McEUEN: Respect works both ways

I have been following with fascination the progress of the McEuen Park talks, and I wasn't surprised by the City Council's decision. The information I've gotten from the newspaper leads me to believe that there's much more not being said by Coeur d'Alene's elected officials. Somebody wanted McEuen to go through regardless of what the general public wanted or didn't want.

In the May 26 edition of The Press in an article by Tom Hasslinger, Mayor Bloem says, "I certainly like differences of opinion. But I don't like it when people are disrespectful." What does she expect when the council is blatantly disrespectful to the people of Coeur d'Alene?

At one point in previous discussions somebody said that the council was elected by the people, therefore the council will make the decisions about McEuen for the people. There were meetings after meetings to hear what the people wanted, and even though there seemed to be a great number of people not totally in favor of going ahead with McEuen it was passed by the council.

I guess what I'm asking is why wasn't this put to a general vote? There seemed to be enough dissent in the populace to cast doubts on what the people wanted. Is the council really representing the people or are they more interested in special interest groups (or group)? One can surmise by their attitude that only the council, not the people who elected them, knows what is best for the city.

I challenge the council to not be "disrespectful" to the people of Coeur d'Alene and put McEuen on the ballot. Maybe, just maybe, the people might be more respectful of the council if the council shows respect for the people and confidence in the people to do what is the right thing for Coeur d'Alene.

MICHAEL PERRY

Post Falls