As Spokane emerged from its snowiest winter in 15 years, the poor condition of many of the city's streets became all too apparent with potholes, cracks and ruts showing up across the city. The pothole problems in February led Mayor Mary Verner to ask her public works staff to come up with the cost of fully funding street maintenance in Spokane. They came up with $14 million, a number the mayor said she supports.
A series of car break-ins over the past several months has residents of a South Side apartment complex nervous and unhappy with police. Criminals are smashing windows on their vehicles and stealing contents in a rash of break-ins that started several months ago.
A public hearing on a proposed reuse of the Pfc. Joe E. Mann Army Reserve Center as an educational facility will be held by the Spokane City Council on Monday evening. An advisory committee has recommended that the Mann Center be redeveloped for use by the Community Colleges of Spokane as well as Spokane Public Schools.
A California-based urban planner who was hired to help create a new Spokane downtown design is calling for the city to protect views of the Spokane River for both aesthetic and economic development reasons. Daniel Iacofano, a principal designer with the MIG firm based in Berkeley, said that successful cities, including Portland, Vancouver, B.C., and Denver, have taken steps to protect their scenic views.
A key piece in construction of a new north Spokane freeway got under way this week with the start of work on a tunnel for BNSF Railway tracks along North Market Street. At a quarter-mile in length, the tunnel will consist of 444 pre-cast concrete arch segments now being poured and stockpiled at Central Pre-Mix Concrete Co. in Spokane Valley.
When he was a child, artist Miles Pepper learned a Native American story about an eagle and a thrush working together to retrieve beautiful music coming from the heavens. Pepper, a Pullman sculptor, used that legend as inspiration for creating a moving metal sculpture installed two years ago at Michael Anderson Elementary School at Fairchild Air Force Base.
Two Spokane City Council members and Mayor Mary Verner are trying to head off a political collision involving a major expansion of the commercial area near ShopKo on South Regal Street. On one side are developers and property owners who have spent years trying to amend the city's land-use plan to allow a much greater commercial presence at Regal and Palouse Highway. Developers are seeking a district commercial center designation under three separate land-use changes by Home Depot and Black Development. Taken together, they would provide numerous new outlets for South Hill shoppers as well as a tax windfall to the city.
The neighbors who live around Comstock Pool and use it regularly during the summer had a message for Spokane City Hall this week: Don't change it. While recreational features like water slides and beachlike shallow areas have become popular around the country, most of the people who consider Comstock their pool wanted little of that during a planning meeting Tuesday at South Side Senior Activity and Community Center.
Pedestrians in Spokane's Riverfront Park may find their paths blocked over the next few months due to park construction, and the Red Wagon sculpture is off-limits temporarily for the same reason. The Spokane Parks Department has hired Dardan Enterprises of Post Falls to replace wooden decking on three pedestrian bridges crossing the Spokane River in the park.
A new outdoor swimming pool to replace the former Shadle Park pools could be placed at any of three parks in northwest Spokane with Loma Vista Park gaining an edge from residents who showed up at a pool planning meeting this week. Loma Vista – on Alberta Street between Francis and Rowan avenues – is centrally located, has easy street access and is closer to the city's northernmost neighborhoods of Indian Trail, Woodridge, Pacific Park and Five Mile, said proponents of the location.
Marsha Naegeli is a woman who knows how to make a statement. The owner of Naegeli Reporting at 25 S. Altamont St., Naegeli has turned east Spokane's former branch library into an elegant office space that goes way beyond its original Spartan look.
Jenny Rose, a Nez Perce tribal descendant, cried when she thought about nine new homes being built across from a park that was once a time-honored campsite for Spokane tribal members. A developer wants to take advantage of a 2-year-old change in the city zoning code that allows for clustered, cottage-style housing on single-family lots.
The flock of ducks that inhabit Manito Park's duck pond has been thinned by about 40 birds in an effort to reduce the number of waterfowl that have been fouling the pond over the years. Parks staff, with the help of specialists from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, rounded up the domestic and non-wild ducks last week as part of a duck adoption program.
Spokane Parks officials are continuing an aggressive push to plan development of new swimming pools and splash pad play areas as part of a $42.9 million voter-approved bond issue. A dozen meetings on development of new pools, all but one at existing locations, will be held next week and in early April.
Volunteers are being sought for a new event intended to beautify one of the city's most historical parks. Lynn Mandyke, director of the Corbin Art Center at Pioneer Park, wants help to make the 13-acre park presentable this spring.
Forty domestic ducks were rounded up from Spokane's Manito Park on Thursday, part of an effort to reduce an overpopulation of fowl that has been damaging the duck pond's fragile ecosystem. The ducks were loaded into boxes and cages and carted off by people who had previously offered to adopt them.
Ballots counted Tuesday in a special property tax levy for Fire District No. 9 had the measure passing by more than the required 60 percent majority needed for approval. The district is seeking a two-year maintenance and operation levy to support its 24-hour, full-time fire and emergency medical services.
Excess growth in Spokane's Nishinomiya Tsutakawa Japanese Garden is being removed this winter under a $35,000 grant from the Friends of Manito organization. The project on the west side of Manito Park got under way recently and will include the removal of 17 trees that are unhealthy, structurally unsound or are being stunted by larger more vigorous trees.
The Friends of Manito organization is warming up to a new sales idea: adding a tropical house plant sale to their current lineup of plant sales during the spring and summer each year. The next tropical house plant sale is scheduled for 1 p.m. on March 8 east of the Conservatory at Manito Park. Plant sale managers are hoping that Spokane gardeners will turn out to support the sale so that it can become an annual event.
Pothole season in Spokane is about as predictable as spring. Every year as winter wanes, the holes open up as the pavement thaws, giving motorists no choice but to dodge the holes or risk costly repairs.
Debbie Jensen couldn't bear the thought of her prize-winning Shetland sheepdog going without his bone. Her dog Tavi, a breed champion, had broken a large tooth in early January and was reduced to eating only soft food.
A new-look community access cable channel is expanding its reach in the Spokane area, offering new programming and a chance for residents and organizations to tell their stories on TV. "We are up and running and ready to rock 'n' roll," said Jeff Anttila, general manager of Spokane's CMTV on Comcast cable Channel 14.
Grande Ronde Cellars of Spokane is continuing its success in making wines that are well-regarded on an international level. The current issue of Wine Spectator Magazine gives Grande Ronde a rating of 89 for its 2003 merlot from the Pepperbridge Vineyard in Walla Walla.
A new-look community access cable channel is expanding its reach, offering new programming and a chance for residents and organizations to tell their stories on TV. "We are up and running and ready to rock 'n' roll," said Jeff Anttila, general manager of Spokane's CMTV on Comcast cable Channel 14.
Grande Ronde Cellars of Spokane is continuing its success in making wines that are well-regarded on an international level. The current issue of Wine Spectator Magazine gives Grande Ronde a rating of 89 for its 2003 merlot from the Pepperbridge Vineyard in Walla Walla.
