MetroSpokane

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]

Credit Union, Bike sharing, and Vancouver BC

Chances are you've never heard of Vancity.  They're a highly progressive credit union in Canada.  In fact they're the largest credit union in Canada, and they run their business with an eye on the triple-bottom line:  Financial, Social, and Environmental performance.

MetroSpokane Inbox: Spokane River Forum

Via the MetroSpokane inbox, a tipster dropped us line that The Spokane River Forum website is up and running.  It's a new organization to us, but we're waaaaaay impressed with their Mission:

The Spokane River Forum serves as a clearinghouse and information exchange for all things Spokane River.

Even more impressive is the event they're staging this Summer to raise awareness of the role the Spokane river plays in our lives:  A 120 mile journey from Lake Coeur d'Alene to the Upper Columbia River over two, three-day periods.  The first is June 13th - 15th and the second is June 20th - 23rd.  Registration closes on May 2nd for this event and we have a sense it'll fill up rapidly.  Oh, and while you're at it feel free to join the organization.

• Spokane River Forum [website]
• I love the Spokane River Raft and Paddle Expedition [pdf - map]

New street furniture downtown?

We spotted this sleek new garbage can downtown the other day and wondered if this is a little preview of other enhancements downtown.  It's an improvement over the 34 year old Expo '74 cans in capacity and they're probably a whole lot lighter.  Still, it's frustrating to not see any kind of recycling option for newspaper, plastic, or cans.  We can do better.  Other cities do.

• Innovative Vancouver, BC recycling can [flickr]
• Innovative recycling can - Amsterdam [fllickr]
• Chinese recycling can [flickr]
• More on garbage cans [MetroSpokane}

The Iron Ring Project...

A few months back we started to take notice of numerous large iron rings in and around the various commercial districts of the city.  Whenever we happened through a district such as East Sprague we were on the lookout.  After a little research we discovered that these rings were used by residents to tie up horses when they were out conducting business.  It's hard to imagine Spokane as a rough western town, but little things like these simple iron rings are the best evidence there is. 

So, we're going to document them using a simple Google maps mashup, but we need your help.  If you happen across one of these little iron rings embedded in a curb somewhere in the city, we want you to email us at metrospokan@gmail.com.  Send us the following info:

• Your Name (optional)
• Date discovered
• Location (Street address is best but we'll take the closest intersection)
• A photo if you have one (otherwise we'll take our own)

Guerrilla gardening hits the streets

On a recent trip to Neato-Burrito we spotted evidence of someone taking the cultivation of Spokane literally into their own hands by doing a little guerrilla gardening.  Guerrilla gardening has been around for quite awhile and is a pretty simple yet rewarding act.  The idea is to identify your target, usually a neglected piece of public right of way, pull together some volunteers, planting material, tools and go for it.  The riskiest maneuvers require a bit of clandestine perhaps done in the cover of darkness, but more often than not its done in the open.

The New People's Billboard?

[Image courtesy of some long forgotten Mead XC website hosted on an old Tripod member account ]
Long time residents may recall the People's Billboard that was once a prominent downtown fixture during the 1980s and early 90s.  An old bridge abutment from the former rail line that crossed the Monroe St. bridge, it sat on the current Kendall Yards site and greeted drivers to the northbank on Monroe Street until it was demolished in the late 1990s.  At the busiest of times the message would change more than once per week and was a pretty decent reflection of local happenings and thoughts.

Please...save the curbs...

Scattered throughout downtown virtually under your feet is a throwback to the earliest days of the city: granite curbs, baby.  Yeah, we know they're just curbs - blocky, rectangular, curbs.  But in fact they are part of the historic and visual character of our public space, much like the brick roads that peak out from underneath the asphalt.  At one time probably all of downtown's curbs were made of granite, and gradually over the years they've been torn-up, sent to a landfill and replaced with concrete.  The blocks you see were probably quarried locally (by hand) around 100 years ago, and are either Silver Lake granite, quarried out near Medical Lake, or Little Spokane granite which was quarried up north near the Little Spokane River.  Next time you're walking about keep your eyes out for the last remaining ones...

Wayfinding: Have any in your neighborhood?

Spokane, like most cities, is loaded with history.  A quick glance around Downtown, Hillyard, Garland, or East Sprague and it become evident very quickly that there are some stories to be told.  During a recent trip west, we found ourselves on the Ave in Seattle visiting the farmer's market there.  While waiting for friends to finish up their shopping we spied this wayfinding/historical marker on a street corner.  On each side (photo above) was a different piece of info:

• A map of the neighborhood with key landmarks identified
• A map of the greater Seattle area with "Your are here" indicated
• Historical information with a few old photos of the neighborhood
• Description of the neighborhood (we think)

In a matter of minutes we understood all of the above information, learned a thing or two about the neighborhood, and now had a connection with this place where we'd spent the last hour.  Take downtown and Hillyard; looking around you'd have no concept of your location in the overall city, and certainly you'd have no sense for the dramatic influence the railroad has had on both neighborhoods.  To visitors the clock tower looks just like a tall structure oddly located. 

Things like these (a.k.a. City Comforts) enhance the public space not only for those who live here, but also those who are visiting.  They build and strengthen our connection to our neighborhoods and it doesn't take much.  A pretty good return on the investment we think.

Do This: Division St. Centennial Trail Mural

A video proposal for a mural of the Centennial Trail along the large blank wall next to the Division Street Bridge has popped up on YouTube.  The proposal is well thought out and provides some good imagery of the suggested locations along with lighting and other ideas. 

Wayfinding elements can be a great way for an area or neighborhood to distinguish itself while providing people with helpful information for getting around. Something on this large of a scale could really liven up this portion of the trail and serve to educate visitors (Note convention center next door)about the river and the extensive trail.  We're not sure who's behind it but we like it.  In two years the trail will be 20 years old.  Thoughts? Concerns?  Leave 'em in the comments section.

2008-The year of 'Complete Streets' in Spokane?

2007 will likely go down as the year bicycle advocates in Spokane were finally heard.  Biking infrastructure has made some tremendous gains this year thanks to many dedicated individuals, but we're not satisfied.  Looking ahead to 2008 we see the momentum continuing for a city that's safer and more accessible for non-automotive forms of transportation.  We think 2008 could be a prime year for the complete streets movement to finally arrive in Spokane.

Complete streets are streets that serve all transportation users and this includes pedestrians, bikes, wheelchairs, transit and autos.  Think about the streets you use everyday to get home, to work, to the store, etc.  Which ones are designed with all users in mind?  It's nothing new in Washington State, in fact Seattle took the bold step of pledging to create complete streets first by passing a resolution and then a city ordinance the following year.  Redmond and Kirkland are into it as well...so why couldn't we?  C'mon, when you have the AARP and biking advocates on the same side of an issue something is up.

• Completethestreets.org
• Cities redo streets for pedestrians, cyclists, transit [New Urban News]

Copy This: Free Local Book Exchange...

[Photo courtesy Simonk via Flickr ]
Making the neighborhoods we inhabit more comfortable places can often be accomplished in the simplest of ways.  One guy in Chicago's Logan Square took a very creative approach to increasing the comfort and connectivity of his neighborhood.  Taking one of the ubiquitous newspaper boxes found all over, he gutted it, repainted it and placed it on a prominent street corner in his neighborhood.  The revamped box reads, "Logan Square Community Book Exchange," and usually has a steady supply of surplus books available for anyone who is interested.  The book exchange has been a success and has even spawned the Logan Square Video Exchange.   We could easily see this working in Browne's Addition somewhere near the roundabout.

• Logan Square Chicago - Neighborhood free book exchange [Chicago Reader]
• The Robin Hood Librarian [Chicago Public Radio]

Intersection Repair...

Everyone has that one intersection in their neighborhood that could just be so much better.  For whatever reason, the cars seem to drive through too fast, the crosswalks are non-existent, or there is no place to comfortably sit and wait for the bus.  We found a neighborhood-based event profiled on the most excellent Streetfilms.org called Intersection Repair.

Why the Great Spokane River Gorge Park Plan will save Highbridge Park...

One big event last week was the news that the Friends of the Falls has met its funding goals for the whitewater park - a key priority of the Great Spokane River Gorge Plan (table of contents - pdf 3.3 mb).  For all the obvious reasons (final design, permitting, construction of the park) we're thrilled about this huge milestone.  Everyone knows that city planning often gets a bad rap when plans go unfulfilled.  Implementation, friends, is what it's all about and this should be suh-weet sound to our city's residents.  According to a quote from Steve Faust - Director of Friends of the Falls:

“Given the time needed to permit the project, we expect to begin construction of the whitewater features and support facilities no earlier than May 2008, with project completion in October 2008”

Big Brother is watching...

If you're using at least Internet Explorer 5.0 take a visit over to camerawebpage.com.  For whatever reason, Toshiba has mounted video cameras on a building near downtown Spokane.  All are accessible via the comfort of you're home/office/etc. and provide for some serious time killing...on your lunch hour of course.  The screen-grab above was taken from one of the cams.

Lilac Bikes...Time to bring 'em back...

Nearly ten years ago a dramatic social experiment was taking place in downtown Spokane and it centered around the concept of 'free bikes'.  One of the owners of Bikeworks located at Lincoln and 2nd Ave fixed up 50 bikes, painted them purple, and left them to fend for themselves on the mean streets of Spokane.  And mean they were.  Most ended up in the river, were stolen, or just plain beat down in the alleys.

Spokane Streets...At Night

[Photo contributed by Ben Delaney via the MetroSpokane pool]

People use Spokane's urban spaces in a variety of ways.  Given that our urban core is only now seeing an increase in population, downtown is pretty much abandoned after the restaurants have closed and the last movie shown.  What some might see as desolate, others see as wide-open territory for exploration.  The character of these places is drastically different at night.  No traffic.  Few people.

The importance of 3rd places in Spokane

Ray Oldenburg coined the term "The Third Place."  The first place is one's home; the second place is one's office;  Third places are those other public locations where informal gatherings and meetings occur.  Years ago relaxing and leisure took place in such public locations, and Spokane, like most cities, has a long history of well known ones.

Spokane River: The Ultimate Urban Amenity

Photo courtesy Tsack on Flickr

What do these news stories have in common?

• Phosphate ban urged In Spokane County - Seattle PI
• West Plains aquifer falling - SR
• Study of aquifer too late - SR
• Avoiding a lake mistake - SR
• City may raise water rates in bid to boost conservation - SR
• Avista, Activists argue over Spokane Falls - KXLY

Hmmm...this river of ours is sure taking a beating.  But let's keep it all in perspective - what's important is the Upper Falls Condominiums maintaining a year-round, full-scale water feature...

From the City of Spokane Water Department Website:  "Daily water usage varies from 30 million gallons a day in the winter to a peak of 180 million gallons a day in the summer."

2007 Top 5 Trends & Predictions

The Inland Northwest witnessed a frenzy of construction and development activity in 2006 (and we hope the fun isn't over yet).  While most of the proposed projects have yet to break ground, clearly our little neck of the woods has been discovered.  We have therefore given some thought to the Top 5 Trends and Predictions that will play out in our region over the next twelve months.  At first read, it's a tall order, but we think a good number of these have a pretty good chance at happening.  We'll get back to you in 12 months..

Advertecture comes to Spokane

The excitement continues down at the construction site on 1st and Post.  We now know what the true purpose of the massive west-facing blank wall on the Davenport Tower - Billboard Ad Space.

An exciting new trend for downtown Spokane the breathtaking 4-story banner gracing the side of the soon-to-be-complete Tower has a tag-line that reads:  "The adventure begins January 2007."  We should look to New York for inspiration in the exciting new field of "Architizing"-consider the Flat Iron Building ad.

Who says Christmas comes but once a year?

Spokane loses another icon: Downtowner Motel

Read it and weep, friends.  Spokane's dwindling inventory of classic 1960s signage just lost another foot soldier.  In an apparent attempt at "classing-up the joint" (emphasis ours), the owners of the Downtowner Motel have replaced their iconic sign with this plastic, back-lit POS.  You'll understand the damage that's been done the next time you happen by 2nd and Washington.  That sign was the only thing keeping the building somewhat respectable.

Dammit!  We're taking this harder than losing the Rookery.  They certainly won't be getting any of our business (not that they ever did).  WHY GOD?  WHY?

City Comforts

You might say it's the little things that make life interesting.  The same holds true for making cities interesting and easy places to live.  Consider the dog dish.  We took this picture last summer in DC outside a bar.  The place was nothing special; just another pub embedded in an neighborhood business district.

Public Art Scavenger Hunt...

View the Slideshow

If you ever find yourself admiring a piece of public art downtown, there's a good chance it's a piece done by local artists Harold Balazs or Ken Spiering.  These guys' works grace buildings, Riverfront Park, they float, spout water, are set in concrete, carved into brick, or colorful baked-enamel.  But there's also a huge amount of other work by lesser known artists placed here and there around the core.  It's worth your time to take a closer look at the public & private art that is part of the city's permanent collection.  Once you start looking you'll see it's everywhere.  We have to think that downtown is better off because of it.

Guerrilla Street Art: Ornate Oil Barrels...

Increasingly downtown is being seen as a canvas for some unique and subtle expression of sorts.  This weekend it was oil barrels.  Yes, oil barrels.  We were thrilled to see that someone dropped off a collection of six of these at various spots around the Monroe and Main intersection.  We first thought they were new decorated trash cans.  On closer look the large 50-gallon oil drums, each painstakingly decorated, were placed as a 3-D street art display (and clearly making a comment about oil dependency).

MetroSpokane Flickr pool hits the streets...

Photo thanks to specialp via flickr and the MetroSpokane pool

We know you're thrilled.  We also know there have been time when you've looked at one of our pics and thought, ugh, I could've done way better than that.  We'll now is your chance.  We've created a photo pool specifically for MetroSpokane readers.  If you feel like contributing, please do.  Upload your own to the MetroSpokane pool or tag them metrospokane.  During the week we'll look over the submitted photos and include a few in some of our posts (with proper acknowledgement of course). 

Feel free to submit anything that has to do with architecture, new development, urbanicity, construction, your neighborhood, etc.  Really, anything that has to do with the built environment is fair game.  Show us what you got.

MetroSpokane Flickr pool

Street Art? Vandalism?

Grafitti.  Tagging.  Street art.  Call it what you will, but it exists in Spokane in a variety of ways.  From the chaotic script left by a Sharpie, to the more time consuming stencil boldly sprayed on the sidewalk in front of Sterling Savings, we've seen a lot of it.  Some of it in plain sight, but blending in just enough as not to be noticed.

Nettleton's Rising...

On a drive through West Central today, we spotted this interesting neighborhood marker indicating the entrance to the historic Nettleton's Addition.  Sited on a corner of Dutch Jake's Park, this thing must have popped-up over the weekend as we were just over here the other day and certainly couldn't have missed it.

Street Vendors - Spicing up the Urban Environment...

We've posted recently about sidewalk seating for restaurants and how that can truly make a space much more active and enjoyable.  Given Spokane's great weather it should be a no-brainer that restaurants offer sidewalk seating when possible.

Spokane's Public Spaces - An 80% solution?

The ever observant Spokane Reviewed raised an issue last week about our new public interactive fountain that has been bothering us for some time.  The issue raised has to do with an increasing number of parents using the BYOC (Bring Your Own Chair) approach when taking their kids to enjoy the fountain.  While we haven't seen this happen, hearing about it points to an obvious oversight by those who implemented the vision of the fountain:  The absolute dearth of seating provided somewhat close by.  The result is people bringing their own chairs.  Not what we'd like to see, but we chalk it up as proof of how much they like the fountain.

When the fountain opened last year, we thought seating might be an issue.  Parents are only going to stand around so long in the hot sun while the kids play in the cool refreshing water.  Either this was a something the budget couldn't quite cover or someone felt that it might invite 'undesireables' to linger longer than desired.  We're inclined to think it might be the latter.  Looking around downtown at some of our psuedo public spaces one sees a similar pattern. 

Post Street was vacated in the late 90s for the redeveloped Riverpark Square Mall.  At the base of the escalators is the makings for a great public gathering place with the terrazzo map of the Inland Northwest.  Alas, only two benches are provided for seating.  Bad choice.

The Parkade public fountain is another ideal gathering place downtown, except for the spikes bolted to the seating surface along the lower pool.  Spokane's downtown has made some great strides in the past few years, and the new fountain is an incredible model for future urban amenities.  We can't help but think though, that some small changes (like added seating) would greatly improve and not detract from our limited gathering spots downtown.

More On Garbage Cans...

Spokane's urban environment is littered with the legacy that is Expo '74...and we relish it.  A quick glance around this place and one see's EXPO everywhere - Gondolas, IMAX, Opera House, pavillion, garbage goat, the butterflies, etc. 

Out of them all, the most unnoticed has to be the antiquated concrete garbage cans that you see all over the place (we even spotted one in Hillyard two weeks ago).  They've survived thirty-two years on the tough streets of Spokane and are still in pretty good shape.  But only a few of you may remember that they served a dual purpose:  collect garbage and act as wayfinders for visitors to Expo.  You see, that flat angled portion of the container had glued to it a map directing those visitors to key locations on the Expo grounds.  Pretty progressive use of the public space in our opinion.  

We can't recall exactly when the last of the maps were removed, but we think it's high time they were brought back, or at least something took their place.  As our city experiences this newfound interest in all things urban, what could be a better use? 

Actually that's not a rhetorical question.  We'd like to hear from you.  How can this public space be best re-used to benefit Spokane's urban environment?  Post your ideas below, or send us an email.

If we get enough suggestions/interest we'll pursue it.

New 'Overlook' beginning to take shape...

Something great is taking shape on the banks of the Spokane Falls.  No, we're not talking about another 'exciting' condo project with secure parking.  We're talking about something that will be within the reach of everyone in our community.  Quietly and without a lot of fanfare, the extension of the Centennial Trail along the north bank of the river and under the Monroe Street bridge is currently under construction. 

We spotted the 'outlook' being built the other day and went to take a closer look this afternoon.  In the immortal words of Chris Farley - "Holy Schnikies!"  That really sums up what this portion of the trail is going to be like when complete.  At Monroe Street, the trail passes underneath and then pauses on a basalt outcropping that makes for a view/experience that is extraordinary.  The proximity to the falls, the dramatic arches of the bridge, and the view of the Spokane skyline from that angle cannot be beat.  Simply put, this is going to be just another in a string of wins for us lucky Spokane residents.

The Sidewalk...

We noticed something important during the Live It Up! event put on by the City of Spokane a few weeks back.  On the second day, the organizers moved the artists who were previously confined indoors out to the sidewalk.  That simple move made a profound difference in the vibrancy of the area.  This is largely due to the fact that people enjoy public places where interaction with others is possible.  What better use for the sidewalk?  How often have you heard people speaking fondly of a place because it has, "good people watching?"  It's what people do in urban places.

With that theme in mind, we took camera in hand the other day to identify a few of the better sidewalk eating venues we like in Downtown Spokane. 

Tops on our list downtown has to be Mizuna.  Their use of the sidewalk to the front of the building and the alley to the north cannot be beat in our opinion (although O'Daughertys is a close second).  Plus they have live music during those warm summer nights. 

Outside of downtown, what would summer be without dinner on the patio of The Elk?  Even Pacific Ave. Pizza and Cabin Coffee have gotten into the act.  Cafe Marron doesn't have much room, so instead large garage doors open up to the street.  Excellent.

An incremental step to even more vibrant downtowns and neighborhood business districts would be to begin making better use of our most overabundant urban feature.

Some photos of other outdoor venues...