Browsed by
Tag: City of Spokane

Recap of the February 2016 E-G Neighborhood Council Meeting

Recap of the February 2016 E-G Neighborhood Council Meeting

This is a brief recap of the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council (EGNC) meeting that took place on February 10, 2016.

Patrick Striker, the Executive Director of the Spokane Community-Oriented Policing Services (Spokane C.O.P.S.) program gave common-sense advice about preventing crime. Some of his tips included:

  • Do not leave anything tempting in a vehicle, such as a laptop bag, regardless of whether or not it contains valuable contents. As jackets can also be used for covering valuables, that may also be tempting to a criminal.
  • Get to know your neighbors so you can identify unusual activity or vehicles.
  • Report anything suspicious you see by calling Crime Check at 456-2233, even if you don’t expect the police to act on it. Incidents have to be logged to establish crime patterns and focus police patrols.
  • If an incident is happening right at the moment, call 911.
  • Volunteer for Neighborhood Observation Patrol (NOP) or at your local C.O.P.S. Shop. In Emerson-Garfield, that’s C.O.P.S. North Central.
  • When criminals see more activity and oversight in a neighborhood, such as with an active Block Watch, they are less confident in committing crime.
EGNC_Feb_2016
Kathy Armstrong and Patrick Striker of Spokane C.O.P.S. speak to the neighborhood council

Patrick also noted that code violation complaints can be submitted through a C.O.P.S. Shop, so all of the documentation can be recorded with the Shop as the source to keep you anonymous. If you do file directly with Code Enforcement, you may check a box on the form to remain anonymous if you feel threatened.

Kathy Armstrong of the Spokane Police Department reported on the Department of Justice Reform Recommendations, with forums bridging the gap between law enforcement and the community. The DOJ works together with the reform committee. Officers go through Crisis Intervention Training (CIT) to handle individuals with mental health issues. In addition to 40 hours of CIT, officers have also gone through training with Spokane Mental Health. There is additional training planned with World Relief to educate officers on the cultures of those who are immigrating into Spokane.

Jonathan Mallahan of the City of Spokane’s Division of Neighborhood and Business Services (currently called the Office of Neighborhood Services) reported on the upcoming organizational changes at the City. He stated that there will be no reduction in the workforce during the reorganization of departments, which is scheduled to take place on March 1, and that many of the current departmental duties will be brought into closer alignment. Many of the questions that were brought up following Jonathan’s presentation were related to Parking Services, so an additional speaker will be invited to a future neighborhood council meeting to address that topic.

A call went out for volunteers at the Emerson-Garfield Farmers’ Market for the 2016 season. Several members stepped forward to assist and share responsibilities.

The new Neighborhood Notification Ordinance, which currently notifies the EGNC chair and vice chair of the applications for construction projects, was discussed along with recent training sessions on the issue. Neighborhood Notification is intended to keep residents apprised of what is happening in terms of neighborhood development and will give them some voice in the process. Anyone will be able to sign up for permit and land use alerts within a certain distance from their property.

Traffic-calming requests are due by the March 9 EGNC meeting and will be put forward for approval at that time.

Laura Schlangen reported on the Corbin Senior Activity Center. Beth Daniels is the new administrative manager and will be responsible for tours. The Movin’ and Groovin’ Fair will be on March 5. The Parks Department has decided not to give financial support to the center’s elevator project.

Jay Cousins reported on the recent Community Assembly meeting. The main issue was a prolonged discussion regarding the ongoing funding of citywide sidewalk projects. Because so many decisions are pending, there will be no sidewalk projects in 2016.

The Land Use Committee, which Barb Biles attended, discussed the impact of high-volume housing at Indian Trail, but there were no issues discussed that would impact Emerson-Garfield.

Jonathan Martinez reported on the Rental Housing Stakeholders Group. Concerns regarding landlord-tenant issues will be presented at the YMCA corporate building on Boone and Monroe on February 23 at 3:30pm.

The West Quadrant Tax Increment Financing Committee (WQTIF), represented by Megan Kennedy, did not have a quorum for the past two meetings. The main focus in our neighborhood with the committee is North Monroe. An additional position on the committee is open, so please consider serving.

Carlie Hoffman reported on topics discussed at the recent meeting of the citywide Pedestrian, Traffic and Transportation (PeTT) Committee. The Washington State Department of Transportation may provide counters to measure bikes and pedestrians if the City can find funds for installation and maintenance. The City is also currently working on updating the Transportation chapter of the Comprehensive Plan.

Materials for the Feb 10 E-G Neighborhood Council Meeting

Materials for the Feb 10 E-G Neighborhood Council Meeting

Following its customary January hiatus, the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council resumes its monthly meeting schedule tomorrow (Wednesday, February 10). It starts at 6pm in the Corbin Senior Activity Center Center (827 W Cleveland).

There are two guest speakers this month: Jonathan Mallahan of the City of Spokane and Patrick Striker of Spokane COPS. Jonathan will be speaking about the reorganization at City Hall and what that means for neighborhoods. He’ll leave time to field questions and address some of the concerns we had when the news was announced. Patrick will talk about crime prevention and what’s new at the area COPS Shops.

Further discussion items include finding much-needed volunteers for the upcoming season of the Emerson-Garfield Farmers’ Market, a brief distillation of what we’ve gleaned from the recent Neighborhood Notification trainings, revisiting the EGNC bylaws and job descriptions for the executive members (e.g., chair, vice chair, secretary), plus reports from all our neighborhood reps on committees across Spokane. And there’s always room on the agenda for additional topics if you have one you’d like to add.

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

Owing to everyone’s busy schedules, we do our best to stick to a strict 90-minute meeting. It helps us keep discussion on topic if you familiarize yourself with the issues on the agenda beforehand.

Everyone who has a stake in Emerson-Garfield is welcome, so we look forward to seeing you tomorrow! Feel free to RSVP to the event on Facebook or on Nextdoor.

Traffic-Calming Workshops (Jan 26, 27 & Feb 3)

Traffic-Calming Workshops (Jan 26, 27 & Feb 3)

The Office of Neighborhood Services is hosting three different traffic-calming workshops for anyone interested in learning how their grassroots traffic-calming proposals can turn into fully realized projects. To put it another way: If you really want a roundabout or a crosswalk somewhere, these workshops will let you know if it’s possible and, if so, how to go about making it happen.

The workshops will take place on Tuesday, January 26 at the Northeast Community Center (4001 N Cook), Wednesday, January 27 at the Southside Senior & Community Center (3151 E 27th) and on Wednesday, February 3 at the West Central Community Center (1603 N Belt). All of them will run from 5:30 to 7pm.

traffic_calming_2016

Although the workshops are provided to each of the three city districts, you don’t have to live in a particular district to attend a particular workshop.

For more information and further links on this topic, please see this recent blog post on the City’s website. And if you’re wondering what good can come of the traffic-calming program, have a look at this roundup of citizen-driven traffic-calming projects constructed just in the past year.

No More Office of Neighborhood Services?

No More Office of Neighborhood Services?

[NOTE: Within minutes making of this post, we received a call from Jonathan Mallahan of the City of Spokane. He stressed that the Office of Neighborhood Services is not going away and that the initial blog post announcing the City Hall reorganization (linked below) could perhaps have been clearer about this. We’ve invited him to speak at the next EGNC meeting to clarify any uncertainties and added a question mark to our title above. Please read the following with this in mind.]

Mayor Condon announced yesterday that the City of Spokane would soon be undergoing another organizational restructuring.

A blog post on the City website had the following to say:

A consolidated Neighborhood and Business Services division, under the leadership of Jonathan Mallahan, will integrate planning, developer services and parking into what was previously Neighborhood Services to better align our customer service efforts.

This means the Office of Neighborhood Services as we know it is going away. Technically, this is a violation of the City Charter (Article VIII), which calls for a very specific ONS department:

Section 71: Neighborhood Councils Program – Creation

A neighborhood councils program is hereby created which shall consist of the following bodies: Neighborhood councils, the community assembly and the office of neighborhood services which shall be established in accordance with the rules and procedures designated in the following sections.

Effective Date: November 2000
Ordinance C32687 Section 1

Is it merely a name change or does it have more far-reaching implications?

The idea of neighborhoods and businesses being served by the same department does have some advantages, as neighborhoods and business tend to be viewed by the wider community as separate entities, not parts of the same whole. That has had the potential to cause unnecessary rifts where there should be collaboration.

But if the change results in a diminished focus on neighborhoods and the increased transfer of their power to City Hall, it would threaten to take even more self-governance away from Spokane citizens and put it in the hands of a small number of bureaucrats. That’s a change that only the bureaucrats themselves would welcome.

We’ll be following this development and discussing it at the next Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council meeting on Wednesday, February 10 at 6pm in the Corbin Senior Activity Center (827 W Cleveland).

Neighborhood Notification Trainings (Jan 12 & 28)

Neighborhood Notification Trainings (Jan 12 & 28)

Owing to the popularity of its previous Neighborhood Notification training session on December 28, the Office of Neighborhood Services has coordinated two more training sessions.

The first is a repeat of the earlier Neighborhood Notification Training. That is scheduled for today (Tuesday, January 12) from 5:30-7:00pm at the the West Central Community Center (1603 N Belt) in the Mason Room at the rear of the building. If you missed the first one in December, it would be useful to attend this one to get an overview of what Neighborhood Notification involves and the protocols associated with it.

huose_plans

A second more advanced training covering Decision Criteria will be offered on Thursday, January 28 from 5:30-7:00pm (location TBD, but likely at the West Central Community Center once again). This session will provide a more in-depth look at the decision-making criteria for development projects. If you’re planning on attending the Decision Criteria Training, it’s important that you attend the Neighborhood Notification Training beforehand.

These training sessions are open to anyone who’s interested, not just neighborhood council members, so please feel free to attend and help spread the word.

To RSVP for either session, please contact Jackie Caro at jcaro@spokanecity.org or call (509) 625-6733.