Editorial: Tech market proposal needs a remodel

  Let’s see a show of hands: Who wants a tech center in Coeur d’Alene?

  That’s a lot of hands. Now, who wants to pay for it? Thought so.

  With far fewer airborne hands on the second question, the greater Coeur d’Alene community faces a challenge with potentially high reward. How do we create an educational and professional technology incubator that needs a little push to get started, but mustn’t pose a liability to taxpayers? The proposal being considered by Coeur d’Alene’s urban renewal agency shows some intriguing possibilities with a collaboration of several partners from the public and private sectors, University of Idaho perhaps the key player because of its mission and overall resources.

  The deal breaker at the moment is the proposal to use urban renewal funds to pay rent for the Coeur d’Alene Tech Market in Riverstone. Idaho urban renewal laws, now being scrutinized by legislators for future clarification and perhaps change, appear to prohibit the use of funds to rent space for private enterprise. In that scenario, taxpayers and the two private entities, Innovation Collective and Gizmo-cda, would face the greatest risk. Riverstone creator John Stone, who would collect an estimated $90,000 annually for renting space that has never had a tenant, is the only party guaranteed to win big.

  Stone, you may remember, is a Spokane developer who had a dream. Years ago he saw a dormant brownfield along the Spokane River in Coeur d’Alene where prime development should have been. With that vision, heavy personal investment and some help from taxpayers through urban renewal, Riverstone grew from the grit.

  And Stone is still dreaming.

  He’s dreaming that Coeur d’Alene Mayor Steve Widmyer is a selfish, ethically compromised pawn. Stone muddied the waters of a healthy tech center discussion when he sent a scathing email to the mayor last Thursday. By rebuking Widmyer as a self-serving, anti-urban renewal heretic, Stone succeeded only in eroding his own credibility. Widmyer is one of North Idaho’s most potent supporters of economic development. He’s also determined to do what’s right by the citizens he serves, which includes adhering to the law.

  Nobody opposes a tech market in North Idaho, but if urban renewal dollars are going to help fuel this project, a better plan must come forward. Perhaps Stone can demonstrate his magnanimity and donate the space in Riverstone.

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  Editor’s note: Four years ago, The Press published a story about urban renewal called “The Riverstone Experiment.” Because urban renewal is front-page news these days, that story is being republished today on cdapress.com.