You should have been at the American Legion Hall on Wednesday evening (March 14) to witness something truly incredible! More than 60 people from various persuasions and points of view came together to watch and listen to a clearly overwhelmed Executive Director of The Housing Company (THC) in his feeble attempt to not respond with a simple yes/no to the request of the neighbors to cancel the proposed low-income housing project.

Essentially, THC is proposing to spend some $9 million to develop 45 rental units in a four story apartment complex on Fourth Street.

So, what's wrong with that?

The neighbors surrounding the proposed project are opposed, citing the likely impact of this project on their lives and the value of their homes.

The need for such low-cost housing has not been demonstrated. There is actually an excess of such units in Cd'A which, added to the use of disguised government subsidies, creates an unfair advantage against local owners of competing rental units.

The apartments will become the wholly owned property of THC, a non-profit organization. (As a nonprofit, they cannot have profits, so any left-over money gets doled out to their owners and employees.)

When completed, the result will be a property worth between $3 million and $6 million. That's right; spend $9,000,000 on something worth much less than that. And, since it is low-cost housing owned by a non-profit, they can apply for a property tax exemption, reducing the amount of tax revenues collected to fund local government...this will increase your tax bill.

THC will not pay the entire cost...far from it. We, the taxpayers will pay the lion's share. First, LCDC is giving them somewhere between $500,000 and $600,000...our money! Next, THC will grab over $6,000,000 out of the U.S. Treasury (money we pay in federal taxes) in the form of federal tax credits. Your government usually refers to that as "free money." (Free to those who spend it, but U.S. taxpayers will have to pay an additional $6,000,000 in taxes to cover the deficit.

Mr. Peterson's sole response was to form a committee including some neighbors to pick "textures and colors" for the exterior of the building. This was an insult to the people who were there in good conscience and in a spirit of compromise.

Sounds pretty dismal, right? Like a Greek tragedy! It was much more than watching Mr. Peterson squirm behind the podium as he had to come to grips with the clear and overwhelming sense of a man facing unrelenting opposition. Yet, that was not the source of my pleasure. I actually felt sorry for him, because it was clear to me there was another agenda, one he could not speak about, one we were not allowed to see.

No, my pleasure was in witnessing a group of citizens stand up and speak out to government. I salute Eric, Greg and others who spoke on behalf of neighbors expressing their concerns about the negative aspects of this project. They needed this meeting to publically take a stand. Too often in the past, they had been ignored or misrepresented. Their stand could not have been clearer. Others eloquently challenged the appropriateness of a four-story building in this part of town.

This was not 'big money' speaking. This was a group of people like most of us. We need more of this participation by 'the-man-on-the-street' taking ownership of our community and its future direction. How can we expect local government to listen to us if we do not speak?

And, local government was there as well, LCDC, the mayor and most of the council. Even Woody felt the absence of love in the air, suggesting they abandon the entire plan and begin all over from scratch. Deanna was rumored to have been heard saying there was no way this would be forced on the neighbors. The silence of Mike Kennedy, who has been involved in this issue, however was noted by many.

OK, the issues are clear; LCDC and the city had to have heard the message. The question on the table now is, what will come of it?

Frank Orzell is a Coeur d'Alene resident.