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Pros/Cons

Mr. Albritton has a long tenure as a resident of CdA. He is running on a platform of limiting population growth and its impacts. However, after our review of his public comments here, here, and at a local campaign event, he ultimately fails to make a case against his opponent.  

When asked to give an example of council action he disagrees with over the past few years he cited the purchase of the SWAT vehicle. We covered the SWAT purchase here. Mr. Albritton claimed the vehicle purchase was 500k, much higher than published not only in our review but also here. Maybe he’d be a great council member. It just seems he hasn’t been paying attention. Maybe he will in the future. 

Perhaps Albritton’s achilles heel is the endorsement he proudly touts from a local political party. He is endorsed by the same organization that took over the NIC Board of Trustees and the Community Library Network. Both organizations incurred hefty and ongoing legal bills while facing increased insurance costs and suffering from contentious and disruptive meetings. The endorsement by Kootenai County Republican Central Committee (KCRCC) serves as a red flag to those who value civility and a balanced and measured approach to change.

Needless to say, in our opinion, he fails to grasp the issues at hand as his campaign website says: “Radical ideologies are taking grip, inserting tyrannical control wherever possible as global agendas are being implemented without local voice or scrutiny.” 

CdA News gives Clark Albritton, the candidate, a grade of: D.

Photo by Girl with red hat on Unsplash

After meeting with both candidates, The CdA News endorses Dan Gookin, flaws and all, for city council, seat #3.

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

Has a record on which to run. While he has regularly, but infrequently (and not disruptively), opined and pushed for different outcomes, he has been ineffective in convincing his fellow council members to change their opinion on substantive matters. 

Approved council’s action regarding invocations to be open to all.* However, after one round of lottery he exercised his astute political prowess by letting invocations die on the vine. He claims to be a fiscal conservative but has overseen the bulging budget and spends money the city doesn’t have.

He has a temper and vulgar vocabulary which he isn’t afraid to use. As a public official, a little decorum would be nice and inspire the next generation to rise in civil discourse. He has degenerated to Trump-like politics with name calling and demonizing. He isn’t afraid of double standards. Evidence of this occurred when he stated that his “Rants” are his personal life and shouldn’t be considered in his council seat candidacy. However, publicly and privately, he has lambasted his opponent for issues in his “private life.” He also blocked a neighbor from posting to a neighborhood chat after said neignbor invited the neighborhood to meet and greet current candidates for city council.

Having said all that, he is responsive. He understands the city. He cares about the city. He tries to follow the law and work within the structure of the city council. He’s not perfect, but he’s not going to ruin the city. He’ll keep the sewers flowing and the water clean. And, he’ll get back to you. He previously committed to retiring from the city council citing belief in term limits.

 CdA News Grade for Dan Gookin: 

We at the CdA News team closely watched and scrutinized city actions directed by council members and mayors for nearly a decade. Our goal of kindness and positivity for this medium  frequently overruled by our mission to inform voters and hold elected officials accountable. Many articles explained in our view mis-steps of the public servants. It is clearly evident that our officials are not perfect and they make mistakes, usually with good intentions. We earnestly rubbed our hands together waiting for this day when we could campaign and cheer for someone better than the incumbents.

November 7th, residents of CdA will choose between re-electing public servants or their challengers backed by the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee (KCRCC). The KCRCC rates, vets, endorses, and heavily promotes candidates while discouraging participation from those who fail to receive their approval. Gone are the days when a concerned and engaged citizen can “throw their hat into the ring” to take a turn making sure the water and sewer are flowing in the right directions, the streets are clean and void of potholes, police and fire keep the public safe, and trash is collected regularly. Local elections, non-partisan elections, turned into a polarizing political battle over imagined issues best categorized as conspiracy and fear.   

Over the coming days, we will share our endorsements, and rationale, for CdA City Council and District 271.

In the thick of election season with deepening divisions in northern Idaho, CdA city staff and council members ignored the plea of volunteers to offer invocations for the past several months. Invocations occur at the discretion of the council who control the agenda. “Invocation,” listed on each agenda accompanied by a blank space to its right. 

The previous method of controlling invocations, where a pastor submitted a list of names to the city, was illegal and violated the rights of excluded citizens. Upon realization, the city created an inclusive lottery system for which they received a Defense of Religious Freedom Award. Now, perhaps fearing blow-back from far-right christian activists and opposition from non-religious, the city apparently abandoned invocations altogether. 

Local elections will have a significant turn out. This could bode badly for the more incumbents with voting records subject to scrutiny and significant opposition from the far right. Hopefully their careers in public service don’t transition from “living on a prayer,” to “dying on the vine” as did invocations.

Tomorrow, Thursday 26 October 2023, Trader Joe’s will hold a company wide meeting with a big announcement. Sources say announcement of a Coeur d’Alene store has a high probability. Previous rumors floated midtown Coeur d’Alene as the future location. Watch for it, here.

City council members failed to follow the lead of fellow council-member Kiki Miller last Tuesday resulting in a lose-lose-lose situation for Coeur d’Alene. Relevant issues include the comprehensive plan, the housing shortage and affordability crisis, and the definition of the term “adjacent.”

Background

Kaufman and his team appealed the two decisions from the planning commission, covered here and here, regarding his proposal to build twin homes on a two acre lot. Twin homes are two homes separated by a firewall and platted individually allowing two distinct owners per structure. Kaufman’s goal was to create entry-level home ownership options in the community. 

During the hearing council member Kiki Miller, a champion for solving the housing crisis, floated the idea of working with the developer to find amenable conditions for the project that would help ensure the homes remain affordable. None of the city council members entertained the idea of conditions with the developer and upheld the denial from the planning commission.

Analysis

The results are as follows: 

The neighbors lose. The developer can build eight duplexes with 16 units. This results in nearly the same density that neighbors oppose.  

The city/community loses: After months and years of developing a framework for development agreements and a future land use map, respectively, council members seemed to ignore guiding documents and focus on (mis)constructing the word “adjacent” to mean “abutting.” With so much opposition to building, it is hard to imagine where infill projects can occur in the future. 

The developer loses: Affordability is not achieved. Only up to eight owners can buy the properties and they must pay 700k-900k per duplex. Kaufman was hopeful that sixteen families could own their own entry-level home. Now 18 families will rent.
With such a bad decision, who wins? Landlords and incumbents. With no relief in sight through innovative and affordable housing options, many will be forced to continue renting. Higher demand will continue increasing rent price pressures. Council members currently running for reelection steered clear of constituent ire by denying this proposal. Neighbors of this project may gratefully vote for English, Gookin, and Wood next month.

Correction: The article has been updated to reflect that the appeal is in October. The city council voted to hear the appeal as part of the consent calendar.

Kaufman Estates development team will appeal last month’s denial from the planning commission. We reported on the original request in 2022. Many neighbors attended the August planning commission meeting to voice opposition. The debate centered around whether or not the proposed development fits in with the character of surrounding homes. One neighbor said he’d rather look into the backyard of one home rather than five. It appears to be the first PUD request of 2023.

By right, the developer, Kaufman, can build over a dozen duplexes. He claims, however, that he would like to develop twin homes–a product that allows unique owners for each unit regardless of the shared wall and roof.

The meeting dynamics will be interesting. There is a housing shortage–especially for affordable housing. Council members English, Gookin, and Wood are up for re-election and will hear from many constituents who oppose the project.

Proposed layout

Architectural Rendering

On June 6, 2023, the artpiece “Timeline Theory and Reflections” was purchased for $1,000. It was available to be purchased by the public for $7,000 but it was discounted to the city because of the inability of the artist to retrieve the art piece as he is sick and lives in Seattle. Would you drop $1,000 on a piece of art? We previously covered the city’s budget and projected shortfall here. Dan Gookin contends that the art budget is separate and that “additional revenues have come in, so the city is in good financial shape.” Although art is expensive, it does help to enrich the culture of Coeur d’ Alene. This piece can be found on 3rd and Sherman.

Over 44,000 voters cast ballots in the election, a record turn out for “non-partisan” races. An overwhelming majority passed the levy for District 271, although not as high as the 70% predicted here. As predicted, Tim and Tom won the library trustee positions and attempted to seek new legal counsel for the library district.

In March 2023, the previous library trustees created a library card for minors which would allow parents to authorize the level of content minors can access. After much public indignation and persecution, the new board members first action is to seek a different legal opinion. With moderate degree of certainty, it can be surmised that the new trustees want to take steps into censorship and ban objectionable books from the library. Pending meetings will be held in executive session.

Intense debate over library books exists in the community. Other local media reported the conflict over the last two years. We will not rehash it here. Today, voters make their voices heard. The library vote is portrayed as an issue of “Do you want kids exposed to porn in the library?” The Kootenai County Republican Central Committee (KCRCC) waged a culture war during this election cycle weighing in on non-partisan issues such as school levies and library board candidates. For some, the loss of credibility for the KCRCC started with the behaviors of its hand-picked trustees of the NIC Board. Now that it is urging voters to defund schools, its influence again wanes. As election results come in, it will be interesting to see who wins the election for the library trustees. 

Some predictions:

1. Record turnout for non-partisan Kootenai County election held in May
2. CdA School District 271 levy will pass with >70% of the vote
3. We want to opine that the incumbent library board members McCrea and Meyer will win, but residents in the city of Coeur d’Alene cannot vote in this race because the city library has it’s own board. Given that the most conservative residents live outside of the city, the close race will likely go to the most conservative, culture warrior candidates Tim and Tom. We hope we are wrong due to 1st Amendment rights and the thought that one’s values should not be imposed on another.

O.P.

Just this past Tuesday, Mayor Jim Hammond proclaimed that the week of April 15 – 22 will be International Dark-sky Week. The reason for this is because of light pollution. Light pollution is a very dangerous form of pollution. In the meeting, James Filmore spoke on light pollution. “The average night sky brightness has grown seven to ten percent every year for the last 12 years,” Filmore said. While this may not seem bad at all, National Geographic says otherwise. “Nocturnal light interrupts sleep and confuses the circadian rhythm—the internal, twenty-four-hour clock that guides day and night activities and affects physiological processes in nearly all living organisms. One of these processes is the production of the hormone melatonin, which is released when it is dark and inhibited when light is present. An increased amount of light at night lowers melatonin production, which results in sleep deprivation, fatigue, headaches, stress, anxiety, and other health problems.” This is very problematic. It ruins your sleep patterns and also causes health problems. So, why not help the cause? I contacted the mayor to learn what they are doing to prevent this. We’ll update this story when we hear from him.

-O.P.

Sources:

Coeur d’Alene City Council Meeting 4-4-23

National Geographic

“It’s past time we build our own workforce housing.” -Christie Wood, CdA City Council member

CdA Council Member Christie Wood called for partnerships to develop land owned by the city and North Idaho College into “workforce housing.” She cited concerns of increased rent, inadequate wages. Workforce housing would be for “[firefighters, police officers, teachers, and nurses.]”

The discussion occurred during Coeur d’Alene’s city council meeting this week after Greta Gissel presented on behalf of Connect Kootenai, formerly CDA 2030. Gissel conceded that rents are declining in the area, as are home prices. However, Wood advocated for a government solution to decrease the cost of housing in northern Idaho. The city purchased 47 acres in 2018 along the Spokane River for $7.9 million. They overtly guided the development until 2020, when it was turned over to igniteCdA. IgniteCdA, the city’s urban renewal agency, continually works with the city council and its board is partially staffed with current and former elected officials. However, the large land grab failed to provide workforce housing. The first home constructed and sold, commanded a $3.1 million price tag. Surely, they can pull it off this time.

Photo by Marcus Lenk on Unsplash