Just say 'no' to urban renewal boondoggle

Urban renewal development is the hot button issue for this council election. Dr. John Snedden's guest opinion Oct 6 eloquently addressed the concerns I am hearing from everyone I talk with in my campaign for city council.

While I respect Ray Miller's years of public service, I have to take exception with his effort to foist urban renewal development on the taxpayers. He and four City Council members suggest that unless we turn GN Road into a boulevard or until we build sidewalks and provide benches and bike racks downtown, hundreds of jobs will be lost. This URD slight-of-hand flagrantly circumvents the Idaho 3-percent tax cap that was enacted to prevent elected officials from overspending.

The five-member board appointed to facilitate this plan includes only one city resident and he does not own property. The other four members live outside the city! Could the city not find five taxpaying citizens within the city limits for this board — people who actually had a stake in the results?

Dr. Snedden speaks of the need for fiscal responsibility. This is why I am running for city council. Mr. Mayor, you still have an opportunity to make this right by the citizens of Sandpoint. Start with a new committee composed of taxpayers who live in Sandpoint. Then take their counsel and put their recommendations to a citywide vote. This way all of us in Sandpoint will know the city's intentions are not driven by big money and special interests.

HELEN M. NEWTON

Sandpoint