Residents, council members exchange ideas at meeting

Citizens raised some evergreen complaints and a few new ideas for change at a town-meeting style event Wednesday night.

About 20 people attended the Spokane Valley City Council’s Conversation with the Community at Pratt Elementary School. The meetings, held every three months at different locations, are a chance for people to share concerns and ask questions of council members. Discussion Wednesday ranged from the Sprague-Appleway couplet to motorized scooters to community festivals and sporting events.

A handful of people urged the council to make changes to the couplet to help businesspeople who say they’ve been hurt by the two one-way roads. Laurel Nill, who owns the Zip’s restaurant at 6411 E. Sprague Ave., asked the council to install traffic lights in front of her business because it’s difficult for customers to turn into her parking lot.

Debra Kirkpatrick, an aide at Pratt, backed Nill’s concern. She said she used to run to Zip’s on her lunch breaks, but since the couplet was built in 2000 it now takes too much time to drive there and back.

Jeannie Anderson, a SCOPE volunteer, said she was concerned about people dumping garbage at the old East Trent Motor In Theatre, a former drive-in. Another citizen complained about the trash and weeds in the alley near his house.

City representatives advised the crowd to file complaints with the code enforcement department if they have concerns about trash and safety. For information on doing that, call 921-1000.

Citizens also can call the Spokane Crime Reporting Center, formerly called Crime Check, to alert police to nonemergency crimes, city representatives said. The group laughed when Police Chief Cal Walker couldn’t remember that service’s new phone number. It’s 532-9266.

“I’m not getting a tattoo. They might change it again,” Walker joked.

Deputy City Manager Nina Regor geared the conversation to broader issues partway through the meeting. She asked for residents’ input on a list of community values the City Council had come up with in February. The council is trying to establish key concepts that will guide the community’s future.

Jeremiah Alton, who manages the Alton’s Tire Centers store at 6401 E. Sprague Ave., urged the council to be business friendly.

“If we don’t have successful businesses in the area, where is the money (for schools, parks and other needs) going to come from?” he asked.

Alton also suggested the city hold more community events that are uniquely Spokane Valley.

“When people hear Hoopfest, they think of Spokane,” he said. “It’d be neat to bring a bicycle race to Spokane Valley. Something different.”

Mayor Diana Wilhite said Spokane Valley already has Valleyfest and that, “We are trying to encourage those kinds of things.”

Regor had the attendees vote on the community values most important to them. The group’s top picks were: Building a stronger community identity; promoting businesses and being business friendly; creating a city center; and protecting and supporting parks, recreation and natural areas.

The next Conversation with the Community is expected to be held in July.