2019 Municipal Elections
Two visions
to grapple
with growth
TODAY: CDA SEAT 1
Wednesday: CDA Seat 3
Thursday: CDA Seat 5
By CRAIG NORTHRUP
Staff Writer
ELAINE PRICE
The prospects of entering a political race are daunting for any candidate, incumbent or otherwise. For City Council hopeful Elaine Price, her first voyage into politics is one she looks to embrace.
“Sure, it’s a different experience for me,” Price said. “It’s definitely pushing me out of my comfort zone. But that’s not always a bad thing.”
The perimeter of her comfort zone as a self-described “average citizen” is what she’s counting on this November as she makes a run for Seat 1, currently held by Ron Edinger, who’s retiring. That transition is giving her a chance to separate herself from her opponent, former Coeur d’Alene police officer Christie Wood, by using her distance from City Hall as an asset, promoting her vision as that of a longtime resident instead of a political insider.
“I’ve seen what’s been happening with this city,” Price said. “I’ve seen the way it’s grown and the way a lot of people have been left behind. I felt I had a choice. I could’ve just sat back and complained. I could choose to sit on the sidelines, or I could choose to get involved. I chose to do the latter.”
Price sees growth as an irresistible force that can’t be ignored and must include everyone. That means a council that engages in a continual balancing act — one that gets more fragile and tenuous with each new construction project.
“Growth is an issue, to be sure,” she said. “It’s something the City has to tackle, but the City has to realize: We have to keep everybody in mind. We have to keep everybody’s rights in mind when we grow. If we let an R-34 [get built] but don’t think about the property rights of the people around that development, then we’re doing everybody a disservice. We have to be inclusive as possible when making these decisions, and not just think about dollar signs or the bottom line.”
Those dollar signs — or, more specifically for some, the lack of dollar signs — are at the heart of Price’s driving point, one she believes will resonate with voters: That of middle-class and lower-income residents being left out of Council’s thinking.
“One thing I’m really concerned about is our working-class people,” she said. “I’m concerned because our housing situation is driving our most important population out of the market. I know there’s no easy solution, and I understand the cost of living is going to go up, but I have two boys who can’t afford to live in the city they were born and raised in.”
She said that pattern, cultivating generations of Coeur d’Alene natives into an economy that prices out a lower-income workforce, is one that will alienate an entire segment of the population even further into the economic periphery.
“That’s the way I feel Coeur d’Alene is going,” Price said. “We count on these people to run our restaurants and work in our shops down on Sherman Avenue. And yet, we’re telling them they need to live up north or need to live in another city because Coeur d’Alene is too expensive for them. That’s wrong. It’s absolutely wrong.”
She lists the comprehensive plan as the first step toward solving a perpetually complicated issue, adding that she would push to move the blueprints for growth forward, both in quality and in quantity. She cited previous projects as examples of how developments with too much wiggle room end up hurting in the long run.
“If we want to see Coeur d’Alene grow and have a say in how and where it’s going to grow, we need that comprehensive plan,” she said. “We need it so we can have a unified, clear direction going forward... Some issues surrounding the [comprehensive] plan I’ve noticed is, we don’t always give developers enough information. There are spots where we make our decisions and then leave it up to chance. [We’ve had situations where] we’ve required water access without specifications. We gave the developers a lot of leeway but didn’t specify exactly what requirements they had to abide by. So he just made a path to the river with no parking, no concern for [the Americans with Disabilities Act], no concern for overcrowding.”
That lack of direction, Price said, has been evident on the City Council for far too long.
“I want to be that fresh voice and give a different perspective than what we’ve had,” she said. “I consider myself a middle-class citizen, and I don’t feel like we’re being represented.”
CHRISTIE WOOD
It’s easy to buy into the idea that Coeur d’Alene’s Christie Wood is an established political insider. After a while, the notion slowly morphs into an easily perceived fact. Whether in the front row of the library’s community room during City Council meetings, representing North Idaho College as a member of its Board of Trustees or making her impression felt as she sat on the Coeur d’Alene School Board, the mistake is an easy one to make.
After all, she’s just kind of everywhere.
“We live in a beautiful city,” Wood said, “and I am committed to the citizens to work hard and keep it that way; not just for today, but for the many generations to come.”
The longtime resident is banking on those credentials as she makes a run for City Council’s Seat 1, soon to be vacated by a retiring Ron Edinger, a Coeur d’Alene icon who endorsed Wood on Oct. 7. Edinger made a point to cite qualifications and experience as the backbone for an effective Council member.
“I have spent my adult life in public service,” Wood said, “first to our country in the U.S. Air Force and then to our community as a police officer. I have also volunteered on many community boards. It’s just who I am as a person. I like government meetings.”
She added that after a 26-year career in the Coeur d’Alene Police Department highlighted by her role as the first school resource officer at Lake City High School, as supervisor in the Detective Division and as public information officer, as well as her service now as president of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations and as chairman of the North Idaho College Board of Trustees, she said she still feels the need to serve.
“When I retired, I thought I would slow down,” she said. “But I really like being engaged, and I have a true fondness for the city of Coeur d’Alene. If Ron had chosen to run again, I would have worked hard to support him because he has been a solid leader for the city. But he chose to retire, so I decided to step up and see if I could contribute in the way that he has.”
Edinger isn’t the only endorsement in Wood’s pocket. The Coeur d’Alene Police Officers Association, the Professional Firefighters of Idaho and the Coeur d’Alene Firefighters Union Local 710, among others, have all backed her. Now, it seems a lifetime of experience has armed her for what she hopes is her next adventure.
“I bring experience in public budgets, planning for growth, public policy, and overall governance,” she told The Press. “I have developed lasting relationships with many of our citizens and will listen attentively to ideas, as well as be a good steward of public dollars.”
Wood adamantly stands by her pledge to listen to the people of Coeur d’Alene. She said the time she spent building roots in the community will give her some of the answers she needs as the city faces its challenges ahead.
“Growth will continue to be a challenge to services, but I have lived through this scenario before with the police department, the college and the school district,” she said. “We must focus on doing more with less, and there are proven ways to accomplish that. Both the college and school district are very well-versed in planning. I learned a lot about planning for the future from both trustee positions. In the past, I put together a strategic plan for the [police department]. It helped us through the recession when we had less resources. I want to bring that kind of experience to the city and assist with planning for responsible growth and common sense decision-making.”?Those decisions, Wood contends, have to address problems big and small alike, especially with an issue as vast and intricate as growth.
“I am concerned about spot zoning that causes congestion for certain areas and has a long-term impact on the quality of life in our neighborhoods,” she said. “Congestion also impacts streets that have seen their better days and need to be resurfaced, as well as our water and sewer hookups that may need to be updated in older neighborhoods. I am very pleased the Council is investing in comprehensive planning and I hope to be involved in the ongoing discussion.”
And getting involved, Wood said, means showing up — everywhere she can.