Friends of the Falls’ monthly Board of Directors meeting is scheduled on the third Thursday of every month; due to a number of conflicts on that date, our next directors meeting will be held from noon to 1:30 pm, Thursday, January 24 in Room 501 of the Spokane Academic Center, Riverpoint Campus. Interested in dropping by? for more information.

It’s not often that the opening of a building sets an important tone for the river, but a new building on the Spokane Falls Community College campus might do just that - at least judging by what SFCC chancellor Gary Livingston had to say in a recent Spokesman-Review article.

In “New building begins new look,” published on December 27, 2007, Livingston noted that the new SFCC business and social science building is intended to begin a campus-wide planning shift towards the nearby Spokane River Gorge, something initial campus plans ignored. “We’re turning all of the campus back toward the river more,” Livingston said. “We really want to accentuate the location, which wasn’t done when the campus was built.”

Even though the building has no direct view of the river, the idea that SFCC will begin to embrace its prime location is exciting. With acres of undeveloped, forested shoreline area just a stone’s throw from campus, highlighting the river makes great sense - especially since it helps position SFCC with youth activities and curricula that could capitalize on the river’s proximity. Long-term, housing could begin to replace the acres of asphalt that currently dominate the area, and help draw more full-time students. More two and three-story buildings like this one could help the school grow in size without increasing the overall footprint of the campus.

Though SFCC lies outside of the River Gorge Master Plan, the overall scope envisions linking Riverfront Park with Riverside State Park. Such future planning work would almost certainly include SFCC as an important partner.

Kudos to Mr. Livingston, and to SFCC for recognizing the opportunity, and for beginning an important transition!

Spokesman-Review article

It feels like Spokane’s in the groove these days - and working on staying there, with new downtown businesses, residential development, fresh energies at City Hall, and a lot more. The downtown plan update has folks thinking about the future too, and a recent Pacific Northwest Inlander included a great editorial by Publisher Ted McGregor.

Ted’s editorials are almost always worth reading, but this one was all about “what ought to be next” in Spokane.

Including this line: “Finally, and most obviously, there’s the Spokane River, and the Gorge Park is a great idea we should all get behind.”

Darn right, Ted!

Inlander editorial (320 Kb, Acrobat® file)

Like most, we’ve been tidying things up a bit as the year draws to a close - hopefully, you’ve seen our Year-in-Review report already - but one item that came to our attention was a broken link to the full list of folks that have generously provided support to the whitewater park project. While that’s a MAJOR issue we’ve since fixed, we figured it gives us a chance to re-thank and give recognition to those groups, corporations and folks as 2007 draws to a close.

So, here’s the list, tiered according to support level, from $7,500 on down - each and every contributor - plus another link to the same list of valued, generous supporters in a downloadable, Acrobat® format. Thanks to all once more, and let’s make this important project happen soon!

Whitewater park supporter list