Letters for Sunday, March 29

EV students deserve better

I’m a teacher at East Valley High School, and I’m proud of the students I serve. I’m proud of our student leaders, who dream up ways to inspire and invigorate their peers. I’m proud of our student athletes, who get together to train even when it’s not required. I’m proud of all our kids, who show up searching for new opportunities to learn the skills they need to compete in a rapidly changing economy.

This April, East Valley is running a bond to provide better spaces for our students to seek these opportunities. We must pass this bond.

Our community is proud of our students, too. Families pack our bleachers for home games. Parents volunteer to work concessions, or cart animals to school in trailers for community events. Businesses donate time, expertise, and equipment, providing our kids with professional mentorship.

We have the right pieces to invest in our students, who then become investments in our community. We just need the space to put these pieces together.

Our buildings are in rough shape. Our middle and high school were built over half a century ago, and we haven’t been able to modernize or expand in nearly 30 years.

Our students deserve better. They deserve roofs that don’t leak, working HVAC systems, and reliable plumbing. We need to recognize our students as investments, and in turn, invest in them. We need to turn our pride into something tangible.

We need to pass this bond.

Alex Heffelfinger

Spokane Valley

Repeal Washington’s wealth tax

It appears Washington wants to follow California into the black hole of fiscal suicide.

The wealth tax on millionaires is the fastest way possible to drive the wealth creators out of the state. Kathy Hochul, the governor of New York, is begging the billionaires that left in droves for Florida to come back to New York again to be overtaxed and fund their welfare program. (Currently spending $81,000 per homeless person per year – and the homeless never see that money, it is administrative salaries.)

The federal income tax became law in 1913. It charged 1% on income greater the $3,000 – about $100,000 in today’s money – and 6% on income over $500,000 – about $17 million in today’s dollar.

There are a number of states with no income tax. It doesn’t take rocket science to understand why Florida, Texas and Tennessee are growing.

Contact your representative and demand the repeal of this insane legislation.

David Barker

Spokane

Homelessness is still a problem, despite claims

A March 20 article states that Mayor Brown’s solutions for the homeless population are working. But are they really working? If they were working, why does it seem like we see more and more homeless on the street? Why isn’t the commercial office vacancy rate decreasing downtown?

The official downtown vacancy rate is 28-30%. This number is much too high and may be higher. It is estimated that 10% of tenants have moved out of their offices downtown but continue to pay rent until their lease ends. The actual vacancy rate may be closer to 40%.

Also, more businesses are contacting brokers about leaving downtown than coming to downtown. Finally, we are seeing more homeless people downtown. Does that sound like the situation is improving downtown?

But what is the vacancy rate for other cities our size? Boise’s vacancy rate is 18-20%; Salt Lake City is 19%; Reno, Nevada, is 17-20%; Madison, Wisconsin, is 14-18%; Omaha is 16-20%; and Eugene is 15-20%.

Mayor Brown and our City Council can no longer blame the vacancy rate on COVID, increased remote work, etc. Other cities of our size have much smaller downtown vacancy rates.

We should expect by the time the next election rolls around for Mayor Brown and our City Council to have reversed this trend. This means fewer businesses leaving downtown and a decreasing vacancy rate. We should also see fewer, not more, homeless people on the streets downtown.

Arnold G. Peterson

Spokane