Firefighters booted from Valley streets

Spokane Valley city officials are kicking firefighters’ Fill the Boot fundraising drive out of city streets.

“We’re not telling them they can’t have a fundraiser,” Mayor Rich Munson said. “We’re just telling them they can’t stop traffic to do it.”

Firefighters should ask motorists to pull into a parking lot to make donations to the Muscular Dystrophy Association, Munson suggested.

But donations would drop drastically, according to Spokane Valley firefighter John Nelson, coordinator of his union local’s Fill the Boot drive.

He said 47 volunteers from Local 876 of the International Association of Fire Fighters collected about $24,000 from motorists in 6 1/2 hours last July at the intersections of Sprague Avenue and Evergreen Road and of Argonne Road and Montgomery Street.

At a parking lot, Nelson said, “you can spend a whole day out there and not raise $1,000.”

Jana Worthington, director of the Inland Northwest Muscular Dystrophy Association in Spokane, said experience in this region and across the country shows other methods bring in far less money.

When volunteers in Sandpoint moved to the Bonner Mall from a nearby arterial that became too dangerous, collections dropped from $8,000 to $800 and took twice as long, Worthington said.

She said the Spokane Valley prohibition “is very frightening to us” because Local 876’s collection is about one-fourth of the annual total from drives in Spokane and Stevens counties.

The local portion of the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon brought in only about $16,000 last year, compared with approximately $24,000 by Spokane Valley firefighters and $33,000 by Spokane firefighters, Worthington said.

The Spokane Valley boot drive traditionally focuses on the city’s busiest intersection, at Sprague Avenue and Sullivan Road. It moved to Evergreen Road last year because of road construction, but was to have returned to Sullivan Road this summer.

Nelson said the event usually is on a Saturday. He said firefighters take safety precautions and have never had a serious accident.

“I’m not worried about the last time, I’m worried about the next time,” Munson said.

It’s also against the law, Deputy City Attorney Cary Driskell said in an April 3 letter to the Inland Northwest Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Firefighters who hold out their boots for charity probably can’t be charged under the city ordinance that prohibits use of streets or other public places for “aggressive begging.”

But a disorderly conduct charge is another matter.

Both the city code and state law say anyone who “intentionally obstructs vehicular or pedestrian traffic without lawful authority” is guilty of disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor.

“We will be asking our police force to enforce it this year, but we’d rather not have a confrontation,” Munson said. “That would be unpleasant and unnecessary.”

City Manager David Mercier said the planned enforcement doesn’t apply to high school car washes or other events in which solicitors stay on sidewalks and direct motorists onto parking lots.

“It’s the question of whether or not they are actually in the roadway and impeding traffic, which creates a safety hazard for themselves and the traveling public,” Mercier said.

The Spokane Valley City Council’s recent decision to form a committee to study panhandling problems has no connection to Fill the Boot except to underscore the need for impartiality, Munson and other city officials said.

Nelson said he’s looking for alternatives, including conducting the drive outside Spokane Valley. However, Nelson hopes the City Council will implement a permit system that would allow groups to solicit in the streets if they provide insurance – as Local 876 does – and have safety training.

The Muscular Dystrophy Association’s Worthington said Spokane, Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene have permit programs that allow Fill the Boot drives with various restrictions and requirements.

Spokane’s permit ordinance applies to solicitations, parades, festivals and other organized activities that use or affect streets, sidewalks, parks and other public property.

The $50 permits generally require event sponsors to provide at least $1 million of liability insurance in addition to satisfying conditions set on a case-by-case basis.