Forum on downtown open to public

There’s an open invitation to all downtown Cheney businesses or homeowners to bring their ideas to next Thursday’s public forum, to discuss the possibility of uniting to form a business improvement district.

Three speakers – Marty Dickinson, from the Downtown Spokane Partnership, Ron Wells with Wells and Co., and Stanley Schwartz, a municipal attorney for Airway Heights – have been invited to speak and will answer questions at the forum.

The forum begins at 7:15 p.m. in the Cheney City Hall auditorium.

A business improvement district would be an organization of downtown businesses that unites for the goal of revitalizing Cheney, Pathways to Progress director Spencer Grainger said.

Pathways to Progress is hosting the forum and is currently responsible for restoring downtown Cheney.

The model Pathways to Progress is following is similar to the Downtown Spokane Partnership.

New water main going in

Workers in Cheney have partially blocked the parking lane on Betz Road near North Sixth Street to finish putting in a water main.

The water main is being built to connect to the planned Eagle Point Apartment Complex.

The same part of the road was partially blocked two weeks ago when workers dug down 13 feet to put in a sanitary sewer.

“We just gave them a little more roadway so they could run it (their construction) more efficiently,” said Todd Ableman, Cheney’s public works director.

Brush up on your manners

Are you a messy eater? Can’t quite remember where that napkin is “supposed” to go? Eastern Washington University is hosting the “Career Services Annual Etiquette Luncheon.”

Friday, from noon to 2 p.m. in the Glover Mansion in Spokane, local employers will host tables and show students what not to do to impress one’s boss. A two-course meal complete with hors d’oeurves will be served to 40 students, at $15 a plate.