The Riverpoint Campus near downtown Spokane has a good story to tell. If you’re tired of the continual drumbeat of negative economic news, pull up a chair at one of the master plan workshops. The first one was last Tuesday, but there’s one in April and one in June (see accompanying box for information).

You’ll hear about an urban core that is anchored by three strong components: a growing campus that emphasizes health sciences on the east side, the hospitals, clinics and associated businesses to the south, and a diversified downtown to the west. You’ll learn about the realistic prospects for improving the connections among the three and how that connectivity will, in turn, help each component grow. You’ll learn about the best chance this region has for driving economic growth.

If you’ve never visited the campus, get moving. We especially recommend a tour of the sleep lab, where fascinating research is being conducted on sleep as it relates to on-the-job performance and safety.

The growth and changes to that plot of land just east of Division are astonishing. The five main brick-and-glass buildings house state-of-the-art classrooms. The overall feel is of a first-rate learning environment. One surprise for visitors is the proximity of the nearby health district. The campus is as close to Sacred Heart and Deaconess hospitals as it is to City Hall. Once you take all that in, the vision of a health-sciences-oriented campus falls into place. It isn’t hard to imagine that one day there will be a seamless connection between the campus and the medical community.

But this vision won’t be realized unless community leaders and state lawmakers rally around it. Significant transportation issues need to be addressed before downtown, hospitals and campus achieve connectivity. Public transit service, bike and pedestrian paths and parking need to better fit an urban-style campus that will be growing up, rather than spreading out.

The campus also needs more buildings to meet the growing demand in health sciences fields such as veterinary medicine, health-related computer services and applied sciences research. To that end, a Biomedical and Health Sciences Building highlights the campus’ capital budget for the next biennium. With help of Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown and the cooperation of Eastern Washington University and Washington State University, the campus hopes to accelerate the structure by getting funding for pre-design and design phases into this year’s budget. Typically, those are funded in separate budget years. If successful, construction could begin as soon as 2011 and the building could be ready by 2013.

About 20 percent of jobs in Spokane County are connected to health care. A thriving Riverpoint campus will help leverage that fact for a brighter future.