Letters for Thursday, Oct. 9

Mark Bitz for CV School Board

Currently the only professional educator on the Central Valley School Board is retiring from her position. The remaining members of the board do not have current experience in teaching and working with curriculum.

In fact, the board in the past year spent more time dealing with a political agenda involving gender in athletics than it did on improving curriculum, supporting teachers and focusing on ways to increase student achievement. To address these concerns the board needs to have members who actually have current experience supporting the complex process of education.

Mark Bitz is a recently retired Central Valley educator and Central Valley Teacher of the Year recipient who is more than capable of not only drawing on his years of experience as a teacher but also on his many years as an engineer at Hewlett Packard in Liberty Lake. I have had many conversations with Mark about education and have been impressed with his knowledge and skill in working with the school and community. Mark understands the multiple changes that have occurred in education and will bring to the board this perspective: A focus on student involvement and achievement, on improving curriculum, and on bringing students into the “real world” through partnerships with businesses and community organizations,

As a former K-12 and university educator, I support Mark Bitz and his platform. He will advocate for the best interests of the students as well as the community. Mark is the best person for Position 5.

Susan McGinty

Liberty Lake

Downtown property owners let street trees die

The forest is literally and figuratively being missed for the trees. I left my beloved city over a decade ago for the rainy West Side, and things have definitely changed over there, which was exemplified when I made my last visit to Spokane several months ago.

It’s no wonder downtown business owners are not paying the money to upkeep trees in front of their property when people are passed out from drugs on the sidewalks in front of their business. When not passed out, groups of vagrants crowd the sidewalk, making it a safety risk and maze to pass through them. When I left Spokane, the downtown core was the jewel of the state, with the turnaround in the area even being talked about over here. No more.

This is a perfect example of the broken windows theory of law enforcement. People shooting up drugs and passing out with nothing being done about it depresses the motivation of property owners to beautify the fronts of their property. Nobody wants to have to step over passed out druggies in order to get into a business so why bother keeping up storefront appearances. If the vagrancy/camping laws were enforced, people would feel safe and want to be in these downtown areas, resulting in property owners maintaining the areas in front of their stores.

If the first domino falls, it’s only a matter of time before they all fall. I hope something can be done to restore this area to its former glory

Paul Masiello

Olympia