Nicholas Deshais

Spokane’s Under the Freeway skate park is all pavement and out of the way. That’s why it’s perfect for skaters, who like all the hard ramps and walls, a half-acre concrete room where they can make all the ruckus they want in any weather that comes.

Minneapolis is.

A proposal to use city funds to pay for more than $300,000 in environmental cleanup at the Davenport Grand Hotel was shot down this week by Spokane City Council members, who argued that doing so would be unconstitutional and set a bad precedent for other polluted properties the city has previously owned. Mayor David Condon, who made an informal commitment for the soil remediation to Walt Worthy, the hotel’s developer and owner, said the city could still be responsible for any polluted soil on the land because the city is in the “chain of custody” for the property. He added that the Worthy hotel mitigation was part of his administration’s larger effort to clean up developable lands across the city.

Joe Shogan, the former Spokane City Council president, made his first appearance at a council meeting last night since leaving the dais in 2011, when he reached his term limits and was replaced by Ben Stuckart. Showing that he hasn’t lost any of the pizzazz...

The city of Spokane got another big infusion of federal funding toward its effort to clean and redevelop industrial land in the Hillyard area, a former railyard that has sat polluted and nearly abandoned for 50 years. Two U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grants totaling $400,000 were awarded to the city Thursday for petroleum and hazardous substance testing in an area known the Yard, a 500-acre site in northeast Spokane. The city and the Northeast Public Development Authority are attempting to redevelop it into a new heavy and light industrial center.

Or are sharrows our fate?

A proposal to permanently close two blocks of South Madison Street in downtown Spokane has led the Larry H. Miller auto dealership company into another struggle at City Hall, where City Council members temporarily halted the street closures after hearing stiff opposition to the plan last week. About $30 million in renovations are expected for the six-block campus, including new buildings, more lots and a refurbished Lexus dealership, which is nearly complete. The campus plan already has undergone changes in response to the company’s proposals to demolish multiple historic structures and construct a parking lot stretching from Monroe to Jefferson streets.

If you've missed the group bike rides the city is hosting during Bike to Work Week because you feel like you don't have time to get out and enjoy the sunshine, today is the day for you.

Iconic. Tremendous treasure. The heart of an entire region. Superlatives were not lacking Tuesday as the city named the three finalists who will compete to determine the overall look and feel of Spokane’s Riverfront Park.

Michael Alderman said “Bridge to Hookerville” 30 times last night in front of dozens of people and on public access television.

Yesterday, I cycled six miles with the mayor.

It begins with breakfast and ends with beers.

The Los Angeles bike highway that never was

Supporters call it iconic and necessary, detractors use terms unfit for print, but the University District bicycle and pedestrian bridge inched closer to construction Monday as the Spokane City Council approved spending nearly $1.7 million to purchase 20 parcels of land. With the land acquisition, city and university district officials now wait for the state Legislature to make a decision on the final $8.8 million needed to build a 120-foot-tall cable-stayed arch bridge.