[From my post in Rick Rydell’s FaceBook page – slightly edited for typos and grammar]

Condon team big on ideas – and jargon

By Shawn Vestal  (Spokesman-Review – January 13, 2012)

Rick,

I was going to give you my two cents having sat through this meeting but Shawn Vestal beat me to it. As you know I have a master of administration degree with an emphasis in public administration and an undergraduate degree in political science. Even my eyes were glazing over with the bureaucratic buzzwords that were rolling off the presenters tongues from their nice power points. I sent you a link to them yesterday. (http://www.spokanecity.org/services/articles/?ArticleID=2656) I went because I wanted to hear the public safety committee report. To Mayor Condon’s credit he did reach out for input but as I commented before many of those on the committee were the same Downtown elite that have their own interests. Much of this was a rehash of the same old Downtown pie in the sky fixes and solutions.

Again I would encourage you to read the work of Mr. X at Spokane Economics and Demographics Blog for an excellent analysis of why Spokane finds itself in the position it does (http://inlandnw.wordpress.com/). Once you understand why Spokane is so different than the West Coast for no apparent reason – e.g., cheap water and power, good transportation air/rail/road, regional hub for four states and Canada, inexpensive housing, excellent medical care and higher education and culture amenities . . . I could go on, you can begin to change course of the battleship.

Then judiciously INVEST taxpayer money in those SECTORS OF THE LOCAL ECONOMY where the taxpayers can actually get a positive ROI without taxpayer money being siphoned off by the power elite. Look I’m not a OCCUPY WALL STREET ideologue. However I am a seasoned economic/financial crimes investigator with the academic creds to call a shovel a shovel!

The Spokane Regional Economy is not a free market and those in charge are raping and pillaging the MARKS/unsuspecting taxpayers at will for their pie in the sky projects – The Downtown Electric Trolley was again trotted out in one of these reports. Until these changes Spokane occur will continue its downward spiral with its best and brightest young people leaving for better prospects elsewhere, our prevailing wage will continue to be low, and our housing inexpensive/affordable – a polite way of saying a good percentage of our citizens are living in poverty dependent on government assistance with governmental transfer payments and retirees like me working on a second career that CHOSE to relocate here bringing the real growth that does occur.

I say ENOUGH already!!!

S-R Shawn Vestal has an excellent column on the BS that was being slung around the City Council Chambers by the well heeled elite.

I’ll rehash my punch list for Mayor Condon and post later if he really wants to make real change that we RIGHT THINKING conservatives want – less and smaller government, cut the regulations that are not well thought out that only impede business growth and concentrate on providing essential governmental services – SPD Crimes Against Property Unit and quit killing noncombatants. I agree with Vestal that there were two good things in this presentation – “De-militarized the police” and “Make information clear to all users.”