NOW OPEN! 4 WINE TAPS, 34 BEER TAPS 150 BOTTLED BEERS & FULL BAR
Wild Turkey Pot Pie
NEWS | CITY COUNCIL “CAPTIVE AUDIENCE,” CONTINUED... ing some people from bringing their concerns about city business to the council. Stuckart says that he will ask the council to consider changing the rules for open forum after the November election, when Councilman Mike Allen retires and two other councilmembers could be unseated by challengers. Currently, there’s an open forum at the beginning of meetings that’s limited to 30 minutes and another at the end (unless it’s after 10 pm). Stuckart isn’t sure what the change will look like, but it might include a monthly open forum. “Public comment is supposed to be for the public and if you hear from the same people week after week, you’re not getting a wide variety of opinion,” says Stuckart. “So I want to see if council will switch it up to make sure there are more diverse opinions.”
D Crispy Skin Salmon
Bread Pudding
Open for Lunch & Dinner | Brunch on Weekends 8am - 1pm Private Party Space Available
Monday-Friday 11am-11pm • Saturday & Sunday 8-1pm and 3pm-11pm
905 N. WASHINGTON ST. | 509-392-4000
THE OLD BROADVIEW DAIRY TheBlackbirdSpokane.com |
@TheBlackbirdGEG
uring his six years on the city council, Jon Snyder says he’s seen the value of setting aside council time to hear directly from citizens. He’s heard about unfair rate structures for waste-treatment septic contractors, and more recently about concerns from cab drivers who say Uber and Lyft aren’t playing fair. “Public comment is this awesome fail-safe device to bring our attention to important issues that we are missing in some way,” he says. Councilman Mike Fagan, the council’s most conservative member, has in the past used his AM radio show to encourage people who disagree with his more liberal colleagues to give the council a piece of their mind. Fagan opposes
changing the council’s rules on open forum. “The public are the ones that put us there in office,” says Fagan, who questions how seriously his colleagues treat open forum. “We should be respecting their First Amendment rights to let them express displeasure, pleasure, concerns, whatever they’ve got on their minds.” Holding only one open forum at the end of the meeting, says Fagan, would be unfair to the public because they wouldn’t know how long they’d have to wait while council finishes business before being allowed to speak. Snyder says that it’s a tricky balance, and he probably supports the current arrangement. Debra Robole, the council’s senior research and policy analyst, has been researching how other cities handle public comment and found that Spokane stands out. Other cities require advance sign-up to speak or allow their council’s chair to limit public comment. She also found that neither Boise nor Tacoma have open forum periods like Spokane’s. Instead, they only allow the public to comment on specific agenda items. “I’m also noticing, that as my term goes on, [open forums] are getting more and more negative, and it sets a tone for the whole meeting,” says Stuckart. In May, Stuckart asked McGrath to stop using the phrase “bridge to hookerville” to refer to a planned pedestrian bridge during open forum, saying that people complained that the phrase is offensive. In weeks following the dustup, supporters of McGrath turned out for open forum, peppering their speech with the phrase. One man
Come backNew Attend A princ ess mo nth Event and
October is Princess® Month at AAA. Attend a presentation and discover why Princess has been awarded “Best Cruise Line Itineraries” nine years running. Plus, enjoy reduced deposits, onboard spending credits and other special offers on select sailings!
AAA Coeur d’Alene Store: 296 W. Sunset Ave., Suite 33 Date: Wednesday, Oct. 7 Time: 1:30 p.m. RSVP: (208) 666-5715
50 TAPS
FULL BAR
@MANITOTAPHOUSE MANITOTAPHOUSE.COM
3011 S. GRAND BLVD. | (509) 279-2671 11AM - 11PM SUN-THURS | 11AM - MIDNIGHT FRI & SAT
14 INLANDER SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
BEST BEER BAR & BEST BAR FOOD
Rules and restrictions apply. Ask AAA for details. Agency #178-018-521 Job #1138
AAA North Spokane Store: 7307 N. Division St., Suite 103 Date: Wednesday, Oct. 7 Time: 5:30 p.m. RSVP: (509) 468-1138
Spokane Cruise & Travel 1314 S. Grand Blvd. Date: Thursday, Oct. 8 Time: 1:30 p.m. RSVP: (509) 358-7039