MetroSpokane

Question: Does Spokane have great...clouds?

A number of friends who've moved to Spokane and the Inland Northwest over the years often comment on something we've really never pondered ourselves:  That we have great clouds.  At first read it sounds a little odd.  Is there really something special about the structure of our cumulous friends floating over our region?  Regardless of your opinion, this 40 second time lapse video of the sky in an outlying part of Spokane makes us think recent immigrants here might be onto something.

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.

Ask MetroSpokane: Where to go for art studio space downtown?

[If you've a burning question about any of the topics we cover then send it in to [email protected].  If you're lucky it may experience the therapeutic advice of our readers]

An intrepid MetroSpokane reader needs some space...art workspace that is.  The Davenport Arts District jumped out at us as a good spot, but the working artist studios down there have been slim-to-none what with the revitalization and all.  Our reader submits the following:

"Can you point me in a direction: we will be returning to Spokane and are looking for an artist loft-ish workspace downtown for about a year.  Where would you go to look for such a thing? I was kind of hoping that one of the projects might be on hold and the owner might rent out something partially finished while waiting for happier times....

Also, I want to make it clear that I am only looking for a workspace, not a live/work. My husband wants to do some painting, so we're really looking for a crummy garage or something. But it needs to be on the bus, as he doesn't drive."

Readers...have at it, and impart your wisdom in the comments section below.

Ask MetroSpokane: Buying a condo downtown-West End or East End?

This question arrived in the MetroSpokane inbox yesterday so we thought we'd throw it out to our knowledgeable readers for some perspective.  A regular reader is trying to make a choice between a condo in the West End or East End:

"I would love to see a discussion about whether it is better to buy at the west end (1st Ave-Fox District) or east end (University District) taking into account the differences in prices, the nearby attractions currently, and the likelihood of appreciation over the next 5-10 years based on the UD expanding and the arts district expanding (which seems hard to predict).  I would also like to hear people's thoughts regarding what and when things will happen in the UD (foot bridge, light rail, etc)."

Your points of view in the comments section below, and your questions heartily accepted at [email protected].

Would you work in a service job?

[Photo 'leveraged' from Cinemafia]

Spokane is in the midst of reinventing itself.  We're attempting to migrate from the resource-based economy of yesteryear to one more focused on knowledge (read research, patents, biotech, etc.).  One thing is for certain and that is our region's economy gets dissed a lot because of an abundance of service industry positions. 

At first glance it seems like a dire situation.  The real money is in recruiting the Blue-Rays or whomever to settle in our fertile valley here in Spokane...or is it.  Richard Florida, known for his astute observations and research on the creative class, thinks service industry-based economies may have something more going for them.  He's raising some interesting questions regarding service economies up in Toronto.  Can they be the well paying manufacturing jobs of today?  Why or why not?  He questions:

"Why not say, from a research and development standpoint, from an innovation standpoint, from a job security standpoint, from a flexible work environment standpoint: How do we make our service sector thrive?

"How do we develop a regional strategy to strengthen this? No one's ever done this."

It's an interesting topic to ponder.  We have a lot of service work here why not embrace it and do as he says.  If you could make $23/hour+ in a service position would you work it?

• Article - Creating better McJobs gives food for thought [TheStar.com-Toronto]

2008 is a New Year - What's your wish for Spokane?

[First Night photo courtesy of Mista Yuck via Flickr]

By now you've all settled back into your daily routine of work, school, retirement, what have you.  But before we get too far into the first month of 2008 we're starting to think about what this next year will mean for Spokane.  Last year we lobbed-out some real softball predictions and surprisingly a couple of them were close (the others we were waaaaay off). 

This year we're not going to venture into any predictions.  Instead we want to hear from you what your wishes are for Spokane in 2008.  It's a new year with spankin' new opportunities for our City, and if things could change what would they be?  Maybe you think all is well; that's cool too.  The stream of consciousness begins in the comments section below. 

What If: The Expo74 Condos...

From a longtime reader in Seattle we received the following question over the weekend:

"I went to brunch in Belltown this 
morning and passed by the Expo 62 
condos near Seattle Center of Course.
Seattle's EXPO62 Condos 
Now why hasn't some developer in 
Spokane thought of honoring Expo 74  
with a set of condos?  Maybe whomever
buys the YWCA should name their condos
Expo 74.  Spokanites would love it."

This has to be the most brilliant idea we've heard of in a long while.  With as much veneration that people give the event that "put Spokane on the map", imagine for a moment what a condo development based on EXPO74 would be like.

Help a transplant: Future student needs info on where to live

Today a cry for help, dear readers.  Cruising over on the SkyscraperPage Forum, we read the following message from a soon to be transplant from Tempe, AZ.  The writer, known to us only as SunDevil, looks to be attending Gonzaga in the fall and has a few questions about our fair city:

"Moving up to Spokane in August!  Was wondering what some of your thoughts are on where to live. I would like to live downtown since it's close to school, Gonzaga. However, I have been told NOT to live downtown. Is it really that bad?  Moving up from Tempe, AZ I was wondering what to expect as far as rent in the area, here it's about $780 for a 2 br 1 bath 660 sq. ft. in a not too nice part of town."

So have at it all you readers and lurkers.  Now is you're chance to share that surplus of useful Spokane knowledge you've built up over the years.  In the comments section give our new friend the lowdown on places to check out for living.  Be sure and talk neighborhoods, rent, number of rooms, etc.

So, uh, where are the women developers?

Just for grins Google "female real estate developer".  The results aren't terribly impressive.

We started pondering this question after a recent Smart City Radio show profiled two women developers: one from Pittsburgh and the other from Boston.  Real estate in Spokane is hardly exclusively the domain of men in our area.  Look at any classifieds on any Sunday morning and you'll see any number of women representing fine properties and homes throughout our area.

Question: Spokane's next big place...

Nobody but the Inlander doubts that redevelopment in downtown Spokane is well on its way.  Our post on Wednesday and the subsequent comments raised the question of whether people would be interested in living in some other business district other than downtown.  Specifically we called out the North Monroe corridor as an example, but Spokane has numerous other options where dense mixed-use is encouraged.