MetroSpokane

Gordon Price is back...

Gordon Price, the director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University will be back in town next week.  If you missed him last time he was here to speak, set aside some time next Wednesday, 5/21 at 10:30 AM.  An excellent speaker, he brings some fantastic observations as to what makes a city work.  He also edits a great monthly emagazine named Price Tags. 

As a part of the ongoing Community Roundtables at City Hall, the third forum will deal with directing growth to our centers and corridors.  A panel consisting of Jim Frank (Greenstone Homes) and Pete Raynor.

TANGO season opens...

The improving weather means people are getting out and about.  You start to see more bicyclists, runners, Tangos...

A reader shot this pic with his phone the other day on I-90 right near Deaconess Hospital apparently causing quite a stir with other drivers gawking all over it.  Perhaps it was the design?  Wishful thinking that George Clooney was driving it?  Or maybe it was the lack of $4 gas needed to dump into this baby.  Anyway, here's to Spokane's own car designed in our very own University District.

• Tango spotted [MetroSpokane]
• Commutercars.com [website]

How to alienate a pedestrian

There's a place on every street where private land bumps up against the public right of way.  In cities this is usually the point where the sidewalk edge ends and the private parcel begins.  A truly urban environment will have the building front next to the sidewalk for a seamless transition with absolutely no setbacks.  This is a critical ingredient for the vibrant streetlife we all want to see downtown and in our neighborhood business districts.  It doesn't end there however.

Ask MetroSpokane: Maple Street Toll

[Image by bryantspokane via Flickr ]

From the MetroSpokane inbox a reader asks the following:

"I have been going over this question with a lot of people that I know, and no one has an answer for me, so I thought maybe your readers can help me with the question. When was the Toll taking off of the Maple street toll bridge?"

Leave your sage wisdom in the comments section below.

Spokane's Bike to Work Week: Kick off recap

FROM OutThere Monthly:  "It’s hard to think of a better start to Spokane Bike to Work Week than the gathering this morning at Riverfront Park. Several hundred cyclists showed up to get free pancakes and orange juice and mingle before work."

With nearly 900 riders registered it's easy to see that commuting by bike is a valid practice by many in our community.  We're amped for the big Wrap-Up celebration this Friday at the Steamplant Grill.  Plenty o' schwag will be handed out, so be sure and show up.

• Spokane Bike-to-Work Week Kickoff [OutThere Monthly]
• Bike-to-Work Week [official website]

 

STOREFRONT: Main Market Co-op taking shape

For quite awhile the lasting presence of a quality food retailer in downtown Spokane has been seriously absent and noticed by pretty much everyone.  By this October, however, that gap should be filled.  The Main Market Cooperative recently issued a press release outlining their plans to open Spokane's only natural foods cooperative at 17 West Main in downtown Spokane by the end of October.

Forget Diamond - Find your parking spot online

There's a new way to get around funding the expansion of the Diamond Parking empire while minimizing the time spent driving around and looking for a parking spot.  Try Parkingspots.com.  The concept is simple:  lots of people have surplus parking and lots of people are seeking that parking, but can't seem to ever find it.  If you're an owner of a spot, you can now go online and post it where parking 'renters' can search for and purchase use of the spot.  More than two spots and you're considered a commercial operation, so this is a good way to provide parkers more access to an existing yet untapped supply.

So far nobody in Spokane has any surplus space out for rent.  We doubt we're that efficient, so if you've a spot available be a trailblazer and throw it out there already.

• parkingspots.com [website]
• Car storage rates increase downtown-Economic collapse imminent [MetroSpokane]
• Unbundling the costs of Parking [MetroSpokane]

Camp Grandee - Spokane's original cottage housing

Cottage housing is cool.  There's no other way to put it.  Even Inland Business Catalyst is writing about it.  Even though cottage housing is now allowed widely throughout the city it's really nothing new.  Before the Interstate system the main highways through Spokane lured weary travelers with mini-cabin motels where the whole family could rack for a night or two and be on their way.  While many of these have been demo-ed over the years, a few are still around.

Bike to Work closes in on 700

As of yesterday Spokane's Bike to Work Committee reported that nearly 700 people (687 total) had registered for Spokane's Bike to Work Week which takes place May 12-16.  The kick-off breakfast at Riverfront Park is expecting to see around 300 bike-riders while the closing event is nearing 300 people as well.  If you haven't registered there's still time. 

One of the coolest joint events is "Walk and Roll to School Day" with seven elementary schools promoting walking or bike riding as a good way to get to and from school. 

We are a biking city!  Don't get left...in your car.

• Bike to Work Week-registration is open [MetroSpokane]
• Bike to Work Spokane [website]
• Tips on carrying bike loads [cyclingspokane]

Public Space gets a boost...trees

Downtown public space will be getting a much needed boost from a new street tree replacement grant program.  If you're a property owner downtown and within the boundaries identified above you'll qualify for a $500 grant to replace or plant trees in sites adjacent to your property.  In return you have to commit to installing a private irrigation, remove any existing tree and care for it for the next 25 years.  The goal is to replace or plant up to 50 street trees per year in the target area. 

Now we're talking.  If this goes well, we'd like to see it expanded to target some of our first-ring neighborhoods that have a significant 'tree-deficit'.

• Guerilla gardening hits the streets [MetroSpokane]
• Street Tree Grant and program flyer - pdf [City of Spokane]