Drive To Open Skywalk Speeds Up

An unofficial consortium of downtown merchants submitted more than 1,000 signatures Wednesday to Mayor Jack Geraghty in hopes of opening a blocked skywalk between Crescent Court and Burlington Coat Factory.

The group hopes the petition will speed a resolution between the Crescent Court and Crescent Court Addition owners, who have been negotiating to open the corridor for months. A wall between the addition and court keeps shoppers from using the Post Street skywalk between Main and Riverside.

The petition drive began Jan. 28, when Burlington cashiers on the second floor got sick of complaints from frustrated shoppers who continually tugged on the skywalk’s locked doors.

“They’re fed up with it,” said Burlington manager Jack Vandervert. “It’s just ridiculous. The downtown does not need to make people go out of the way; there are already enough inconveniences downtown that people don’t need more.”

Within days, other retailers and restaurateurs posted photocopies of the Burlington petition, including Homestead Leather, Two Geezers II, Louie Permelia Limited, Claire’s, Dim Sum Inn and Waldenbooks.

Many store owners who didn’t collect signatures said they wanted to but couldn’t get their hands on copies quickly enough. Almost all retailers in River Park Square and Crescent Court said they had lost customers due to the skywalk closure.

“It’s abominable,” said a second floor River Park Square store owner who didn’t want her name used. “Who knows how many people may have wondered by and stopped in to buy something. It’s like we’re at the mercy of little boys arguing and pointing fingers at each other as a matter of pride.”

Mayor Jack Geraghty assured merchants that the city was working to open the Crescent-Burlington skywalk.

“The city has already sent a letter to the owners of both properties. If they don’t act, the city will in effect do what it has to do to open the skywalk,” Geraghty said in an interview Wednesday.

Two weeks ago, City Manager Roger Crum sent a letter to Crescent Court Addition owner Robert L. Paterson and Don Barbieri, president of Goodale & Barbieri, which owns Crescent Court. The letter urged the owners to “resolve your differences and promptly open up the Post Street skywalk.”

If the owners cannot settle, city officials said they may intervene on behalf of merchants and shoppers and force a resolution.

If the owners continue to stall, the skywalk may remain closed until spring, when the Spokane Transit Authority opens a new center and a skywalk connecting it to the Seafirst Financial Center and Sterling Savings Building.

The new skywalk will allow the city to invoke an obscure ordinance issued by the Building Department in 1977 that makes it illegal for a private property owner to block any segment of the skywalk, according to City Manager Roger Crum.

And if city ordinances don’t work, Spokane attorney Steve Eugster is focusing his attention on shoppers’ lack of access to the skywalk’s “public air space.” Eugster, president and founder of the citizens’ watchdog group Spokane Research & Defense Fund, has said he may consider taking legal action against the city.

Meanwhile, Vandervert hopes Burlington’s petition calls city officials to action.

“This has to tell elected officials that there is a concern and they have to react to this,” Vandervert said.