give the man a chance to get his office arranged and make new connections at least. Despite being new on the job, he was the first junior representative to get a bill passed through a committee.

If you are sincerely interested in being fair and informed, sign up for his free newsletter on his website. Baumgartner has been in public service a long time, so he knew what he was getting into when he ran for this office. He didn’t need to run because he has a wonderful family with five beautiful children, and had a stable job as Spokane County treasurer. This new position is a personal sacrifice for a good purpose that most of us wouldn’t do. Give him a break, but stay informed about what he’s really doing by signing up for his free newsletter. It’s easy.

Paul Kennedy

Spokane

Brown should show transparency

Spokane is losing its small-town ambiance, the neighborhoods that created such timeless memories. The downtown center, so bustling yet so inviting, is slipping away. Spokane will become a smaller Seattle with the way we are going.

On Feb. 16, The Spokesman-Review published “Tall towers would be allowed in much larger swathe of downtown Spokane under likely reform,” saying city officials are considering a change to the maximum building height. In it, Mayor Lisa Brown proposes we change building height for only six months to see how it goes and says she doesn’t know what developments could arise with the restriction lifted.

I don’t buy it.

Maybe it’s fine. Maybe Mayor Brown is really pushing for this change simply to see what will happen. But what if, dear reader, she knows exactly who wants to move to Spokane and she is just not letting the public know. It could be good, but I don’t appreciate the sleight of hand. We deserve to know.

Join me in asking Mayor Brown to disclose any future development plans regarding our downtown. We deserve transparent conversations.

Readers, it’s up to you what you believe is right, but this is something that could lead us to being uninformed with what is going on in our city. Should our city not be transparent with us?

Timothy Davis

Spokane

Spokane must build more homes

We are in the middle of a housing crisis. People are struggling to earn enough money to even make rent, and our teens are wondering if they will ever be able to afford a home with these increasing prices.

Even if you have a well-paying job, paying nearly double Washington’s minimum wage, you could only live comfortably in a one-bedroom apartment or a studio apartment, depending on the location, by yourself. If you make $62,000 a year, you´d have $760 dollars per month left over after all your monthly expenses (not including savings or subscriptions), living in an average -costing studio apartment. Sure, that is comfortable for those making $62,000 a year, but what about our youth who are fresh into the real world? How much money do you think they’re making?

Sure, you can blame landlords, but they’re only going to charge what they can.

There isn’t enough housing.

The demand is as high as ever, but the supply is low, causing the prices to increase. If there were more homes, the landlords would be competing to have lower prices to attract more clients. When there are hardly any homes available, they have no need. They can charge what you are able to pay.

If this trend continues, the prices will soon be beyond our reach. Spokane needs to build more homes. Please support laws that cut through red tape and remove unnecessary restrictions and create more space for apartment complexes to be built on.

Lemar Chapman

Spokane

Stop landlords from overcharging

Affordable housing isn’t affordable. We need to support HB 1217, the bill that’ll keep landlords from drowning us out of our houses with unannounced rent raises. It passed the House and it’s companion bill, SB 5222, has been introduced in the Senate.

Unsurprisingly, most of the opposition to this bill comes from landlords. They argue that “with this bill, Washington risks driving highly mobile investment capital and excitement for building homes out of Washington and into Oregon, California and other neighboring states.”

But wouldn’t it be more of a profit for you to charge less? More affordable prices mean keeping more tenants, and more tenants means more money. But when you’re overcharging people who can barely afford it, like in 2022 with more than a whopping 22% rent increase as stated in The Spokesman-Review, you’re going to lose tenants.

We have a homelessness problem and a poverty problem; we need affordable housing. Call or send a letter to your state legislators and ask them to help support HB 1217.

Rowen Batke

Spokane

Fight to protect children

Globally, 1.6 million people identify as transgender; 300,000 of those people are children, and 81% of them have admitted to thinking about committing suicide at one point in their life.

Now imagine if HB 1038 were enacted here in Washington. That number would skyrocket. LGBTQ people under the age of 18 rely on gender-affirming care to allow them to be themselves. If this law were implemented, it would force children into hiding their true identity, reinforcing the harmful narrative that these people are young and confused, and that they will eventually change their minds.

Eighty percent of children who feel they may be born in the wrong body still continue to feel that way as an adult.

Imagine being 16, knowing all your life that you were born in the wrong body and seeking gender-affirming care to feel yourself and being told that laws were voted into place to protect you from yourself. It’s terrifying to be a young child knowing that the people who hold power and those who vote for them actively try to take away their right to free expression preaching against the rights of LGBTQ citizens.

This law causes harm, dragging our city back to an era of suppression and conformity dictated by the ideals of others. I urge you to not put support behind this law and to save the lives of the children who rely on you to lead them into the future.

Allister Weed

Spokane

Help our river

The Spokane River has sustained life for thousands of years, but thermal pollution is negatively impacting our river.

Thermal pollution is the change in ambient water temperature that degrades water quality. Elevated water temperatures decrease the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water, which may lead to harmful algae blooms or hypoxia, also referred to as “dead zones,” which native flora and fauna cannot survive in. Increasing temperature is also harmful to native life because different organisms need to live within specific temperature ranges to be healthy.

Changes in the temperature can impact animals’ reproductive patterns, fertility and how many offspring they can produce. In Spokane, our redband trout population is decreasing because of thermal pollution, habitat destruction and sediment pollution.

As troublesome as this is, there are ways you can help. By volunteering for a river cleanup (April 19 at 10 a.m. is the next one), you can ensure a difference is being made toward keeping the Spokane River healthy.

Dot Brewer

Spokane

Stand up for immigrants

I have a personal story about my experience with Ukrainian immigrants. I had my house reroofed five years ago by a Ukrainian family. The granddad, dad and grandkids all worked. They have lived in Spokane for 22 years.

They were fearful when Trump was first president even though they were now U.S. citizens. They pointed out that they had paid taxes over the 22 years that way overshadowed any public money given to them when they settled in Spokane. I have also employed Ukrainians in my business.

I find it shameful we are abandoning support for Ukraine. Most immigrants are hardworking, law abiding, with better morals than our leaders. Come on Spokane, it is time to stand up to the tyranny of Donald Trump.

Paul Piper, M.D.

Spokane