Mike Prager

Spokane city officials are ready to take the next step in turning the old Playfair racecourse property into a site for new jobs or other potential uses. City Council has scheduled a public hearing Monday to take testimony on a council vote last month to declare 48 acres of the Playfair site as surplus. The hearing to set a minimum value will come during the regular 6 p.m. session in Council Chambers at City Hall. The item is at the end of the agenda. The Spokesman-Review previously reported the city would request development proposals for the property, without noting that Monday’s hearing first would occur to establish its minimum value.

Voters in the 9th Legislative District will choose among three new names on their Aug. 19 primary ballots, including one candidate affiliated with the Green Party who wants to guarantee all workers in the state a 30-day annual vacation. The election will decide who takes over the seat vacated last year by Rep. David Buri, R-Colfax.

The Rockwood Neighborhood Council is celebrating the historic legacy of the area on Tuesday with a celebration recognizing the 100 years since the Olmsted Brothers of Brookline, Mass., designed a large portion of the neighborhood. Tree-lined boulevards, open spaces, curving streets and fine homes make the Rockwood National Historic District one of the most enduring and beautiful residential areas in the city. It is at the heart of the larger Rockwood Neighborhood.

Neighborhood opponents of big-box retail development along South Regal Street and Palouse Highway filed an appeal Friday of a Spokane City Council decision granting key land-use changes for three major projects. The Neighborhood Alliance of Spokane, the Southgate Neighborhood Association, Futurewise and resident Ginger Patano are teaming up on the appeal to the Eastern Washington Growth Management Hearings Board. The Center for Justice in Spokane is providing legal work for the appellants.

The Spokane City Council has declared a portion of the former Playfair horse track as surplus property and plans to put it on the market for business development by requesting proposals from prospective purchasers. The city bought the defunct 63-acre racetrack in 2004 for $6.3 million to secure a possible location for a new Spokane sewer plant, but that was before county officials bought an old stockyard site along Freya Street to the east for its planned new plant.

An old unused train trestle across the Spokane River could soon become a permanent addition to Spokane’s system of walking and biking trails and provide a key link between the city’s emerging University District and the commercial and residential areas along East Trent Avenue. The Spokane City Council this week has been asked to approve a resolution authorizing a $530,000 grant with the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program to pay for about half of the $1.1 million restoration project.

A City Hall proposal to declare a portion of the former Playfair horse track as surplus property and put it on the market for business development has been postponed for a second time this year, said Councilman Al French. The city bought the defunct 63-acre racetrack in 2004 for $6.3 million to secure a possible location for a new Spokane sewer plant, but that was before county officials bought an old stockyard site along Freya Street to the east for its planned new plant.

High winds that slammed the Inland Northwest and fanned fires Thursday originated from an unusually strong summer cold front that swept south from British Columbia during the afternoon. Gusts in Spokane peaked at 47 mph between 4 and 5 p.m. but were subsiding following passage of the cold front.

A coalition formed to oppose expansion of alpine skiing on Mount Spokane has turned to the Web to enlist the public's help. The Save Mt. Spokane Coalition has started an online petition that has already shown the potential power of the Internet.