Good news: The City Of Spokane was recognized for its planning work to lessen its impact on climate change and encourage sustainable practices. The city received a 2010 American Planning Association (APA) and Planning Association Of Washington (PAW) Joint Planning award for its greenhouse gas inventory reports and Sustainability Action Plan. This award will be featured by PAW in the Western Planner Journal and APA Washington in the Washington Planner.

The City has done a great job to become more sustainable in recent years. Couple items we’re currently working on:

* Promoting the use of alternative transportation options and complete streets.
* Using re-refined motor oil and adding all-electric vehicles for the City fleet.
* Adding community gardens throughout the City.
* Finding new uses for recycled products, including using recycled glass in street projects.
* Encouraging people to conserve water and offering rebates for making good water choices.
* Adding educational materials at City Hall and our libraries.
*Implementing the latest in technology to save energy, including a new program that turns off our computers when they’re not in use.
* Accepting food scraps in our yard waste carts for composting in the middle of July. For more information about Spokane’s sustainability efforts or to read the greenhouse gas inventory reports, visit GreenSpokane.org.

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When a property or business owner proposes a new use in an existing building substantially different from the previous use, a Change Of Use permit is required. Now, in an effort to assist citizens and local businesses when seeking such permits, a couple actions are in place to solicit feedback: Convening the internal work group tasked with identifying specific administrative and policy barriers, commissioning a formal, internal process and efficiency review, posting an online survey and developing a citizen focus group. From now through Labor Day, citizens can be involved by completing the online survey HERE, contacting the Business and Development Services Department to leave feedback, or indicate interest in participating in a focus group. For more information, please contact Business and Development Services at(509) 625-6983.

What do PCS Utilidata, Rings and Things, and Dry Fly Distillery all have in common? They are all local companies–founded in Spokane not recruited from elsewhere–working with the International Trade Alliance (ITA) to increase their export business. The International Trade Alliance is a local economic development non-profit that helps Spokane-area businesses develop international markets for their locally manufactured or locally distributed products. Last night the council had a really interesting presentation from ITA executive director Mark Peterson detailing their efforts boost local business and create jobs through exports. According to Mr. Peterson the exports business in Washington state is rebounding ahead of the national trend and is not just dependent on the aerospace industry. The ITA is working to help our businesses crack the tough but lucrative BRIC markets (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) by utilizing local business folks with language expertise related to these countries. Read the rest of this entry »

This is a great opportunity for Spokane: Google is asking communities to apply for their Google Fiber for Communities project, which would include deployment of fiber to make Internet speeds delivered more than 100 times faster than what most Americans currently have access to—more than 1 gigabit per second.

We’ve made impressive technological accomplishments like the nation’s largest municipal wi-fi network deployment and a Stimulus Award in December 2009 for our Tincan program to expand broadband access to unserved and underserved communities. This addition will help us attact jobs and stay a competetive city.

You can provide comments during the Town Hall City Council meeting on Monday, March 22, at the East Central Community Center, 500 S. Stone, when we’ll consider a resolution in support of this application. Please show support via letters and emails to googleproject@spokanecity.org or spokaneproject@gmail.com. You can fill out a citizen application for Spokane at www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/public/options and become a Facebook fan at “Hey Google, Pick Spokane.”

And check out the website that just launched: heygooglepickspokane.com.

The audience at City Council chambers on November 25. Photo by Hank Greer.

The ceremony was everything we had hoped for: well attended with lots of love and best wishes. Thanks again to Former Mayor Barnard, Jim Boyd and Terri Pfister for participating. It was great to see the other elected officials there as well; Richard Rush, Steve Corker, Bonnie Mager, and Amber Waldref.

I have the complete text of my speech here for folks who weren’t able to attend. Read the rest of this entry »