Why bus 'Taj Mahal' is unwise and unsafe
Opposition to the Riverstone Mass Transit Hub and Administration Building complex is about fiscal responsibility, service and safety, not hate.
As chairman of the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee, it is my responsibility to correct the record when this paper publishes information about the Kootenai County Republican Party and its members that is demonstrably untrue. The most recent case is a Letter to the Editor by a “Jessica Hensen” concerning the Kootenai County Republican Party position on the proposed Riverstone Administration Building and Mass Transit Hub. This person rolls out the tired trope that Republicans and conservatives are racists and hateful. Nothing is further from the truth. The Kootenai County Republicans stand with communities with limited income, residents and property owners in our opposition to the Riverstone Administration Building and any plans to have it serve as a hub for Greyhound and the Spokane Transit Authority.
Kootenai County Transit Administrators have proposed a new 2,500-square-foot Administration Building; not for riders, not for those with limited income, but for Kootenai County Transit administrators. During my testimony to the commissioners I pointed out that, according to the county’s numbers, the $336,272 matching funds coming directly from county taxpayers for the Riverstone Administration Building and Mass Transit Hub could support over 215,000 free Citylink rides. The Kootenai County Transit administrators are also proposing to spend nearly $200,000 on a fare collection system and then raise fees for local Citylink rides from $0 to $1.50, with future increases expected.
Meanwhile, Kootenai County Transit administrators have not provided adequate bus shelters including heat in the winter, or in some cases basic pavement for the existing Kootenai County Citylink stops, yet they want to spend over $300,000 on new offices for themselves. The Kootenai County commissioners should not be spending tax money on an unneeded “Taj Mahal” administration office building when simultaneously considering adding fares and cutting service.
The local property owners and residents of Riverstone were not consulted about this new Riverstone Administration Building whose purpose is to be a mass transit hub. There is a playground where parents currently feel secure to let kids play with minimal supervision only 80 steps away from where Kootenai County would put an express service to Spokane and a Greyhound interstate connection.
A public records request shows that the Spokane Transit Authority hub in the prior eight months had 646 incidents involving law enforcement including disorderly conduct, public inebriation, assault, theft, lewd conduct and rape, among others. Who will suffer if we allow express bus service from the highest-crime area in Spokane to a low-crime area in the heart of Coeur d’Alene? The low-income, aged, the vulnerable and disabled population that relies on Citylink as well as the residents and business of Riverstone. The Kootenai County Republicans stand with existing Citylink customers, business owners, residents and property owners of Riverstone who express dismay at the prospect of connecting their modest, low income but relatively safe neighborhood to the highest crime area in the city of Spokane.
The people who expressed opposition to the Riverstone Administration Building and Mass Transit Hub included men and women, retired police officers, veterans, the affluent and those of more modest means, old and young. Kootenai County Republicans are among and stand with this cross-section of our local community in their reasoned opposition to the Riverstone Administration Building and Mass Transit Hub. Sadly, the types of slanderous attacks as expressed in the Letter to the Editor by “Jessica Hensen” are what many have come to expect. “Jessica Hensen” is not a member of the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee or is affiliated with the Kootenai County Republican Party or is a registered voter. Is the Cd’A Press sure this person is even real? If the Cd’A Press cannot confirm the identity of this person, this is the definition of “fake news” promoted by fake sources. We encourage the Coeur d’Alene / Post Falls Press to ensure it is not promoting fake news.
It is the position of the Kootenai County Republican Party that Kootenai County should improve existing Citylink service, pave the parking lot and add security lights at Riverstone as Coeur d’Alene Police Chief Lee White requested and build an Americans with Disabilities-accessible shelter for existing customers. The county should not build an Administration Building, should not charge fares and should not provide a direct mass transit link between Coeur d’Alene and the highest crime area in the region.
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Brent Regan is chairman of the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee.