Federal Funds, Riverfront Land On City Agenda
Homeless people will be sheltered, playground equipment will be bought and roofs will be replaced with the nearly $4.5 million in community development money coming to Spokane this year.
City Council members will consider tonight a list of more than 130 projects and programs that will be paid for with the federal money.
Some of the dollars will go as block grants to neighborhoods, where the money will be used to build sidewalks or buy parkland.
Other grants will go to agencies such as the Deaconess Regional Center for Child Abuse and Neglect and the Lilac Blind Foundation.
Also on tonight’s agenda is an ordinance giving the council the option of walking away from condemning the riverfront property belonging to Steve and Leslie Ronald.
A Superior Court jury ruled last month the land is worth $2.18 million.
Some city officials including City Manager Bill Pupo and Mayor Jack Geraghty - have said the city cannot afford the 1.34-acre riverfront property just north of the downtown library. The city had hoped to obtain the land to preserve the library’s view of the Spokane River.
Council members may decide to delay a decision on condemnation for another week because city attorneys have asked Judge Neal Rielly for a new trial. The motion on that request has been delayed until Friday.
Every day’s delay costs taxpayers $719 in interest payments to the Ronalds.
A briefing for the council will start at 3:30 p.m. today in the lower-level conference room of City Hall, 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. The council meeting will begin at 6 p.m.
, DataTimes