CANDIDATES: How to spend tax dollars

To each candidate vying for a seat on the Coeur d'Alene City Council, I ask these questions and want well thought-out answers.

Do you think it wise to spend $50 million (it will end up that much) to remake our recreational McEuen Field?

If more downtown parking is necessary, other space is available - like the dilapidated Elks Building? - rather than tearing up McEuen Field.

Coeur d'Alene is famous for the Kroc Center Olympic-sized swim facility, and now a classic $2.8 million ice arena, boating and fishing on our beautiful Lake Coeur d'Alene with easy and safe access boat ramp, swimming and picnicking at City Park, along the Dike Road and Sanders Beach. North Idaho College takes care of the creative arts.

So, I ask you, why are we spending up to $50 million to tear up McEuen Field and replace it with a park to stroll, and who will maintain and pick up the candy wrappers and cigarette butts?

Back to how best to spend $50 million of taxpayer money:

The City Link bus service, sponsored by Coeur d'Alene, Kootenai County, Kootenai Metropolitan Planning Organization, the state of Idaho and the Coeur d'Alene Tribe, is a free bus ride for locals who do not have a car to reach their place of employment, and includes Post Falls, Hayden and rural routes. Each bus is equipped with a heavy duty bike rack. All over Coeur d'Alene are bus stops, and the terminal is at Riverstone Drive. The problem?

These hard-working people, many who are young and without an auto, must stand out in the rain - a cold rain at times, on a muddy surface in winter, without shelter, waiting for their bus.

Even a temporary shelter from the rain and snow while waiting for their bus should be a priority in spending tax dollars. These workers pay taxes.

I'm waiting for a reply.

LILLIAN MOORE LIND

Coeur d'Alene