Emerson-Garfield in the News
Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council’s budding efforts to become a non-profit organization were covered in a Spokesman-Review story today by Pia Hallenberg. Read it here.
Public Meetings for the Comprehensive Plan Update
The City of Spokane Planning and Development Services Department is going to host three public meetings to gather input from citizens on the 2012-2014 Comprehensive Plan Review and Update.
Why is this important?
The city’s Comprehensive Plan (PDF link) is just that — a plan that covers every aspect of how Spokane aims to grow and develop in the coming years. Put simply, it’s our city’s vision for the future, and it determines what kind of decisions are made in the here and now. If the Comprehensive Plan mandates that the future of housing is in floating islands suspended by airships, you can (almost) bet that the city will direct current home-building practices toward this end.
But the vision of the future is not writ in stone, and it has to adapt to the ever-changing present. That’s why the Comprehensive Plan is updated every few years, and those updates are usually carried out with input from the public.
If the public doesn’t get involved in these processes, then the city naturally assumes everything is hunky dory and goes ahead with whatever it was going to do in the first place — which is precisely what has led to questionable planning decisions in the past. Not that the city is entirely at fault in these cases. How can they serve your neighborhood if the needs of your neighborhood aren’t made known to them?
Hence the importance of these public input meetings.
The public meeting for Council District 3, which encompasses Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood, will take place on Tuesday, February 19 from 5:30 to 7:30pm at Shadle Public Library (2111 W. Wellesley Ave, STA Route 20/33).
Don’t feel as though you have to be an expert on planning to attend. Each meeting will begin with a presentation on the background of the Comprehensive Plan and the update process. That will be followed by an interactive survey and activity stations.
For more info, contact Jo Anne Wright or Nikole Coleman-Porter in the Planning Department at (509) 625-6300.
Oh, and five points to whoever can name the town depicted in the drawing above.
Neighborhood Council Meeting Recap (Pt. 2)
Two weeks ago, we said we would be posting the second part of our recap — to include “recent crime hotspots, park improvements, a forthcoming mailer, and this year’s snow plow protocol” — the next day. That clearly didn’t happen. As is so often the case, day jobs and holidays had to take priority over blogging.
So, without further delay, let’s address those topics.
At this time of year, there is crime all over Emerson-Garfield — and indeed Spokane. Thieves take advantage of the reduced daylight hours and the holiday shopping frenzy. They will steal bikes, tools, toys, lawn ornaments, wiring, pets, children, old mattresses, rocks… in short, anything that’s not bolted to the floor of an underground steel bunker surrounded by a magical forcefield. And they will take your stuff to pawn shops or flea markets (not always locally) or try to hawk it online on Craigslist or eBay.
At November’s Neighborhood Council meeting, we heard from police that thieves were prowling alleyways in Emerson-Garfield and taking bolt cutters to garage padlocks. Your only real defense against this is increased vigilance. This means getting to know your neighbors, keeping an eye out on their behalf (and vice versa), and perhaps installing a video surveillance system or a motion-sensor light.
They’re also driving off with mid-’90s Hondas, since it’s easy to used shaved keys to jimmy their locks. (Good news? There’s apparently a fairly high recovery rate for stolen vehicles.) Any cars they can’t steal outright are targets for break-ins. If something that could be considered to be of any value is in sight, thieves will smash the window to get to it.
What else can you do, besides despair?
- Hide or remove anything of value. Take your iPod charger inside with you. Don’t leave CDs, cassettes, or even 8-tracks on the front seat. Stow that ashtray full of parking-meter change.
- If possible, note the serial number of the item. All pawn shops in the area have to upload the serial numbers of incoming items into a database every night. The police then cross-reference this database with reported stolen goods.
- Report the stolen item. This is essential. Even if you think there isn’t much chance of getting your stolen item back, or that the police don’t care, it’s important that you at least try. If the police don’t know of the theft, they can’t investigate it. And if they also don’t know where thefts are occurring, they can’t assign any of their limited resources to that area.
As for park improvements: The new swingset is ready to be installed in Emerson Park. It might have to wait until spring. At any rate, it will bring a much-needed feature to the traditionally more neglected of Emerson-Garfield’s two parks. Corbin will also be getting a swingset, as previously noted here.
Both Corbin and Emerson now have electrical drop-boxes — which means the ability to hold concerts, movie nights, and all sorts of entertainment. Now all that’s needed is the people to make those events happen.
The neighborhood is looking to send out a print mailer in the near future. Here are some of the suggestions for what it should contain:
- Sign up for e-mail newsletter
- Invite to annual holiday potluck (Dec 12)
- General news about the EGNC
- Call for video submissions (for a proposed neighborhood movie)
- Neighborhood survey
- Call for sidewalk, trees and street improvement requests
- Alert residents and business of this website
- Plowing information
If you have any of your own suggestions about what you’d like to see on the mailer, please leave a comment or get in touch.
On the subject of the last of those bullet points, there’s a snow plowing protocol. Although most people ignore it, it still exists. And there’s every indication that the city is getting fed up with folks who flout that protocol — which means, among other things, that your car will be towed away at your expense.
During even years, park your car on the even (usually north or east) side of the streets when plowing is taking place. During odd years, park your car on the odd (usually south or west) side of the street. Opt to ignore it and you risk a $200 ticket and/or towing and/or the plow driver taking justifiable pleasure in trapping your car within a fortress of plowed snow and ice that will not melt until spring.
Despite the busy holiday season and year-end workload, we’ll try to have regular news and event updates. Most important among them: the annual holiday potluck on Wednesday, December 12. It’s at Corbin Senior Center and will start at 7pm. Mark your calendars!
Community Development Block Grant Info
Last night we tried something new and live-tweeted the public hearing on Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding for 2013. The hearing was arranged by the newly amalgamated Community, Housing and Human Services megadepartment in the city bureaucracy, and its aim was to address changes to both the amount of available funds and the application process.
This was our first live-tweet attempt, so we overlooked some of the etiquette (a #CDBG2013 hashtag, for instance), but we hope we nevertheless managed to convey some of the more interesting facts and figures as they came to light.
We realize that public hearings aren’t as exciting as, say, an Apple product launch, but we thought live-tweeting would be a good way for everyone to take part and stay informed. It’s easy to lose steam about neighborhood events when it seems like all anyone does is attend meetings.
Some of the more relevant highlights:
- Total tentative CDBG funding for 2013 is $2,844,749. Of that, the total allocation for neighborhoods is $652,800.
- The top recipient of that neighborhood allocation is Hillyard with $113,139 (not East Central, as we tweeted last night; the slide had no order to it). Emerson-Garfield is fourth on the list with $57,250.
- Public service activities get a pot of $426,712. Community centers have to share $250,000 for operations. Nonprofits have a pot of $176,712 for operations. For the first time, neighborhoods also have access to a supplemental grant pool of $100,000.
- There have been 42 applications received so far for public services money. These applicants include organizations like the Corbin Senior Center, Second Harvest, COPS. A total of $773,027 has been requested.
- Many Spokane neighborhoods have used community development funds — or a combination of CD funds and others — for projects that improved their neighborhoods’ safety and beauty (some examples are shown above). Except for some street tree replanting, Emerson-Garfield was all but absent from that list.
The PowerPoint presentation with all these figures and more is available for download here.
If you represent an organization that is based or operates in Emerson-Garfield and have questions about the application process, please get in touch with us using our contact form.
To contact a city representative, please address your queries to the following people. They can all be reached on (509) 625-6325:
- Capital improvements: Kevin Brownlee, kbrownlee@spokanecity.org.
- Housing: Allen Schmelzer, aschmelzer@spokanecity.org.
- Economic development: Kristine Williams, kwilliams@spokanecity.org.
Materials for Tonight’s Meetings
The agendas for tonight’s Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council and planning stakeholder meetings are available for download. Save paper and grab your copy here:
Remember: the meetings start at 6pm (planning) and 7pm (neighborhood council) at the Corbin Senior Center.
As much as we wish everything was always sunshine and rainbows in the world of Spokane neighborhoods, there are some pressing issues to consider on both of these agendas. Many of those issues stem from decisions made by various departments within the city bureaucracy.