The Inlander emailed a couple weeks ago asking me to contribute “some big, stupid, revolutionary ideas that the Spokane area can — and should — implement in 2008.” Here’s what I sent back:
At the risk of being too policy oriented:
1. Adopt a comprehensive plan to reestablish the salmon run in the Spokane River–all the way to their historical spawning grounds at the base of the Monroe St. Bridge.
2. Implement a major Transit Oriented Development initiative–including light rail.
3. Abandon the North South Freeway project.
They must not have liked the last two ideas becuase they only interviewed me about the first one. (The salmon idea is one that I credit Brian Flett for giving me when I interviewed him for OTM‘s very first issue in 2004. Otherwise known as the issue that resurrected the downtown whitewater park from the dead.)
Now that I have thought about it more there’s one other idea I wish I would have shared. We need a way to capture more tourist dollars from Canada. Why not build a curling rink?
