The Third Annual SpokeFest is on September 12th from noon to 4pm. Starting in Spokane’s downtown and finishing at SpokeFair on the Post Street Bridge and next to Riverfront Park, SpokeFest riders will travel along some of the region’s most memorable roads. The event was developed with the non-bicycle enthusiast in mind just as much as experienced cyclists. Anyone interested in riding a bicycle and families going out on a group ride for the first time are welcome. The route was carefully chosen to be interesting, beautiful and challenging, but not so challenging that first-timers can’t make it. It’s a bit different from last year with four routes for 2010:

-The Classic River Loop : This 21-mile route covers some of Spokane’s most beautiful riding, including the Aubrey L. White Parkway, Riverside State Park and a finish atop of the Spokane Falls.
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“Emergency Budget Ordinance” sounds severe but it actually is the term used for any expenditure that needs to be approved by the City Council that wasn’t in the current year’s budget. Most often EBOs are for receiving grant money, which we can’t always budget for since there’s always a chance they won’t come through or their timing cannot be pinpointed precisely. Last night we approved two EBOs for items the City had been saving for–requiring no re-adjustment of budgeted funds–and negotiating to purchase. One EBO was for Fire Department defibillators with money from the small capital portion of the Spring EMS Levy. The other was for a whole new HR/Payroll system to begin installation this fall. Read the rest of this entry »

The second year of Spokane’s Sustainable September series of events and activities will kick off next week. The annual month-long celebration is dedicated to promoting sustainability in the Spokane community with discussion, activities, presentations, and tours designed to build community and increase awareness so that Spokane can become more environmentally and economically resilient.

Led by Community Minded Enterprises, Sustainable September works to bring a diverse variety of environmental and community building non-profits in our area together and highlight their efforts. This year Sustainable September is building on partnerships including The Lands Council, the Community Building, LaunchPad INW, Avista, the Sierra Club, and the Northwest Eco-Building Guild.

There are so many awesome events for the month, it would be difficult to list them all here but stay tuned with the sustainableseptemberspokane.org/calendar.

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The Council voted unanimously for my resolution to support the development of the whitewater park in downtown Spokane with proper permitting and environmental considerations. In my mind this is a gut check for Spokane; can we move forward with a project that could have many potential benefits for economic development, outdoor recreation, access, safety, and possibly fish habitat or will we let this issue devolve into a squabble between different user groups? Happily after last night’s testimony we are more likely to see the former rather than the latter. We had many folks argue forcefully for continuing the public process towards the creating the whitewater park that was started 6 years ago. Even testimony with concerns about the park did not argue against passing the resolution, and instead focussed on the details of a likely Environmental Impact Statement and how best to spend a state grant for the whitewater park, specifically on improving access to the river. The whitewater park still faces challenges moving forward including numerous permits and the E.I.S., and additional fundraising, but important new additions to our park system are never easy and now the project can proceed with unanimous support from the City Council. Thanks again to Friends of the Falls for all their hard work on the whitewater park and the entire Great Gorge Park Plan. Read the rest of this entry »

Councilman Snyder at the Fish Lake Trail Ribbon cutting.

Let me count the reasons: 1) The City has adopted a very popular Master Bike Plan that does not have dedicated funding for implementation, 2) diseases of inactivity are of epidemic proportions in Spokane County where at least 20,000 have diabetes, 3) kids lack safe routes to schools, 4) bicycle transportation saves on fuel and puts more money back into local economy, and 5) state and federal transportation funding are more rewarding communities that put in more bike facilities and complete streets strategies. I could go on.

Those are just some of the reasons I am looking to get as creative as possible to find new funding sources for cycling while everyday I also fight to get cyclists their fair share of general transportation dollars. And that’s why I am exploring the possibility of a bike registration fee as reported in the paper today.

Some cyclists get understandably upset when it is suggested that they need to contribute more money than they already do to add cycling facilities to the road. They will rightly point out that they pay real estate taxes (our biggest road funding source), sales taxes (our smallest road funding source), and gas taxes (do you know any cyclists that don’t also own a car?)—yet cyclists do far less damage to the roads than motor vehicles. (This is true; our motor vehicles do more damage to the road every time we drive than our current road funding sources can pay to repair.) Given this sentiment my question to cyclists is this: are you willing to pay $20-30 extra for each new bike to help put the Master Bike Plan on steroids? If so, read on. Read the rest of this entry »