TIPLINE: Another way to give feedback on the Downtown Plan...

The word is that the 1st public meeting on the Downtown Plan Update we mentioned earlier went quite well with a pretty healthy turnout.  Now we know not everyone can make these meetings, but your input is important nevertheless.  Via the MetroSpokane Tipline we were told about another way to provide feedback - An Online Comment Form courtesy the Downtown Spokane Partnership.

This is your chance to touch on those topics that most concern you about YOUR downtown.  A true Boulevard for Spokane Falls Boulevard?  Change back the one-ways?  Improved streetscapes for pedestrians?  More bike facilities/lockers/racks/lanes?  Etc., etc.  So there you go.  You've officially been handed the mike, so make it worth your while.

[NOTE:Though the site says comments are due by 12/14 we've heard they're still accepting.  So take five minutes and let 'er rip.]

• Link:  Downtown Plan Update Comment Form - [Downtown Spokane Partnership]

Comments

[Mariah McKay]

This was fun and great and all, but now I'm more interested in what (if anything) common citizens can do to help practically realize these goals.

[Bart Mihailovich]

The river, more focus on the river.

[John Speare]

Mariah: get involved in local politics. Go to weekly council meetings and understand how/why decisions are made. Talk to your council representative. Get on an advisory board or volunteer for one. Read the comp plan, especially chapter 4 and commit to implementing one piece of it. Push back against the crusty conservative traditional Spokane naysayers that measure progress by how many Eyman initatives pass -- by working for progressive local candidates and speaking up at council meetings. There is no one thing you can do to make this stuff happen, you must figure out what you want to change, focus on that issue to learn all the underlying goo that drives it, and then go to work on it. Change at the local level is totally possible.

[Bart Mihailovich]

I enjoyed the event very much as well. I really hope some serious emphasis goes into the River

[Andy]

Well said John. As an outsider looking in, I have been pleasantly surprised with the direction Spokane appears to be taking. Although progress does not come easy, Spokane seems to be making significant strides.

I have been researching places to relocate, and Spokane is one that has caught my eye. The city seems to be an up and coming community with significant potential. John is right - its up to the citizens of Spokane to make the community into one that they can be proud of and that will also be envied by others.

Hopefully Spokane will continue to focus on smart urban development, limiting urban sprawl, green building techniques, great public schools, and continued conservation of the natural environment. These are a few of the attributes, amongst others, which will ultimately impact my decision on where to eventually relocate to.

[Suki]

Thanks for the link to provide input online. I wasn't able to attend the meeting but am pleased to see an alternative method for gathering public feedback.

[Mariah McKay]

John: I appreciate your advice and am eager to help more of my fellow citizens adhere to it.

I am heavily involved in local politics (relatively speaking) and have testified at four different council meetings since returning home. I have not yet read the comp plan, but I wonder if reading the entire thing is really the best use of my time? I am a member of the Spokane Human Rights Commission, am a Director on the Provisional Board of Envision Spokane, and am a rabid supporter of KYRS Thin Air Community Radio, (among many other things).

Pushing back is imperative if our city is to weather the challenges of the 21st Century. I believe that the "pendulum" in Spokane is primed to swing back in a big kind of way!

[John Speare]

Mariah: Well arent' I jsut a big old windbag then...

On the comp plan though: I've not read the entire thing; as for your time: I'd say anyone with any interest in Spokane planning should at least read chapter 4 -- it's the transportation chapter and that's (wait for it...) where the rubber meets the road. In my mind, any future worth a crap is a direct result on how we expect folks to get around/through town and how we plan for people moving around.

It's very possible that reading chapter 4 will have no effect on some people, but when I read it, it changed me. It changed how I think about Spokane and its potential and it pushed me to action. So, I do think it's worth every Spokanites time to read that chapter since it is the heart of planning and where we are likely to make the huges fiscal mistakes as a commuinity (e.g.: N/S freeway)..

Hopefully my earlier comment was not taken as it reads, whcih re-reading now, is pretty preachy and heavy handed. My basic point, which you clearly get, is for the average citizen to get invovled. Enough on that.