By MIKE HUFFMAN
Staff Reporter
Airway Heights residents won't be resting their rumps on bus benches emblazoned with paid advertising anytime soon.
The City Council, in a 3-2 vote Monday night at its regular meeting, denied a request by Emerald Outdoor to furnish the bus benches at five locations at no cost to the city.
While Mayor Matthew Pederson said he doesn't have any problems with city residents taking a load off while waiting for a bus to take them to downtown Spokane, he does have an issue with more signage on Highway 2.
Two other council members – Patrick Rushing and Deputy Mayor Don Mitchell – agreed with the mayor, while members Larry Haskell and John Holloway voted to allow the benches. Two other members of the council, Charlotte Lawrence and Rick Jacks, were not present at the meeting.
“I'm not opposed to having benches at the stops that don't have any place for people to sit,” Rushing said after Pederson made his motion to deny the proposal. “But we do have sign issues on Highway 2.”
Bus benches with advertising on the backrests are common in the city of Spokane and Spokane Valley – one car dealership invites bus riders to “have a seat on me” – but are not provided by Spokane Transit Authority. Instead, businesses like Emerald Outdoor make arrangements with local jurisdictions to allow the benches to be placed at bus stops in exchange for the privilege to use them for advertising purposes.
But Pederson and other critics on the City Council said the benches are a “loophole” to get around municipalities' sign codes and billboard regulations and will clutter up areas with advertising that the city would have no control over.
“The upkeep (of the benches) would be out of the city's hands,” Pederson said. “And some of the advertising is not always in the best taste. Some are meant to shock, and others are graphic. It's another unsightly eyesore.”
The mayor suggested the city should try to get its own benches through a funding source, like Community Development Block Grants.
Haskell said he didn't like the idea of “junking up the city,” either, but thought the city could draw up some kind of licensing agreement with the company that would allow for some type of control over content of the advertising. But Pederson countered the city could “find another way” to get more benches.
In other news, the council voted unanimously to continue forward with plans to place a $3.7 million bond request on the Nov. 6 general election ballot to fund a new municipal building, which would be located adjacent to the existing city fire station.
City officials said they have considered the idea of locating a new building on a separate site, but the costs would be greater.
The planning department would also be removed from the community center and placed in the new building. That would allow the community center to have more room for senior and wellness programs, keeping in line with the original purpose of the building.
If voters approve the measure, city residents would pay 75 cents per $1,000 valuation each year – $150 on a $200,000 home.
The council still has to approve the pro/con messages that will appear in the voters pamphlet before requesting county commissioners put the measure on the ballot. That decision is expected to come at the council's Aug. 20 meeting.
Mike Huffman can be reached at [email protected]
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