Two Buildings May House Logan Area Cops Stations

Thu., Dec. 28, 1995

Bruce Krasnow Staff Writer

The Logan neighborhood has two buildings that may be operating as community policing stations by spring.

A house at Hamilton and Desmet was donated by Gonzaga University and is in the final stages of remodeling. There’s 860 square feet, wood floors and window trim, blinds, furniture, heating, air conditioning and a basement which will be turned into a meeting room.

Volunteers have received donations of a computer, copier, fax machine and scanner, and are busy coordinating volunteer efforts with both Gonzaga and a nearby retirement home, The Academy.

The 1928 house is nearly finished, with the biggest obstacle being to complete a handicap-access ramp. “We’re at the mercy of contractors now,” said Myrna O’Leary, COPS Logan president who is still hoping for a February opening.

O’Leary said the organization hopes to create a place that feels like a living room, where people are comfortable coming for information and to volunteer time.

“It’s not going to be like a business, it’s going to be like going next door to a neighbor and getting information,” she said.

The other building in Logan that may house COPS programs is so far just that - a building without an organization to operate it.

But Cheryl Steele, director of COPS Spokane, said the offer was too good to pass up: a one-time fire station at Standard and Indiana leased to the community policing organization for $1 a year by the Fourth Memorial Church.

COPS Spokane was formed to spearhead efforts by neighborhoods seeking to improve crime prevention and law enforcement around the city.

Steele said the church would also make available its recreation facilities for any youth or sports programs operated by the police volunteers.

Steele sees the two substations operating together, one serving the area around Gonzaga and east of Hamilton, and the other, 1,500 square feet in size, for residents in more established areas farther north.

She said the building on Hamilton may be too small for many programs and Hamilton, a busy arterial, is a barrier residents may not cross.

But what programs come out of the church building is still up to residents. COPS intern Nancy Lewis is planning a meeting to see what residents in that area want.

That meeting is set for 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 13, at the Fourth Memorial Church, 2000 N. Standard.

, DataTimes

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