A political bus going nowhere

Kootenai County Commissioner Chris Fillios joined 364 or so other people for Wednesday’s celebration of jobs in our community.

The Jobs Plus luncheon put a brilliant spotlight on how Kootenai County has diversified its workforce over 30 years of sometimes exceedingly difficult economics. For many of us, we need only remember the last recession to appreciate our jobs a little more.

Fillios is a go-to guy when it comes to economic development. But the Republican, who hails from the East Coast, also knows what it’s like to work hard to get somewhere in life, and how narrow the gap between hungry and comfortable can be. “There but for the grace of God go I” is something you might even hear him say.

We think compassion and economic development are better partners than opponents.

We think people who may be down temporarily sometimes do great things when they’re given a hand up, as opposed to a handout.

And we think strong communities provide basic services so their citizens can enjoy a decent quality of life. That involves the ability to go places — like the grocery store, the library, the hospital, or to one of those jobs that our community was applauding just a few days ago.

Not everybody thinks that way, apparently. Just hours before the Jobs Plus shindig, another group assembled and targeted the prospective base of one of those basic civic services. For some reason, the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee has determined that a transit center for our community’s Citylink bus service poses a financial and social threat, noting it “will be an ‘attractive nuisance’ for crime and illegal activities.”

For context, the central committee has come up with some fairly amusing planks in its political platform in recent years that end up going nowhere but are good for a few laughs. Remember when they wanted government to declare Idaho a “Christian state?” How about when they discussed putting together a team to vet Republican candidates to see if they’re really Republicans? Or sought beefed-up security for their Lincoln Day dinner March 4 because of concern over violent protests outside The Coeur d’Alene Resort?

The transit center opposition is disturbing for several reasons, not the least of which is this: Why jump up and holler now? This transit center has been planned for years and the county already has committed funding for the project, complemented by federal dollars paying three-quarters of the bill. Bigger questions — socially and morally, deeper questions — might be better addressed on a counselor’s couch.

For now, we did some simple internet research on transit centers and crime. Most of the research involves urban centers, which Riverstone on the Spokane River most certainly is not. Even then, we found no studies clearly depicting transit centers as hotbeds of criminal activity. Local law enforcers agree. Common sense and a trip or two on Citylink suggest that poorer people rely more on public buses than do, say, middle class Americans, but the broad brush of dubious characters is both unfair and unfounded.

It’s our hope that the Republican Central Committee would spend more time addressing serious community issues, like education and economic development, and less time running from ghosts riding Citylink buses.