The Hoods: A Neighborhood Arts Show, Sept 7

The Hoods: A Neighborhood Arts Show, Sept 7

Spokane design project The Hoods will hold its debut arts show celebrating Spokane neighborhoods on Friday, September 7 at the Bon Bon cocktail bar in the Garland business district. It kicks off as part of First Friday and will run the entire month of September.

The group says that this marks the city’s first contemporary arts and design show with a neighborhood focus. Designers from local agency Seven2 have partnered with freelance designers Joel Barbour, Karli Ingersoll, Jesse Pierpoint, Eric Smith, and Nick Tibbetts to create logos, posters, and printed artworks that celebrate the spirit of Spokane’s communities.

The graphic designers, illustrators, and photographers who formed The Hoods have created campaigns for some of Spokane’s largest companies as well as for nationally recognized brands. They came together earlier this year when they realized they had an opportunity to celebrate the intersection of Spokane’s history with its modern culture.

If you plan on attending, you can RSVP on the Facebook page for the event. Anyone with media questions or an interest in participating in future shows should contact Karli Ingersoll via e-mail or on (509) 863-7235.

As Emerson-Garfield representatives, we encourage everyone to attend in support of their own neighborhoods and to see what these great local designers have cooked up, but we have to confess to harboring mixed feelings about this show. Please visit tomorrow to read why.

New Sidewalks Completed

New Sidewalks Completed

The new sidewalks along Walnut and Madison are now completed.

From what we can tell, this is all the work that will be carried out on sidewalks in our neighborhood this year. Next year might bring more sidewalks to additional blocks along Madison — or it might not. That all depends on funding, formal requests, and grassroots pressure.

Have new sidewalks gone in near your house? Please send us photos so we can add them to the blog. Taking pictures of concrete slabs might not seem that important, but it’s the only way we can document all the improvements that are taking place across Emerson-Garfield.

Electronic Speed Limit Signs Appear

Electronic Speed Limit Signs Appear

Electronic speed limit signs like the one below have appeared on the 1200/1300 blocks of W Mansfield and W Montgomery.

Electronic speed limit sign on Mansfield

They don’t seem to have been put into operation since they were first spotted on Friday, August 31, but the ID tags certainly indicate that they’re there on behalf of the City of Spokane. We’re assuming that they mark the first step of a traffic-calming study for these two busy cut-throughs, although we won’t be certain until we receive official word from the city (and that likely won’t come until after Labor Day).

Have you recently seen one of these (or something like it) on your block in Emerson-Garfield?

In what might be related news, someone in a DayGlo orange vest with a clipboard has been seen counting trees that fall within the city right-of-way in the southwest corner of our neighborhood. It seems to be just an administrative procedure, and not because there are plans to claim the right-of-way for development.

Please get in touch or leave a comment if you have any additional information on either of these matters.

Community Garden Harvest, Aug 31

Community Garden Harvest, Aug 31

It’s harvest time! Come learn about Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood’s new community garden.

Emerson Community Garden was started this year with the vision of fostering neighborhood relationships and providing wholesome fresh produce to garden members and neighbors.

The garden members are hosting a free neighborhood corn feed this Friday, August 31 at 6pm in Emerson Park. Chicken and corn will be provided. Please bring a side dish or dessert to share. All are welcome.

Instead of each person gardening their own rented plot, Emerson Community Garden is a shared gardening experience where members share in the work and in the harvest from the garden as a whole. There are opportunities for involvement at various levels. It is a great way to meet neighbors, learn about gardening, and enjoy the fruits of gardening!

For more information contact Paul and Sara Kimball at kimballs09@gmail.com.

(This post was written by Sara Kimball, who heads the Emerson Community Garden and also serves as the community development representative for the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council.)

Tracking Crime in Emerson-Garfield

Tracking Crime in Emerson-Garfield

At the neighborhood potluck at the beginning of this month, we were pleased to be told by our resident Spokane Police officer that Emerson-Garfield had one of the city’s lowest neighborhood crime rates this summer.

But that doesn’t mean crime doesn’t happen here. The image below shows crimes that have taken place in the last month in the general area of our neighborhood. Darker areas = higher reported crimes.

Crime Map

This isn’t top-secret information — it comes from City of Spokane’s very useful, interactive, up-to-date crime map. You can find it here. (And, by the way, many more informative maps can be found on the city’s GIS page.)

On the crime map, you can view a street or satellite map of the entire city with colored overlays that represent the relative number of reported — and the key word is reported — crimes. You can view problem areas (i.e., hot spots) within the past month or the past year. You can also view crimes according to category: assault, burglary, drugs, malicious mischief, robbery, theft, vehicle prowling, and vehicle theft.

If you’re experiencing problems with crime, we encourage you to call the police and report it, regardless of whether or not you think they will do anything about it. As we are often reminded, the police can’t address crimes that we don’t report.

Once you’ve reported your crime, make a point of attending the next Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council meeting (as of this posting, the next one is scheduled for September 12). That’s where we can come together as a neighborhood — and likewise rise to any trending problems as a neighborhood too.