Roadblock Nearly Killed Downtown’s Christmas Plans

For a while, it looked like Christmas might not come to downtown Spokane this year, even though merchants spared no effort to prepare for the holiday season.

Months in advance, businesses banded together, taxed themselves and established a high-powered self-improvement, management and promotional organization that was expected to do great things for downtown. But a lawsuit cut off their own funds.

Fortunately, however, says downtown advocate Karen Valvano, “A way has been found around the legal hang-up for the holidays. And we’re going to have Christmas after all - big time.”

Indeed, ahead lies the most ambitious lineup of events and entertainment ever. But saving Christmas was a battle all the way, says Valvano.

She is president of the Downtown Spokane Partnership. It was formed to save the city center, but its own existence has been rocky. Few know about its fight for life. But now Valvano wants to share the experience.

A bit of history could aid understanding.

The partnership replaces two voluntary organizations: Spokane Unlimited and the Downtown Spokane Association. The first of these was a property owners association which planned and guided downtown development. The second was responsible for retail promotion.

Both were uncoordinated, underfunded, misdirected and ineffective.

Just when the city center seemed doomed, business leaders organized the Downtown Action Committee. Then followed a long evaluation process with property owners large and small throughout the vicinity.

That led to establishment of a comprehensive self-improvement, self-management, self-taxing district (known as a Parking and Business Improvement Area or PBIA) for downtown.

Meantime, the Downtown Action Committee evolved into the present Downtown Spokane Partnership, a non-profit organization of business leaders that guides and manages the development of downtown. Valvano is chief of staff and responsible for implementing the PBIA.

“Most downtowns in America,” observes Valvano, “have a very strong leadership group in place for years before they adopt a business improvement district. We did it all at one time.

“We got 70 percent of the business stakeholders who will benefit and pay for the improvements to sign a petition. We got everything passed by the City Council. Then, we got a lawsuit (challenging the city’s authority to establish the district).

“The city still had the ability to assess property.” says Valvano, “and the city could collect the money from business owners. But the city chose - properly - not to disburse the funds to start our program until the legal challenge is resolved.”

To get around the roadblock, Valvano has been asking businesses to sign waivers allowing disbursement of their assessment regardless of the outcome of the lawsuit. “In effect, we’re doing the petition drive all over again,” she says. “We get as much money as we have waivers signed.

“We mail waivers to businesses,” says Valvano, “but many don’t understand the problem. They paid their money. And they don’t know why we don’t have it.

“So we have to let people know we are doing our best, and we are working out all the details of the programs to get ready. But we don’t know yet what we are going to have the money to do.”

Take Christmas.

“We set out to do a massive program of public relations and advertising for the holidays. We pulled all the details together and got everybody going, and we’re filming commercials, and I’m in the background saying to myself: ‘How am I’m going to pay for this? I gotta go out and collect this much more money.’

“And that’s the way it goes,” says Valvano. “That’s the reality of what we’ve been doing.

“People think we are fully operational. They don’t know what we do to survive, and try to get ahead.”

Organizers hope the court will render a summary judgment by year-end.

If not, what then?

Says Valvano, “I don’t know.”

, DataTimes MEMO: Associate Editor Frank Bartel’s column appears on Monday, Wednesday and Sunday.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Frank Bartel The Spokesman-Review.