COWLES DISPUTES DETAILS

Please let me set the record straight on two serious mischaracterizations in William Stimson's story on Cowles Company ("Spokane's First Family," November 2007).

Mr. Stimson's claim that the City of Spokane and Cowles "knew the garage was worth less than $20 million" is without basis in fact. Audited financial data show the River Park Square garage cost about $22 million and city appraisals placed its worth between $22 million and $30 million.

Second, necessity motivated my hiring a new editor at The Spokesman-Review, not concern over his performance or "newspaper credibility." After a distinguished 18 years in Spokane, Chris Peck resigned in 2001 to find new challenges in bigger towns. He is currently editor of The Commercial Appeal in Memphis.

W. STACEY COWLES President Cowles Company

William Stimson responds:

The actual money value of the parking garage has always been at the center of the controversy. Even supporters of the project now admit that the price was high, but worth it because it was a means of injecting public funds into reviving Spokane's downtown. The developers of the garage, the Cowleses themselves, seemed to believe that the garage was overvalued because they asked the city to reduce the valuation, apparently for tax purposes. An official of the city's building department backed them up, issuing an opinion (Oct. 8, 1998) that, because of "significant overestimation" of construction costs, "The value for the parking garage should be reduced from $26,050,713 to $14,527,271."