Luke, Erin and guest Aaron Hedge — the environmentalism and County reporter at RANGE Media — talked about the city’s will-they-won’t-they relationship with the C.O.P.S. contract, CEO Larry Krauter’s departure from the Spokane Airport and a short Civics round-up of all the biggest pieces of news that came out of local municipal meetings this week. If you listened to our episode and want to learn more, here are the stories we referenced:

• Our live post thread on Bluesky of the Spokane City Council meeting, including comments from C.O.P.S. volunteers
• Eliza Billingham’s story for The Inlander on the C.O.P.S. contract
• Aaron Hedge’s story for Spokane FAVS on Tactical CIVICS, the group one of the C.O.P.S. volunteers coordinates.
• Thomas Clause’s story for the Spokesman on Larry Krauter leaving the Spokane airport.
• Aaron Hedge’s coverage on Larry Krauter’s involvement with PFAS nondisclosure.
• Our weekly CIVICS coverage, which you can sign up to receive every Monday!
• Elena Perry’s story for the Spokesman on the CVSD’s decision to advocate against transgender athletes.
• Nick Gibson’s story for the Spokesman on Spokane Valley’s decision to further criminalize homelessness.
• Emry Dinman’s story for the Spokesman on the delay of the parks levy.
• Erin Sellers story for RANGE Media on the details of STA’s Connect 2035 plan.

Hey, it's Luke.

2

Yesterday on free range, I think we're

kind of getting the hang of this thing.

3

We, we talked about two major

topics that are kind of not sexy

4

on the surface of it, but I think

extremely interesting and important,

5

First.

6

the past, present and uncertain future

of Spokane cops, not Spokane police,

7

but Spokane COPS community oriented

policing service, a longtime volunteer

8

organization that gets money from the

city to help provide supplemental services

9

and community connection, to benefit the

larger public safety environment and to

10

support the Spokane police department.

11

It's an organization that's been

around almost my entire life.

12

you might take it for granted.

13

you might think it's an actual

official part of the publicly run

14

police department, but it's actually a

private nonprofit support organization.

15

It's one of those pieces of infrastructure

we don't really ever think about, or

16

think very much about, most of us anyways.

17

I know I certainly don't.

18

and now the city council is wanting to

take a look at whether the relationship

19

the city has with that organization

should stay the same or should change.

20

Topic two, Aaron Hedge, talks

about Larry Crowder, the soon to

21

be former CEO of Spokane Airports,

22

his impact on not just the airport we

all fly in and out of whenever we take a

23

trip, but also the economic development

that happens in the area around it.

24

and one of the things that sets Larry

Crowder apart, is his focus on airports,

25

not merely as a public service or

as a port, you know, a place to get

26

people from here to there, but as an

economic driver and economic engine.

27

and there's a pretty robust and

interesting debate about whether focusing

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that much on the economic development

portion of what airports provide to us

29

Led to a de emphasizing of other really

really vital things that you would

30

want an airport district thinking about

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And this is important not just as a post

mortem of Crowder's long 14 year tenure

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as the CEO of the airports, but we're

going to be picking a new CEO soon.

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So there's going to be a changing of the

guard and the community has a decision

34

to make about whether we want that

hyper focus on economic development

35

to continue or whether it might be,

it might make sense to change tack.

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Then at the end, 'cause we're still

trying not to figure out how to make

37

this thing happen in exactly 55 minutes.

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'cause at that's the

amount of time we have.

39

We do a rundown of four important

meetings that happened this week.

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a board meeting at the Central

Valley School District.

41

Valley city council's decision to

further criminalize homelessness.

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Spokane city councils, indefinite

postponing of their parks levy and the

43

public hearing and the public hearings

that Spokane transit authority had over

44

their connect 2035 plan, which Aaron

Sellers wrote about earlier this week,

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It was a lot of fun and like I said, I

think we're starting to get the hang of

46

this live radio thing Hope you enjoy it.

47

Have a good weekend.

48

Bye

49

Hope you enjoy it and have

a Really hope you enjoy it.

50

We had fun making it this time.

51

We're I think i've crossed the

threshold of you know Nervous anxiety

52

to having fun may have may have

crossed that rubicon this week.

53

So I hope you enjoy it Have a good weekend

54

Welcome to Free Range, everyone.

55

You're listening to KYRS,

Medical Lake, Spokane.

56

This is Free Range, a co

production of KYRS and Range Media.

57

Back for episode three.

58

I am Luke Baumgarten, an editor at Range

Media, here in Spokane, and I am joined

59

by my co host, City Hall reporter Aaron

Sellers, and reporter Aaron Hedge.

60

Two people who have differently spelled

names that are very inconvenient

61

for radio, phonetically identical.

62

So, hey, Erin.

63

And hello, A A Ron.

64

I would like to request that I get to

keep my name, and he gets to be Hedge.

65

Wow, okay.

66

I can call you Sellers and

Hedge, and I probably will.

67

Hedge is my name, that's alright.

68

How are you guys doing today?

69

We're all frantically typing up

to the last second to prepare for

70

the show, but other than that.

71

I have spent my whole

week frantically typing.

72

That's kind of the job of being a

reporter, but it really isn't it?

73

Yeah.

74

Steady state.

75

Steady state.

76

Yeah.

77

You're a little under the weather hedge,

but you feel like you're bouncing back and

78

you're definitely ready to do some radio.

79

I'm really happy to be here, it's been a

bleak couple days in my dark apartment.

80

I honestly think coming off

sickness improves your radio voice.

81

I mean it's a little, it's a

little smokier, a little sultry.

82

I'll try to keep it.

83

Alrighty, so, first topic today, we're

talking about two things and we're

84

gonna do a little civics roundup.

85

We're kind of, we're still playing

with format here a little bit, two big

86

topics of discussion and then we're

gonna, with the remaining time, do a

87

speed run through some, general city

hall news, or not city hall news, but

88

municipal news, community news broadly.

89

First up, COPS, Community Oriented

Policing Service Budget, not the Spokane

90

Police, but the Spokane COPS, which is a

non profit, community policing service.

91

It's been around for a long time.

92

So, Sellers, Spokane Cops has a

kind of an interesting back story.

93

The story, has a, Interesting

backstory for you specifically.

94

Yeah, so I want to say it was about

a month ago actually Hedge asked me

95

to come into his journalism class

at Gonzaga and teach students how to

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source stories from meeting agendas.

97

So we kind of did this this exercise where

I had them read the Spokane City Council

98

agenda ahead of class and Pick out an

item that they thought was interesting,

99

or that they wanted to learn more about.

100

And then we looked at it and figured

out Okay, who would you need to

101

interview to write a story about this?

102

What would the angles be?

103

What are the questions

you have about this?

104

What would the community's

vested interest in this topic be?

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A fun little community exercise

for burgeoning journalists.

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It's some experiential learning.

107

I like this.

108

And kind of, honestly, the sort

of thing we talk about all the

109

time in our editorial meetings.

110

That's what we do.

111

Yeah.

112

And then, I put them on

the spot, and I cold called

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Council Member Jonathan Bingle.

114

Oh, I don't think I heard this part of the

story when you were giving me the rundown.

115

Best part.

116

Yeah, I he okay, it

wasn't cold call for him.

117

It was cold call for the students.

118

I had asked all of the council

members if they were available

119

during that time period.

120

And only council members Bingle

and Cathcart, who actually

121

are the representatives of the

district that Gonzaga is in, were

122

available during the class time.

123

And then Cathcart ended up

having a meeting come up.

124

So, Bingle was on just waiting for us

to call him up and we once we picked out

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our item he didn't know in advance which

item the students were going to pick.

126

So I guess it did kind of

put him on the spot too.

127

And I popped him on speaker phone

and asked the students to come

128

up and like, all right, so we

brainstormed this list of questions.

129

Ask him, and then, depending on his

answers, ask any follow up questions

130

that you would need to know to write

up a short version of this story.

131

It kind of surprised me that one of

a part of this, that these, students

132

at Gonzaga came up with was this

community oriented policing thing.

133

Yeah, and I looked at the agenda and

I prepared to talk about three other

134

things that I had thought that they

would be interested in, but this

135

contract renewal to me at the time, I

didn't think it was super controversial.

136

The city has contracted

with cops for a long time.

137

At this point, I hadn't heard any

rumblings about that changing.

138

But the students picked it out, and

they were like, this is interesting,

139

we want to know more about this.

140

And now, it's turned into one of

the biggest stories of the week, as

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the city prepares to pass a budget

that would not include that five

142

year contract that COPS asked for.

143

And at Monday's meeting, I heard

hours of commentary on the issue.

144

The room was the busiest it's been

in months, full of people wearing

145

the like, black, fuzzy vest with

the COPS logo emblazoned on it,

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who were all signed up to talk.

147

Yeah, this is fascinating to me, because

And maybe it's the framing of the college

148

kids who are young and maybe not even

from Spokane wanting to know about this

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thing, because Spokane Cops, Community

Oriented Policing Services has been

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around for so long, as long as I've been

sentient, and I don't even think about it.

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I come from a law enforcement family.

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I'm pretty sure, I can't quote myself

on this, I wasn't able to check with

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them, I think my grandma actually

volunteered with one of the northern

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cop substations when I, like 20 years

ago, so I think of it as just part of

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the landscape, and so I don't think I

would have picked it out of an agenda

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either, sellers, but maybe for those who

Maybe just in the same place we're at

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where it's just sort of the background.

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What is com what is, backing

up here for a sec, community

159

oriented policing in general and

then what is Spokane Cops itself?

160

Okay, yes.

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So, in general, community oriented

policing is a broad strategy that relies

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heavily on community involvement and

partnerships on police presence in

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the community to address local crime.

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So, what that might look like in is like

a neighborhood resource officer that

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lives in this neighborhood, is present in

this neighborhood, is available to offer

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resources to the community and is like a

part of the community that he's serving

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or that they're serving as opposed to

being, a separate and maybe scary entity

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that comes in and imposes laws and you

feel like you're going to get in trouble

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or like your life might be in danger.

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Instead, it's just somebody who

lives there and provides services.

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And one of the arguments I've heard over

the years of proponents of community

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oriented policing, especially in a modern

era, is that, especially in a place like

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Spokane, cops are usually in their cars.

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Whereas in, in some, and it might, this

might be an idealized, historical version.

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I'm not making a case for whether this

was ever true or not, but the idea is cops

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used to walk a beat through a neighborhood

and you would know the your local officer.

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And so it was less about, there was

just a natural community orientation

178

to policing that maybe has been lost

in an era of patrol vehicles and fewer

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cops and large sort of patrol areas.

180

But then there's also the Spokane

Cops Organization, which is a specific

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kind of an, and sort of orient

organization of community Yeah, so

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it's a specific non profit here.

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And if you've seen the little,

they're like kind of, a dingy

184

yellow they're these little yellow

cop shops around around Spokane.

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You've probably seen

them on their website.

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There's like a map that shows

exactly where they're at in the city.

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They spun up in 1992 in response to

a community tragedy the disappearance

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of two elementary age girls.

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One was found dead sometime later.

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Murdered and the other

girl was never found.

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And this specifically happened in West

Central, which is going to be kind of

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germane to the current conversation.

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Yeah, and so it spun out from

this conversation of okay, how

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do we keep our neighborhood safe?

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How do we protect our children?

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And they've been contracting

with the city for a while.

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I actually couldn't find exact dates

on how long they've been contracting

198

with the city, but I didn't have

much time to pull it together,

199

so I can double check that later.

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But they're staffed mostly by volunteers.

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And they do neighborhood watch patrols.

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They will come dust your car for

fingerprints if it's broken into.

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They do police patrols.

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Bike registrations.

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So if your bike gets stolen, it's

like registered with the city.

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So if it's then turned in later,

they know who it belongs to.

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And same with other items.

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Like you can get like a ID number

for like your laptop or something.

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And they also do code enforcement

reporting, so they'll walk around

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the neighborhood and see where

there's code enforcement violations

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and call code enforcement.

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And one of the things that I

thought was interesting is that

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they do identity theft education.

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So at the council meeting, one of the

volunteers was talking about how an

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elderly woman had walked into one of

the cop shops with this notice and

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was like, I'm being sued for this.

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And they were like, no, this is a scam.

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This is fraud.

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Let's walk you through how this is fraud.

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So they offer these kinds of services.

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I provide that service for

several of my family members.

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So I have to say that fraud, identity

theft and fraud, catfishing, online

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stuff, that is a pretty useful service.

224

Yeah.

225

A lot of us are doing emotional

labor in our respective families.

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They're volunteers too,

just for their community.

227

And so, so they're doing some of the,

like the fingerprinting especially is

228

labor that maybe would fall under the

responsibilities of the Spokane Police

229

Department but you know, there've been

frequent complaints about understaffing

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or needing to prioritize other things

besides property crime, which lots of

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people have lots of feelings about.

232

I'm not making a value judgment one

way or another, just stating the

233

facts here, stating how people feel.

234

This is cops is.

235

Cops, all caps is like hypothetically

the answer to that question of the less

236

responsive responsibility or like easier

stuff that just time consuming can be

237

taken on by a volunteer organization

and save the city some money, right?

238

It also and I wasn't able to run this

down looking at their most the so So,

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Spokane Cops is a 501c3 federal non profit

looking at their most recent tax return.

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It looks like the majority of

their money, it's probably true

241

that it's less expensive for a

volunteer to collect fingerprints

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than it would be for a uniformed

police officer to do fingerprints.

243

It's also true, and that probably

saves the city money in aggregate,

244

it's also true that the majority of

this private non profit's budget.

245

Comes from city money that gets passed on.

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And it pays for some leases.

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I think they either own a couple of the

buildings or they're based out of like.

248

Buildings that the city owns.

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I'm a little fuzzy on that.

250

But the contract pays for their

leases and it pays for their

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executive director's salary.

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And then I think three other

employees, one who might be like like

253

a CFO or like somebody that's like

right under the executive director.

254

And then two part time victim advocates.

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But don't quote me on that because

that's like working off an interview

256

from like a couple weeks ago.

257

So.

258

Why are we talking about, if this is a

thing that's been around since 92, it's

259

33 years old, or approaching 33 years old,

why is this a topic of discussion now?

260

Yeah, so, like we kind of talked about,

they've been around for decades, their

261

shops have served as these unofficial

break places for SPD officers.

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They take on labor from SPD.

263

Their city contract was up for renewal

this fall and they asked for 475, 000 a

264

year for five years as the sole source

provider, which means that there isn't

265

a competitive bid process where other

groups can apply to do the same thing.

266

So it's not going out to what's

called RFP or request for proposals.

267

If it's labeled as a sole source

contract, that means This is the only

268

group that the city is going to be

contracting with for these services.

269

We're not making them compete.

270

We're just choosing them and

we're sticking with them.

271

And that's, especially for that amount

of money, that's very uncommon for

272

public funds to be, just dispersed via

a sole source contract, even something

273

like downtown Spokane partnership,

which is a very similar setup where

274

the city is paying money to a private

nonprofit to do the work that they do.

275

There is technically an RFP process

every couple of years to reconfirm that

276

downtown Spokane partnership is the

organization that's going to oversee that.

277

It's never been done.

278

competitive, or particularly

competitive, but it does exist.

279

This doesn't even have that.

280

Yeah, and, I'd have to go back through the

last the contracts have been for multiple

281

years for a while, and I'd have to go

back, but I think it's been sole source

282

for a while, and one of the arguments

for that is that they're Isn't any other

283

groups doing this, but that doesn't mean

necessarily that there wouldn't be a group

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that maybe is doing similar work and wants

to expand that wouldn't come out of the

285

woodwork and apply for this contract.

286

And so, the contract was on the agenda

to be approved by city council, but it

287

got deferred last minute at a briefing

session and pulled off the agenda.

288

And then mayor Brown.

289

Her administration has signaled that

they are not interested in a sole

290

source five year contract with COPS.

291

They're not interested in making room

for that in the budget for a few reasons.

292

And this has kind of spurred this flurry

of activity where COPS volunteers came

293

to this council meeting on Monday to

beg council to make room for them in

294

the budget or pass a contract with them.

295

People are curious oh, if this contract

expires on December 31st, Like, how

296

they're not going to be able to pay their

leases, do these, most of their budget is

297

from the city, do all of these services

just go away right before the new year?

298

What is the plan?

299

Is the city looking for a replacement?

300

So there's all this kind of

confusion and flurry of activity

301

around this and an uncertainty.

302

About what's going on here wild.

303

so You obviously were surprised

by the students interest in

304

this and you were there for this

public testimony that was given.

305

You've also been talking

to some volunteers.

306

They're, pro cops, former elected

officials and critics of the program.

307

So maybe we could just do a quick pros

and cons of what people say are the,

308

what's good about this program and why

it might need to change or why we might

309

want to look at a different provider.

310

Okay.

311

Yes.

312

So quick clarification.

313

I haven't actually had a personal one on

one conversation with any volunteers yet.

314

But I did listen for two hours

on Monday when they all signed

315

up to talk at the budget hearing.

316

So I have heard the many different.

317

reasons to support cops.

318

But after listening to their testimony

and having kind of a nice background

319

conversation with former council

member Karen Stratton, I think I got a

320

pretty good sense for what supporters

say the benefits of the program are.

321

The big one is just

that it saves the city.

322

a lot of money.

323

These volunteers are taking some of

that Tiki Tac labor that SPD would

324

hypothetically have to do, or it

wouldn't get done if they don't have

325

officers to do it off their plate.

326

So like fingerprinting car break ins this

is just some of the stuff is like little

327

stuff that is Important or could make

a difference for somebody, but you know

328

if an SPD officer is having to choose

between spending time doing traffic patrol

329

on our dangerous streets or responding

to a 9 1 1 call about an overdose or

330

a break in versus Going to fingerprint

somebody's car those other things are

331

more pressing and important, and so

this might get backburnered for ages.

332

I think it's fair to say people are

worried about violent crime, but

333

property crime is a lot more frequent,

and when you hear people talking

334

about how upset they are with public

safety and law enforcement, it's often

335

property the perceived lack of follow

up or the inability to actually,

336

adjudicate, or, get some positive

resolution for property crimes that

337

people are often complaining about.

338

Although I will note that property

crime is down in the city.

339

So there's been a lot of talk about

property crime and a conversation

340

about whether it's just that

reporting is down or if crime is down.

341

But the data shows that

the reporting is down.

342

Property crime reports are down.

343

Anyways, it saves the city a lot of money.

344

The other big hypothetical

benefit is in the name.

345

It's community oriented policing.

346

When we heard a lot about police reform

347

around, how do we change models to make

people feel safer and actually be safer?

348

And a lot of the models that

were pitched looked a lot like

349

community oriented policing.

350

We keep us safe, we do our own watches,

and this does follow that approach.

351

model.

352

The volunteers usually come from the

neighborhoods they do patrols in.

353

That lets them build rapport with people,

present like a less aggressive front.

354

It's more of a in community,

for community kind of vibe.

355

Like the guy that's doing the patrol,

you're like, oh, that's my neighbor Dave.

356

I know what Dave looks like.

357

I know where he lives.

358

If Dave screws me over, I can go to

his house and talk to him about it.

359

Okay.

360

Another benefit.

361

That are a couple of smaller things.

362

Those are the two big ones cost and

like in community But volunteers

363

highlighted a couple of smaller benefits.

364

They help people with random problems

that police don't have time for and

365

they can be the first place that

people call with issues that are non

366

emergency, but still need attention.

367

A guy was talking about a woman

who was trying to find a translator

368

to help her make a crime report.

369

She only spoke Chinese and

she was having a hard time.

370

Like she called the police and was having

a hard time helping them understand

371

what she needed, but she was able

to show up to the cop shop in person

372

and somebody was able to eventually

help connect her with a translator.

373

Like they had the time to take her

seriously and sit down and figure out

374

what she needed and connect her with that.

375

This is similar to like community

health workers and stuff too, where

376

it's not necessarily, the most

important thing is that the people

377

trust whatever organization they're

going to, whether or not the, so

378

translation services, which are a

huge problem for, folks who, you know.

379

For whom English isn't their first

language, if they trust their

380

neighborhood, the cop shop, that might

make it easier for them to report things.

381

They also represent a safe

location to do transactions.

382

Somebody literally mentioned

Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace.

383

This is a place where you can

meet somebody to buy stuff

384

off Facebook Marketplace.

385

It's safe.

386

They, you can do custody handoffs for the

same reason, and they work with probation

387

officers to meet people on probation.

388

This is parental custody,

not inmate custody.

389

Yes.

390

Okay.

391

Yes.

392

So we're talking about,

yes, divorced parents.

393

It's oh, I don't get along with my ex.

394

Yeah, we need like a neutral

location to do our child handover.

395

Got it.

396

Which, this is a literal

example a volunteer gave.

397

I'm not making this up.

398

And then also they said that they work

with probation officers to meet people

399

who might be on probation in their

own neighborhoods instead of making

400

them travel prohibitive distances.

401

So somebody could meet with their

probation officer at the cop shop,

402

and that's a designated location that

they could go check in that's a lot

403

closer to their house and in their

community instead of, And with things

404

like when re, people are reentering

society after being incarcerated, they

405

don't always have cars, they might have

to take the bus, that, those might,

406

those are real limitations to reentry.

407

And so, again, not making any value

judgments about whether Spokane Cops, the

408

organization, is doing the right work.

409

This is something that I think people,

Who might even be skeptical of maintaining

410

this particular contract would say

is like it's good to make it as easy

411

as possible to, for somebody who's re

entering to see their parole officer.

412

Okay, so what are some of the cons?

413

Yeah, so if you heard me talk and

you're thinking, Wow, COPS is perfect.

414

I don't know why we didn't

just sign another five year

415

sole source contract with them.

416

I will say, the cons list is

maybe a little bit longer.

417

One of the reasons the mayor's office

cited for not just sort of auto renewing

418

the contract was a lack of clear metrics.

419

And yes, it's pretty much

impossible to measure how many

420

crimes have been prevented.

421

Like you can't be like, you can't prove it

because I walked around the neighborhood.

422

There was eight crimes

that didn't happen today.

423

That's just not something you can say.

424

Before I walked this block,

people were looking real shifty.

425

And then when I stopped walking the block,

they weren't looking shifty anymore.

426

They disappeared.

427

Yeah.

428

That's not, you can't turn that

into the city is like proof

429

that you're providing value.

430

But the city is saying hey, we haven't

gotten reporting from this organization

431

with that we've been contracting with

for decades as to like, how many people

432

they've helped, how many folks have

used victim advocacy services, how many

433

of these like vehicle fingerprintings

have resulted in convictions.

434

These are all questions that there

hasn't been any serious or measurable

435

data points presented to show whether

or not this agency is worth working

436

with again, is what the city is saying.

437

Like we just want.

438

And I think this is specifically

coming from Maggie Yates and Kevin

439

Hall, the new police chief, is

saying Yeah, I'm the new guy in town.

440

Let me start to question some of these

things that we've been doing for decades.

441

He says he's all about data and

metrics and effectiveness in policing,

442

and he's I haven't seen anything.

443

That has shown me that this is the

most effective use of our money.

444

We're running a little long here,

but I did want to kind of speed

445

run through these criticisms

cause they're super valid.

446

What was the next one?

447

Yes.

448

So lack of competition for the contract

because it's been sole source for so long.

449

No other agencies.

450

And you talked about feeling safe and

that being like, one of the benefits.

451

Not everybody does feel

safe in the cop shops.

452

Verla Spencer, the executive director of

The Way to Justice, which is a local non

453

profit law firm, told Eliza Billingham

at the Inlander that communities of color

454

don't feel safe or welcomed by cops.

455

The direct quote was, I've never been

able to walk inside of a cop's shop.

456

to be able to receive any services,

let alone have I ever heard of any

457

black or brown folks ever having any

good luck with any of those places.

458

So not everybody might feel

safe inside these spaces.

459

Yeah.

460

This maybe walks the edge of a value

judgment, but I kind of got that

461

vibe at council of some of these

sentiments that people were expressing

462

of Oh, I walk the neighborhood and

I can just tell somebody's not from

463

here or somebody doesn't belong here

and it's my job to keep us safe.

464

Like I can see how that would result

in some folks not feeling safe.

465

And I want to say the

room was extremely white.

466

The volunteers that were in that room

seemed, and I don't have numbers, I

467

didn't sit there and count, I didn't

ask people their backgrounds, but like

468

it, the room did look disproportionately

white when it came to volunteers, so I

469

can understand how BIPOC folks might not

feel represented or safe in those spaces.

470

One of the other criticisms you

mentioned was that this, the services

471

are unequal, which is, this is, this

happens with like school districts

472

and stuff too, where it's not every

neighborhood is as committed to this.

473

West Central seems like they have a very,

like vibrant, three in one little radius.

474

Yeah.

475

And maybe that, so maybe the services

aren't equally distributed, if a lot

476

more, maybe black and brown folks

live in East Central and maybe that's

477

just not as well developed of an area.

478

There was the single biggest

con you heard though.

479

And it was also brought

up by the students.

480

What was that?

481

Yeah, so the students were looking

at the COPS website and they were

482

like what's the vetting process?

483

What's the training?

484

How do you get chosen to be a volunteer?

485

Because if you're being asked to handle

sort of this offloading of police

486

labor, You're meeting with people or

talking with people at some of their

487

most vulnerable points and the vetting

Mechanisms aren't really very clear.

488

It's not obvious whether or not background

checks happen or like Things if they ask

489

them about their political beliefs or

if they believe in excluding services

490

to buy poke BIPOC or queer people.

491

And so the students were asking me

about that, and asking Jonathan Bingle

492

about that, like, how are you deciding

who's a volunteer, and then once they

493

are a volunteer, how are you training

them to make sure that they're not

494

causing more harm in these moments or

conversations with vulnerable people?

495

And we don't have the transparency

if this is you can, cops are more

496

transparent, they have body cameras, you

can, public records like police reports.

497

They, because they are part of the

government, there is a transparency

498

and accountability mechanism built in.

499

Cops, C O P S, not part of the government.

500

It's a private non profit that's

contracting with the government.

501

And it is a lot gets

government money, tax money.

502

doesn't have the same transparency rules.

503

Yeah, not the same

transparency or accountability.

504

So you might have somebody who doesn't

have training who causes harm and

505

there is not a clear metric to hold

them to standards or, discipline them

506

or ensure that harm isn't happening.

507

And I think there's a pretty clear

example of this exact situation.

508

Yeah.

509

This is where we bring the hedge.

510

did some reporting on.

511

Yeah.

512

You actually know one of the

volunteers who is very active in

513

the COPS organization, right Hedge?

514

Yeah so I was doing some reporting for

Spokane Faves about this organization

515

called Tactical Civics, which is it's a

national organization that's been flagged

516

by I believe the Southern Poverty Law

Center as It's an extremist group in

517

some states, not every state, um, but

the coordinator for the Spokane County

518

chapter, which is a fairly new chapter in

the organization is a volunteer with COPS.

519

Her name is Carrie Krusewick.

520

She's And just briefly, tactical

civics seems kind of generic

521

as a name what does it mean?

522

But you, one of the things you reported

in the story was that So, what Tactical

523

Civics is trying to do is basically

almost establish a parallel justice

524

system outside of the official justice

system of the state to establish things

525

like militias and grand juries as like

the highest law of the land, so it's

526

almost like constitutional sheriff stuff.

527

Is that right?

528

Yeah it's the same, it's in the same

like philosophical vein as like the

529

government that's closest to the people

is the highest government which is like.

530

Wasn't one of the big things that they

don't let Muslims join tactical civics?

531

Yeah, so the organization, one of its

foundational policies is that Muslims

532

cannot be members of tactical civics.

533

So you might feel one way or another

about whether people should be able

534

to form militias in America, right?

535

That's a topic that has been going

on our entire lives, especially in

536

eastern Washington and north Idaho

where we have a lot of militias.

537

But that's a pretty actively exclusionary

rule that, again, back to people's

538

feelings of safety, if a Muslim person

were to walk into a cop shop, then,

539

and whether they know or not that a

person who is part of an organization

540

that explicitly prohibits Muslims, that

could be, obviously that's exclusionary.

541

Yeah, it would be an interesting

fact in any background check

542

for for a cop's volunteer.

543

Yeah.

544

Yeah.

545

And so yeah, I was wrapping my

reporting up for that story.

546

I noticed that that Carrie Krusewick, the

the Spokane County Chapter Coordinator for

547

Tactical Civics is a volunteer for COPS.

548

And I don't want to say

anything bad about Carrie.

549

She very kindly and sweetly

declined an interview.

550

But, and she was nothing but nice to me.

551

But but yeah, it was very interesting

to see a member of that organization

552

also being a volunteer for cops.

553

So we're going to keep following this.

554

We need to move on.

555

But When will we know what's going

on with this contract resolution?

556

So, I was like, what's the next step

and what should people be looking for?

557

Council could approve the Mayor's

proposed budget as early as December 2nd.

558

Likely it will actually happen on the 9th

or the 16th, but they're trying to get

559

the budget approved in early December.

560

They're going back and forth on edits.

561

So council is like, Oh, we want this.

562

And the mayor's okay we'll

maybe add it to the list, but we

563

have to cut some other things.

564

So they're like in that

negotiation process right now.

565

And we'll know then exactly

what's going to happen.

566

I have heard rumblings that the plan

may be to go with cops for a shorter,

567

cheaper contract so that services don't

go away cold Turkey on December 31st.

568

But then that would lead into a

competitive application process

569

that It could allow other service

providers to apply to run some kind

570

of community oriented safety service.

571

And again, this is just rumors.

572

This is rumblings.

573

We will know for sure when we

see that final draft of the

574

budget and it gets voted on.

575

We don't have any explicitly

planned coverage about this in

576

the future, but I can't imagine us

not covering this at some point.

577

At least a little bit in civics.

578

Yeah, we're going to talk about this more.

579

Alrighty, that's segment one.

580

Went longer than we expected.

581

Story two.

582

This is another one that's a

little bit under the radar, but

583

I like, I'm really enjoying this.

584

We kind of, we're pulling this

together in the middle of our weeks

585

right now, trying to figure out how

we even want to do this radio show.

586

And I kind of feel like we landed on

two pretty interesting things to talk

587

about because they're a little, they're

both a little bit under the radar.

588

This one, Larry Crowder, the

longtime CEO of the Spokane

589

International Airport is leaving.

590

This is not news.

591

This was already reported.

592

And on the topic, or on the face of it,

maybe not super sexy, Aaron Hedge but

593

potentially, I think it's important, so.

594

Crowder's the CEO of all the Spokane

airports, plural, which means

595

Spokane International's the big one.

596

It includes Felts Field.

597

You also thought there

might be a third airport.

598

Did you ever figure out

what that third airport was?

599

I haven't named it yet.

600

Okay.

601

We're working on that.

602

Though, there's at least two

and maybe a third airport.

603

There might be airports

we don't even know about.

604

Who knows?

605

But, this is a really, it's a, it's

sort of a, not the sort of position,

606

Crowder is not an, a massively

public figure, although he is

607

very prominent in certain circles.

608

He was in those circles, kind

of economic development the

609

airport community very prominent.

610

And the airport itself is, through

expansions and not just the expansions

611

of the terminals that we've been

seeing, but the expansions of

612

the services around it, including

things like the Amazon warehouse.

613

The fact that is proximate to this

airport is one of the reasons this

614

Amazon facility is put where it is.

615

This has become A very vital and

increasingly important part of

616

the economic development landscape

in Spokane, across the board, but

617

especially on the West Plains, Airway

Heights, the west edge, the western

618

edge of the city limits of Spokane.

619

So, and from what I understand,

Hedge, That comes largely due to the

620

shift in thinking that was brought

by Crowder's leadership style.

621

So maybe we can start

quickly with some background.

622

How did Crowder's tenure

change the airport?

623

So Larry Crowder came in

624

So he's been there about almost 14 years.

625

But the airport it's owned through a

partnership between two public entities,

626

the county and the city of Spokane.

627

Larry Crowder he ran the

airport as a business.

628

Bringing in these, massive projects

aimed at boosting the local economy.

629

I think the biggest example that's like

mostly attributable to him is the Trex

630

expansion of Terminal Sea, which is a

$150 million expansion at the airport.

631

Says we'll bring about 1200 jobs to

the area and generate $300 million.

632

It's a big deal.

633

And he's really vocal about this kind

of thing, both in interviews that he

634

has done, including one with County

Commissioner Al French where he said SIA

635

has enough room to grow in perpetuity.

636

He's also brought this up in congressional

testimony at the federal level.

637

Yeah, federal congressional testimony.

638

Both, yeah.

639

And I've been looking into the

airport in, in, in the past.

640

Regarding some water contamination

out on the West Plains.

641

And during that reporting, uh, I talked

to this guy named Bruce Beckett, who's

642

a, he's a lobbyist for airports at the

legis at the state legislature, and he

643

told me that Crowder is, quote, known

and respected around the state and the

644

country as an innovative thinker about how

airports can generate economic activity.

645

And yeah.

646

So, just to be, like, just real, these

are publicly owned entities, at least

647

ours is, and most of the airports in

America are publicly owned, and on

648

the one level it's it's, each of these

airlines is private businesses, obviously

649

the airport is a business itself.

650

But it's not so much about whether

it's like doing commercial activity.

651

It's really more about the

orientation of this public service.

652

Like it's a port district.

653

So the conversation is, should this

feel like a public service or a

654

public utility or should it really

feel like a private institution?

655

Business where the decision making

is not necessarily focused on a wide

656

variety of public goods or potential

public goods, but specifically around

657

the public good of economic development.

658

Is that about right?

659

Yeah, that sounds right.

660

Crowder has said that he wants airports

to operate as as a business, and he's

661

bringing that to the Cincinnati airport.

662

It's part of a larger conversation,

yeah, it's part of this larger, much

663

larger conversation about American

airports that's really fascinating.

664

The United States relies on them more

than most other countries because the

665

coastal population centers are separated

by this vast, relatively empty area

666

which is somewhat rare for a country.

667

We have about a third of the world's

airports, so as far as other countries are

668

largely moving to When you gave me that

statistic, I just want to pause on that.

669

We Yes.

670

America has, the United States

specifically, has one third

671

of the airports in the world?

672

That's correct.

673

Wow.

674

And the thing about a big expansive

land is that, if you've ever been

675

to Europe, you can train pretty

much anywhere pretty easily.

676

It's easier to take a train to

most cities, even across countries,

677

than it is to take an airplane.

678

It's hard to get from New

York to Spokane on train.

679

It takes 45 hours, so that's one

of the key differences of why

680

we have so many more airports.

681

It would just be, it would just, and

yeah, so, so we need the airports and it

682

would be really hard to privatize them.

683

They're not profitable.

684

The overhead is too high for the

profit motive basically, right?

685

So they need public funding to

stay open, which then creates

686

these other benefits like.

687

It's easy, it's somewhat easy for me

to fly, as a person, as an individual

688

living in Spokane anywhere in the

country or whatever, with a connecting

689

flight usually through Seattle or Salt

Lake City or Minneapolis or something.

690

But it also then entices the kind of

economic development we're talking about.

691

Yeah, and to be clear most of that

public money that they get is for

692

infrastructure and development it's,

the airport operations, at least at

693

Spokane International, are completely

generated internally they don't get

694

any of their operating budget from

the city or the county, but they are

695

owned by the city and the county.

696

So it's the public funds

are coming for these capital

697

expansions and stuff like that?

698

Or other?

699

Yeah.

700

Okay.

701

Roads I would imagine if they

were to establish a new tarmac,

702

there would probably be some

public funding involved in that.

703

Both federal and state.

704

But the day to day operations are largely

paid for, or entirely paid for, by the

705

various airlines that fly out of there?

706

It's through mostly parking fees and rent

fees that they charge to vendors, and

707

also tarmac fees for the airlines, yeah.

708

Yeah.

709

Okay, so

710

Yeah, let's talk about.

711

So that's obviously the Crowder's

focus on the economic impact.

712

Potentially leaves some other areas like

less talked about, and one of those is a

713

huge part of your reporting that you've

done on the West Plains, which is the

714

PFOS contamination that happened partially

as a because of forever chemicals

715

leaking from both Fairchild Air Force

Base and Spokane International Airport.

716

Let's just talk about like how a

hyper focus on economic development

717

might theoretically lead to some

of the decisions that were made

718

by the airport board to not talk

much about the contamination that

719

happened until they were forced to.

720

Yeah, I think and they were forced kind

of through a public records request

721

by a concerned citizen who gave their

well test results to the Department of

722

Ecology, which is now forcing the airport

through state law to, to clean it up

723

But yeah, I think it's kind of a classic

manifestation of this tension between

724

economic activity and the burdens that

activity places on the physical world.

725

And this gets down to like pretty

fundamental arguments about Capitalism,

726

which only accounts for part of the

ledger in economic activity, the benefits

727

to the producer and the consumer.

728

So any effect, good or bad, that

falls outside of a transaction like

729

a big example, obviously, is climate

change, is not part of the picture.

730

And, we don't know why Crowder

and any of the airport board

731

officials chose not to disclose this

contamination but them not talking

732

about it does fit that basic pattern.

733

Yeah, just to be clear for people who

haven't been following up on this, the

734

Spokane International Airport had a

report in its hand that there had been

735

leaks of forever chemicals that come from

the sort of, the jet the sort of flame

736

retardant you would use if a jet were

ever, a plane were ever to catch on fire.

737

Jet fuel is extremely flammable.

738

Obviously, it's how these massive,

metal cylinders fly through the air.

739

It's super flammable and they're

propelled by this material.

740

It requires a specific kind of flame

retardant to put the fire out because

741

it's such a hot, fast burning fire

that flame retardant historically, not

742

anymore, but historically contained.

743

PFOS, which are forever chemicals,

those forever chemicals.

744

This is an emerging science, but it's

increasingly clear that and the federal

745

EPA is recently ruled that there is no

safe amount of PFOS to have in your body.

746

There used to be a threshold

and now the feds have said no,

747

no amount of PFOS is healthy.

748

The Crowder and the board knew

that the International Airport had

749

contaminated private wells and the

city of Airway Heights water supply,

750

among other things, or at least

contributed to the contamination

751

as recently, or as early as 2017.

752

They didn't actually disclose it until

a private citizen did a public records

753

request for the report, which only landed

what year was that we found out about it?

754

She filed the the records request in 2022,

and Ecology initiated its investigation

755

in 2023, spring of last year.

756

And so we're not saying that any, there's,

the fact that everybody was so focused

757

on economic development was the reason

the airport decided to the leadership

758

at the airport decided to do this.

759

But But again, if you're focused entirely

on economic development while you might

760

also as a public entity, a public utility,

have other duties of care to the people

761

that live around the airport and other

things, if you get too single minded about

762

economic development, it sort of becomes a

conflict, a potential conflict of interest

763

around matters of public health as well.

764

If you are so laser focused on, if

you're so laser focused on economic

765

development, are you giving adequate

care and attention and weight to

766

potential public health impacts?

767

And that's the criticism that a lot

of the people who are suffering from

768

this contamination, people who drink

water from private wells out on the

769

West Plains, which is an unregulated

water source and doesn't really have an

770

established way of getting these people

clean water they see this is a cover up,

771

and they think that they think that it's

motivated by, by, business development.

772

Of course most of this

contamination happened before

773

Larry Crowder came to the airport.

774

And it was federally mandated to use

this AFFF foam this fire retardant.

775

And so, it's On a level, it's not

necessarily the airport's fault, and

776

less so Larry Crowder's fault, but

the fact that he chose not to tell his

777

neighbors about it, It's not the airport's

fault that they used the chemicals.

778

Yes, that's correct.

779

What is, what's under, sort of, discussion

here is whether it was their fault

780

that they covered it up for five years.

781

That's right.

782

Yeah.

783

You're working.

784

This is I should have said

this at the beginning.

785

That was kind of our first

preview of a story coming up.

786

You're working on a story about that.

787

It's going to be out

with a holiday weekend.

788

We hope next week, but

maybe the week after.

789

But we're working actively on a story to

kind of run some of those things down.

790

We got to move on to our last

segment in a second here.

791

But what the early reporting you've

been doing anything come up to

792

you specifically about something

you're excited to talk about?

793

For readers to listen to, or read.

794

I think he So, Larry Crowder did

an interview with some folks at the

795

Cincinnati airport where he's gonna

become the next CEO after he leaves

796

here and the timeline on that isn't

clear as far as what I've seen.

797

But he said, he told them,

airports should be run as

798

businesses rather than utilities.

799

It's less a public service than it is

a way to generate economic activity.

800

And that's what he's been saying.

801

laser focus on for the whole time he's

here and He's gotten a lot of recognition

802

for this He's won a lot of national awards

and he's served on some very high level

803

Important boards and he's well known

around the industry for that work and

804

that's that's the surface level legacy but

I think people on the west plains are also

805

going to remember the contamination I was

just quickly looking at the difference.

806

So Cincinnati is obviously a

much bigger city than Spokane.

807

So this is, he's moving up

in the world of airports.

808

One of the things that I found interesting

was the economic development for the

809

Cincinnati airport has an estimated 9.

810

3 billion of economic impact.

811

Do you happen to know the economic

impact that they say they give for

812

the Spokane international airport?

813

Good.

814

. I don't have that.

815

I don't have that figure off the top of

my head, but I know the Trex expansion

816

by itself is expected to generate

$300 million annually in economic

817

activity around Washington state.

818

So it's not it's not small it, okay.

819

So assuming Google isn't lying

to me, it's about $3 billion.

820

So this, the Cincinnati airport

is, that sounds about right.

821

is three times as big in terms

of economic impact as Spokane.

822

But one of the things that's fascinating,

because we're talking about land

823

use, we're talking about, when we're

talking about economic development

824

of the West Plains, where nothing has

previously existed, largely, it's a lot

825

of land out there, a lot of rural land.

826

The Spokane International Airport has

6, 100 acres that it has available.

827

A lot of that is still undeveloped,

so there's no way our airport

828

is 6, 100 acres of space.

829

Compare that to the Cincinnati

Airport, which, with its 9 billion.

830

of economic economic impact to that

region, they only have 7, 700 acres.

831

So part of what, that's a testament

to what Crowder has done in Spokane

832

to sort of secure all this land.

833

And, this is previously undeveloped

land, so it probably might be easier

834

to do than it would be in Cincinnati,

but part of this economic drive

835

involved sort of securing land

that, that could then be developed.

836

That's right.

837

And in tandem with that, like working very

closely with the aerospace industry for

838

example, yeah he wanted to bring those

folks in and there's bigger relations.

839

They're trying to establish a

cargo railroad through the West

840

Plains that will bring cargo to

the airport and expand it out.

841

Footprint, which is already larger, much

larger than it was before Larry Crowder.

842

So our transit advocate fans

have been asking for light

843

rail out to the West Plains.

844

We might get it for cargo

before we get it for for people.

845

I'm really looking forward

to that story, Hedge.

846

I'm sure our readers will, too.

847

Alright, finally, we're gonna,

with the few remaining minutes

848

here, we got a little civic news

municipal news civics roundup.

849

Yeah, so, every Monday, I read

through Thousands, this is not an

850

exaggeration, thousands of pages

of agendas for the local municipal

851

government meetings of each week.

852

And we have a couple highlights for

y'all, a little roundup of some of

853

the biggest pieces of news coming

out of municipal government meetings.

854

For those of you who don't

know Civic exists, KYRS.

855

org.

856

Dot org slash show slash free range.

857

Something like that.

858

Something like that.

859

You can just find our show page on k

yrs.org and we will have a link to it.

860

That's right.

861

And then for.

862

Those of you that do know about civics,

we're at Thursday now, so most of

863

these public meetings we talked about

on Monday have actually happened, so

864

yeah, what happened to some of them?

865

That's great, because we know exactly

what happened because we cover the

866

decisions in advance and don't always

know how they're going to shake out.

867

So, four big things that I pulled out

as highlights Central Valley School

868

District passed a resolution and a letter.

869

They approved a letter to

send that basically asked

870

Washington State and the U.

871

S.

872

Congress to ban transgender athletes

from sports unless they compete

873

under their assigned gender at birth.

874

So the decision, and this is important

because the decision Individual

875

school districts don't get to choose

how they relate to trans students

876

and other students of difference.

877

That's set up by the state

office of public Superintendent

878

of Public Instruction, right?

879

Okay, so in this case, the governing

body is the WIAA, which is the Washington

880

Interstate Activities Association.

881

Athletics Association?

882

I think activities.

883

And they govern, it might be

athletics, but I think it's activities.

884

So it's sports, but it's other,

yeah, extracurriculars stuff.

885

I was a knowledgeable all star.

886

I was also a knowledgeable kid.

887

You wouldn't know it now.

888

That's not true.

889

So they decide the rules for sports

participation and currently their position

890

is that they point to Title IX and they

say that we can't do discrimination

891

based off of gender or sex and you can

play in whatever on whatever sports

892

team best aligns with your gender.

893

Their position's pretty simple.

894

CBSD can't ban trans athletes

from competing at their school.

895

They can't.

896

Ban trans athletes from competing

against them, but they can pass this

897

resolution that gives a very clear

signal that they do not support this,

898

that they are not okay with this.

899

Of course, they're framing it in this

very protect women kind of way that leaves

900

trans women out of that conversation.

901

Very similar to the conversation

we're seeing nationally.

902

So it's almost odd.

903

There's no likelihood that this would,

this letter is going to spur any change

904

at the state level because Washington is

pretty committed to this inclusion, or?

905

Probably not, but there has been this

conversation happening where at some

906

of these governing bodies they've

changed the structures to instead

907

of A lot of times there's votes for

things that are given by schools.

908

And I don't know if this is

specifically WIAA, but the other

909

organization that governs schools,

it's like WASDA or something.

910

They take positions on

stuff and then advocate.

911

And it used to be that you got a vote

proportional to your school district size.

912

That changed recently to each school

district getting a vote, which means that

913

it has gotten wildly more conservative.

914

Because of the amount of rural schools,

and so Kind of in the same way that

915

the House of Rep Representatives is

generally less conservative than the

916

Senate, which is, a lot of small states

get the same voting rights as big states.

917

And So, there has been a trend, I've

noticed, of more conservative school

918

districts passing resolutions and

letters with nearly identical language.

919

Mead passed a resolution

with the exact same title.

920

So, they're clearly sort of copy paste,

and there were some on the west side, too.

921

College Place and Eastmont a couple other

schools passed very similar resolutions.

922

Gotta wrap that one up.

923

Spokane Valley further

criminalized homelessness.

924

They made it a misdemeanor

to be camping on public land.

925

And they also changed the

definition of camping.

926

Used to be that you had to have

camping paraphernalia, like a dent or a

927

sleeping bag, to be considered camping.

928

But they took that part

of the definition out.

929

So now if you're just like sleeping

on a public bench, that's camping

930

and you could be arrested for it.

931

City Council indefinitely

postponed their parks levy.

932

Yeah, they've been kicking that

one down the road for a while.

933

They originally proposed running a

levy to fund parks improvements across

934

the city, and they originally proposed

this like in February of last year.

935

Wow.

936

And then it's gradually gotten

punted for various reasons.

937

To the behest of the Sorry, we got a,

there was a random flashing light but

938

they, this time the parks board voted

to ask them to postpone it because

939

they want to pursue a partnership with

Spokane Public Schools where they would

940

run a joint levy or run two levies

separately that would then, be used

941

to do a like slate of improvements.

942

Lastly, the story you've been

following pretty closely.

943

The transit authority had public

944

Yeah.

945

And that should be just wrapping

up like right about now.

946

They had their meeting this afternoon.

947

Usually I go, I'm going to have to figure

out what to do now that we did this on

948

Thursdays, you might have to find a sub

for me on STA days, but yeah, they did a

949

presentation of this big strategic plan

that kind of lays out the future for STA

950

TA for the next 10 years, and this was the

last public hearing opportunity for folks

951

to weigh in and share their opinions on

the proposed plan, what it included, what

952

it didn't include, what the priority and

timelines for these projects should be

953

like, which things should get done first.

954

Yeah, so those are some of those

four biggest things that happened.

955

Clarity on that soon.

956

Okay, the, to the, to everyone

listening, especially perhaps the

957

person who just randomly called us out

of the blue in the in the studio here.

958

Do you have questions

about local government?

959

Are you calling because you wanted

to take issue with something

960

we just talked about on air?

961

Please send us an email instead.

962

Yeah, wondering who to complain to

about an issue in your neighborhood.

963

Any and all of these things, and

especially the person who just called, if

964

this was like an actual attempt to contact

us, send us an email at freerange at kyrs.

965

org with any of those questions, and

we'll get back to you, and we'll try to

966

cover them next week if they come up.

967

Freerange is a weekly news and

public affairs program presented by

968

Range Media, and produced by Range

Media and KYRS Community Radio.

969

This is KYRS, MedicaLake, Spokane.

970

We're probably going to have a pre

recorded episode next week, so we

971

don't hear from you until then, or

We'll be past Thanksgiving, so if

972

you celebrate happy holidays, and

we will see you live in two weeks.

973

I'm Erin, that's Luke, see you later.