Ready Or Not Many Spokane Residents Say They Love The City Just The Way It Is But There May Not Be A Choice Soon

When Spokane residents talk about their city, a lot of them sound like Baby Bear: “It’s not too big and not too small. It’s just right.”

Put another way, Spokane has certain big-city amenities without sacrificing its small-town flavor and friendliness.

But Spokane is about to get bigger and one of the questions nagging planners is how to preserve the balance and appeal that strike so many residents as “just right.”

Spokane Horizons is a four-year planning activity involving goverment, business, neighborhoods and civic organizations which expect more than 100,000 new residents in Spokane County by 2,015, nearly half of them inside Spokane.

As part of the awareness-building phase, Spokane Horizons is surveying city residents, asking them a couple of simple questions: What do they like about the city now, and what changes do they think the growth might cause?

About 85,000 of the survey forms have been distributed since November, many through channels that were picked to guard against certain residents being missed: community centers, senior centers, communities of color, Meals on Wheels clients, the Chase Youth Commission.

More than 1,000 forms have been returned and others arrive daily. They reflect several common themes as well as some perceptions and values that are in startling conflict.

“We need growth to increase the work field,” wrote one person. “Anything that will help our economy and not ruin our environment would be great. We need higher-paying jobs to keep our young people here.”

While another said: “We don’t want industry - young people can go away to work in factories. When they are ready to settle down or retire, they will be looking for a nice, QUIET, clean town.”

A contented resident said: “We love Spokane because it is a big city without the ‘big city’ problems, such as crime, dirty streets, homelessness, etc.”

“50,000 more?” said a discontented one, “We need 50,000 less!”

And for some, detachment is the answer: “I don’t expect to be alive 20 years from now, so I’m not worrying about it. I’m already in my 70s.”

City planner Chris Hugo who is directing the effort said the survey is intended to provide a general assessment of community values and to set the stage for a community discussion that will be necessary before a new comprehensive plan can be drafted.

Evaluating the survey results, he said, will involve more than just identifying and measuring the prevailing attitudes and then crafting a new comprehensive plan that reflects them.

“We’re trying to pay attention to the individual comment and not just to the aggragation of a lot of similar comments,” he said.

Nonetheless, a good many of those individual comments suggest common themes, such as a widespread fondness for Spokane’s parks, natural scenery, historic buildings, climate and, repeatedly, its friendliness. Many, however, lament that the growth-induced changes we’ve already witnessed are beginning to diminish the community’s appealing qualities.

What do the residents foresee as they try to envision the arrival of another 50,000 city neighbors?

Many fear growth means escalating crime, congestion and pollution. Optimists hope it means economic vigor and cultural diversity. Said one survey respondent: “I like the idea of growth. Let’s promote a second daily newspaper.”

It’s easy to understand why Spokane should anticipate growth when you listen to people explain their affection for life here.

“I am an avid outdoorsman,” said Paul Ellyson. “I enjoy being able to drive 20 minutes in any direction and hunt, fish, hike or camp.”

Adds M. Bobette Mahoney: “You can get from where I live on the North Hill to doctors on the South Hill in 15 to 20 minutes.”

“I love our downtown,” wrote Jill Poland. “I like that I feel safe when I shop there.”

No wonder, then, that Evelyn N. Heinech found her way back. “After 30 years of calling Spokane home, I left and went to Oregon and California,” she wrote. “When my son left Disneyland after 21 years, he said, ‘Let’s go home.’ Four years ago we did that. We aren’t sorry.”

Still, people such as M. and B. Brown ask, “Must we grow? Do we absolutely have to add this many people?”

“It’s just sad that Spokane has to be another Seattle with its drug problems and crime rate,” Ilde Wallick wrote on the survey form.

“We will let you worry about it. We are going to try and get out before it gets worse,” said Oscar and Ramona Kelly.

“We’ll probably move,” said Kenneth M. Miller.

Tangible signs of growth and its risks already are evident near Willabelle Godfrey’s home in southwest Spokane where new housing construction has been approved on the bluff overlooking Latah Creek and the railroad tracks that run near it.

“This is a sandy, fragile bank,” she said. “When a long train goes by on the track, glassware in my window rattles and you can feel the vibration. I’m afraid for the safety of the bank below my house. I don’t know if it will stand a construction project.”

“The good side, I hope,” said Sanford E. Gerber “is that increased population may save our downtown.”

Julia J. Woods looks forward to “bigger and better shows and performers coming to the new coliseum now that we have the facility and can get more ticket sales. I feel that even with growth we can keep Spokane the way I like it if city planners do their job right.”

“Hopefully,” wrote Nita Larkin, “more people will help support the arts and restaurants and coffee houses and theaters we now have. Hopefully a larger option like Magic Lantern Theatre. More art galleries, more vibrant downtown activities keep our core alive and improving. More cultural diversity is needed.”

D.S. Childre is hopeful, too, but he adds a qualification that was stated on a number of survey forms:

“I think that all of the things I like can be enhanced with the addition of more people and industry - but only if the average wage structure is raised dramatically.” , DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Staff illustration by A. Heitner

MEMO: Interactive editor Doug Floyd would like to hear from you. He can be reached at 999 W. Riverside, Spokane, WA 99201, or at (509) 459-5466, or by fax at (509) 459-5098, or e-mail at celh27b@prodigy.com