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February Neighborhood Council Meeting Recap

February Neighborhood Council Meeting Recap

[What follows is a recap of the Emerson-Garfield Neighborhood Council Meeting that took place on Wednesday, February 13. You can either read slimmed and streamlined version of the minutes below, or download the full version of the meeting’s minutes here.]

The meeting began with a presentation from Judge Tracy Staab of the Spokane Municipal Court. The judge gave a Powerpoint slideshow that detailed the many facets of the Court, such as crime statistics, budgets, and punishment or rehabilitation methods. The slideshow was supposed to be made available online at the Spokane Municipal Court’s website, but has not appeared as of this post.

The popular Spring Clean Up event is still tentatively scheduled for Saturday, April 27 between 9am and 1pm at Faith Bible Church.

The call for logo designs for the neighborhood council is still out. Several entries have been submitted so far. If you have a design idea, please submit it to Chairwoman Liorah Wichser ahead of the vote in March. The general consensus was that our logo should reflect the historic nature of our neighborhood, the residential feel that we exude, the small local businesses that we have — and maybe that it should have a marmot on it.

Members were asked to provide input on the pending mission statement as the neighborhood council works to become an official nonprofit organization.

Jackie Caro from Neighborhood Services talked briefly about the traffic-calming project that had been approved on Montgomery Street between Monroe and Northwest Blvd (see here for more info). The engineers need more time to evaluate the project, which means the project has been delayed. Anyone with follow-up questions can contact Jackie at (509) 625-6733. To apply for a traffic-calming project on your street, please download the Toolbox (PDF link) from the ONS. Applications are due very, very soon.

Laura Schlangen gave the report for Corbin Senior Center. The Movin’ and Groovin’ Fair is scheduled for Saturday, March 9 from 8am to 2pm. The Corbin Golf Tournament is set for June 21 at Indian Canyon. They are in search of donors and players. Corbin will also be holding a yard sale on May 11 from 9am to 2pm. If you provide your own table, the cost is $10. It will cost $20 if Corbin provides you a table. Food will be available for purchase as well.

Jay Cousins reported that the neighborhood planning committee has a new meeting time. It is the first Thursday of every month at 6pm in the upper north room of the Corbin Senior Center. The group is small and would love more attendees.

There will be was a meeting for the review of the city’s Comprehensive Plan at the Shadle Library from 5:30 to 7:30pm on Tuesday, February 19. The purpose is to update all aspects of the plan, with a particular eye on transportation. A more general meeting for the public has been scheduled for mid-March.

Community Development rep Sara Kimball reported that the new swing set at Corbin Park has been installed. New horseshoe pits are proposed to go in the area of the old swing set. There is going to be some tree pruning in Corbin Park and as many as five trees will be removed due to disease.

Sara is also accepting applications for repairing damaged sidewalks: see this post for more information on how to repair existing sidewalk or install new sidewalks near your home.

Finally, Kelly Cruz from West Central Neighborhood Council requested a neighborhood representative from our group to be on the Community Assembly’s Land Use Committee. Tom Powell agreed to be that representative. They meet on the third Thursday of every month.

The next meeting will be Wednesday, March 13 from 7 to (roughly) 9pm at Corbin Senior Center.

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.

Traffic Calming on Mansfield & Montgomery

Traffic Calming on Mansfield & Montgomery

Earlier this year our neighborhood submitted a request for traffic-calming measures to the city. The request was for curb bump-outs along the 1100 to 1400 blocks of W Mansfield Ave. They were intended to slow speeders and discourage drivers from using it as a cut-through between N. Monroe and NW Blvd.

City engineers recently investigated the request (we think that’s when the electronic speed limit signs appeared) and they discovered that the problem included W Montgomery Ave as well. If anything, Montgomery had a bigger problem than Mansfield. A traffic light at the intersection of Montgomery and Monroe means that people hotfoot it for a block or two when the light is green. Trinity Catholic School is along that road, too, which makes inattentive speeders doubly dangerous.

Instead of curb bump-outs, the engineers proposed something more effective: traffic circles (aka “roundabouts”). They will address Montgomery Ave immediately and Mansfield will follow later, although it might require another application process next year to ensure that the project remains a top priority. Their preliminary plan for a total of six roundabouts — with trees and flowers, no less  — is depicted below.

Mansfield & Montgomery traffic calming proposal. Click for a larger view.

Over the next few weeks, the City of Spokane will be sending out letters to residents and businesses in the Montgomery area. If you’re in support of the project — and why wouldn’t you be when it means less transient traffic, fewer accidents, and fewer speeders? — you should promptly sign this letter and return it to the city. A group of volunteer residents will also doorbell with signature sheets to ensure that everyone understands the positive impact the project will have. We’ll need signatures from 50% +1 of properties for approval.

It’s important to note that this is not being funded by tax dollars. It comes from Photo Red funds. Photo Red funds come from people who are fined for running red lights. This money is pooled and then allocated to implement these types of traffic-calming projects. In other words, red-light runners are paying for you to be safer and your property values to go up.

More info will be posted as it becomes available. If you’re interested in helping to gather the required signatures, please get in touch. It will only take an afternoon at the most.

Status of N. Monroe Revitalization

Status of N. Monroe Revitalization

About two weeks ago, we made a request to have a written status update on North Monroe Revitalization, which, according to previous reports, was scheduled to break ground shortly.

On September 7, we received (via our appointed city rep, Tirrell Black) the following statement from Andrew Worlock, who is helping to oversee the N. Monroe revitalization project at the city level:

We are working on finalizing the contract with Studio Cascade. We have re-scoped the consultant’s work plan to provide a greater emphasis on economic development and identifying the public actions (infrastructure, etc) that are needed to stimulate private investment within and along the corridor. The approach uses a more refined focus given to three nodes along the corridor: a northern node, a “mid” node and a southern or “Northbank” node. We think this will mesh well with the neighborhood planning efforts of the EG Neighborhood as well as the other planning efforts (Kendall Yards, Spokane County) ongoing along the corridor. We hope to have the consultant under contract early this fall.

We’ll present this statement and discuss its impact at the neighborhood council meeting this week, which takes place on Wednesday, 7pm at the Corbin Senior Center.

Electronic Speed Limit Signs Appear

Electronic Speed Limit Signs Appear

Electronic speed limit signs like the one below have appeared on the 1200/1300 blocks of W Mansfield and W Montgomery.

Electronic speed limit sign on Mansfield

They don’t seem to have been put into operation since they were first spotted on Friday, August 31, but the ID tags certainly indicate that they’re there on behalf of the City of Spokane. We’re assuming that they mark the first step of a traffic-calming study for these two busy cut-throughs, although we won’t be certain until we receive official word from the city (and that likely won’t come until after Labor Day).

Have you recently seen one of these (or something like it) on your block in Emerson-Garfield?

In what might be related news, someone in a DayGlo orange vest with a clipboard has been seen counting trees that fall within the city right-of-way in the southwest corner of our neighborhood. It seems to be just an administrative procedure, and not because there are plans to claim the right-of-way for development.

Please get in touch or leave a comment if you have any additional information on either of these matters.