MEDIA RELEASE - Spokane (12/8/2015) – In the latest attempt by corporations to effectively eliminate citizens’ right to direct democracy through the constitutional right of initiative, City Council President Stuckart is seriously entertaining a request from Greater Spokane Incorporated (GSI), Avista, the Spokane Home Builders Association, and the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA), to […]

(Spokesman-Review - September 3, 2015 - Nick Deshais) More than two years after the Community Bill of Rights was blocked from the ballot by a Superior Court judge, the Washington state Supreme Court agreed to hear the case this week, starting a 30-day countdown for both sides to prepare their arguments. The ballot measure, which would […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Spokane (6/16/2015) – Two friend of the court briefs were filed last week with the Supreme Court of Washington State in the case of Spokane Entrepreneurial Center v. Spokane Moves to Amend the Constitution. The Supreme Court is being asked by the plaintiffs to consider reviewing an appeals court decision made in January […]

From CELDF: The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) is pleased to share some promising news in the growing Community Rights Movement, as we organize to secure and protect local, democratic rights and self-governing authority. In Spokane, Washington, where CELDF has been organizing for many years in partnership with Envision Spokane, corporations […]

Article from The Spokesman (1/29/2015): Envision Spokane, a  wide-ranging initiative that twice failed at the polls, will be before voters again, after a decision today by a state appellate court. A unanimous decision by the court today ruled against the 2013 decision by a Superior Court judge to remove the controversial measure from the general election ballot. Read […]

Spokane (1/6/2014) – On August 23, 2013 Spokane Superior Court Judge Moreno denied a citizen vote on the Community Bill of Rights and Fair and Clean Elections ordinance. Both had duly qualified to be on the November 2013 ballot via the citizen initiative process.Envision Spokane – proponents of the Community Bill of Rights – have […]

Business Community and Spokane County Join Forces to Block Citizens’ Initiatives from City Ballot – Lawsuit Filed Against Initiative Sponsors and City of Spokane Envision Spokane President Brad Read – “Corporations are seeking to control not only how we vote, but whether we can vote” Download full press statement and media packet (PDF hosted on Fileserve.com) PRESS STATEMENT, JUNE 26, […]

Corporate interests have repeatedly gone to the Spokane City Council to keep the Community Bill of Rights initiative off the ballot.  The initiative has now qualified for the ballot three times, garnering over 49 percent of the vote in 2011. In 2009, the business community successfully had the City Council place “poison pill” questions on […]

A few weeks ago The Inlander published a guest editorial from Councilpersons Stuckart, Snyder, and Waldref on the Community Bill of Rights (click here to read). A response was submitted by Brad Read - president of the board of Envision Spokane. The Inlander did not respond, nor choose to publish the editorial. Below is the editorial. June 17, 2013 In 2009, […]