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Spokane Voters Defeat Drastic Changes to City Laws
 Voters in Spokane, Wash., on Nov. 3 rejected a ballot initiative that would have radically altered the city charter, would have been bad for local businesses and would have led to higher housing prices.
Proposition 4, the Envision Spokane Community Bill of Rights, was voted down by a margin of 75% to 25%.
“This type of effort, to drastically change city laws, will not be allowed by the citizens of Spokane,” said Edie Streicher, government affairs director for the Spokane Home Builders Association, speaking for the Save Our Spokane Political Committee.
“These election results make clear that the people of Spokane don’t want to have a small group of citizens tell them what is best when it comes to the role of government and the way our city should grow,” Streicher said.
Of highly dubious constitutionality, The Community Bill of Rights was comprised of 10 sweeping changes that would have, among other things, demanded that the city administer health care, allowed 15% of voters in a neighborhood to block any growth or changes and eliminated the ability of corporations to defend themselves in a court of law.
“Spokane was chosen for this test, and Spokane has earned an ‘A’ on the test by coming together and saying no to a laundry list of high-risk and high-cost ideas,” said Streicher.
Envision Spokane has indicated that it may attempt to put the proposal back on the ballot, but Save Our Spokane said that it would be a waste of taxpayer dollars to place the initiative before the voters again considering the large outpouring of opposition against it.
“This is it. People are now more aware of what they are signing to get on the ballot,” said Streicher, “and this election proves the overwhelming majority opposes Envision Spokane — or whatever name may be used to try and pass such an effort.”
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