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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 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.

Take the STA Moving Forward Survey

Take the STA Moving Forward Survey

STA Moving ForwardSTA Moving Forward is the Spokane Transit Authority’s draft ten-year implementation plan that proposes to sustain existing service levels and provide more and better transit for the growing region.

As a part of the public outreach period from September through November, the STA has provided an online survey to solicit feedback on the proposed package of transit projects as well as a potential funding mechanism in the form of a voter-approved 0.3% increase in the local sales tax rate. Karl Otterstrom, Director of Planning at the STA, spoke about this at the most recent Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council meeting, explaining that a 0.3% increase in local sales tax equals 15¢ on a $50 purchase (fuel and most food products are sales tax exempt).

As part of STA Moving Forward, Emerson-Garfield would be likely to see more frequent service on the N. Monroe route (24) and later hours of operations on weekends.

The STA has asked everyone who’s interested in the future of public transit in Spokane to take that survey (it runs about 5 to 7 minutes) so that their board of directors has a broad spectrum of community feedback prior to making transit decisions later this winter.

To link to it again: STA Moving Forward survey.

Business Outreach Event Recap

Business Outreach Event Recap

The Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Planning group hosted a Business Outreach Event on April 17 at CSL Plasma (2126 N Monroe).

This post (and the video below) offers just a brief recap of some of the highlights; to download the full minutes, please click here.

There were 31 attendees in total. Among those speaking at the presentation were Craig Anderson, a Landscape Architect with AHBL; Inga Note, Senior Traffic Planning Engineer within the Streets Department; Jo Anne Wright, the liaison for the City of Spokane Planning Department; Candace Mumm, City Councilwoman for District 3; Jack Strong, with Strong Solutions and the past President of the Spokane Business Association; and Mark Camp, landlord of The Shop (among other businesses and buildings) in the South Perry district.

Some of the neighborhood businesses that were represented included: the Aiki Institute of Spokane, Waffles Plus, Ross’s Memories on Monroe, Azar’s Restaurant, Chairs Coffee, Tossed and Found; Zip’s and Petunia’s Marketplace.

After a brief introduction by Nicole Loncon, Assistant Manager at CSL Plasma, Jo Anne gave an overview of the neighborhood planning process and the relation between the city and the neighborhood committees since 2008.

Megan Kennedy, Vice Chair of the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council, continued the overview of the planning process. On the basis of regular stakeholder meetings and two workshops with the residents, six priorities emerged. All of those points had N. Monroe in common, therefore this corridor was given its own section in the Neighborhood Plan. These priorities are:

  1. Pedestrian safety
  2. Neighborhood beautification
  3. Business diversity and occupancy
  4. Community resources
  5. Alternative and public transportation
  6. Connectivity and events

E.J. Iannelli, Chair of the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council, introduced the possibility of different funding sources, such as the STA, the West Quadrant Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district, and Community Development funds. Ideally, a revitalization effort would be able to draw from those pots, in addition to any funding from projects which the City of Spokane might have.

Candace Mumm explained the Citizen’s Transportation Advisory Board (CTAB) money, which funds street improvements, sidewalk improvements, and pedestrian improvements. The CTAB board is the Spokane City Council; the Transportation Benefit District (TBD) committee advises the City Council board, who then makes the final decision on where to focus those funds. She mentioned that having a revitalized business association would strongly contribute towards qualifying as a targeted-area investment.

Inga Note addressed the possibility of converting N. Monroe from a five-lane street into a three-lane alternative. She had previously been with Spokane Valley for eight years, and has experience with performing a “road diet.” Along with the increased space for each lane, more space would be available for street parking, swales, and sidewalks.

Jack Strong continued the three-lane topic by giving an explanation of a similar change to East Sprague and the clear benefits. Mark Kent then spoke about the process that he has been involved with since 1999, to establish a neighborhood business network and go through the procedures for revitalizing his neighborhood.

Craig Anderson walked through the results of the business survey which represented the opinions of business owners on Monroe north of Indiana and south of the Garland District. In general, pedestrian safety was a top priority. Two-thirds of the businesses surveyed expressed an interest in involvement with a business association or being involved in other neighborhood development processes that may affect their business.

Jack explained the importance of setting up a Business Improvement District (BID), and agreeing on a small tax for having a third party take responsibility for the upkeep of the landscaping, rather than relying on every individual business to maintain their allocated section. He also invited the business owners to observe the activities of their Neighborhood Business Center (NBC), which meets at the Kendall Yards Community Room on the first Thursday of every month at 7:30am.

The invitees asked questions on topics such as angled parking and bus stops, which were discussed in further detail.

N. Monroe Traffic Presentation

N. Monroe Traffic Presentation

Below is a YouTube movie of the presentation on N. Monroe given by Bob Turner, Senior Traffic Engineer for the City of Spokane, at February’s Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council meeting.

It contains statistics such as average daily vehicle counts and vehicle speed as well as a ten-year retrospective of collisions and pedestrian fatalities. Some of the figures might be surprising, even if they do seem to be at odds with our day-to-day experience on N. Monroe.

Toward the end there’s a list of conclusions that can be drawn (or not) from the available data. Some of the recommendations and concerns tie in to Emerson-Garfield’s current Neighborhood Planning effort.

The individual slides should be fairly self-explanatory. If they aren’t, we can try to address your specific questions in the comments below.