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City Council District 2 Candidate Andy Dunau

Photo courtesy of http://voteandydunau.com/

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

The three opponents all say 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 Andy Dunau.

Andy Dunau says his background is in partnership and collaboration. For thirty years he has run Dunau and Associates, which currently manages three nonprofit organizations, the Spokane River and Lake Roosevelt forums, and the Foundation for Water and Energy education.

A 28-year resident of Spokane, Dunau says he believes his experience with those nonprofits would allow him to be a good fit as someone who could get things done on the council. Dunau says, “So I believe we are living in an era where people are being told why need to choose either going to the left or right. My experience to find common sense solutions, you actually have to find a way to get to the middle and work from the middle out.”

Dunau believes Breann Beggs and the council have made a mistake in pursuing a ballot measure asking voters to try to regulate oil and coal trains passing through the community.  Dunay says,“It’s clearly unconstitutional. If the initiative is passed by the voters, it will put the city in an expensive litigious situation, and the city will clearly lose. And as it moves through the courts for four or five years, you are not improving public safety.”

Dunau would prefer to work with other communities affected by the rail issue, and go directly to the rail companies as a unified front to try to negotiate changes in rail policy regarding coal and oil trains.

The candidate feels the rail issue is a good example of the council overstepping its bounds as to what it should be focused on.  He says, “So we need to grow the tax base, we need to be welcoming for business, and we need to do that in an environmentally sensitive way. So I think we need to focus on streets. That’s the thing I hear the most as I doorbell.”

Dunau says he would like to meet with the those who have done the street maintenance and repair since the first street bonds were passed in 2005 and discuss which roads might be in good repair and those that require work again to see what specific procedures and materials have worked best.

He says the plans for the controversial Monroe street renovations demonstrate the need for council to get involved with, and be transparent with the public .

Dunau adds that his work to preserve and secure access to the Spokane River for recreation means he has the insight into how important the environment is to lure new workers new Spokane., Dunau says, “So that means you need to have a really good balance between green infrastructure - whether it’s parks, river access - and grey infrastructure - the roads, the bridges and so forth. Finding that balance is critical, because otherwise, people who can live anywhere they want, or join any company they want, we are going to lose the labor war, and that is going to be bad for our economic development.”

All this week, we will take a look at the other candidates for the second district city council seat. The primary ballots need to be mailed back by Tuesday, August first.

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.