West not ready to give up on entryways

Spokane Mayor Jim West said he isn’t giving up on a plan to improve the appearance of entryways to the Lilac City, despite City Council rejection earlier this week of funding for the plan.

City staffers proposed taking $250,000 from a parking fund and using the money to pay for landscape enhancements at five locations around the city, including the off-ramp at Interstate 90 and Division Street, a location widely viewed as a gateway to the city.

Council members voted 4-3 against transferring money from the under-freeway parking fund to the street department to pay for the improvements. Council members cited a looming budget crisis as the reason. It was the first political setback for the first-year mayor in his dealings with the City Council.

“This is not the time to be spending a quarter-million dollars on landscaping,” said Councilwoman Cherie Rodgers, who was joined by Al French, Bob Apple and Mary Verner in voting against the funding.

Rodgers said the money would be better used in the general fund to ease the possibility of a 5 percent budget cut this year.

West said he will take blame for losing the vote. He said he did not explain the importance of the projects to council members in advance, his office did not line up council sponsors as West had said he would do on mayoral requests, and the measure came up for a vote just minutes after the council was briefed about the city’s increasing fiscal problems.

“I understand the concern we are in a tight budget,” West said.

He campaigned for office last year on the need to improve the entryways to the city, in part to make it more attractive for new business investment and to give the community reason to feel positive about itself.

Freeway entrances with overgrown shrubs, trees, trash, and people with signs asking to work for food do not make a good impression on visitors, West said.

The mayor has already asked police to enforce panhandling laws at freeway exits, and his office organized a volunteer cleanup downtown earlier this spring, all part of his efforts to spruce up Spokane.

The funding proposal rejected by the council includes participation by volunteer organizations, businesses and agencies. Their commitments to help out are now on hold, a city staffer said.

“As of today, we are at a standstill,” said urban planner Dave Steele, who put together the projects. “We are kind of regrouping.”

Defeat of the funding measure also sent reverberations through the business community.

Davenport Hotel owner Walt Worthy, an advocate for improving the city’s image, said he was disappointed “to say the least” in the council vote.

“We can’t afford not to do it,” he said.

An attractive city gives people more reason to care about where they live, and that in turn encourages support for greater improvements. The idea, he said, is to create an inviting environment for more investment in the community.

As far as Worthy is concerned, the five projects identified in West’s funding request should be considered a start on a larger beautification program. He cited the Northwest Boulevard entrance to Coeur d’Alene as an example of an attractive city gateway.

“Pick any arterial,” he said of Spokane streets. “It’s unbelievable.”

The five projects sought for funding include:

• Division and I-90. Old landscaping would be removed, a new entry monument installed and new landscaping added. Associated Garden Clubs of Spokane has offered to donate the monument at a cost of $15,000 to $20,000. The city’s share was estimated at $41,000.

• Third and Oak. A traffic island just east of Rosauers in Browne’s Addition would get new irrigation, decorative stamped concrete and low-maintenance landscaping at a cost of $45,000. Rosauers has agreed to provide maintenance.

• Southeast Boulevard. Landscaping would be replanted to eliminate weeds and badly performing native grasses. Irrigation, trees and drought-tolerant buffalo grass would be installed at a cost of $41,000. Leadership Spokane has agreed to provide maintenance.

• The Lincoln monument at Monroe and Main. The plan calls for removing turf and two trees and replacing them with a decorative concrete plaza to be installed by the Cement Finishers Union. The city would plant evergreen ground cover and buffalo grass at a cost of $12,500.

• Boone Avenue at the Spokane Arena. The city would spend $17,000 to improve the median just north of the Arena with irrigation and new plantings. The Arena would maintain the strip.

Steele said a separate effort is under way to obtain improvements to the Lincoln Street exit off I-90.