McEUEN: Define the vote first

As this election season draws to a close (hooray!), I still have concerns on what seems to be a top issue regarding the city of Coeur d'Alene races: McEuen. I've long been troubled with this topic and wrote a Press My Turn column earlier this year detailing such. Since then, neither of these following items have been addressed to any satisfaction so I am revisiting them.

Some council candidates and many residents are demanding a public vote on McEuen. But not once has anyone, candidate or activist, ever attempted to define how that vote would be worded and exactly what the supposed "yes" or "no" vote would be on.

I see the possibility of two choices; Yes, build a $35 million McEuen or, No, leave McEuen as it is. McEuen is too important to be reduced to a yea or nay and neither of these choices is acceptable. Following a rigid plan would be foolhardy yet not doing anything still leaves us with an underused resource and blacktop where green space should be.

This point is especially directed at candidates who are using a McEuen vote as part of their campaign platform. You want a vote? Then define the vote. Otherwise this is just political rhetoric. And I think we can all agree that America already has plenty of that to go around.

The second point I raised last spring was a seemingly simple one. Ten years ago a McEuen concept that was driven by community input was unanimously passed by City Council. That plan was put away and I am still perplexed as to why the city saw the need to start from scratch, again, and create a committee that apparently didn't seek public input yet came up with a pie in the sky concept to the tune of $35 million plus.

I asked six months ago and I'm asking again, what happened to that plan and why hasn't the public been given the opportunity to view it along with the current one?

Why are these such difficult concepts? It's simple, define any proposed McEuen vote and show us the plan the city of Coeur d'Alene has been sitting on for a decade. This election and the future of McEuen are based on these two items. It shouldn't be this hard for the people of Coeur d'Alene to get this information.

Ask questions. Demand answers. And don't forget to VOTE!

DAVE WALKER

Coeur d'Alene