Spokesman-Review Letter to the Editor
Pothole Season Ahead
As spring approaches the people of Spokane get to play dodge-a-pothole again. Or how long can I go without a front-end alignment due to pothole damage? It’s clear that the method they are using to repave our streets isn’t working. You would think that with all the engineers and managers on city staff someone could come up with a plan to repave our streets. We are not talking rocket science here.
Take arterial “A” and figure the “X” amount of traffic for “Y” number of years, and it should need repaving in “Z” amount of time. Every time I ask someone at City Hall why they can’t do a better job on repaving, they moan and wring their hands and say street funding comes from the general fund and they don’t have the money.
They need to take a clue from the sewer and water departments, and come up with a street utility fee to pay for repaving streets. If Mayor David Condon wants to be re-elected, he needs to step on some toes and kick some butts and get ’er done. Otherwise the people of Spokane need to take up pitchforks and torches and march on City Hall.
Rick Johnson
Spokane
Glad you brought this up Mr. Johnson, because there are a couple programs to get roads paved that are paid for by users. The first is the Street Bond program and not only was a formula used to arrive at which streets need paving first, but the folks out on the streets everyday were asked to weigh in- both citizens and City Workers who examine the streets for wear and tear. Discussion on the Street Bond at this time is important because the current program is about to be finished up and the plan is to ask voters for a second bond to get even more streets done.
There’s also the Transportation Benefit District, a $20 car tab fee, that goes toward transportation improvements.
A new bond may be a hard sell, when people find out they are still paying for the current bond for ten more years, but the improvements they have made over the last few years are great and maybe that will help to pass a new bond issue.
To make it even more difficult, the City is going to have to decided how the Complete Streets ordinance will play into a new bond. Including reconstruction of sidewalks, the addition of bike lanes and other facilities could cost more on some projects, meaning less projects are completed on the next Bond program. The poor economy will also add to the difficulty of passing another bond. A lot of people are already feeling taxed-out. The folks at the City are well aware of this though and have been strategizing for a while now. Will be interesting to see what 'selling points' they come up with.