LILACS to Spokane City Hall for considering installing school zone traffic cameras and using the fines to hire more police officers. Although I find those lights extremely annoying, especially since they treat rolling California stops at right turns as seriously as running  a red light, I’ve come to see them as a kind of fair tax that also promotes safe driving. If that’s what it takes to hire police officers and if we can save a few lives in the process, bring them on, and let’s all slow down.

LILACS to Riverpark Square, which is CLOSING for Thanksgiving, following the news that the huge Mall of America decided to give their tenant’s employees a break. If ALL the malls joined in on this, none of them would lose any sales. Some believe that when Thanksgiving encroached on Black Friday, it took all the excitement out of Black Friday. We love excitement and we love holidays and family time, so bravo!

LILACS to Spokane’s Etailz, which just sold for $75 million to the company that owns West Coast Entertainment. Josh Neblett chose a good professor when he landed in Tom Simpson’s entrepreneurial class at Gonzaga. His thesis ended up becoming the blueprint for the company that ended up making a lot of loyal staffers a great deal of money, and since Josh was a 20 under 40 winner and Tom a perennial Power 50 winner, we know them both, and can say that this couldn’t have happened to nicer people.

LILACS to the Spokane Parks department for installing a spiderweb rope playground structure in Manito Park. I’ve been railing lately over the trend towards boring and safe playground equipment, so it’s great to see something installed that involves climbing and a bit of risk. Actually, the ropes kind of “catch” most kids who fall, and they can scramble to the top with amazing speed. They’re a bit expensive but easy to maintain. If the first one works out, eventually they’ll be installed in other parks.

LEMONS to North Idaho College for allegedly standing by rather than reporting a gang rape to a 17-year old freshman woman in 2013. Time and again we hear about institutions that choose to take care of their problems internally rather than call in outside authorities and face negative publicity. Sweeping problems under the rug is rarely the best choice, and blaming the victim is always the wrong one.

LILACS to the Spokane Police Department for (finally) enforcing the law against public pot smokers. Every time some of us walk by certain intersection downtown we catch a whiff of weed, and fail to understand why nothing is ever done. After all, legalization doesn’t mean you can just smoke it anywhere. Alcohol is legal, too, but nearly everyone knows it can’t be consumed publicly. Marijuana has its benefits, but users need to be courteous and obey the law. You have to be at least 21, too. The fine is $103, which could buy a lot of weed.

LEMONS to political sign thieves. By the time you read this, the election will most likely be over. Signs will have been stolen. That will have little impact on the election, probably, but a huge impact on the state of the thief’s soul. The ends do not justify the means. Now that the election is over let’s make ALL the signs disappear. If you placed a sign, go pick it up. Don’t make your candidate look like a litter bug.