Actively Involved Citizens Doing Their Homework To Make Impact On Public Policy

A mom memorizes zoning regulations. A pharmacist spends nights poring over transportation reports. A writer sets aside his stories to study groundwater flows.

They drag their children to City Council meetings, recruit neighbors to study sewage issues, take vacation time to attend planning meetings.

They are North Side neighborhood activists.

Outraged by development, crime, poverty or scores of other issues, these activists set aside their lives and rally their neighbors to help protect their communities.

Karen Barniol’s life as a stay-at-home mom changed a year ago when she learned Wal-Mart was moving into her Camelot neighborhood.

Pharmacist Sharon Page joined a grass-roots resistance when a developer proposed a 225-home subdivision in her Indian Trail neighborhood in 1985.

“Planners weren’t expecting people to come in and take a stand,” she said.

Neighbors Tom Hargreaves and Martha Schaefer formed Friends of the Little Spokane River Valley when “a developer wanted to put 40 houses where four had been planned.”

While friends and neighbors applaud the organizers’ go-get ‘em attitude, developers, lawyers and some government planners tag them NIMBYs (“Not In My Back Yard” people).

The activists resent the label.

“We aren’t NIMBYs. We are working for responsible development, not just for us, but for the entire city, county and all neighborhoods,” said Page.

Neighborhood groups are growing in number and strength - and chalking up success stories.

“They are definitely becoming more of a factor. It usually takes them a while to become active, but then they stay active and organized,” said Greg Smith, city hearing examiner.

“I don’t think their success is measured by projects stopped, but by mitigation measures and agreements with developers, such as building slower, or providing money for parks,” Smith said.

County Hearing Examiner Michael Dempsey recently decided in favor of Barniol’s group, Citizens for Neighborhood Preservation, denying Spokane businessman Duane Alton’s request to rezone eight acres near their homes for a 17-bay tire business.

Alton said he’s worked successfully with neighborhood groups in the past.

“On this (rezone) project, I went to talk to all the neighbors and told them what I wanted to do. They invited me into their homes. They got the original drawings from me.

“Then we got to the hearing examiner, and there was opposition,” he said.

“Most of us ended up doing this because government isn’t doing its job,” said Page. “It’s not because we’re anti-development.

“Government isn’t looking at the full impact a single development has on the surrounding area, or even areas miles away,” she said.

Developers are beginning to anticipate - and head off - community groups. They’re also looking at them with new respect.

“There has always been opposition to development in populated, dense areas, but it’s never been quite so organized, and they never used attorneys,” said Dave Black, Tomlinson-Black’s chief executive officer.

When his company planned to triple the size of a neighborhood grocery store in 1991, Indian Trail residents fought the project all the way to the state Court of Appeals. They lost, but Safeway, the prospective tenant, backed out during the three-year battle.

Black said the experience taught him a lot about the strength and knowledge of neighborhood groups.

“It’s important to have dialogue with the neighborhood,” he said. “Today, I would try to schedule a meeting in front of the whole group. It’s a chance to show them that you aren’t the Big Bad Wolf.”

“Developers are discovering that citizens are not dumb,” said Page.

Taking a stand, becoming informed, often means putting family, vacations, hobbies and friends on hold.

“The only people you entertain are those you are having over for a meeting,” said Jane McGowan, with Barniol’s group.

It takes a toll on family, too, as the debate often drags, then escalates. Months pass.

Kindergartners get used to discussions about sewage treatment and traffic counts over the dinner table. A preschooler squirms while mom collects maps and agendas from the planning department.

“It spills over into your kids and is a real intrusion into your life,” said Karen Stebbins, also with Citizens for Neighborhood Preservation.

“My husband is so fed up,” said Schaefer, who helped organize Friends of the Little Spokane River Valley.

“We need a spouse support group,” agreed Barniol. “I’ve been working on this for a year. My husband is tired of me being at meetings every other night, and on the phone the rest of the time. He just wants it over.”

But for most neighborhood activists, the first fight isn’t the last. They often find themselves moving on to other community issues. Last week, Hargreaves was appointed to the County Planning Commission.

He plans to stay active with his neighborhood group, stepping back from votes or discussions that might present conflicts of interest.

Barniol, who never dreamed she had an interest in planning, is considering going back to college - to study planning.

“I will continue to be involved in issues and in community stuff. There are a lot of issues out there,” she said.

Page helps organize meetings with city officials about transportation, water, schools and parks for her Indian Trail neighbors. She continues to monitor neighborhood development.

As they watch the workings of city and county agencies, neighborhood organizers gain new insight. Initially confident that they could resolve differences with a common-sense approach and negotiation, they grow frustrated with the system and the process.

Hargreaves said neighborhood groups are forced to do their own noise and traffic studies to fight proposed development because government research is often incomplete. “For some reason, the burden of proof has shifted to the citizens,” he said.

“We are angry that as a group we have to do the work of government. They aren’t a neutral organization; we have to become the experts,” said Hargreaves.

A great addition to planning staffs, they said, would be a neighborhood advocate. Someone who could strongly and expertly argue the neighborhood side of development issues.

The city’s Neighborhood Services office is about as close as local government comes in representing community issues, but advocacy isn’t really the goal. “We are here to facilitate communication, get neighborhoods together and encourage citizens to participate,” said Rod Minarik, neighborhood liason.

“Our role is to train and encourage neighborhoods to advocate for themselves,” said Molly Myers, neighborhood services director.

Instead of depending on government, organizers rally their neighbors, seek experts and hire attorneys.

Organizing isn’t as easy as having everyone in for coffee - it’s more like launching a major business.

The first step is to incorporate as a non-profit organization, hopefully protecting neighbors, the group’s officers, and their assets from legal action by digruntled landowners or developers.

Eventually, a land-use attorney is hired to sort out legal issues. Consultants are paid for expert advice.

Fund-raising is a constant.

Some groups have invested $20,000 or more protecting their homes, neighborhoods and the environment from apartment complexes and “superstores.”

Neighbor Dallas Dixon said Indian Trail Property Owners racked up $10,000 in bills fighting the shopping center project.

“It is a nightmare, really. You say, ‘Let’s get this over with so we can go on with our lives’,” said Dixon.

Organizers also are cheerleaders, keeping neighbors energized and involved. Meetings, phone calls and notices keep the neighborhood informed.

“Groups get started, then the enthusiasm dies. The next thing you know, the hearing examiner is saying no one cares,” says McGowan.

It looks like apathy, but neighbors simply don’t have time to stay active.

With kids, jobs and other commitments, it’s hard to schedule one more meeting.

Others might feel put off by complex issues or a you-can’t-fight-City Hall attitude.

Increasingly, neighborhood groups are working together, sharing information and experiences.

The Gleneden Homeowners Association share members and exchange newsletters with Friends of the Little Spokane River. Neighbors opposing Alton’s new store joined forces with the group monitoring Wal-Mart’s plans.

Through the ups and downs, organizers keep going, not trying to save the world, only their small corner of it.

“Yes, there is a personal cost,” said Hargreaves, “But then things keep happening that just seem to say ‘this is right’ and you have to keep going.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 color photos