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City Council District 2 Candidate Bruce Vonada

Three challengers are looking to unseat Spokane city councilman Breean Beggs in Spokane’s second District.

All three opponents are expressing concerns that the current city council is spending too much time on issues that are outside the purview of what the council should be focusing on.

Today we look at candidate Bruce Vonada
 

Bruce Vonada says he got into the race at the last minute, at the prompting of his wife , who he says was tired of him complaining about the way city government was being run. He describes himself as a “renaissance man”, and claims to have as varied a background as anyone who has ever served on the council. “As it relates to the city council? Let’s see, I’ve been a city manager, I’ve ran a sewage treatment plant, a water facility, a dock and cold storage operation, built subdivisions, been a community development director, ran the building department in Pierce county..”

Vonada says he did those various jobs in a number of communities, including Yakitat, Alaska, Glendive Montana, Walla Walla, Hoquiam, Washington, and Priest River, Post Falls, and Grand Coulee.

Like the other challengers to Breean Beggs’ seat, Vonada says the current city council is way too liberal. Like the others, he feels too much time is being spent on issues that should not concern the council. One issue is the oil trains. He cites previous action by the council to place a speed limit on those trains inside the city limits. Vonada says “The council spent all that time lowering the speed limit. Well, I’ve lived next to the tracks since 1968 in this town. I haven’t been out of this area. I haven’t seen a train go over 25 or 30. It’s like you’re spending all this time, you’re wasting the Burlington Northern Santa Fe’s time for something you don’t have any legal right to deal with”.

Bruce Vonada says it’s time the council looks more closely at traditional issues facing citizens. “I think the streets are a real issue and how they handled that I have some real heartburn with it. But you know we let the infrastructure go for a long time. The homeless. I got home from the naval yard in Bremerton, and I’ve got a homeless person living there in my rock garden.”

But Vonada was not specific when it came to discussing the manner in which to deal with those issues, or ways to pay for them.  His criticism of a proposal forwarded by Breean Beggs on using a so called “sugar tax” on soft drinks to pay for more police officers got a little more specific. Vonada said, “Who are you picking on when you do a sugar tax? You’re picking o the homeless, cause that’s where they’re getting most of their calories; they’re buying this sugar stuff. And you’re killing the meth addicts, cause they need the sugar.”

That comment gives you a flavor for Vonada's campaign. Some of his other answers were tongue in cheek as well.

Vonada said he hoped to make it through the campaign without spending any other money than the filing fee, and doesn’t plan to put up any campaign signs.

You can find our stries on Vonada and the other candidates for city council district 2 on our website, Spokane Public radio. Org

Steve was part of the Spokane Public Radio family for many years before he came on air in 1999. His wife, Laurie, produced Radio Ethiopia in the late 1980s through the '90s, and Steve used to “lurk in the shadowy world” of Weekend SPR. Steve has done various on air shifts at the station, including nearly 15 years as the local Morning Edition host. Currently, he is the voice of local weather and news during All Things Considerd, writing, editing, producing and/or delivering newscasts and features for both KPBX and KSFC. Aside from SPR, Steve ,who lives in the country, enjoys gardening, chickens, playing and listening to music, astronomy, photography, sports cars and camping.