Latest news with #SpokaneCityCouncil
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Abortion rights organizer Sarah Dixit running for Spokane city council
May 29—Reproductive rights organizer Sarah Dixit is running for Spokane City Council in the seat currently held by Councilman Jonathan Bingle. Bingle is one of two conservatives in the minority of the seven-member council. Fellow conservative Michael Cathcart and Bingle represent council District 1, which covers the northeastern third of the city — east of Division and north of Trent. The district also includes almost all of downtown Spokane. Bingle is running for re-election for the first time after winning his first four-year term in 2021. Last year, he unsuccessfully ran for the Republican nomination of Spokane's Congressional seat. Cathcart announced Wednesday that he's running for Spokane County Auditor in 2026. In challenging the incumbent, Dixit said she wants to bring a young voice to city council that will uplift marginalized communities and those who may not be civically engaged. "A lot of folks are working jobs," she said. "They have kids at home. They can't follow what's happening at city council. We need to make this whole process more accessible for people, and especially for communities of color, immigrant populations and young people." At 29, Dixit believes she can reach these underserved populations as a young, queer woman of color. Dixit said she does not see that kind of advocacy from her opponent. "I don't see Jonathan in the community. At the events I'm at," she said. "I just haven't heard that type of advocacy from him when it comes to transit, bike safety investment, other issues." A big focus of her nascent campaign will be accessibility to public transit . Dixit wants to increase investments in public transit and have fares on a sliding scale, allowing those with the least resources to get the most access. Though firmly aligned with the council's progressive majority, Dixit said she would not be a "cookie-cutter" version of those already on council. Having grown up in Southern California, Dixit came to Spokane to attend Whitworth University. While in college, the first election of Donald Trump spurred her into activism. She went on to found the Christian college's first pro-choice club. Since graduating in 2018, she has advocated for reproductive and abortion rights full time at Planned Parenthood and as organizing director of Pro-Choice Washington. At Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho, Dixit worked under Paul Dillon, who now serves on Spokane's city council. Dixit called Dillon a "mentor" who encouraged her to run. As a potential representative of downtown Spokane, Dixit said she has pride for the city center. "There's a lot of rhetoric about downtown that I don't necessarily agree with," she said. "I love downtown, and it's a place that makes Spokane really special." When addressing homelessness, the city should have a "multipronged approach" that uses less incarceration and more resources to prevent someone from becoming unhoused in the first place, she said. "A lot of the issues stem from the dehumanization of folks who are unhoused. I really want to make sure that we are working on issues in a way that recognizes these folks are Spokanites too. And their humanity needs to be a part of the conversations we're having," she said. Asked about concerns she might be too young to effectively serve, Dixit said there is no shortage of older voices on council. "I approach the work in a way that comes from all my lived experiences — being the daughter of immigrants, being someone who really loves the culture and the heart of Spokane. That lends itself to me being a different type of council member for Spokane," she said. Her parents emigrated from India. Endorsements for Dixit include Council President Betsy Wilkerson, Dillon, state Rep. Natasha Hill, state Sen. Marcus Riccelli and others.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Spokane City Council seeks applicants for four-month stint on council
May 23—The Spokane City Council is seeking applicants for a roughly four-month stint on the council to fill a seat being vacated by Councilwoman Lili Navarrete. Navarrete formally announced earlier this week that she planned to resign, citing health concerns and other job opportunities, effective July 1. She already had announced she did not plan to seek election to maintain the seat, and Alejandro Barrientos, chief operating officer at SCAFCO Steel Stud Company, and Kate Telis, a former deputy prosecutor from New Mexico, have filed to run for the seat. The winner of the election in November will be sworn in earlier than normal — as soon as the election is certified mid-November. The person selected for appointment will serve on Navarrete's seat in the meantime. Applications will open May 23 and will be available on the city's website, the council offices on the seventh floor of city hall, or at the service desk on the first floor, according to a city news release. Applications are due 5p.m. June 19 . Public interviews will be conducted by the City Council on July 10. The public will be able to provide testimony on the applicants on July 14. The City Council plans to vote to select the applicant on July 28.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Spokane Councilwoman Lili Navarrete to step down ahead of election
May 15—Spokane City Councilwoman Lili Navarrete, believed to be the first Hispanic or immigrant member of the Spokane City Council, will step down in the coming months, she said Thursday. Navarrete announced in March that she would not run for a new term, citing health concerns. Alejandro Barrientos, chief operating officer at SCAFCO Steel Stud Company, and Kate Telis, a former deputy prosecutor from New Mexico, have both filed to run for the seat. On Thursday Navarrete confirmed recent rumors that she planned to step down ahead of the election. In a brief interview outside City Hall, she cited two recent health scares worsened by the stress of the job and potential employment opportunities that she couldn't juggle with council commitments. She hasn't decided exactly when to step down and hadn't planned on publicly announcing the decision yet, but will fully lay out her resignation plans soon, she said Thursday. Navarrete's resignation opens the door to a short-term appointment to fill her seat, similar to the musical chairs that played out ahead of the council election in 2023. At the time, then-Council President Breean Beggs resigned to accept an appointment as a Superior Court judge, then-Councilwoman Lori Kinnear was appointed to serve as council president, and Priority Spokane Executive Director Ryan Oelrich was appointed six weeks later in August to fill Kinnear's council seat. Oelrich's appointed term was just over two months long; Paul Dillon and Katey Treloar were running at the time for Kinnear's seat, and while election winners are usually sworn in the following January, appointees are replaced immediately after the election is certified, so Dillon took office in mid-November. In a brief interview Thursday, Dillon said neither Barrientos nor Telis should be appointed to fill the seat ahead of their election, arguing it would give the appointee an unfair and undemocratic advantage. Navarrete also was appointed to her seat in January, 2024, to a nearly two-year stint representing south Spokane on the city council, filling a seat vacated when Wilkerson was elected as city council president. At the time of her appointment, she anticipated serving the full appointed term and planned to run for re-election in 2025, she said Thursday. Navarrete immigrated from Mexico City to Spokane in 1988 and wrote in her application for the open seat that while growing up she had not felt represented by city government, noting she had "always wondered why a person of color was not up on the dais" until recently. Prior to her appointment on the city council, Navarrete served as community development officer for the state Commission on Hispanic Affairs and previously as director of public affairs for Planned Parenthood for Greater Washington and North Idaho, where she worked alongside Dillon, the other representative for south Spokane. During her time on council, Navarrete has shepherded an ordinance to encourage the recruiting of more multilingual city employees, worked on a slate of reforms to increase employment and housing rights for the homeless which was ultimately whittled down to the hiring protection dubbed "Ban the Address." Most recently, she introduced legislation meant to prevent federal immigration officers from warrantless raids in city parks.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Retired Air Force SERE instructor, cigar lounge owner Cody Arguelles running for Spokane City Council
May 13—Private downtown cigar lounge co-owner Cody Arguelles — who's also an architecture student at Washington State University and medically retired survival, evasion, resistance and escape instructor for the U.S. Air Force — is running for Spokane City Council for a seat held by Councilman Zack Zappone. Zappone is one of two council members representing council District 3, which covers the northwestern third of the city stretching north from the Spokane River and west of Division Street, and after redistricting in 2022 also includes Browne's Addition. Councilwoman Kitty Klitzke is the district's other representative, and her term runs through 2027. A third candidate, Meals on Wheels board member Christopher Savage, is also running for the seat. A relative newcomer to the city with no prior political or government experience, Arguelles believes Spokane is in a "downhill spiral" and that the current council and city administration need to be held accountable to measurable metrics for improving homelessness, public safety and other issues. "We need to be able to have people on council that are held accountable and they're transparent with where money is going, and that are driven by measurable goals, rather than just saying, 'Hey, here's a four-point plan to fix this,' and then there's no measurable metric," Arguelles said. After a short bout of homelessness early in his life, Arguelles acknowledged that he needed "compassion and sympathy" to help him back on his feet, but believes that city leadership is addressing the issue by "just throwing out, 'Here's housing,' and then that's it." Arguelles also believes that the city needs to streamline its system for business permitting, arguing that the red tape he navigated to start his business was onerous and unnecessary. Arguelles grew up in San Diego and spent the better part of a year couch surfing when he was 18 in the aftermath of his parents' messy divorce. He met a reconnaissance Marine from Camp Pendleton who invited Arguelles to meet his friends and rent out a tool shed for $250 a month, the first stable place he lived out of high school. "It was a wild experience," Arguelles said. "But thanks to them, they really taught me what it was like to take care of myself. That's what really helped me get off on my two feet and get jobs and become a productive member of society." Arguelles started a number of small businesses over the years, starting with a coffee roaster in San Diego he launched with a business partner from church and a fully leveraged business credit card. He later sold the operation. But when COVID-19 hit, it became extremely difficult to run a business in California, Arguelles said. "I looked at my wife at the time, and we're like, 'What do we do?' " Arguelles said. "And I had always wanted to join the military, since way back in the tool shed area when I was living with a recon Marine." At the time, Hulu was airing the 2008 reality TV show "Survival School," about the Air Force SERE (survival, evasion, resistance and escape) school out of Fairchild. "And so that's what I ended up joining the military as," Arguelles said. "And lucky enough, I made it through selection and graduated with my beret, and did a career in the Air Force, and that's what brought me out here to Spokane." As a SERE specialist, Arguelles trained others in the Air Force who were going out on deployment and ran the risk of being isolated or captured, he said. He served for four years before medically retiring with 100% disability due to injuries sustained during training and service. Given the housing prices in California, Arguelles' family decided to stay in Spokane, buy a house and look to open a business, he said. He decided to launch the Late Arrival Club, a private cigar lounge that doesn't sell tobacco products but instead offers memberships allowing people to enter into the business, perhaps with friends or clients or a good book, smoke a cigar, maybe crack open a bottle of wine they brought to the club themselves, and take a meeting. Construction on the business began earlier this month. "That's kind of what is getting me to want to run, because you see the state of the city right now, and it's always kind of in this downhill track of not being safer, homelessness is getting worse, and with the business and with my family, I want to be able to actually have a part in fixing it, making it better," he said. Arguelles has attracted the endorsements of some significant figures in Spokane's conservative politics, including former Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward, Sheriff John Nowels and city Councilmen Jonathan Bingle and Michael Cathcart.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Spokane votes to move 120-year-old problematic war memorial
This story was originally published on The Spokane City Council has approved the removal of the Ensign John Monaghan statue that has stood near a busy downtown intersection for almost 120 years. On Monday night, the council voted 5-2 in favor of removing the statue during planned roadwork to realign the intersection at Monroe Street and Riverside Avenue. The statue will likely be moved to the Monaghan family mausoleum at Fairmount Memorial Park following approval from both Monaghan's relatives and the cemetery's board, according to The Spokesman-Review. A U.S. Navy ensign, Monaghan, was killed in 1899 in Samoa during a conflict between colonial and native forces. The statue was originally funded by local residents and placed on city-owned land. The statue has long been surrounded in controversy, with one plaque describing the Samoans as a 'savage foe' and another depicting them with primitive weapons. Critics say the language is racist and inaccurate. However, local activists and members of the Navy League have pushed to update or contextualize the statue rather than remove it. Until 2024, Spokane lacked a formal process for removing public art. That changed when the city council created a 'deaccession' policy. Under the policy, a Human Rights Commission evaluates complaints and, if justified, refers them to the Office of Civil Rights for further review. The removal of the statue is expected to happen later this year.
