Longtime CdA Councilman Woody McEvers faces drone entreprene…

Longtime Coeur d’Alene City Councilman Woody McEvers has held office for nearly 20 years and is hopeful to earn another four in Tuesday’s election.

He faces two political novices, business owner J.D. Claridge and entrepreneur Grayson Cross.

McEvers is perhaps best known as the co-owner of the downtown Rustler’s Roost restaurant, which he has run with his brother Daren since 1983. His service to the city dates back to 1995, when he served for two years on the city’s Traffic Safety Commission. He was appointed to the city’s Planning Commission in 1997 and served for five years before being elected to the City Council in 2002.

Though McEvers has been around for a lot of city projects, he’s particularly proud of getting the city’s cable television station, CDA-TV, up and running.

“From a historical perspective, I’ve been involved in a lot of good things over the years,” he said.

McEvers grew up in the Los Angeles area, graduating from Reseda High School in 1967. He attended Pierce College and worked beach maintenance for several seasons. He began working in restaurants as a bartender and a manager before coming to Coeur d’Alene in 1978. He worked for several restaurants, including Iron Horse, Intrepid and Sourdough, before buying the Rustler’s Roost.

He got into city politics because he wanted to participate and be involved, McEvers said.

“It’s fun,” he said. “It’s like going to school and learning new things.”

Housing prices are a concern in Coeur d’Alene, and McEvers said he’s open to creative options, but creating affordable housing isn’t the council’s job.

“I think we can help where we can help,” he said. “It’s always been about jobs in Coeur d’Alene for as long as I can remember. When you go back 20 years, let me tell you, you wanted growth.”

Growth brings traffic, and McEvers said he believes the addition of left turn lights has helped. “I don’t think it’s something we get rid of,” he said. “I think it’s something we manage.”

McEvers describes himself as fiscally conservative.

“I don’t fit the mold very well,” he said. “I’m a business guy.”

Mask mandates have been controversial in North Idaho, and last year the city council voted to impose one briefly.

“I voted against it because I couldn’t understand how you would manage it,” he said. “I don’t think it’s our job. I think it’s a personal choice.”

Cross said he has no problem if business owners decide they want to require masks inside their business, but said he doesn’t believe government should be making that decision for people in public places. “I think that’s where the line is drawn,” he said.

When the City Council passed the mandate, Claridge was outside protesting. He said he didn’t think a mandate was in the best interest of the community.

“First of all, they have not been proven to help,” he said of masks, though numerous studies have shown they do. “It made me mad, and I decided to do something.”

Cross said he’d like to see the city boost public participation.

“We don’t really have a way of asking the entire city of Coeur d’Alene what they think the issues are,” he said.

Growth is sometimes painful, but Cross said he understands why people want to move to Coeur d’Alene. He said he’s not generally supportive of high-density housing, but if it has to be done, it should be done right.

Cross grew up in Coeur d’Alene and was homeschooled. He took classes at North Idaho College before earning a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship from the University of Idaho.

“I’m a serial entrepreneur,” he said. “I have seven online websites that do a lot of things.”

Cross said he’s done drop shipping on Amazon and has sold items including T-shirts and iPhone chargers. He also ran the marketing department at Tedder Industries, which manufactures firearm accessories, until last year.

He bought a house two years ago and that’s when he began getting interested in politics, he said.

“I believe you start caring a lot more about politics when you anchor yourself,” he said. “This is where I’m going to live. I’d like to live here forever as long as it remains paradise.”

Claridge said he’s worried about the city’s growth. “There is not enough thought put into infrastructure,” he said. “Traffic is an issue. It keeps getting worse. I believe developers need to pay more for infrastructure, more than they are now.”

Th e infrastructures should include schools and emergency services, in addition to roads and traffic signals, Claridge said.

“These things right now are just left to the taxpayers,” he said.

Claridge said he’s running to bring a different perspective to the council.

“I am a proponent of freedom,” he said. “I believe the voters should have a say in what takes place in their community.”

He grew up in Spokane Valley and graduated from East Valley High School. He also graduated from LeTourneau University in Longview, Texas, with a degree in aeronautical science electronics concentration, which is a combination of electrical engineering and aeronautical science .

He worked as an aircraft mechanic and an aeronautical engineer for several companies before working as an electrical engineer for Quest Aircraft in Sandpoint for 10 years. He was in charge of helping design the Kodiak 100 aircraft. He had his own company, AeroDesign Works, for a few years before he co-founded xCraft, a drone company that specializes in the X PlusOne, a commercial drone.

Cross said he would bring a younger mindset and a technology background to the council. He said he likes McEvers, but ran against him because he is in favor of term limits.

“I think he’s got a lot of the city’s best interests at heart,” he said of McEvers. “I just think he’s been there a long time.”

He said he and Morgan Dixon, who is running for Position 2, are like-minded and running as a team. He said they’re politically unaffiliated.

“We believe in a lot of the Republican side, but we also see a lot of the progressive side coming into Coeur d’Alene,” he said.

Claridge said he plans to deliver responsible growth if he’s elected.

“We need to make sure we aren’t taxing people out of their homes,” he said. “This community has, thankfully, a low crime rate, and I want to help keep it that way.”

McEvers said he considered not running for re-election because he’s getting older, but decided he wanted to stick around because the city’s urban renewal district is coming to an end next year. That will mean more taxes coming into the city that will have to be allocated to different programs and projects, McEvers said.

“I just want to have a voice in there,” he said.