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Transportation Advocacy Day, Feb 12

Transportation Advocacy Day, Feb 12

On Tuesday, February 12, Futurewise is holding a Transportation Advocacy Day here in Spokane. Registration is free, and the only requirement for participation is an interest in how local modes of transportation — which includes pedestrian traffic, bikes, and mass transit — will develop in the coming years.

As part of the activities, Futurewise has arranged virtual meetings with our state legislators. Participants will be informed about current transportation legislation and relevant talking points before the virtual meetings.

Futurewise writes about the event:

The state legislature is considering a new transportation revenue package. We need more voices to help make sure that pedestrians, cyclists, children and transit riders are not left out in the cold.

Too many neighborhoods lack safe streets and sidewalks for us to get around safely. Our legislators will be voting soon on bills designed to give everyone an equal opportunity to get to our destinations safely and affordably.

It’s nearly Valentine’s Day and we will have some fun with that. We will pose for a photo valentine for our decision makers that sends the message, “We ♥ Walk-Bike-Transit.” We will also have coffee and treats.

Let’s make it clear to our legislators: unsafe streets and bus service cuts are unacceptable. We need real solutions to keep Spokane moving forward.

Transportation Advocacy Day will be held downtown in the Community Building at 35 W Main Ave [map].

As a resident of Emerson-Garfield, you live in the 3rd Legislative District. This being the hub of the city, our district is set to receive the most attention at these meetings. Participants are asked to arrive at 8:45am and to expect the meetings and information sessions to run to about noon.

The 4th and 6th legislative districts will meet at different times.

Click here to register for Transportation Advocacy Day. Once you’ve registered, you’ll receive all the relevant meeting materials via e-mail on Monday (February 11) morning.

What Is a Walk Score?

What Is a Walk Score?

In the recent print mailing, we mentioned that Emerson-Garfield scores a 73 (out of a possible 100) on WalkScore.com. That places our neighborhood third in Spokane (which nets a meager 54) — just behind Riverside/Downtown (92) and Browne’s Addition (76).

But what exactly is a walk score?

It’s an international measure of walkability and ease of pedestrian/commuter access to amenities like restaurants, stores, parks, cultural hubs, bus stops, and more. It’s primarily used by realtors to assess the amenities near an address (which will have an effect on its value).

Broadly speaking, the higher the walk score, the less you’ll need a car, and consequently the more of a “community” feeling there will be. Walking or cycling instead of driving generally means more interaction with the neighbors and small businesses around you — and ultimately that’s better for our health, our economy, our property values, and the environment.

But we shouldn’t take Emerson-Garfield’s reassuring walk score for granted. All it takes is one bad planning idea or concentrated criminal activity to ruin a neighborhood’s accessibility. So it’s a quality of our neighborhood that we should work to preserve.

With that in mind, we’ve added a “Walk Score” page to the website. You can keep an eye on how it changes over time, and you can even type in your own address to see your home’s walk score.

Neighborhood Council Meeting Recap (Pt. 2)

Neighborhood Council Meeting Recap (Pt. 2)

Two weeks ago, we said we would be posting the second part of our recap — to include “recent crime hotspots, park improvements, a forthcoming mailer, and this year’s snow plow protocol” — the next day. That clearly didn’t happen. As is so often the case, day jobs and holidays had to take priority over blogging.

So, without further delay, let’s address those topics.

At this time of year, there is crime all over Emerson-Garfield — and indeed Spokane. Thieves take advantage of the reduced daylight hours and the holiday shopping frenzy. They will steal bikes, tools, toys, lawn ornaments, wiring, pets, children, old mattresses, rocks… in short, anything that’s not bolted to the floor of an underground steel bunker surrounded by a magical forcefield. And they will take your stuff to pawn shops or flea markets (not always locally) or try to hawk it online on Craigslist or eBay.

At November’s Neighborhood Council meeting, we heard from police that thieves were prowling alleyways in Emerson-Garfield and taking bolt cutters to garage padlocks. Your only real defense against this is increased vigilance. This means getting to know your neighbors, keeping an eye out on their behalf (and vice versa), and perhaps installing a video surveillance system or a motion-sensor light.

They’re also driving off with mid-’90s Hondas, since it’s easy to used shaved keys to jimmy their locks. (Good news? There’s apparently a fairly high recovery rate for stolen vehicles.) Any cars they can’t steal outright are targets for break-ins. If something that could be considered to be of any value is in sight, thieves will smash the window to get to it.

What else can you do, besides despair?

  • Hide or remove anything of value. Take your iPod charger inside with you. Don’t leave CDs, cassettes, or even 8-tracks on the front seat. Stow that ashtray full of parking-meter change.
  • If possible, note the serial number of the item. All pawn shops in the area have to upload the serial numbers of incoming items into a database every night. The police then cross-reference this database with reported stolen goods.
  • Report the stolen item. This is essential. Even if you think there isn’t much chance of getting your stolen item back, or that the police don’t care, it’s important that you at least try. If the police don’t know of the theft, they can’t investigate it. And if they also don’t know where thefts are occurring, they can’t assign any of their limited resources to that area.

As for park improvements: The new swingset is ready to be installed in Emerson Park. It might have to wait until spring. At any rate, it will bring a much-needed feature to the traditionally more neglected of Emerson-Garfield’s two parks. Corbin will also be getting a swingset, as previously noted here.

Both Corbin and Emerson now have electrical drop-boxes — which means the ability to hold concerts, movie nights, and all sorts of entertainment. Now all that’s needed is the people to make those events happen.

The neighborhood is looking to send out a print mailer in the near future. Here are some of the suggestions for what it should contain:

  • Sign up for e-mail newsletter
  • Invite to annual holiday potluck (Dec 12)
  • General news about the EGNC
  • Call for video submissions (for a proposed neighborhood movie)
  • Neighborhood survey
  • Call for sidewalk, trees and street improvement requests
  • Alert residents and business of this website
  • Plowing information

If you have any of your own suggestions about what you’d like to see on the mailer, please leave a comment or get in touch.

On the subject of the last of those bullet points, there’s a snow plowing protocol. Although most people ignore it, it still exists. And there’s every indication that the city is getting fed up with folks who flout that protocol — which means, among other things, that your car will be towed away at your expense.

During even years, park your car on the even (usually north or east) side of the streets when plowing is taking place. During odd years, park your car on the odd (usually south or west) side of the street. Opt to ignore it and you risk a $200 ticket and/or towing and/or the plow driver taking justifiable pleasure in trapping your car within a fortress of plowed snow and ice that will not melt until spring.

Despite the busy holiday season and year-end workload, we’ll try to have regular news and event updates. Most important among them: the annual holiday potluck on Wednesday, December 12. It’s at Corbin Senior Center and will start at 7pm. Mark your calendars!

Neighborhood Council Meeting Recap

Neighborhood Council Meeting Recap

Last night’s Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council meeting was one of the more satisfying ones. That’s because it was the one where we decide how to allot the Community Development funds (since that’s a term that keeps cropping up, we’ll soon have an explanatory post on what CD funding is and why it’s so important).

A small volunteer group of council members met prior to the neighborhood council meeting to review funding applicants. From a list of 28 organizations with 39 separate requests for service funding, the actual recommendations were narrowed down to six. Those were decided on some basic criteria:

  • Did Emerson-Garfield fund the organization last year?
  • What is the organization’s stated reason for applying for funding?
  • Does the organization have a physical location in our neighborhood? Or is it at least active there in some form?
  • Has a representative of the organization ever attended an EGNC meeting to personally “pitch” the funding request and field questions from the public?
  • Does the organization have access to additional funding sources beyond E-G’s Community Development funds?
  • Will the organization’s services directly benefit residents of our neighborhood?

On the basis of those criteria, the following six organizations were put forward and later approved by all voting members of the EGNC:

These organizations will receive letters of recommendation on behalf of the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council to be granted all or part of their funding request. (In previous years, the neighborhood council used to exercise almost complete control over funding recipients, but that process has changed this year to save administrative costs.)

From a separate pot of capital funding, the EGNC allotted the following amounts for the following purposes:

  • $2,600 to Corbin Senior Center for repairing a parking lot entrance and miscellaneous improvements like heat tape
  • $20,000 for sidewalks — which receives 1:1 matching funds from the city, therefore a total of $40,000 will be available for sidewalk installation and repair throughout E-G in 2013
  • $34,650 for home rehabilitation — which receives 3:1 matching funds from the city, therefore $103,950 will be available for initiatives like SNAP and Lead Safe Spokane throughout E-G in 2013

A representative of the City of Spokane’s Community, Housing and Human Services Department was on hand to answer our questions about funding procedures and possibilities. During the discussion about apportioning of funds, he informed us that we still have $17,000 remaining in unallocated funds for street tree removal and replanting.

New this year in the CD funding process is an additional $100,000 general pot. All neighborhoods are allowed to submit project applications for part or all of this money. After some discussion on whether or not the looming deadline (December 6) was feasible, the EGNC decided to put forward its own application for a covered bus shelter on the southbound corner of Monroe and Montgomery.

Other project ideas included a dog park, a pedestrian crossing at Grace and Monroe, and a picnic pavilion in Corbin Park. All of these were seriously considered, but voting members decided unanimously to concentrate on a single project so that it stood a better chance of being approved. It’s likely that all these ideas will be revisited in the future.

Also discussed at the meeting: recent crime hotspots, park improvements, a forthcoming mailer, and this year’s snow plow protocol. These will all be covered in a second post tomorrow (because this one’s getting awfully long).

If you are a resident of Emerson-Garfield and would like to apply for street tree planting/removal or sidewalk installation/repair, we will soon have posts that describe how to do that and that will provide the relevant forms. Please stay tuned.

Leaf Pickup on Nov. 11, 12, 18-20

Leaf Pickup on Nov. 11, 12, 18-20

City crews will be conducting leaf pickup on the west side of Emerson-Garfield (i.e., west of N. Monroe) on Sunday, November 11 and Monday, November 12, and on the east side of Emerson-Garfield (i.e., east of N. Monroe) from Sunday, November 18 through Tuesday, November 20. Pickup will take place on all those days between 6am and 10pm.

Leaf pickup means that the crews will be coming around with giant vacuum-type contraptions that suck up all the mucky leaves that have collected at the curb in front of your house. This makes winter snow removal easier and allows all the autumn rain and melted snow to drain more easily. It’s a good thing.

Two things to keep in mind:

  • Don’t rake leaves from your yard into the street! It’s tempting, we know, but excess leaves will overburden the crews and their machines. Use your green bin instead (collection for that continues until Nov. 30) or start a compost bin in your yard.
  • Don’t park on the street on leaf pickup days. Crews can’t vacuum leaves out from under vehicles. The inconvenience of parking in the alley or your garage for a few days will, we hope, be outweighed by the improvements to snow removal and storm drainage.

The full citywide leaf pickup schedule is available here (PDF link). More info on leaf pickup can be found here.