A valuable tool under valuable scrutiny

Awakening Remarks

Urban renewal has become one of the most hotly debated issues in Kootenai County politics, and with good reason. Today, when I look back on my time as Executive Director at the Post Falls Urban Renewal Agency, I view myself then as I try now to view other people who serve in the public realm: people who mean well but are subject to fallibility as humans. Urban renewal is analogous to the people who run government. It is a well-intentioned program that provides a unique opportunity for communities to self-direct as they grow toward the future. 

However, urban renewal is vulnerable to pitfalls, as all government is. Tolstoy once said, “Government is an association of men who do violence to the rest of us.” At the heart of that violence is a human propensity to take power where it is available. There is considerable discretion that comes with an urban renewal agency, and with that, the risk that power can be abused. In other words, the very same attribute of urban renewal that is most positive, flexibility of discretion, is the one that is its greatest potential weakness.

Asked once by a reporter how someone who self-describes himself as a conservative can promote urban renewal, I replied that I don’t see urban renewal as counter to my conservative roots because it promotes local control. I firmly believe that skepticism of government at all levels is a good thing; that given the choice between empowering the government and empowering a citizenry, the citizenry should win every time. But government is a necessary evil. At some point in time, my exercise of what I believe are my rights will have a deleterious effect on yours. 

Urban renewal allows localities to determine their own destiny, be less reliant on state and federal government, and to promote a competitive market. Business owners that have to compete with businesses lured to the area by urban renewal, legitimately, will disagree with me. However, government interference in the market is unfair by definition, local control has far more sensitivity than any other type, and a healthier local economy is better for everyone, including businesses that don’t derive a direct benefit from urban renewal.

Urban renewal remains a mystery for most people, and its nuances can be argued ad infinitum. However, we are lucky to have many people who participate locally in government, both from within and without, who understand and work to educate the rest of us.

Therefore, the situation that we have is ideal. We have the most progressive form of local government to bring jobs and sustainability to the area, and we have the only active ingredient that makes government successful: a vigilant public. 

I have friends and colleagues that I respect on both sides of this issue. Naturally, while I can see and am supportive of the vigorous debate on both sides of the issue, ad hominem attacks dishearten me. By Tolstoy’s criteria, a coordinated character assault is condemnable, no matter which side instigates. History may judge my time with Post Falls harshly, as is its prerogative. I will take that criticism and try to improve myself with it. However, if I were to fall subject to character attacks as people on both sides of the debate have, I would be at a loss as to where improvements could be made.

Keep the debate where it should be: on the issues. And by all means, keep it going.

Luke Malek worked for the Post Falls Urban Renewal Agency from March 2007 until September 2008.