Downtown Group Launches Security, Cleanup Program
Shoppers roaming the streets of downtown Spokane this spring might feel a little safer when they see six uniformed security guards patrolling the streets.
The trash that shoppers toss in garbage cans has already begun to be scooped up by a work crew supplied by Spokane County’s juvenile justice system.
The security and cleanup crews are just about all downtown Spokane’s newly created self-taxing business district can afford with its 1996 budget.
Funding for the rest of the budget - collected primarily from assessments on the 1,100 businesses and properties included in the group - has been delayed due to a lawsuit pending against the city.
“Somebody kind of put the thumb on us,” said Karen Valvano, president of the Downtown Spokane Partnership, which manages the Parking and Business Improvement Area, a 90-block district. Valvano spoke at the PBIA’s first annual meeting, held Wednesday morning at the Ridpath Hotel.
Additional PBIA projects put on hold because of the lawsuit include: marketing campaigns, market research, a parking and transportation program and downtown beautification.
Attorney Stephen Eugster filed a lawsuit in June after the City Council unanimously approved the PBIA. He said the PBIA violates state law, and the law itself is unconstitutional.
The PBIA is similar to taxing districts used to build sewers and pave roads. It raises money by taxing downtown businesses, buildings, properties and organizations.
Bills for this year’s assessments were sent out late when Eugster, at a City Council meeting, said a public hearing should be held before the bills went out.
Along with the bills, waivers were sent to each PBIA member. If the waiver is signed, the assessment money is given to the PBIA regardless of the lawsuit’s outcome.
Still, assessment payments from 1995 totaling more than $100,000 are being held in escrow pending the outcome of the lawsuit. Those payments were made by PBIA members who did not sign waivers.
Because this year’s assessment bills just went out, it is unclear how much of the $672,000 - a substantial chunk of the district’s $817,000 budget for 1996 - will be collected.
PBIA members said Wednesday they’re hoping for resolution of the lawsuit this month. Dates for a pre-trial hearing and summary judgment hearing have been set for Feb. 7 and 26, respectively.
Though confident of their legal footing, members of the PBIA’s governing board are realistic about the lawsuit.
“We’re not naive enough to think we won’t go to appeal on some of these issues,” said Larry Soehren, acting chairman of the PBIA’s rate payer board.
The money to be used for the security guards comes from a $200,000 security and maintenance contract with the city of Spokane.
The security guards will begin roaming the streets of downtown Spokane in April, armed only with radios. They’ll serve as extra pairs of eyes for the police and as information guides for the public.
On Jan. 1, the PBIA assumed control of a juvenile work crew management contract with the Spokane County Juvenile Court. Crews are cleaning the downtown area to complete community service hours.
, DataTimes