Letters for Jan. 27

Rooftop gardens

In recent years, summers in the Pacific Northwest have been getting noticeably hotter and it’s only going to get worse. We have hotter, drier weather coming – if not this year, the next. This leaves many people searching for effective ways to cool their homes that aren’t going to cost them thousands. What if I told you that there was an inexpensive way to help cool your buildings that will not only save you money on AC, but will also create better, cleaner air for you and the people of Spokane?

This is where rooftop gardens come in. Spokane is full of old, flat roofed buildings which serve as the perfect place for a community vegetable garden, or even simply a planted space. Along with being a beautiful, peaceful space, planted rooftops are an important step in helping cool our city and lessen the Urban Heat Island effect which causes us to see much hotter temperatures near the downtown area.

It also provides natural space for birds and pollinators and contributes to cleaner air quality, which Spokane desperately needs in our summers. Planted roofs are proven to significantly cool the buildings that they inhabit.

Planted rooftops would be a net benefit to our city and have minimal downsides. I urge building owners to include native plant installations at the top of their buildings, especially downtown. Our globe is warming. All we can do now is make our surroundings more comfortable. Are you going to be part of the solution?

Astor Powell-Pedersen

Spokane

Thiessen wrong again

Enough of Marc Thiessen, that political hack from the Bush administration who is now praising Brett Kavanaugh as a “hero” for helping strip away a 50-year constitutional right from American women.

Thiessen’s columns appear far too frequently in The Spokesman-Review. He was wildly wrong last year when he predicted a “red tsunami” in the 2022 congressional election. Instead, American voters outraged by the Supreme Court’s Roe decision and sick of Republican election deniers turned the GOP “tsunami” into a trickle with a razor thin House majority.

Now on the 50th anniversary of Roe, Thiessen is wrong again as he extols Kavanaugh’s legacy. He’s silent on Kavanaugh’s lie to pro-choice Republican Sen. Susan Collins, asserting that Roe was “settled law” he wouldn’t undermine as he sought her support for his confirmation. After Roe was overturned, Collins said Kavanaugh had misled her.

Thiessen’s charges of a “smear campaign” by Democrats against Kavanaugh ring hollow. He omits the allegations of psychologist Christine Blasey Ford, that a drunken Kavanaugh groped her at a high school party. Blasey Ford came forward on her own after testifying at Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing, and she received death threats which forced her to flee her home and hire security.

Thiessen also makes the jaw-dropping claim that Kavanaugh and his far-right colleagues embody “judicial restraint.” This court’s majority is unrestrained, threatening to invalidate gay marriage and birth control, covertly associating with right-wing influence groups, according to a recent New York Times investigation. Arrogance, not restraint, is its defining character.

Karen Dorn Steele

Spokane

Election deniers in Congress

It is curious to me that I have heard no one speak to the fact that we have election deniers in Congress who took an oath to obey the Constitution and are still there, and what’s more people running as election deniers who would already be denying the Constitution. I mean, wouldn’t you think that would mean you would have to be expelled or not able to run? It seems obvious for the last 200 years that we trusted people would do the right thing and then … Now we seem to have no laws that would take care of the problems. These people need consequences to deter the problem. I see nothing yet.

Priscilla Hawkyard

Spokane

Police precinct option

After reading another story about criminal activity in the east boundary of downtown Spokane, how about making the building (formerly a Starbucks and others) on the corner of Division and Second a Spokane Police precinct site? Seems like a great spot for access to a variety of Spokane communities as well as an opportunity to support residents and businesses to decrease criminal activity in the east downtown, University District and Sacred Heart Medical Center areas. I know it’s a bit of a distance away from the currently contested east precinct site, but still only minutes away.

Heidi Peterson

Spokane

North-south freeway delayed again?

As a Spokanite, born and raised, I’ve heard talk of the north-south freeway all my life, mostly that it would never happen. First it was my grandfather that said, “not in my lifetime,” then it was my father saying, “not in my lifetime.” My grandfather passed away a little over 30 years after it was first conceived. My father passed away five years after they broke ground.

The governor is proposing to delay completion of it by six years. Seriously? That would make it 89 years from conception to completion. To stop it now would be an embarrassment and unsightly (with spans that have no ends), not to mention safety concerns after years of just sitting there, especially over the college and the theft of materials too.

I am now a senior citizen. When I go to meet my father and grandfather in the “great beyond,” I’d sure like to share, “They finally got it done.”

Laura Hegel

Spokane

We the People Amendment

The current U.S. congressional majority is making a mockery of the legislative process by showing no ability or interest in governing. The focus is on sabotaging the president instead of leading with clear, reasonable policy proposals. The reckless disregard for adhering to basic ethics and holding their colleagues accountable is shameful.

Time to move forward on the We the People, Amendment HJR 48 to end corporate rule and big money’s control of our elected officials. Our current 5th Congressional District representative is unable to think for herself and only does what her corporate financiers tell her to do.

To better understand the need for this change, please join a responsible representative on MoveToAmend.org on Jan. 27 at 11:45 a.m.

Sally McQuain

Chewelah