Emerson Garfield

Recap of the March 2016 E-G Neighborhood Council Meeting

March 11, 2016 Emerson Garfield

This is a brief recap of the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council (EGNC) meeting that took place on March 9, 2016.

Bobby Williams, Fire Chief at the Spokane Fire Department, presented information on the ballot question regarding renewal of the EMS levy at the same rate as was approved in 2010. The levy would require a simple majority of 51%. He reported that the average EMS response time is five minutes, ten seconds, but if the levy is not successful, 70–90% of personnel would be let go, putting that response time in jeopardy. The levy goes before the voters every six years. Ballots will be in the mail between April 6 and 8.

Ray White presented information regarding Community Living Connections, a program to help care for the aging and disabled. A call center at (509) 960-7281 is provided to help seniors who call in with needs and concerns. Also provided is options counseling, whereby a counselor will go out and meet with people that need help solving living issues and challenges associated with aging.

Ben Cabildo of Community-Minded Enterprises presented information regarding new neighborhood-oriented TV programs. His organization has a studio that citizens can access to get information out through Comcast channel 14. Also, they have an open mic program where citizens can speak about concerns and issues. This is available every second and third Thursday. The services are available for non-profits and small business. Individuals are charged only $75 per year to use equipment, and non-profits are charged $350 per year.

City Councilwoman Candace Mumm shared information regarding gender equality hiring in the City. She is working on a report regarding this issue. Spokane City is in the process of looking for a new Chief of Police and an investigation is taking place within the Spokane Police Department. She also talked about the expansion of the Drumheller Springs Conservation Area.

Only one residential traffic-calming application was turned in by the meeting’s deadline. Malia Woods was the applicant; the area of concern was the intersection at Atlantic, Euclid and Cora. She is hoping for any intervention that would help traffic to slow down, as there are many children in this area. The council approved this application.

The Emerson-Garfield Farmers’ Market needed the council’s approval of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to use the parking lot at Silver Auctions for the market. This was approved with only one abstention. The chair and vice chair will sign the MoU.

Elections for executive positions on the neighborhood council will be held during the April meeting. Interested candidates were asked to come forward for all five positions: Chair, vice chair, secretary, Community Assembly rep and Community Development rep.

Neighborhood budget applications for event resources are due April 30. Neighborhoods can apply for a maximum of $500. The council intends to put in an application for the farmers market as well as Concerts in the Park.

Karl Boldt reported regarding the 2016 Spring Cleanup in our neighborhood. He noted that he will be absent on the day of the event (May 21) and that there have been policy changes with the Department of Corrections that could prevent them from assisting as usual. These issues need to be resolved by April 1. Karl also asked for additional volunteers to help throw trash into the dumpsters during the event.

Laura Schlangen reported on the Corbin Senior Activity Center. The 12th annual Movin’ & Groovin’ Fair was a great success. Day tours have been well attended, and the Alaska Cruise is filled up. The next big event is Tea in the Afternoon on April 29, with advance tickets selling for $15.

Tim Musser reported on the Community Assembly Community Development committee and the application schedule for Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding. Each neighborhood needs to list what improvements need to be made via an application process.

Barb Biles reported from the Land Use Committee. There are currently some issues in Indian Trail regarding the zoning change in this area. Residential two-family zoning also has a possibility of being changed.

Carlie Hoffman reported on a discussion at the Pedestrian Traffic and Transportation (PeTT) committee regarding the repairing of roads.

Jonathan Martinez has had to step down from the Rental Housing Stakeholders Group due to work commitments. The neighborhood council is therefore looking for renters to represent themselves as well as the neighborhood on this committee.

A representative from Parking Services will be speaking at the May meeting per last month’s questions.

Show Support for Spokane Arts (Mar 14)

March 10, 2016 Emerson Garfield

Executive Director of Spokane Arts Laura Becker has put out a call for a public show of support during the City Council meeting on Monday, March 14.

Anyone interested in attending is encouraged to meet in the Chase Gallery outside the City Council Chambers (808 W Spokane Falls Blvd) at 5:30pm on that day in anticipation of a “packed house, standing room only” to demonstrate how much value the arts have in Spokane.

“Let’s be a vibrant force in the audience, a visual reminder of our strength and unity and a collective voice for our arts community,” she writes.

Two weeks ago, Becker and Spokane Arts Board Chair Brooke Kiener delivered a presentation to City Council regarding Spokane Arts activities and a proposed budget amendment to redirect 33% of the admissions tax to the organization in support of its operating budget and the implementation of a grants program beginning in 2017.

Here are the key points of their proposal:

No new tax will be imposed. Admissions tax is a 5% fee on ticketed events, and non-profits can apply for an exemption per event up to $20,000. Right now these taxes go into the general fund, which is the current source of funding for Spokane Arts. However, the organization is subject to cuts every budget cycle. This would help stabilize funding from the City in the long-term.
Currently the city is seeing an annual growth rate of over 3%. Because this is being considered so early in the budget cycle, the amount redirected to Spokane Arts would be factored into this net gain. No existing programs would be cut, and many local organizations would benefit.
Over half of the funds would be used to support a grants program, which would be open to local arts, culture, and heritage organizations and small creative enterprises. Over $100,000 would be funneled back to the community every year.

This amendment is being introduced by Council President Ben Stuckart, who has long maintained that arts and culture play an integral role to our civic identity and economic prosperity. More information is available in this article from the Spokesman-Review.

As part of this drive, a limited run of Spokane Arts T-shirts and buttons that say “Spokane Arts: Art Means Business” will be distributed in advance of the meeting in the Chase Gallery. All participants are asked to wear something in the organization’s signature orange color.

If public art and citywide art projects currently seem very distant from Emerson-Garfield, keep in mind that the proposed revitalization of North Monroe (among many other things) could bring renewed art-related activity to our neighborhood in the near future.

You can find out more about the event and RSVP at the Facebook event page.

More Free Trees Available Now

March 9, 2016 Emerson Garfield

The Residential Tree Program—part of the Forest Spokane Initiative—is back with another round of free trees for Spokane residents.

As some of you might recall, the Residential Tree Program held similar distributions in the spring and fall of 2015 that gave away a total of 2,000 trees as part of a combined citywide greening, beautification and stormwater mitigation effort.

This program aims to do the same in 2016. The first 1,000 trees will be distributed during the week of April 18 to 24 and the remaining 1,000 trees will be distributed this fall. Some general FAQs are in the flyer below.

For Emerson-Garfield residents, here are the essentials:

Register for your free tree online by April 6 or at the March 9 (i.e., tonight) or April 13 meeting of the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council. The meeting starts at 6pm in the Corbin Senior Activity Center (827 W Cleveland).
Once you’ve successfully signed up and selected a tree from the available species, a voucher for your tree will be e-mailed to you shortly after registration closes.
Bring your voucher to the participating nursery to pick up your tree between April 18–24. It’s your responsibility to pick up your free tree from the nursery and plant and care for the new tree.

There’s a detailed blog post over on the City’s website with more information about the program and the process. If you still have questions, reach out to Damon Hunter at dhunter@spokanecity.org or ask a neighborhood council member at the March or April meetings.

Materials for the March 2016 E-G Neighborhood Council Meeting

March 8, 2016 Emerson Garfield

The Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council meets tomorrow (Wednesday, March 9) starting at 6pm in the Corbin Senior Activity Center Center (827 W Cleveland).

Once again, we’ll be featuring two guest speakers: A representative of the Spokane Fire Department will provide some background on the EMS levy renewal that’s proposed for the April 26 ballot. An overview of that—including a fact sheet and presentation—is available here. After that, Ben Cabildo of Community-Minded Enterprises will talk about new neighborhood- and community-oriented TV programs.

This month the neighborhood council will be voting on resident-submitted traffic-calming proposals along with the proposed memorandum of understanding (MoU) that will move the Emerson-Garfield Farmers’ Market to the Silver Auctions lot on North Monroe.

In addition, we’ll be discussing the popular upcoming Spring Cleanup and some potential changes to that event, looking at new neighborhood budget applications that could help fund our events, and taking names for the neighborhood council elections in April. We’ll also hear from our slate of neighborhood representatives on citywide planning, policies and other initiatives that could affect us here in Emerson-Garfield.

If you have a tablet or a smartphone, please help keep our printing expenses low by downloading the materials as PDFs:

Agenda for the March 9, 2016 meeting (note: 9MB file due to appendices)
Minutes from the February 10, 2016 meeting

We do our best to stick to a strict 90-minute meeting, so please take some time to familiarize yourself with the agenda and the info in the appendixes beforehand.

Everyone who lives, works or owns property in Emerson-Garfield is welcome, so we look forward to seeing you tomorrow! And if you haven’t yet, please RSVP to the meeting on Facebook or on Nextdoor.

Spokane Public Radio Has Left the Building

March 4, 2016 Emerson Garfield

The Hoban Building, that is — which is the official name of the building at the intersection of N Monroe and W Carlisle where Spokane Public Radio was based for 35 years, and where the retro/antique store Vintage Rabbit continues to operate.

SPR spent the past two months removing traces of having been there, which was quite a lot of work. Between arriving in late 1979 and departing last month, the organization had had more than enough time to put down extensive roots.

googlemaps_street_view_comparison_0 — Early 1900s image of North Monroe from Montgomery Ave. On the left is SPR’s first home, the Hoban Building and its apartment garages, surrounded by empty lots and a field. Bottom: Same area as shown in Google Street View (2015).

SPR has written a bittersweet “goodbye” blog post featuring several photos from the move as well as the then/now photo featured above. In another post, you can take a virtual tour through their new digs further south on N Monroe at the former Fire Station No. 3.

Though we’re sad to see them leave Emerson-Garfield, the new facility looks fantastic and will be a great new HQ for Spokane Public Radio.