COEUR d'ALENE - Steve Widmyer grew up in the midtown area of Coeur d'Alene after moving here in 1962. He has raised his family and created a successful business career here.

He is running for mayor because he has never seen a more divisive time in Coeur d'Alene politics.

"I think the other side has drawn a line in the sand - I really think they have - and it's us against them," he said. "I want to do my darnedest to erase that line.

"Then, hopefully, we can come back together as one community. We are much more effective as one community than we are as a divided community."

Widmyer said there were three factors that led to his decision to run. First, he said, Mayor Sandi Bloem decided not to run for another term. Secondly, he was able to get his son to take over many of his business responsibilities.

"So, I have the opportunity and I have the time to do it, and I've lived here for over 50 years. I have deep roots in this community and I care about what happens here," he said. "So, when I saw the political climate and the candidates who were in the race, I couldn't support any of them. That's when I felt it was time for me to step up and make a positive difference, so I made the decision to run."

After Widmyer announced his candidacy, his detractors labeled him a wealthy downtown property owner who is part of the "good-old-boy" network that currently runs the city. They say a vote for him is a vote for more of the same.

That is simply not true, he said. Widmyer started his professional career as an accountant in 1983, working for Western Industries, a publicly traded company that owned the North Shore Resort where The Coeur d'Alene Resort now stands.

About three years later, Duane Hagadone - who also owns The Press - bought the company and moved Widmyer into a controller position for the new Coeur d'Alene Resort, where he worked until 1999.

During that time Widmyer also was elected to the North Idaho College Board of Trustees, a position he resigned from after the controversial termination of then-college President Bob Bennett. (See related story.) He now serves on the city's Parking Commission.

Widmyer left The Resort to pursue a real estate investment business, and meanwhile, his wife was building her business.

"What you have to understand is that I have a business partner and that is my wife, Marie," he said, adding that she has overcome a lot of adversity in her life to accomplish a great deal of success in her business.

"We are a partnership in what we have made," he said. "I often joke that she makes all of the money and I spend it. But the truth of the matter is, she has been successful in her stores and I have been successful in my real estate dealings, but it's all been hard work. We have busted our tails for everything that we have earned."

That is another thing Widmyer is criticized for - that he owns downtown properties and he stands to gain from the McEuen Park makeover.

Widmyer said he bought a property on Front Avenue back in 2006 before any "concrete plans" for McEuen had even been developed.

"To be truthful, I bought that property at the top of the market," he said. "If anyone wants to offer me right now what I paid for it, I'd take it."

Last year he purchased the old Sherman Mall, which had been on the market for a long time, he said.

"It needs a lot of work and those are the type of properties I look at," he said. "I look at properties I can make better."

As for the claim that he is part of the "good-ole-boy" downtown elite, he says that couldn't be farther from the truth.

"I know people on the council, and I have had casual conversations with some of them, but certainly not friends with any of them," he said. "In Sandi Bloem's 12 years of holding office, I have probably had three or four conversations with her, as well as the others on the council."

Widmyer said he prides himself on "being his own person."

In fact, he said, he has had to oppose the city and the Lake City Development Corp. in the past for things he disagreed with them on.

He opposed the city and LCDC on their plans to build a three-story workforce housing complex in the midtown area recently.

"When I saw the project they were going to put up, that LCDC was going to be a part of, it was an enormous amount of money," he said. "It would have cost $9 million and had the highest per-unit cost of any apartment complex that was developed in Coeur d'Alene."

First of all, he said the project was "a gigantic waste of taxpayer money," and secondly, he felt it was a poor fit for the eclectic neighborhood.

"To put that building there, which was three stories high, it would have totally dominated that area in midtown," he said, adding LCDC's midtown property would make a nice pocket park or a farmers market or something like that.

If elected, he sees three pressing issues facing the mayor.

"One is selecting a new chief of police for public safety reasons, and the second one would be developing a new salary structure," he said. "Finally, the completion of McEuen Park."

He said the park will not be completed when the new mayor is sworn in come January, so the new mayor will have to ensure the project is completed on time, on budget and according to plan.

Then a management plan and security plan must be created to protect the city's $20 million investment.

"That park was created for the residents, for the people of Coeur d'Alene to enjoy," he said. "But also as an economic development tool, so we need to have a plan to make sure we accomplish both of those things."