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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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Our View: Help Spokane of the future fulfill its potential

The movie “Mozart and the Whale” was filmed in Spokane in 2004. It didn’t wow the critics, but for Inland Northwest residents, it was a thumbs-up experience for spotting Spokane landmarks.

In “Home of the Brave,” a movie made here in 2006, Spokane plays itself. But in “Mozart and the Whale” the city in the background isn’t identified as Spokane. This nameless “fictional” town has a bigger-city feel. A main character rides a bike through downtown. Pedestrians crowd the streets. Busy buses zoom by. Alleys are alive with urban trash – and urban possibilities.

When you read Spokane’s updated downtown plan, you can easily picture Spokane of the future looking a bit like this, minus the alley trash. Lots of urban excitement and urban possibilities. The plan – which will be discussed this evening during a public open house – goes into detail about housing, retail, traffic and parking. But the bigger-city feel is most evident in the ambitious plans to make downtown more walkable and biker-friendly. Getting people out of their vehicles is one key to a vibrant downtown.

So the plan calls for 10-foot-wide sidewalks, easier walking routes leading from the center of downtown to the University District and Browne’s Addition, midblock pedestrian crosswalks and aggressive enforcement of pedestrian rights of way.

As for bicyclists, the report summarizes the current reality: “Nine downtown roadways are signed as bicycle routes, but they are not heavily traveled by cyclists. … Many of the roadways that are classified as bicycle routes are also classified as truck routes.”

The plan calls for more bike parking downtown and a bicycle crossing of the Spokane River on the bottom deck of the Maple Street Bridge.

The Downtown Spokane Partnership and the city of Spokane have been working on the plan for almost a year. They hope to have it adopted by the City Council by mid-October.

More than 500 people have given their opinions on the plan. This evening’s open house is one more chance.

“Is the vision we have on the table the right one for the next 20 years? Do the citizens buy off on it? We want something everyone can live with. This is the citizens’ plan. Not ours,” explained Marty Dickinson, president of the Downtown Spokane Partnership.

The characters in “Mozart and the Whale” hang out in a half-finished loft. You can see the space’s great “bones” in its vaulted ceilings. The mildly autistic characters sit in this place and dream about a better future. Spokane’s downtown has come a long way since the original 1999 downtown plan, but its full potential hasn’t been realized. It could be with this updated plan. Be part of the dream.