Four the Future - December 22

Changes, and their regional ripple effects, in and around Riverfront Park.

• YWCA’s riverfront land sold for $3.2 million
  Source: Spokesman-Review; December 17, 2010
  Summary: The land on the north side of the river where the YWCA used to be has been sold to Lawrence Stone. The property overlooks the north channel of the river.
  Opinion: This property is situated north of Anthony’s, west of the pedestrian bridge to Riverfront Park’s Canada Island, east of the future Native American museum, and two blocks from the Arena. Any function there would be well advised to take advantage of the high community and tourist traffic. Perhaps a mix of retail and some professional offices with upper level residential to overlook the falls would be profitable. A quick jaunt over to Spokane’s site selector would help determine appropriate long term uses. By all means, however, make sure you have good public access along the top of the gorge so that people can easily travel through your property to get between the arena, bridge, museum, and restaurant. It will give you the opportunity to sell something to them on the way without having to supply them with a parking space.
  
• Beware Of Falling Trees-- City Removing 26 Trees From Riverfront Park
  Source: KHQ; December 17, 2010
  Summary: After Expo ’74, Riverfront Park was deliberately overplanted. Now, nearly 4 decades later, they are in the middle of their lifespan. Some are diseased and many are crowded. Thinning them will give the remaining trees the chance to reach their full potential. The trees will be used for mulch or given to SNAP or other charities to help low-income families heat their homes.
  Opinion: It’s important to maintain a mix of trees, both in species and age, so they don’t all die at the same time. Maintaining the mix sometimes means direct action. There are over 1000 trees in the park, so this is less than 3% of the trees. I wonder if anyone would notice if it weren’t mentioned.
  
• Commission: YMCA ineligible for historic listing
  Source: Spokesman-Review; December 16, 2010
  Summary: The Spokane City-County Historic Landmarks Commission voted unanimously to find the YMCA lacking in historic value. The YMCA is expected to be demolished in February.
  Opinion: My recent experience has taught me that this is the correct ruling. The Avista building on Mission has a similar architectural style, and the testimony tended to indicate that the YMCA building didn't have a significant role in Expo '74. Preserving this building for historic reasons isn’t the right path. Preserving it, or replacing it with another structure, for its usefulness in providing functionality to the park would be the right decision.
  
• Editorial: Natural area acquisitions suffer from YMCA deal
  Source: Spokesman-Review; December 12, 2010
  Summary: The hasty purchase of the YMCA building by the Park Board, followed by Spokane City Council's acceptance of Spokane County's offer to bailout the board, has placed a huge burden on the otherwise popular Conservations Futures program. Worthy lands are being offered to the public in lieu of inappropriate development, but they will not be protected because of the purchase of the YMCA, which has taken up approximately one third of all the costs of the program.
  Opinion: Not to mention the failure to keep the property as a useful contributor to the tax rolls. The sale of the YWCA land across the river shows that there is interest in making the property work, and Mark Pinch's offer to keep the land along the river open to the public shows he understood this property's correct role. In the end, this property has been wasted, and the result will be additional sprawl on the lands not preserved by the program.
  

Spokane Heritage Walk

As part of my "Advanced Community Development" class this year, I walked downtown Spokane with my classmates on a tour conducted by Dr. Dick Winchell. The tour was intended to have the students think about the elements of an urban community, but had the happy side effect of familiarizing out-of-town students with the environment within which they were going to spend the next two years.

Several of the handouts prior to the tour was a series of tour documents from the Spokane City/County Historic Preservation Office. In addition to historic property listings by name, address, neighborhood, and historic district and FAQ's, the site offers walking tour maps and history for self-guided tours. There are tours of both downtown Spokane and East Central.

One of the buildings on the East Central tour is Schade Tower (which, on the building itself, says "Schade Towers" which makes one wonder where those other towers are). Schade Tower is a former brewery which sits at the Riverpoint campus, and right outside the windows of the building in which the urban and regional planning department resides. Breweries and college students. It's as if it were planned.


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Do It: history, economics, parks, and geology

Do it: October 10, 2010

This is the first post which consciously tells you about a "get out there and do it" event. These events will be opportunities to participate in an event which is not only related to the planning of the Spokane region, but also gives you a chance to appreciate the region we live in. In other words, something to do that's not a meeting!

The Ice Age Floods Institute (iafi.org) is sponsoring an 11-mile mountain bike ride along the former Milwaukee Road rail line near Rock Creek, south of Cheney. According to the web site:

Transportation routes across the Inland Empire were shaped by the flood formed geography. The Milwaukee Road was no different than other routes, but the advances in construction technology made the route feasible in a way that had not been possible when the first railroad crossed the Channeled Scablands. The now abandoned rail bed is mostly owned by Washington State Parks and will eventually be opened to the public.

They received a special permit to enter the park.

Here are your resources for this event:

• IAFI events listing
• Registration form

Four the Future - September 12

Today: Grass-waste-to-energy plant, energy audits, historical preservation, and an environmental public survey.

• Biofuel project in Spokane County wins $90,000 grant
  Source: Spokesman-Review; September 9, 2010
  Summary: A local company was provided a $90,000 USDA grant to automate the conversion of bluegrass straw into fuel. A 2,000 acre farm could produce enough fuel to recoup the cost of the system in 3-4 years. These electrical generators will become available in about 18 months.
  Opinion: That's a 25% return on investment. You tell me an industry, other than private medical insurance companies and other financial scams, that can do better than that! And now you don't have to burn the straw in the fields. Sounds like an excellent investment in grant monies.
  
• Energy audit can lead to big savings
  Source: Spokesman-Review; September 12, 2010
  Summary: Energy audits can save a great deal of money by reducing your need energy without sacrificing comfort. Audits can cause several thousand dollars, and retrofits can cost several thousand more. However, the return on investment can be high, paying off in just a few years. Grants are available to help reduce the cost. You can reduce that cost by reading up.
  Opinion: There are links to other web sites and a book suggestion on the Spokesman site. I know it's hard to contemplate investing thousands of dollars in your home during a recession, especially in a recession focused on the value of your home. But if you still have some equity in your house, this is a good investment to make, since it could potentially save you money each month, and it should only take a few years to pay it off. And it's all money in your pocket after that. You can learn more about starting your own home assessment at the Energy Star web site.
  
• Historic preservation chapter will be added to city's plan
  Source: Spokesman-Review; September 11, 2010
  Summary: The City of Millwood has added a historic preservation chapter to its comprehensive plan. Greg Mott said, "We are helping to preserve our community."
  Opinion: Millwood is known for its neighborhood-style physical environment. If the city were to ignore it, nothing in the resulting rules would support it. Soon, main street would be torn down and replaced by a Wal*Mart, simply because the community had failed to say it was important to prevent it. They could make that choice, of course, but it should be a choice, not an oversight. Simply failing to have a historical preservation element in your comprehensive plan is just the same as having one that says, "Tear it down, boys!"
  
• State, tribe conducting survey on lake water
  Source: Spokesman-Review; September 12, 2010
  Summary: The State of Idaho and the Coeur d'Alene Tribe are conducting an online survey to see how knowledgeable residents are on water quality and permitting processes. The survey might result in a public education effort.
  Opinion: I know you're all responsible, but merely as a public service announcement, please don't go answer the questions unless you actually live there. Here are some sample questions:
  • What agencies or entities can you think of that have some kind of jurisdiction over activities that affect lake water quality? (multiple choice)
  • What do you know about the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality’s efforts regarding Coeur d’Alene Lake? (essay question)
  • Excess phosphorus and nitrogen flowing into the lake from rivers and streams are a water quality concern (rate 1 to 5)
  Generally, this is the appropriate use of surveys. Personally, I think it's wrong to govern based on opinion polls, but they can be useful to gauge the public's perception of issues.

Four the Future - January 25

On Tap: Building demolition, county sued again, smart meters (audio!), and avoiding stimulus funding.

• Bid to save warehouse fails
  Source: The Spokesman-Review; January 24, 2010
  Summary: A warehouse on the southeast corner of Riverside and Division will be demolished to make way for an extension of Riverside Avenue. Developer Dan Spalding attempted to save the building, but Washington State University and the City of Spokane are moving forward to preserve the availability of federal transportation dollars and to prevent the loss of parking for SIRTI. Alternatives were considered and found to be unfeasible. Historic preservation advocates say the process was not respected. The new road, to be called Martin Luther King Jr. Way, will connect Riverside to Trent.
  Opinion: First of all, I have to say that I don't have the skills to determine the historical value of this building. However, I should point out that what this building is in the way of is greater automobile use in downtown Spokane. I'm not sure that's of a very high priority. On the other hand, there is an underutilized area between Trent and the rail line. Let's make this even more complex. Part of the conceptual engineering of the light rail also determined that the building to be demolished was also in the way of that project. All in all, a mess. But, I don't think there's anyone here with bad motives. I have found that it is possible in planning that there are two goods which are incompatible with each other. I have also found that early participation in the process is the most effective way of making sure your voice is heard in the final product. Governments need to be better at letting people know what's going on, yes, but each citizen also has a responsibility. If your circle of concern includes historical buildings, then you have a responsibility to make sure you're involved. Because once they're gone, they're gone.
• Plan change appealed to state hearing board
  Source: The Spokesman-Review; January 21, 2010
  See Also: Four the Future - December 23
  See Also: Four the Future - December 12
  Summary: Spokane County is being sued by Community Addressing Urban Sprawl Excess (CAUSE) in response to the county's recent rezoning of a property near Liberty Lake. The county's comprehensive plan declares the area rural, but Commissioner Mark Richard and an unnamed commissioner voted to allow 6 units per acre, with an additional condition of approval that it not be greater than 5 units per acre.
  Opinion: The unnamed commissioner is Todd Mielke. I'm sure the people up on the south hill would be interested to hear that the commissioners suddenly believe in conditions of approval. To the main point, however: Mielke and Richard ignored the law which only allows one house per 10 acres and now they're being sued for it. No one should be surprised about this. Even Mark Richard knows which way the wind blows when he said that the Eastern Washington Growth Management Hearings Board "has a tendency to decide against the county." Well, duh, Mark. When you ignore the comprehensive plan, that happens. And now he'll be using your tax dollars to defend himself in a losing battle because he wants to make a point to developers that he'll do whatever it takes to help them. But, the citizens of this county should learn a lesson, too: that Mielke and Richard are willing to use your resources against you.
• Debate: Do Smart Meters Curb Energy Use?
  Source: National Public Radio; January 8, 2010
  Summary: Google is pushing a new device which can track your energy use, and alert you in real time on your desktop. Using it, a person can see what appliances in your house are driving up your energy costs. (Energy is delivered in an odd way. Imagine that when you went into a grocery store, nothing had a price tag on it. Then, at the end of the month, you'd get a summary bill without any itemization.) The theory is that if you were aware of how much energy you were using, you would reduce. However, the debate comes in when one notices how cheap energy prices are. So, perhaps, you would actually use more. The offered solution? Have a machine make those decisions for you.
  Opinion: Energy prices are low to many people, but part of that is only because there are massive externalities (carbon emissions, habitat destruction, etc. which energy companies are not required to mitigate) and federal subsidies which make it cheap. For commercial buildings, at least, I think it's a pretty good idea to have automated energy usage decision making. I also think that energy companies should be allowed to charge based on the time of day so that our peak energy usage can be reduced (although, still regulated!).
• What We Learned From The Stimulus
  Source: Smart Growth America; retrieved January 25, 2010
  Summary: The amount of work generated by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) was twice as great per dollar for transit than for highway infrastructure. For every billion dollars spent by the federal government, the Surface Transportation Program (STP) created 8,781 job-months and public transportation dollars created 16,419 job-months. Far more dollars were spent on the "shovel ready" STP projects. Texas received six times more STP funds than transit funds, yet transit created 15 percent more jobs. Transit creates more jobs because they spend less money on land and more on people, projects are more complex, and they buy and maintain vehicles.
  Opinion: A lost opportunity for Spokane. Spokane was ready to build a light rail system. Indeed, construction could have been underway as we speak. But certain "conservative" members of the STA board--most egregiously Al French--and STA CEO (and anti-transit activist) E. Susan Meyer used public dollars to withhold information from the public and purposely failed to educate the public about the light rail vote that they had deliberately obfuscated. (Why conservative in quotation marks? They're not actually conservative in this matter. They're anti-transit, which is much different. Many conservatives embrace light rail because it's more efficient than buses and better for economic development. See Paul Weyrich, for example.) In the end, what did they do? They redirected transit funding to other cities, and left people here unemployed. Way to go, "conservatives!"