Faced with the same data on Spokane’s quality of life, elected leaders read into the poor findings differently

Elected leaders in Spokane do not see the same things when they look at polling data released Wednesday that appears to show Spokane-area residents are largely in agreement about the region’s biggest problems and share a skepticism of government’s ability to solve them.

Greater Spokane Incorporated, the city’s de facto chamber of commerce, sponsored the poll, which surveyed 600 registered voters, half of whom were residents of the city of Spokane. Its topline finding: residents of Spokane gave the city a 3.7 out of 10 quality-of-life ranking, expressing widely shared concerns about homelessness, crime and a distrust in government.

Conservative city Councilmen Michael Cathcart and Jonathan Bingle believe the polling clearly indicates that residents of the city want more police and especially more criminal enforcement downtown, and that the city hasn’t met its obligations.

“It is clear that we have failed to protect our citizens, and we must prioritize law enforcement to restore safety and security,” Bingle wrote in a Thursday news release.

But neither conservative lawmaker highlighted investing in more mental health and behavioral health facilities, which Spokane residents ranked higher than hiring more police officers in order to address public safety concerns.

Meanwhile, liberal lawmakers and Mayor Lisa Brown’s administration do not believe polling data shows they are missing the mark when it comes to policing and other issues, and instead argue that the data shows their priorities are aligned with citizen concerns. Some also argue that ill perceptions about the city and its government are the result of political messaging from activist conservatives, and, if city leaders have failed in some aspect, it has been in insufficiently countering those narratives.

Brown touted the work of Fire Chief Julie O’Berg and Police Chief Kevin Hall, both hired under her administration, to improve both departments’ alternative response teams to deploy to nonemergency calls, including for people whose drug use or mental health is contributing to some social disturbance. She argued statements, including from Bingle, that the city is not enforcing its laws has widened a “gap between perception and reality.”

“Let’s be real here, we have individuals and organizations buying full-page ads, doing YouTube videos and having press conferences saying the problems you see are the fault of the mayor and the council who aren’t enforcing the laws,” Brown said. “What I need to state very emphatically is that we enforce the laws, but that the problems of homelessness and downtown crime cannot be adequately addressed through law enforcement alone.”

Jake Mayson, Greater Spokane Incorporated’s director of public policy, acknowledged Wednesday that there could be areas where voter sentiments didn’t reflect reality, but argued that gap showed organizations like his own where it was necessary to better communicate with the public.

“You may be making progress, but if people can’t see it because they’re not engaging in our core, then that’s a communication and activation opportunity,” Mayson said.

Councilman Paul Dillon said he takes significant portions of the poll with “a grain of salt,” arguing that record-building in the city is evidence that people want to move to Spokane, despite 58% of respondents saying they’ve actively considered leaving.

“Every data point from the economic indicators we got from census data seems a lot more methodical and more evidenced-based than this (poll), quite frankly,” Dillon said. “We do have a very functioning city hall … but we need to really be bolder in how we articulate and show that vision.”

Councilman Zack Zappone believes the city is being unfairly singled out for criticism for continued difficulties addressing homelessness and downtown crime, and argued that more scrutiny should be placed on Spokane County to expand behavioral and mental health facilities or to better staff the Geiger Corrections Center.

“The county has millions in mental health dollars unspent, and the poll showed that county residents overwhelmingly support mental health investments,” Zappone said. “We could be standing up more sobering beds, opening up floors at Geiger, and those are things the city can’t do – the county can.”

County spokesman Pat Bell said the county has already earmarked $7 million to expand its sobering center. And he shared the county’s preliminary 2025 budget for those mental health dollars, showing expected revenue of $16.5 million and expected expenses on myriad services to total about $15 million.

County Commissioner Chris Jordan said that Brown has been open to collaboration, pointing to the Co-Responders program in partnership with the city that pairs mental health professionals with first responders on certain calls as an example.

“Mayor Brown has been really open to regional collaboration in all my conversations with her,” Jordan said. “I think she wants that, and I think that’s really what the citizens want, is to sit down, work together and get creative.”

What does this mean for the sales tax?

Elected leaders are also split on what the poll might say about the upcoming Proposition 1 ballot measure, which would raise sales taxes in the city by 0.1% and generate around $6.5 million annually.

Brown has pledged that the funds will be spent to hire traffic cops and neighborhood resource officers, replace aging firefighting equipment – funds to buy new fire trucks have been slashed in recent year to balance prior budgets – and other community safety priorities. The City Council has subsequently approved an ordinance that would sunset the tax after 10 years and create a dedicated fund for the tax to make it easier to see how it is being spent.

On its face, the data seems to be a bad sign for the chances of the tax proposal.

Among city residents, 77% do not believe the city has an effective plan to address top issues including public safety, 78% believe the city already has enough money to address its priorities but isn’t spending it wisely, and 74% believe their local government isn’t spending their tax dollars responsibly.

Cathcart believes the poll demonstrates that citizens are more concerned with increased patrol officers, especially downtown, enforcing drug crimes and laws prohibiting numerous actions by the homeless, such as lying down on the sidewalk or pitching a tent on public property.

“I think it demonstrates that the administration is off the mark,” he said.

Brown disagrees. She reiterated that many of the misdemeanor offenses downtown businesses are concerned with, particularly regarding the homeless, aren’t sufficient for someone to be booked into jail, especially without addressing other gaps or logjams in the criminal justice system, but that traffic and neighborhood officers can make a difference today.

“Traffic safety is really significant, not just because of all of the fatalities, but also those traffic stops often lead to warrants connected to other criminal activity,” Brown said. “Those neighborhood resource officers are a critical part of how we deal with nuisance properties, often referred to as drug houses.”

Brown added that the visibility of neighborhood resource officers can also help to make residents feel safer and more confident that police will be available when they’re needed. City spokeswoman Erin Hut also noted that neighborhood resource officers could free up other law enforcement from being dispatched to those neighborhoods for property crimes and other low-level offenses.

What they’re saying outside city limits

While the poll focused primarily on opinions of downtown Spokane, it also revealed what those outside city limits think about their local leaders and the region’s issues.

Just over a quarter of those surveyed identified Spokane Valley as their place of residence, while 34% of respondents said they lived elsewhere in the county, outside the boundaries of Spokane and the Valley.

Jordan, whose commissioner district includes downtown Spokane, said he was glad Greater Spokane Incorporated did the work to “take the citizens’ temperature” on important issues facing the region. He said it’s useful data that will help inform policy decisions and efforts not just for the city and county, but for the entire region.

He was not surprised to see public safety and homelessness identified as the top issues facing the region by residents of Spokane, Spokane Valley and elsewhere in the county.

“I think that if you talk to every elected official in the entire region and you ask them about public safety and homelessness, I think they would all say, ‘We know, we want to do better,’ ” Jordan said. “And I personally believe that we’re not going to do better unless we work together, with the city and county, in particular, coming together and trying to tackle these issues in a unified fashion.”

Spokane County Commission Chair Mary Kuney said the survey results should serve as a wake-up call for local elected leaders.

“It reflects what the Board of County Commissioners has been hearing from the community over the past two years: public safety is the public’s primary concern, and many people no longer feel safe in the community,” Kuney said in a written statement.

Jordan and Kuney noted the county’s efforts to combat homelessness and public safety issues such as drug abuse and violent crime, including investments in the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office. The commissioners also diverted millions of dollars from opioid crisis-related settlements towards expanding the Spokane Regional Stabilization Center, assisting affected mothers and infants, and improving regional data on substance use.

“We have a strong focus and record of investing to improve the health and wellbeing of those struggling,” Kuney said in a written statement. “We are open to discussion with all community partners, and invite leaders to join us in our multitude of existing collaborative regional efforts to improve the quality of life for our residents.”

Spokane Valley Mayor Pam Haley said the concerns around homelessness, crime and drug use are consistent with what she hears from constituents, and her own experience.

The Spokane Valley City Council has identified enhancing public safety as its top priority as they continue to work to bolster the city’s police department. A consultant’s report identified a need for more than two dozen deputies to be added to the force last fall, and the council allocated funding to create 10 of those positions in March.

“Even when I was running for office and doorbelling, the first thing that people said was, ‘We need more police,’ ” Haley said. “People are starting to see the impacts in their neighborhoods. I mean, I am too.”

The council has had some challenges fully meeting that goal, Haley said. She noted municipalities and law enforcement agencies across the country continue to struggle to recruit qualified officers.

Deputy Mayor Tim Hattenburg, the lone Democrat on Spokane Valley’s governing board, said the council is making progress, however, and pointed to a grant the city recently received that will be used to add a second homeless outreach deputy to the force. Hattenburg said homelessness is the most challenging issue for the council to address.

“It’s not just mental health, it’s not just drug abuse; there’s people out of work who can’t afford housing,” Hattenburg said. “Homelessness is one of our main priorities. Of course, so is public safety, so that’s consistent with what we’re trying to work on.”

Hattenburg spent decades working for the East Valley School District as a teacher, coach and athletic director prior to his two terms on council, and said he was glad to hear Spokane Valley respondents indicated much more support for public schools than Spokane and county residents. Nearly 70% of Valley residents said they either strongly or somewhat agreed that public schools need more funding.

Hattenburg was most surprised to learn only 3% of respondents in the Valley strongly agreed they trusted “local government” to spend tax dollars wisely. It’s unclear what municipality the respondents had in mind, however, given the unspecific language used in the question.

The Valley has long prided itself as a fiscally responsible city that keeps balanced books. It is also unique among cities of a similar size in that the council keeps enough set aside each year to cover up to six months, or 50%, of recurring expenditures.

While it’s always a challenge to communicate and illustrate to voters how the council is “wisely” using tax money, Haley said, both she and Hattenburg believe their fellow council member Al Merkel’s constant critiques over the past year have eroded the public’s trust.

“Merkel has been vocal on social media, and anywhere anyone would listen, that the Sprague project was a big waste of money, that any project we have done in the last four years has been a big waste of money, that it all should be going to public safety,” Haley said, referencing a stormwater improvement project this summer that reduced Sprague Avenue to three lanes for a half-mile section.

“I think that has caused a lot of dissension in the Valley, and there are a lot of people who are kind of believing that narrative,” she added.

For Merkel, the poll results are a vindication of sorts, he said. He campaigned on many of the issues the respondents identified, like public safety, homelessness and government transparency, and has been a vocal critic of how the council has spent its time and funding since joining the board in January.

“It’s pretty clear that people don’t think we’re being wise in the choices that we’re making with the money that we have,” Merkel said. “And I don’t think that we’re doing a good job of demonstrating that we’re using that money effectively.”

Merkel said there is a simple solution to building back public trust in the council: “Responding to the things that the people ask for.” He pointed to the Sprague Avenue project, funded primarily from grants, as an example, and noted a city survey conducted years ago that identified a lack of support.

The poll results should serve as a message to leaders across the region that citizens have lost faith in their local government, Merkel said.

“The answer is pretty clear: change what you’re doing or don’t get voted back in,” Merkel said. “Because the people want change.”