Eyes on Spokane City Council
Have you heard the one about the UN conspiracy in Spokane? Well in case you haven't, former state Rep. John Ahern has cooked up quite a crazy story in response to the Sustainability Action Plan that was released last month by Mayor Mary Verner’s Sustainability Task Force - the culmination of a one-year study funded by a state grant that aims to lay out guidelines for a more sustainable future for Spokane.
Ahern attended the first public comment opportunity during a council meeting and tried to convince the council that the Sustainability Action Plan was part of a UN-influenced plot - like it is un-American to plan for the future. And now we (Spokane) are in serious trouble of not gaining approval of the Sustainability Action Plan - a plan that would undoubtedly ensure that the future economic security and sustainability of our city continues to move forward.
According to Futurewise, we (Spokane) may be at least one vote short of approving the Sustainability Action Plan. And the only conspiracy that Futurewise sees, is a conspiracy to protect Spokane's social, economic, and natural resources for the future!
So how did this conspiracy get started? It started with a petition a few years ago. Concerned citizens gathered signatures to encourage Mayor Dennis Hession to sign the US Mayor's Climate Protection Agreement. Mayor Hession agreed making Spokane one of over 900 US cities to sign on. Then Mayor Verner took the next step. She initiated a process similar to Governor Gregoire's 2007 Climate Advisory Team to determine how Washington would reach it's greenhouse gas reduction goals-but Mayor Verner took it a step further and added the consideration of reducing our dependence on foreign oil.
Conspiracy exposed! Like it? Then please thank Mayor Verner for her leadership by telling the City Council to approve the Sustainability Action Plan by April 24th!
We don't have to tell you that failing to plan is planning to fail, but we do need you to tell our city council.
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Out There Monthly's Editor and Chief Jon Snyder recently spoke with Spokane City Councilman Richard Rush and the audio of the interview is available at the Out There Monthly site.
Councilman Rush had just gotten back from Washington D.C. from the National Bike Summit so he was able to shed some light on what is happening in terms of funding bike infrastructure, programs, etc from federal stimulus dollars. Rush also spoke about Spokane Smart Routes 2010 campaign. We would like to thank Jon Snyder for conducting this interview and for making it available online. With Bike To Work Week on the immediate horizon - now is a great time to really crank up the bicycle and alternative transportation talk.
