Downtown Strategy Outlined Speaker Says Core Area Has Lots Of Assets, But They Need To Be Connected Better

Downtown Spokane already has assets that can make it an exciting place to be. They just need to be connected.

That’s what Margaret Mullen, executive director of the Downtown Phoenix Partnership, said Tuesday at the Spokane Club, where about 75 people gathered for a presentation of the Downtown Spokane Partnership’s strategic plan.

“You have more green space and a lot more retail (than downtown Phoenix),” Mullen said. “It’ll be real easy to take you where you need to go.”

Five years ago, Mullen said, 50 percent of downtown Phoenix was slum and blight. Investment was moving out of the city. Visitors didn’t go downtown because they felt unsafe.

Then an ambitious rehabilitation effort turned the core around, and won downtown Phoenix national and regional awards.

The public and private sectors collaborated to build museums, hotels, office buildings and other entertainment complexes.

But it wasn’t enough for a public that craved an exciting street environment - a place where they wanted to be, and where they felt safe.

So the city narrowed the streets, converted one-way streets into two-ways, made angled parking spaces, added pedestrian-friendly lighting, more trash cans, and shade trees.

On every corner the city placed an information kiosk displaying a “you-are-here” map and listing upcoming entertainment events.

The $1 billion in investments, said Mullen, who peppered her talk with before-and-after slides, has sent sales revenues and jobs skyrocketing.

That’s the biggest job Spokane has left to tackle, Mullen said.

The downtown cores of Spokane and Phoenix are the same size, even though Phoenix is a city of 1.2 million people. Spokane has a beautiful river and park, a bustling convention center, performing arts centers, a strong office core and more retail than Phoenix.

It’s just a question of linking it all together the way Phoenix did, and identifying it as downtown Spokane, she said.

“You’ve done a lot of things right. Now what you have to do is connect them,” Mullen said in an interview. “It’s amazing what a difference the little things make.”

The Downtown Spokane Partnership is aware of the problems with its urban environment. Improving the “streetscape” is among the 1997 priorities in its strategic plan.

Another is establishing a business development program that will include a database of key businesses, their needs, and the resources available to meet them.

The partnership also supports the $100 million redevelopment of River Park Square. The project would include a new Nordstrom store, a multiplex cinema and other shops and restaurants.

, DataTimes