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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.

2014 Traffic-Calming Projects Recap

2014 Traffic-Calming Projects Recap

Here’s a short video from the City recapping the twenty traffic-calming projects that have been carried out across Spokane in the past year through approximately $617,000 in Photo Red funding. It also mentions some of the proposed projects for 2015.

In Emerson-Garfield, the traffic-calming project that was part of this 2014 round was the installation of roundabouts on W Montgomery (now completed). In 2015, E-G will see sidewalks installed in that area through the same scheme.

By the way, brace yourself about 6 seconds in. The scene — like the truck in it — comes out of nowhere.

Recap of the November E-G Neighborhood Council Meeting

Recap of the November E-G Neighborhood Council Meeting

Here’s a recap of the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council meeting that took place on Wednesday, November 12. Once they’ve been approved, you can download the full minutes from this page.

The first speaker was Tim Schwering, the Director of Strategic Initiatives in charge of civilian oversight for the Spokane Police Department. A sample body camera was passed through the room. He noted a study of camera use in Rialto, CA, which showed a 59% decrease in the use of force and an 87.5% decrease in complaints.

Three sample body camera videos of a single interaction were shown for a demonstration: one from each of two officers involved in handcuffing a man wanted for felony, and a third camera from a distance. The attendees shared their opinions of the videos.

Tim reported that the SPD will introduce 220 body cameras, which will be recharged after each shift, and the data will be uploaded to evidence.com at the same time. Any time a video is reviewed, a record is kept of the time and date of the review. There is an average of 3GB per officer per shift. Between the equipment and record specialists, the estimated cost to Spokane is around $350,000 a year, which would come from the general fund.

Next Karl Otterstrom of the Spokane Transit Authority spoke about High Performance Transit routes. STA predicts a 30% increase in ridership on these routes and will extend its hours of operation accordingly. In the fall of 2015, improvements to the Monroe/Regal corridor would be in the first phase. A sales tax increase of 3/10 of one percent would be needed for this improvement. (For a sample of real-time schedule prediction, visit OneBusAway.org for Puget Sound.)

Rick Harris from the West Central Community Center explained the center’s CDBG funding request to replace some of its carpet with tiles that can be individually replaced. Between 42 and 46% of those who are using the WCCC are from the Emerson-Garfield neighborhood. The total carpeting replacement would cost around $11,000; approximately one-third of that would ideally come from Emerson-Garfield.

A representative of the Lands Council (also on behalf of Fulcrum Institute) requested a $5,000 CDBG contribution from the neighborhood towards a $30,000 greenhouse that would be used for training former inmates at the new facility on N. Ash. Two other neighborhoods have been asked for the same amount and have approved the request. There are 71 people currently in training, so the contribution would be approximately $70 per person. This investment would have a long-term return, as there is a 15-year lease on the property.

The initial proposal from the E-G CDBG funding advisory committee was $20,000 for N. Monroe revitalization, $30,000 for sidewalk installation and repair, and $4254.79 for the WCCC. A motion was made to change the allocation. There was a 95% vote in favor of allocating $25,572.79 to the sidewalk budget, $5,000 to the Fulcrum greenhouse, $20,000 to a N. Monroe bus shelter, and $3,682 to the WCCC for carpeting.

There was a unanimous approval among voting members for the expansion of E-G’s boundaries to include the land ceded by the Northwest Neighborhood Association.

Captain Tracy Ponto-Douglas of the SPD read a record of the crimes for this year compared to this time last year. Compared to last year, overall crimes are down approximately 8%.

Because the temperatures have fallen below freezing, the November 15 tree planting will be postponed until spring 2015 and will be a much larger weekend event.

The Parks and Recreation Department will be installing a new roof on the restrooms at Corbin Park. They are also planning to redo the tennis courts.

Starting January, Corbin Senior Activity Center will have five new board members.

Jay Cousins, E-G’s Community Assembly rep, summarized the CA’s discussion of short-term (less than 30-day) rentals and the City’s current position that licensing fees should be the same as the Davenport’s.

Materials for the Oct 8 E-G Neighborhood Council Meeting

Materials for the Oct 8 E-G Neighborhood Council Meeting

The Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council holds its monthly meeting tomorrow (Wednesday, October 8) starting at the new time of 6pm at the Corbin Senior Center (827 W Cleveland).

We’ll be hearing from Tim Schwering, Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Spokane Police Department, about the practicalities and policies of police body cameras. We’ll also be voting on a neighborhood boundary expansion, deciding on details and planting dates for the Greening Neighborhoods Grants, laying the groundwork for a Safe Routes to Schools committee, and preparing for the allocation of almost $60,000 in Community Development Block Grant funding to our neighborhood in November.

The EGNC welcomes anyone who has a stake in our neighborhood, whether you’re a resident (renter or homeowner), a business owner, a church leader, a nonprofit head, or you have a child who attends one of the many schools in Emerson-Garfield.

You can download the October 8 meeting materials as PDFs here:

If you’re on Facebook, you can RSVP for the neighborhood council meeting on the event page.

Add to Your Neighborhood’s Profile at Shaping Spokane

Add to Your Neighborhood’s Profile at Shaping Spokane

The City’s Planning Department is asking for your input on neighborhood histories and identities.

To take part, visit the interactive map at ShapingSpokane.org and use the icons to mark the things and places in your neighborhood that you consider noteworthy. By filling out the Q&A-style text fields on the My Neighborhood Story page, you can enter more in-depth information. You’re not obligated to answer every question. Just pick and choose what topics are important to you and write about them.

Your response will help build a more complete neighborhood profile that identifies what you and your neighbors value most about where you live, work, shop and play. With the community’s help and input, ShapingSpokane.org will showcase each of Spokane’s 27 neighborhoods and help establish policies for land use, transportation, parks, open spaces, shopping, dining, entertainment and employment.

The idea, or so we’ve been told, is that these profiles will be integrated into the City’s Comprehensive Plan to offer a bit of crowdsourced background and give developers a sense of the neighborhoods in which they’re building.

The more responses they get, the better and more complete the profile will be. So feel free to pass along the ShapingSpokane.org links to your neighbors and share them on social media.

And to show your true neighborhood pride, once you’re done with the virtual component, come out to support and participate in all the great neighborhood activities like the Greek Food Festival at Holy Trinity Church (September 25-27), Craftwalk (September 26), the Korean Food Sale at Spokane Hope Christian Reformed Church (September 26), and the Corbin Senior Center Auction (September 27).