Misinformation spread by City Council candidates on Sprague Avenue Preservation Project

Spokane Valley city staff has been throwing water on a fire of misinformation that started with City Council candidates Brad Hohn and Catherine Nelson this month.

Earlier this month, Hohn and Nelson polled businesses on Sprague Avenue to determine whether they were aware of the Sprague Avenue Preservation Project after city staff indicated all businesses that would be impacted by the project were notified by the city. Both Hohn and Nelson believed that the city was lying about informing the businesses that would be affected .

They polled 17 businesses east of University Road. None of the businesses were aware of the preservation project, Hohn said.

“(Hohn and Nelson) said they were running for office and there was going to be roadwork on our road,” said Kathy Blair, general manager at Appleway Florist. “They said that it would be torn up for a while and that it would be right outside our business.”

Two days later, city staff was at the shop to tell Kathy that her store wasn’t in the road project limits. In fact, none of the 17 businesses Hohn and Nelson polled is in the preservation project’s boundaries.

The Spokesman-Review went to 14 of the 17 businesses Hohn and Nelson visited. Managers at each location had similar stories: The pair came in, asked if the manager knew about a project that would tear up the road in front of the business and informed the manager that access to their business would be cut off because of the project. Some managers were under the impression the project would begin this month.

The Sprague Avenue Preservation Project begins where Sprague meets Bowdish Road and ends at McDonald Road. The project will likely result in occasional lane closures and road closures at night, but according to Smith access to businesses along Sprague will be maintained.

The project was set to begin this fall but was pushed back after an operators strike slowed construction timeline, Smith said. The project is anticipated to begin in the spring.

The preservation project will grind and overlay existing asphalt on Sprague Avenue, replace concrete curb ramps and repair stormwater systems. No lanes will be eliminated during the project.

The city became aware of the misinformation spreading to businesses on Sept. 11, when staff received several phone calls from businesses along Sprague. Business owners were concerned about the upcoming construction and believed the project would begin in September and would prevent people from entering their stores, Spokane Valley city spokesperson Jill Smith said.

That was the case for several of the other businesses Hohn and Nelson approached, including Secure It Storage.

“We appreciate the due diligence of the city coming by and addressing us to tell us what’s actually going on,” said Logan Wanous, property manager at Secure It Storage.

Wanous described Hohn and Nelson as concerned members of the community, but said the misinformation was troubling. Campaigning on misinformation, regardless of what party someone belongs to, isn’t good, Wanous said.

“I would value accountability in a political candidate, especially when it comes to local politics, because more often than not, local politics is going to be bipartisan,” Wanous said.

Nelson insists that she and Hohn did not give businesses a date for the project to begin. Hohn said they told businesses the project was initially meant to begin the week of Sept. 10, but it was pushed back because of the annual Valleyfest parade on Sprague.

“I believe the city is trying to spread misinformation,” Nelson said. “… I believe the city managers are starting to get really frustrated with us.”

Nelson and Hohn’s polling project didn’t seem genuine, Burger King manager Aden Cole said.

“I could see that they were vying for a vote. They were pushing an agenda,” Cole said.

Nelson said the whole reason she and Hohn were polling businesses was because residents feel the city doesn’t do a good job notifying them about upcoming projects. Even though she and Hohn polled businesses that would not have construction right outside their property, Nelson is glad they did it and says those businesses will still be impacted by the construction.

“How wrong were we really?” Nelson said. “Could it be that the city’s zone of notification is too small?”

“Our city needs to do a better job of outreach to our businesses when we are going to have road projects that are going to impact the traffic coming to and from our businesses.”