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Recap of the February E-G Neighborhood Council Meeting

Recap of the February E-G Neighborhood Council Meeting

The February 11, 2015 meeting of the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council began with a review of this year’s traffic-calming applications. Three residential applications and two arterial applications were submitted for the EGNC’s approval. The locations are shown below.

Each applicant, if in attendance, was given an opportunity to describe the traffic problem, its threats to safety and quality of life, and their proposed improvements. Later in the meeting, to facilitate the voting process, individual street views and an overview of the locations were displayed with a projector. Each voting member was allowed to cast one residential vote and one arterial vote.

E-G traffic-calming map 2015

For the residential improvements, the intersection of Alice and Cedar received 16 votes. Stevens and York received five. Another application regarding residential area improvements had been submitted by Shannon Lawson, the principal of Spokane Public Montessori; it received five votes. The neighborhood council determined that the Montessori application was still valuable, but it could be covered by one or two other funding mechanisms, such as Safe Routes to School, whereas the other residential projects would not.

For the arterial improvements, Lincoln and Indiana received no votes because this intersection is sandwiched between two other intersections with stoplights (Indiana and Post, and Indiana and Monroe). The only other arterial application, Adams and NW Boulevard, received all votes aside from five abstentions. That pedestrian crossing is very close to Spokane Public Montessori, which is expanding to K-7. It would also function as a seed for the larger improvements as mentioned above.

The sidewalk list that was approved in November was rendered invalid by shifting Community Development Block Grant eligibility. Therefore a revised sidewalk list was voted on and unanimously approved. Council member Candace Mumm also explained the possible funding sources that might help to improve the sidewalk project if CDBG funding will not cover a particular area.

New attendee Steven Anderson volunteered to be Emerson-Garfield’s dedicated representative on the Pedestrian Traffic and Transportation (PeTT) Committee. Tim Musser volunteered to serve as the E-G rep on the Community Assembly’s Community Development Committee, which will help to determine how these federal funds are allocated to the neighborhoods via the City of Spokane.

Laura Schlangen, who is now officially a resident, reported on Corbin Senior Activity Center. An elevator is to be installed in the Upper South classroom; the remodel will cost around $350,000. March 14 is the Movin’ and Groovin’ Fair, where a half-price membership to the CSAC will be offered.

Candace Mumm gave a report on the City Council. There might be a slight increase in water bills, and the power bill is about to increase as well. The City of Spokane is committed to charging the lowest rate possible. However, the water pipes are so old that the system loses approximately 20% of the water that is available.

Barb Biles briefly reported on the Land Use Committee, which addresses issues such as cell-phone towers being out of place. There were no urgent matters. Like the E-G Neighborhood Council, there is generally less activity than usual during the winter months.

Karl Boldt also reported on the Spring Cleanup and explained it to the new attendees. Saturday, April 18 has been proposed as this year’s roll-off dumpster date. Karl would like to have an assistant to help with managing this popular event (please get in touch if you’re interested).

This year the cleanup crews will be unable to dispose of household hazardous waste; E-G was the only neighborhood to make use of that cleanup funding. At the first Emerson-Garfield Farmers’ Market of each month in June, July and August, a handful of dump passes (approximately 10) will be handed out on a first-come, first-serve basis. Each pass is valued at $20. Unfortunately, much of what was brought to the dump last year using the pass was valued at only $5, so $15 was wasted by those dump runs.

The council moved on to discussion items. John and Rusty Vlahovich have moved out of the neighborhood and will be missed. John served on the West Quadrant Tax Increment Financing (WQ TIF) Committee and helped secure funding for N Monroe improvements. Megan Kennedy will leave her position as EGNC vice chair in April and fill John’s shoes on the WQ TIF Committee. With her experience in the neighborhood planning projects, and the relocation of her business onto N Monroe, this position will be a good fit. This means the EGNC vice chair position will be available in April (please get in touch if you’re interested in running for the position).

There have already been seven applications for the 2015 E-G Farmers’ Market. Al Steuart has been very active with ideas for various events, which have traditionally drawn a larger crowd to the market. He shared several event ideas, such as a composting and vermiculture; water conservation; student art; reading for children; cooking; canning and food preservation; high-tech gardening gadgets; and do-it-yourself dehydrators and ovens. (Please get in touch if you’d like to organize one or more of these events.) There is consideration for relocating the market onto N Monroe in front of the new Modern Monk microbrewery.

Stacy Blowers with Petunia’s Marketplace explained a seed library that will be provided in the store. The other two libraries in the area are in Hillyard and Otis Orchards. You would sign up for a library card and check out seeds for no cost. They are hoping to benefit collaborations with Project Hope Spokane and Second Harvest through this. The capacity for checkout, still to be determined, might be four seeds of each variety.

In January, an application for $3.8 million which had been submitted by City engineers for N Monroe renovations was approved (please see our previous blog post for more info). There was much discussion about benefits and drawbacks, with insights provided by those who had been involved with Emerson-Garfield’s Neighborhood Planning Committee. All attendees, irrespective of opinion, were encouraged to research road diets and look at case studies locally and nationally.

Jackie Caro from the Office of Neighborhood Services applauded the neighborhood’s tree planting efforts, and explained a ballot for a $5,000 greening grant, which anyone can apply for. In 2014, eight new trees were planted on N Maple, and 64 perennials will be planted this April. All voting members agreed to request an additional $5,000 grant. There were no objections to receiving additional funding.

District 3 City Council Mobile Office (Feb 17)

District 3 City Council Mobile Office (Feb 17)

District 3 City Councilwomen Candace Mumm and Karen Stratton are hosting a mobile office on Tuesday, February 17 from 1:30-2:30pm at the Shadle Park Library (2111 W Wellesley).

Mobile Office Flyer 2015-2-17

The mobile office is a great opportunity to speak to your elected City Council representatives in an informal setting and bring certain issues to their attention. It’s also a good way to stay informed and hear what the City Council is prioritizing and the rationale for their voting decisions directly from the council members themselves.

The Future of North Monroe

The Future of North Monroe

The state of North Monroe has been a point of concern for residents and businesses for a long time now. This poorly lit, five-lane, treeless thoroughfare physically and psychologically divides Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood. There have been pedestrian fatalities. The doors of parked cars have been ripped off by passing traffic. The current environment is downright hostile to anyone who wants to park and walk from shop to shop, and by the same token, it poses an additional challenge to all the businesses that lack dedicated parking. The number of vacant and decrepit buildings is a good indication of that.

Even this past November, when the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council was actively seeking to fund the installation an STA bus shelter so the growing ridership of the #24 didn’t have to stand in the rain, we could only identify one location with sufficient sidewalk in the stretch between Indiana and Grace.

For all these reasons, North Monroe featured heavily in the EGNC’s Neighborhood Action Plan, which had the support of residents, businesses and even the full City Council. And it’s been an ongoing focus of many parties outside of the neighborhood council — including the North Monroe Business Association, the West Quadrant Tax Increment Financing District (WQ TIF), several members of the City Council, the STA, and the City of Spokane.

Because the funding necessary to comprehensively overhaul North Monroe was so great, most everyone thought that the timeframe for this kind of project was about seven or ten years away. But that’s changed.

This past summer, engineers from the City applied for two ambitious grants with the goal of improving North Monroe. At the start of the year they got word that those applications were either successful or highly ranked for approval.

Image from WSDoT application: N. Monroe (Indiana to Kiernan) showing sidewalks and curb bump-outs.
Image from WSDoT application: N. Monroe (Indiana to Kiernan) showing sidewalks and curb bump-outs.

The first comes from the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDoT). It has awarded the City $3,773,200 through the federal Highway Safety Improvement Program, which, according to this overview, is to:

Convert to two lanes with a two-way left turn lane and wide curb lanes. Install curb extensions and pedestrian lighting and upgrade sidewalk and traffic signs and signals.

Images that accompanied this grant application are provided above and below. They show the current conditions — narrow parking insets, narrow travel lanes, sidewalks as narrow as 5′ — and sketches of the proposed improvements with wider sidewalks, wider travel lanes, wider parking insets, a wider center turn lane, improved lighting and better natural stormwater mitigation using trees.

The second grant is through the WSDoT’s Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Program (this document has more info). The state legislature still needs to formally adopt and fund the list in their 2015 session, but this project ranks high on the shortlist. The remaining $326,800 of the anticipated $4.1 total to revitalize North Monroe would come from this program.

Incidentally, this funding comes in addition to the $300,000 $150,000 that the WQ TIF has allocated as “seed money” to attract large-scale grants for this stretch of North Monroe.

The project scope includes reducing North Monroe from five lanes to three — a “road diet” in urban planning lingo — from just north of Indiana to approximately Kiernan at the top of the North Hill. The existing parking insets will be filled in to make a consistent 12′-wide sidewalk with trees and/or planted swales in some places. Curb extensions will be added at all intersections. The existing outside travel lane will be turned into on-street parking. The traffic signal at Montgomery — the intersection where the Institute for Extended Learning and Caffe Delicio draw considerable pedestrian traffic — will be modified to make it a safer pedestrian crossing. Other marked crosswalks in the corridor will be enhanced with center refuge islands.

Image from WSDoT application: Proposed cross-section.
Image from WSDoT application: Proposed cross-section.

Pedestrian lighting is included to some extent. In line with their recently adopted Moving Forward initiative, the STA also intends to incorporate bus stop and other high-performance transit improvements into the project.

There are many modeling and case studies (see here, for example, or here, or here) that show these improvements will not only make North Monroe safer and more attractive to pedestrians, they will also improve traffic flow while increasing business visibility. That might seem counterintuitive, but the proof can even be seen locally in areas like East Sprague, South Perry and Market Street in Hillyard. More lanes does not necessarily equal better traffic flow and better business.

As for the timeline: This is no longer a seven- or ten-year pipe dream. Planning will likely take place throughout 2016, and the conditions of the funding stipulate that the construction contract must be out to ad by September 2017. This means construction will take place in 2018 — just three years from now. On the scale of construction projects, that’s just around the corner.

In due course the EGNC will be working with these City engineers, the City Council, the STA, the North Monroe Business Association and other organizations to ensure that the redevelopment of North Monroe takes place in a way that aligns with everyone’s priorities.

Recap of the December E-G Neighborhood Council Meeting

Recap of the December E-G Neighborhood Council Meeting

The December 10, 2014 meeting of the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council began after its Holiday Potluck. Three new voting members and 14 guests were in attendance, as were three firefighters from Spokane Station No. 2.

Despite scheduling a spot on the agenda, no one from Spokane Public Schools was present to speak about the proposed bond and levy that will be on the 2015 ballot.

Two representatives from a new charter school, PRIDE Prep, spoke about their mission and enrollment process. They are located in the old Social Security Administration building at 811 E Sprague and will be opening in the fall of 2015. Their curriculum is hands-on and makes ample use of technology. There will be a maximum of 120 students for the upcoming school year; the enrollment deadline is Wednesday, February 25, and they are already 80% enrolled.

The vote was 14-2 (with several abstentions) in favor of foregoing the January meeting. This means the next E-G Neighborhood Council meeting will be on Wednesday, February 11.

Alicia Powell informed the council that the City would like to plant edible fruit and nut trees on the neighborhood’s newly annexed land near the TJ Meenach Bridge. The Water Dept. will install irrigation and the public will be allowed to glean. The EGNC will work with the City over the next few months to arrange a spring planting.

Following the EGNC’s funding allocations in November, the status of Community Development Block Grant applications was discussed. Timothy Diko and Sara Kimball were applauded for their involvement with filling out the CDBG applications. Monroe, on Dalton, will receive a new bus shelter. Fulcrum Institute and the West Central Community Center have both verbally thanked the EGNC for its support in the upcoming year.

The two new traffic circles on Montgomery were discussed briefly. They are having their intended effect of slowing speeding cars; however, some careless or uninformed drivers have been seen simply riding over them or not making the proper left turn and instead cutting the “round” out of the roundabout. The roundabouts themselves will be more noticeable by next spring once vegetation has been planted.

Laura Schlangen reported on the Corbin Senior Activity Center. Corbin’s membership has increased to 1188 members Deeper Walk Ministries is offering church services at the Center on Sundays at 10am.

Karl Bolt reported that seven tons of garbage was collected in 2014 because of the dump passes we distribute at the Emerson-Garfield Farmers’ Market. This past year record total of $6,964.95 was spent on cleanup efforts of more than 41 tons of waste. The next roll-off event — aka Spring Cleanup — will be on Saturday, April 18.

This past season saw $41,458.28 in total sales at the Emerson-Garfield Farmers’ Market.  About one-third of the vendors have direct ties to Emerson-Garfield, so the sales generate some neighborhood return. A total of $1,951 was spent using SNAP (EBT) funds. Every $5 spent at the market using an EBT card exchanges for $7 in market tokens (the supplement is called Fresh Bucks), with the $2 difference being reimbursed by Catholic Charities; more than $700 in Fresh Bucks was issued this season to eligible patrons.

In addition to the support from Catholic Charities, the market also arranged collaborations with Project Hope; Knox Presbyterian, which supplied the location; Spokane Hope Christian Reformed Church, which shares the building with Knox and sells Korean food from inside the church; and Audubon and Garfield Elementary Schools. The farmers’ market also recently won a marketing award from Community Assembly.

Candace Mumm reported on issues that Spokane City Council has been debating. Among other things, the Salvation Army warming shelter is the only shelter funded this year, and therefore they have requested that bus passes to the shelter be included in the budget.

Paul Kimball gave credit to the firefighters who attended for part of the meeting, and discussed some of the developments at the Fire Department.

Recap of the October E-G Neighborhood Council Meeting

Recap of the October E-G Neighborhood Council Meeting

The October 8 meeting of the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council began at its new time of 6pm.

Christa Richardson of the Corbin Senior Activity Center started off the meeting by sharing the good news about their Munch and Mingle auction on September 27, which raised $20,000. Of that, $4,000 was directed towards the elevator. The center’s new van arrived as well.

The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) applications were explained, and attendees were invited to participate in determining how the funding for 2015 will be allocated among the neighborhood. Six volunteers formed a committee that will meet prior to the November 24 deadline to do so. Their proposal will be discussed, refined and put to vote at the November 12 meeting of the E-G Neighborhood Council.

Timothy Diko and Melissa Parker have been scouting out locations for sheltered bus stops, bike racks and trash cans to be placed along Monroe Street. Those kinds of projects were chosen because they would not require follow-up costs and would be long-lasting. The consensus of the meeting attendees was that the stop on the west corner of Montgomery and Monroe could use a shelter and nearby bike rack, and the stops on either side of the street at Grace and Monroe could also benefit from the same.

Northwest Neighborhood identified a block of land adjacent to Emerson-Garfield where the residents tend to identify more with Emerson-Garfield than Northwest. Their organization voted to cede the land to E-G. The boundaries to the north are Fairview and Ash to Cochran, south across the T.J. Meenach bridge, along the Pettit Drive Ridge, to Indiana; Indiana east to Belt, and Belt north to Fairview.  A concern was raised regarding the average income of that section of land, and what effect that might have on Emerson-Garfield’s qualification for CDBG funding. The vote to approve the boundary extension was tabled until November.

The Greening Neighborhoods Grant was approved for both applications. The Maple traffic island vegetation can be acquired soon, but the other area may need to wait until November.Spokane Urban Forestry will determine the dates. Over a dozen attendees volunteered to help with planting when the time comes.

On Washington near North Central High School is an organization, Community Frameworks, that would like to contribute to the redevelopment of that area, to include practical beautification and increased walkability. They hope to develop a 33-unit apartment building for lower-income residents. Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council wrote letters of support for their funding applications.

Because there are three elementary schools (i.e., Garfield, Audubon, Spokane Public Montessori) in a roughly one-mile area within E-G, there is a justification for putting together a Safe Routes to School task force with the goal of working with the Spokane Regional Health District to develop an entire pedestrian- and bike-friendly network of paths to these schools. Several volunteers, including councilwoman Candace Mumm, expressed an interest in participating.

A motion was made to provide meeting notes for review and approval by e-mail, rather than waiting until the following monthly meeting. It was decided to e-mail the minutes shortly following each meeting, and voting members can then respond to the e-mail.

Tim Burns, the Police Ombudsman, reported that the five-member citizen oversight commission over Spokane Police Officers is in effect as of September 15. The sheriff’s office has expressed an interest in a similar committee. Adrian Dominguez, an epidemiologist with the Health Department, represents our district (District 3) on the oversight commission. Each of the other two city council districts selected one representative, and the mayor selected two.

City Council member Candace Mumm reported on the approval of a $67,000 traffic calming grant. A pilot program near Gonzaga will experiment with a permeable pavement solution, which could work with N. Monroe as well. The Women and Children’s Free Restaurant has purchased Center Pointe near the Community Frameworks building for their new location. The new city budget proposal was released, and a priority was given to fire safety.

Sara Kimball reported on sidewalk repair near Emerson Park, in response to some large tree roots. There were four curb cuts near Jefferson and Alice for ADA accessibility. A sidewalk on the west side of Madison all the way from Indiana to Emerson Park may be in development in the near to long term.

The Emerson-Garfield Farmers’ Market is on track to have over $40,000 in sales this year. A long line of residents interested in claiming dump passes came to the market for their first time on October 3 and commented positively on the market. The market’s season finale will be on October 17 and will feature a cider press (apples can be brought or bought).

Tim Schwering, Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Spokane Police Department, arrived after the meeting had ended due to a long Q&A session at a talk earlier in the evening. He has rescheduled to present on the police body cameras at the November 12 meeting.