With the soon-to-be-closed Third Street boat launch and the McEuen Park construction in the background, community leader Mary Souza announced her intention to file as a candidate for Mayor in the November 2013 Coeur d’Alene city election.

Souza was introduced to a crowd of approximately 60 people by Coeur d’Alene City Councilman Dan Gookin.

Speaking both extemporaneously and from prepared remarks, Souza pledged to conduct respectful and professional meetings and to listen to the citizens.  She also promised that citizens would have a vote on major issues that concern them.

Near the end of the event, Councilman Dan Gookin wryly observed that in the half-hour or so since people had started to arrive,  three boats had been launched at the  “underutilized” Third Street ramps.  (more…)

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For those who are planning to attend the June 4, 2013, Coeur d’Alene City Council meeting and offer any public comments, well, be prepared to sit through the entire meeting first.

The Agenda for the June 4 meeting posted today on the City’s website shows that public comments have been moved to the end of the meeting.

ADDENDUM 05-31-2013 @12:20:  Apparently in response to OpenCdA’s post, the Agenda for the June 4 meeting has been modified to include public comments on the two most controversial items.

In a just-concluded telephone conversation, former Coeur d’Alene City Council candidate Jim Brannon confirmed to OpenCdA that he had filed the necessary campaign treasurer notification papers with the Coeur d’Alene City Clerk’s Office.

Brannon also confirmed what he had put in a comment on OpenCdA’s post titled “Daddy?”, that he is formally announcing his candidacy for Coeur d’Alene Mayor in the November 2013 City election.

Is it fair and accurate to characterize Coeur d’Alene’s McEuen Park parking garage as the Son of  River Park Square (RPS) in Spokane?

I believe so.

They were both funded by using as much public money as possible for projects which would primarily benefit a few developers and businesspeople.  They both depended heavily on key local government officials being fully controlled by the developers.  And they both have depended heavily on the developers’ abilities to carefully control and manipulate the information the public received about each project. (more…)

According to the Shoshone News Press, the Silver Valley understands how urban renewal has been abused in the wake of bad legislation in Idaho and by a failure of the Legislature to correct the opportunities for abuse.  On Tuesday the Shoshone County voters voted down a proposal to create an Urban Renewal Agency.

Here’s an interesting excerpt from the online article:

“—take out this paragraph if voted down—-> The creation of the URA means the County Commissioners will now set about appointing a board with one or two responsible, business-oriented citizens with financial knowledge before the newly-appointed board goes about outlining the district and attempting to secure funds for the planned projects — including improving the infrastructure in the Big Creek area by installing sewage and fiber optic lines under a new, stronger road capable of holding much heavier loads of metals.”

(Apparently the online editor of the Shoshone News Press missed that instruction.  Oops!)

The creation of this URA was heavily promoted by the salesmen who make piles of money as consultants touting tax increment financing but then leave the local citizens to deal with the abuses.   On the other hand, Coeur d’Alene Representative Kathy Sims, Coeur d’Alene City Councilman Dan Gookin, and local real estate representative Sharon Culbreth traveled to the Silver Valley at their own expense to help inform the voters of the realities of the urban renewal scam in Idaho.   Looks as if the Silver Valley voters are more astute than many in Coeur d’Alene.

The Coeur d’Alene Press says it’s this.

The Boston Globe says it’s this.

People with too much time on their hands want to know.

The rest of us don’t really care.

“Using the powers of the office of President of the United States, Richard M. Nixon, in violation of his constitutional oath faithfully to execute the office of President of the United States and, to the best of his ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and in disregard of his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed, has repeatedly engaged in conduct violating the constitutional rights of citizens, impairing the due and proper administration of justice and the conduct of lawful inquiries, or contravening the laws governing agencies of the executive branch and the purposed of these agencies.” (more…)

If the article in this morning’s Coeur d’Alene Press is even close to accurate and complete, the public’s pocket is being picked by elements of the McScrew’em Park Project.  One source has estimated this pocket-picking’s value to be between $220,000 and $225,000.

But why be concerned?  After all, our City officials built $600,000 for that purpose into the budget.  It’s called the “contingency fund.”  The $600,000 is about 4.1% of the Project’s projected total budget.

Never mind that your pocket is still being picked.  It was planned!  Now, doesn’t that make you feel better?  It shouldn’t.  That means there could still be about $380,000 in the planned pocket-picking account before the Coeur d’Alene City Council would have to vote to approve an increase in the budget.   That’s a lot of money that can still be doled out.  And it might not end there. (more…)

Today’s online Coeur d’Alene Press is running this article bylined Mike Patrick and titled Playing politics in a strange new world.

The article discusses how an unnamed “…organization purchased hyperlinks to the names of candidates that organization does not support.”  The result was that online readers following the link were taken to a website that supported candidates by the organization unnamed in the article.

Why didn’t the Press, why didn’t Mike Patrick name the organization who purchased the misdirecting hyperlink ads?  From following the links remaining in the online article, some people might conclude that the ads were purchased by the same group who purchased the remaining linked ads.  That may or may not be accurate, but the Coeur d’Alene Press and Mike Patrick surely know who did purchase the deceptive links.  Regardless of who that is, fairness to all the candidates requires that the Press identify the misdirection ads’ buyers.  As for the intra-skewspaper discussion reported, shouldn’t that have taken place before the hyperlink ad was accepted?

ADDENDUM:  Some time later this afternoon, the Press article was updated to include a press release from Balance North Idaho which acknowledged it had placed the deceptive hyperlinks.   I wonder if Balance North Idaho’s “well Balanced candidates” endorsed and supported the deceptive practice?   I wonder if Balance North Idaho’s Board of Directors would appreciate having their personal names hyperlinked in alleged news stories to unsavory websites?  No doubt they would not.  After all, appropriation of one’s name or likeness for commercial or political purposes  but without his explicit permission violates his privacy rights in many states.