Letters for April 15

A bold, two-pronged solution for Spokane’s future

Spokane is a city at a crossroads. We’re facing an urgent homelessness crisis while also navigating long-term questions about how to create a more equitable and resilient community. At the same time, like many cities across Washington, we’re seeing a growing population of single men – many of whom are thriving and many of whom are not.

Here’s a bold idea: implement a 1% civic contribution from single men in Spokane, with funds split 50/50 to serve two urgent needs: first, providing whole life insurance policies for every newborn in the region and, second, directly supporting homeless aid programs tailored to single men.

The first half of the fund would create guaranteed, compounding financial assets for Spokane’s children – assets they can use for education, housing or to pass on to their own children. Whole life insurance is a quiet engine of generational wealth, and starting at birth makes it incredibly efficient.

The second half would fund targeted homelessness prevention and intervention efforts for single men in our community: job training, mental health care, sober living support or temporary housing.

This structure isn’t about punishment; it’s about participation. A 1% contribution from single men with means can uplift those without, while also building permanent wealth for future generations.

Spokane has the heart and the grit to lead the nation with this kind of shared-responsibility model. Let’s be the first city to connect generational equity with compassionate, long-term homelessness solutions.

Alex Milner

Redmond

Baumgartner’s comment regarding impeachment

I am a disabled Marine veteran and constituent in Rep. Baumgartner’s 5th District. Last week I asked the congressman to read a citizen-written Articles of Impeachment concerning Donald Trump’s tyranny. The full impeachment article is at citizensimpeachment.com.

The offenses Trump has committed range from violations of the First Amendment toward the press and First, Fourth and Sixth amendments toward international students, permanent residents, people on asylum and Venezuelans. He has not placed his businesses in blind trusts, has promoted personal business and charged people for his time in his official capacity, and presented quid-pro-quo terms to politicians for the benefit of his policy successes. These offenses were laid out in the Article of Impeachment in legal language.

Rep. Baumgartner stated in his response: “Currently, there is no clear evidence indicating that President Trump has committed any impeachable offenses” and “It is essential that we approach any impeachment inquiry with a commitment to upholding the Constitution and the rule of law. I am closely monitoring developments and will continue to evaluate all information and evidence presented.”

I was a criminal investigator in the Marine Corps and taught to ensure that we never infringed on a person’s constitutional rights in our pursuit of justice – a stance that ICE, CBP and now several other federal agencies are backsliding on at the direct request of the president and Cabinet. Without anyone in Congress bringing forward further investigations into these abuses, how will any additional evidence come to light?

Jack Dalbey

Spokane

Our representative

Imagine my reaction when our representative’s name appeared on the front page of The Spokesman-Review on April 9. Was he, at last, addressing my concern that he voted to limit Medicaid coverage – coverage that 54% of children in this district rely on for health care? Or the lack of due process given to people pulled off the street in our country and sent to a gulag in El Salvador?

No.

Was he: Concerned about threats to the bond market and our economy? Worried about senior officials walking out at the IRS? Opposing the current president’s effort to use the Justice Department to go after two former officials he appointed because they say he did NOT win the 2020 election? (News flash: He didn’t.)

No.

So, why was his name on the front page of my local newspaper?

He was proposing “big changes to college sports.”

In other words, while Trump, Musk, the tech bros and his Republican colleagues were trying to burn our country down, he was over in the corner somewhere watching the Elite Eight on his laptop.

Nice gig. My tax dollars help fund his salary and benefits. And I, for one, expect real representation from “my” member of Congress when our democracy is under threat.

Do your job, sir.

Angela Allen

Veradale