Neighbors Want Safe Environment
Residents of Spokane’s East Central neighborhood want to feel safe. On Thursday they were reminded that the only way for that to happen is to work together.
A public meeting that was supposed to generate ideas on how to make East Central a safer place broke down into bickering as residents told city officials what they dislike most about their neighborhood.
The major concerns among more than 100 neighbors who met Thursday at the East Central Community Center was prostitution and drugs.
“You can go out in the daytime and you can see the drug runners back and forth on the street. Why aren’t they being picked up?” resident Carol Taylor asked police officers. “The prostitutes are having sex in our front yards.”
Taylor said she doesn’t care how it’s cleaned up, she just wants the crime gone.
“I feel sorry for these prostitutes being killed,” she said. “But at least something is being done about it.”
The discussion turned into a shouting match over controversial First Step Services. The clean and sober club at 1927 E. First takes in prostitutes and homeless people, which angers many neighbors.
City code enforcement officers served a notice of land-use violation Jan. 30 on the club, claiming it’s running an unlicensed detox center and shelter.
Neighbors at Thursday’s meeting jumped from their chairs and shouted across the room at First Step supporters, blaming them for some of the crime near East Sprague.
“You guys are promoting this,” yelled Taylor.
East Central COPS president Tom Bernard quickly intervened, agreeing to meet with First Step owner Darold Johnson.
Bernard also passed out note cards and asked residents to write down their concerns. Neighborhood meetings will be scheduled regularly, he said.
Talking through issues is the best way to keep neighborhoods safe, city officials said.
“You’re the front line … to prevent crime,” Spokane Block Watch Executive Director Debbie Davis told the group. “It takes you to be responsible in order to make a difference.”
Neighbors said their concerns have been heightened by two recent murders on East Pacific Avenue and a serial killer who is stalking women who work on East Sprague.
That is why cooperation is so important, Bernard said.
“We need everyone who lives in East Central to help with this,” he said. “We’re not going to let the criminals take our neighborhood.”
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