Ahh, working on Spokane’s Downtown plan. Seems like yesterday.

Except that it was 1999 - nearly a decade ago!

Since then, Spokane (with the plan as a catalyst) has accomplished an amazing number of things, including:

• Restoration of the Davenport Hotel
• Completion of the new Convention Center
• Revival of Downtown as a mixed use center
• Post Street “Promenade” improvements
• Growth of the Davenport Arts District
• Restoration of the Fox Theatre

... and a number other projects, large and small. In all, over $3 billion in new investment and construction.

So for Friends of the Falls, it’s important to note that a major update to the plan is getting underway with a workshop scheduled for Thursday, November 29, from 6:00 to 9:00 pm at 412 E. Spokane Falls Boulevard, next to the “Bookie.”

Of course, the previous plan missed on many counts - the giant “public square” called for in the 1999 plan never materialized (although Wendell Reugh’s new parking lot bears an ironic resemblance to the plan’s image and location of such a feature). But that’s why plans need updating, and we applaud the effort.

As we were then, Friends of the Falls will be there to encourage the community’s continued focus on the river, including developing a tighter integration of the downtown plan and the Gorge Master Plan.

If the Spokane River is important to you, too, please take part in this crucial effort. As the e-mail we received said, “Be a part of what comes next!”

On October 29, Friends of the Falls Executive Director Steve Faust and Board member Travis Nichols went before the Spokane City Council to speak against expanding a tax-incentive program to steeply-sloped areas within the river gorge.

The City’s multifamily tax-exemption program was first adopted in 2000 to spur residential development in under-served or blighted areas, and was first applied to the downtown core and West Central neighborhoods. Since then, the program has been expanded to many areas across the City, including other targeted growth centers, but some say the program is now offered in areas that don’t need the additional incentives. The tax program sets aside property tax increases on multi-family residential developments, typically for eight years or more.

City staff had recommended removing a strip of land from the program including property north of Riverside Avenue and most of the bluff into Peaceful Valley. A proposal before Council sought to increase the size of that area.

Faust noted sections of the Gorge Plan that discourage development in areas included in the proposed boundaries, indicating that at the very least, the City shouldn’t be adding incentives to build in there. The Council at first acted on the advice of staff and removed the existing strip from the program, but later restored the strip, though refusing to add the new lands proposed.

“The program is a valuable tool, but it should be applied sparingly and only where it’s needed,” said Faust. “If anything, we should be using incentives to enhance the Gorge, not diminish it” he said.

Page 4-49 of the plan identifies “all of the north-facing slopes along the south side of the Gorge area from the lower falls to the confluence with Hangman Creek” as areas that should be improved by restoration of native vegetation, adding: “This heavily vegetated steep slope needs to be protected from encroaching large-scale development.”

Spokesman Article (64 Kb, Acrobat® file)

By all accounts, the 2007 version of the Spokane River Cleanup event was a tremendous success.

And a lot of accounting took place to measure the event’s accomplishments. For instance, more than 750 people turned out to take part. 12,000 pounds of garbage - that’s six TONS - was collected. There wasn’t a tally on acres cleaned, but the number of volunteers enabled teams of workers to venture much further downstream than before - some nearly to Riverside State Park. Approximately 2,500 pounds of the refuse was recycled. Spokane Transit Authority (STA) took part for the first time by running a special free shuttle service for participants, who could then park at nearby Spokane Falls Community College and ride to the event, or ride to downstream cleanup areas.

For the first time, this year’s event allowed folks to join one of 13 “teams” assigned to mapped areas along the river, with names ranging from “hummingbird” to “moose” to - of course - “marmot.”

Mayor Dennis Hession was present as in years past, and provided a great send-off message just before the cleanup began.

Even press coverage set new standards. Two news articles appeared in the Spokesman-Review, plus a very nice editorial printed just prior to the event. Add to that support and coverage from one of our favorite reads, Out There! Monthly.

So here’s a huge “Thank You” to everyone that participated, including Clean Up sponsors Kendall Yards, Avista Utilities, and Washington Trust Bank, as well as to the 33 (!) groups and organizations contributing as event partners. For a complete listing of these groups, check out the half-page ad published in November’s Out There! Monthly, linked below.

See also copies of the Spokesman’s coverage and a nice photo gallery we’ve put together of the event, images courtesy of John D. Moore.

Missed it? Want to make plans for next year? Mark your calendars: the 2008 Spokane River Cleanup event will take place October 4th!

Spokesman Article, October 7 (80 Kb, Acrobat® file)
Spokesman Article, October 11 (72 Kb, Acrobat® file)
Spokesman Editorial, October 6 (52 Kb, Acrobat® file)
OTM Advert (144 Kb, Acrobat® file)
Event Snapshots (Flash™ Gallery)

Over the past few years, Spokane’s Spokesman-Review has been promoting, underwriting and generally supporting a huge number of alternative press endeavors - including a blog we’d frankly never heard of called ”Down to Earth.”

Fortunately, that all changed when an e-mail arrived today with a link to a great story about Friends of the Falls’ work forwarding the proposed whitewater park, including comments from FOF boardmember Travis Nichols.

“The whitewater park will be a vehicle to transport people to The Great Spokane River Gorge,” Nichols told DTE. “We will provide a connection between the people and the river - the river is the reason the city is here. Once people feel connected to the river they will appreciate it and want to care for it and protect it.”

The article notes one of the design criteria that’s been clear from the beginning of the design process, namely that fisheries are protected in the area where the park is proposed. In response to recent press quoting Sam Mace of Trout Unlimited, Nichols underscored FOF’s committment to the issue, and pointed out the project could actually improve conditions for fish and humans alike by removing existing rail debris and the unused concrete abutments left over from the former High Bridge, demolished in the early 1970’s. For his part, Mace indicates TU’s desire to stay involved in the design process, “to create a park that we can all support.”

It’s been years since the Gorge Plan first began to take shape - when then-Cultural Director for the Spokane Tribe Louie Wynn stood up in front of scores of influential Spokane participants and stated flatly that all planning should support the long-range vision local tribes hold: that our day-to-day actions must uphold and foster the eventual return of salmon to the Spokane river. The scope and implications of Louie’s words that day were almost shocking to those in attendance, but they became a touchstone for the conceptual plan and the Strategic Master Plan that FOF is working to enact today.

We may not see Spokane river salmon in our lifetimes, but FOF won’t forget the importance of planning for their return - and for letting the river enchant more to its cause.

Check out Down to Earth’s article at the link below!

DTE Whitewater Park Article (Weblink)