Mike Prager

Improvements to parks, trails, COPS substations and neighborhood business areas are among projects being recommended for funding under this year's federal community development block grant program. Steering committees in each of 13 Spokane neighborhoods, designated as eligible for community development funds, have submitted recommendations on how to spend a $1 million share of block grant money. That money must be spent for facilities or programs serving the neighborhoods, comply with federal standards, and win approval of the City Council.

Creation of a property tax financing district for public improvements at a new Kendall Yards mixed-use development – and for nearby business areas as well – may be a complicated arrangement on paper. But to Cecilia Kralik, the idea is simple: economic growth.

Bids are being sought this month for two residential street repaving projects under a 2004 citywide bond issue to fix broken pavement, city officials said. The two projects involve groups of residential streets in northeast Spokane and Browne's Addition with an estimated combined cost of $1.6 million or more, according to a prepared description of the job from Ann Nolan, the city's project spokeswoman.

Spokane city parks officials are negotiating with the developer of a proposed housing project at 57th Avenue and Hatch Road over a sewer easement across park conservation property adjacent to the project. Taylor Bressler, park projects manager, said he has asked the developer of Tuscan Ridge to grant public access to conservation property in exchange for the sewer easement. The public property is commonly used by hikers and mountain bike riders, but there is no developed access point.

Ten proposals for reusing the Mann Center Army Reserve facility in Hillyard run a gamut of ideas from worker training to a probation department. The proposals were submitted earlier this month as part of a city-sponsored effort to convert the reserve center to civilian use after a new reserve center is built at Fairchild Air Force Base over the next several years.

Spokane needs an indoor public swimming pool and well-maintained neighborhood pools, not a fancy water park with slides and moving water, said a group of citizens who attended the second of two public meetings on the future of city pools this week. The Spokane Parks and Recreation Department is considering upgrading the city's aging pools.

The City Council approved the nomination of a Northwest building for the Spokane Register of Historic Places last week. The 1903 Chamberlin House at 2627 W. Gardner Ave. is a free classic Queen Anne placed on the local register. It is owned by Henry York and Leonor Steiner.

Spokane residents can have a say in the future of Spokane city swimming by attending one of two meetings next week. The city Parks and Recreation Department is writing a master plan for aquatic facilities, including the possibility of a new-style water park.

Ten years after preservationists first started campaigning to save the historic ruins of old Liberty Park they are returning to the park site this Saturday for one of two spring cleanups. Sometimes called Spokane's Stonehenge, the ruins consist of a promenade with mortared basalt walls and pillars, pathways and a small concrete basin that served as a summer wading pool.

Hays Park on Spokane's North Side may look dusty and torn up, but by summer, it should sprout lush green lawn once again due to an automated irrigation system installed over the winter. The Spokane Parks and Recreation Department used its regular staff – and thus saved thousands of dollars – to dig trenches, lay lines and install valves for the 7.8-acre park at Crestline Street and Providence Avenue.

Say you are planning a hunting trip to North Idaho or a camping trip somewhere in the backcountry of the Pacific Northwest. Getting an accurate weather forecast for your favored spot has long been difficult.

A Post Falls developer is proposing a major housing development to be known as Aspen Park for 136.8 acres on the West Plains southwest of Spokane. The project, if approved, would include 395 single-family homes and 160 apartments on a total of 423 residential lots, said Tammy Jones of the Spokane County Planning Department. The property is west of Spotted Road and north of Hallett Road.

Three homes, a downtown business building and a Tudor revival apartment building all were voted onto the Spokane Register of Historic Places on Monday. The City Council approved nominations for the properties in Browne's Addition, the lower South Hill, downtown and the West Central neighborhood.

A group of neighbors on the South Hill near Huckleberrys Natural Market is pushing for a downzone of about three blocks of property from multifamily to single-family use. The idea is to protect the re-emergence of single-family uses in a largely historic neighborhood made up of fine homes built a century ago or more.