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.

-Park Loop : Park Loop: A 1-mile loop entirely within Riverfront Park with an option to extend it to a 2.5-mile loop along the Centennial trail. Neither option will cross or enter any streets. Volunteers will be spread along the route to watch and assist riders.
-Spokane Falls Option : Shortcut the Classic River Loop into a 9 mile ride.
-Four Mounds Option : A 26 mile add-on to the Classic River Loop, for a total of 47 miles.

Register now HERE and check out the route map HERE.

-September 6th Monday Labor Day. No Council Meeting

-September 7th Tuesday 4:30pm Chase Youth Commission, City Council Briefing Center, Lower Level, City Hall 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.

-September 7th Wednesday 7:00pm Rockwood Neighborhood Council Meeting, Hutton Elementary, 908 E. 24th Ave

-September 8th Wednesday 11:00am City Planning Commission, City Council Briefing Center, Lower Level, City Hall, 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.

-September 8th Wednesday 12:00pm East Sprague Business Alliance Meeting, Strong Solutions, 1718 East Sprague Ave.

-September 8th Wednesday 7:00pm Southgate Neighborhood Council Meeting, ESD 101/Regal and 42nd Ave.

-September 9th Thursday 1:00pm Spokane Regional Transportation Council, Spokane Intermodal Facility (Amtrak/Greyhound Station), 221 W. 1st Ave., Third Floor

-September 9th Thursday 3:00-7:00pm Thursday Market, The Shop 924 S. Perry

-September 10th Friday 4:00-6:00pm Community Assembly, Council Briefing Center, City Hall, 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.

-September 11th Saturday 10:30am Spokane AIDS Walk Riverfront Park Registration is $20 for adults, $15 for children under 12. All registered participants will receive a t-shirt and water bottle. Participants will have the option of a one mile walk or a 4 mile run. Can’t participate? You can still support the cause by donating to an individual or team. Go HERE to register for the event or donate.

-September 11th Saturday Noon-midnight. Main Street Fair and Sustainable Uprising, Maine Ave between Division and Browne St.

-September 12th SpokeFEST!

Also, continue to follow the Sustainable September events HERE.

The HR/Payroll is a $5 million expenditure which includes a combination of hardware, software, installation, training and maintenance to create a new system for HR/Payroll for the City’s 2,000+ employees. As a citizen you can feel good about this two reasons; 1) the City has been running the current payroll system on an obsolete HP 3000 for the past 20 years, wringing every possible last dollar out of an outdated system, and 2) the City has been planning for this HR/Payroll system upgrade for years, saving money and doing extensive investigation of options in order to reach a plan of action for a new system that we approved last night. This past year has seen a few failures in the current system so the timing couldn’t be better for switching over. In the end HR/Payroll update action is about prudent planning making sure City operates efficiently in cost effective manner.

The other major action the Council took was approving a budget principles resolution put forward by the Mayor. The resolution outlines a philosophy for discussion with collective bargaining units regarding the bridging of our now $12 million dollar budget gap (and our approximately $4 million current year shortfall). The collective bargaining units were all made aware of these principles before we voted on them. The fact that the vote was unanimous shows a high degree of cooperation between the Council and the Mayor in addressing our very challenging budget environment. The fact that the vote was taken in August shows the City is not waiting to work on a solution.

In other action the Council approved two legal settlements, approved the purchase of a specialty bridge maintenance truck, and approved the sale of the Rose Apartments to the East Central Community Organization as apart of a innovative historic preservation and low income housing project. The Council also read proclamations about Sustainable September, Children with Cancer, Senior Wellness, and Substance Abuse.

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.

-August 30th Monday 6:00pm City Council Legislative Meeting, City Council Chambers, Lower Level, City Hall, 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.

-August 31st Tuesday 5:00pm 10 Year Plan To End Homelessness, YMCA Rooftop Courtyard, 930 N Monroe

-September 1st Wednesday 11:30am Sustainable September Luncheon, Masonic Temple, 1108 W. Riverside

-September 1st Wednesday 12:00pm East Sprague Business Alliance Meeting, Strong Solutions, 1718 East Sprague Ave.

-September 1st Wednesday 6:30pm Browne’s Addition Neighborhood Council Meeting, Museum Of Arts And Culture, 2316 W. 1st Ave.

-September 2nd Thursday 3:00-7:00pm Thursday Market, The Shop 924 S. Perry

-September 2nd Thursday 3:30pm City Council Study Session, City Council Chambers, Lower Level, City Hall, 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.

Also, there will be no council meeting next week because of Labor Day.

We had a special early session last night that had us finishing our legislative business before an inspiring awards ceremony for the Spokane Police department. Hearing the tales of bravery was a lot like listening to Paul Harvey’s “The Rest Of The Story”; you got to hear the full details of incidents that were only marginally reported in the media and get a deep appreciation for the efforts by the officers involved. The awards–both for Police and civilians–surrounding the capture of the shooter at Hoopfest were particularly interesting. It’s really a tribute to our community that so many folks worked together to diffuse that incident so quickly and completely. You can read more about here in a nice Spokesman story in today’s paper. Congratulations to all the award recipients. The full annual awards ceremony takes place in February and I encourage citizens to attend to learn more about the tremendous efforts of our Police officers.

The Council also read a resolution supporting this weekend’s Spokane Tribe Pow Wow in Riverfront Park. You can find out details here.

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.

Here’s how this could work; each establishment that sells new bicycles could have a requirement to register each bicycle when it is sold. The registration fee could be something like $20-30. For that amount the shop would collect the date, make, serial number and owner and forward that information to a police database and also give the bike owner a registration card and some information materials. The bike shop owner would be registered by the city to do bike registration and then forward the fees to the city on a quarterly basis. The city would take those funds and put them in the traffic calming fund for use only to create more bicycle infrastructure in the city and implement the Master Bike Plan—with the requirement that these funds always be matched with other funds so that this money never displaces other general transportation funds for cycling. (Something I will continue to fight for.)

The magical thing about this money is that it would be what is considered a “local match.” Most of our state and federal transportation funds are required to be used with some money that is matched locally. That means any local dollar we generate in Spokane has the potential to bring in 4-5 times that amount in infrastructure benefit.

Why now? The City is looking at one of the largest budget deficits ever for 2011. The basic streets budget will be slashed even if we bridge the $12 million dollar gap and almost no funds will be left for bicycle related paint striping. At the same time the need for bike facilities in Spokane has never been more acute—more folks are cycling for transportation than ever before and the cost of building new bike facilities is cheaper than it has been in years because of the slow economy. Perfect storm?

Maybe. The possible fee mechanism I’ve described may or may not be legal in the State of Washington. I’m still researching. The dialogue with the local bike community about the merits of this idea and the different ways it could work is still currently taking place. Some have suggested it be a voluntary fee, which might work, but wouldn’t capture the revenue from big box stores. Would that be fair? I don’t know. What I do know is that now is the time to get serious about how we build our transportation future in Spokane and in my vision bicycle transportation plays a bigger role than ever before. I welcome your thoughts on this matter and I hope I can provoke a vigorous discussion about what is the best way to proceed.

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.

It’s a light week for events and there are no Neighborhood Council meetings.

-August 23rd Monday 4:00pm City Council Legislative Meeting, City Council Chambers, Lower Level, City Hall, 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. (Note earlier meeting time.)

-August 24th Tuesday 6:30pm Children Investment Fund Assembly Carpenters Hall 127 E. Augusta.

-August 25th Wednesday 12:00pm East Sprague Business Alliance Meeting, Strong Solutions, 1718 East Sprague Ave.

-August 26th Thursday 3:00-7:00pm Thursday Market, The Shop 924 S. Perry

-August 26th Thursday 3:30pm City Council Study Session, City Council Chambers, Lower Level, City Hall, 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.

In legislative session we unanimously passed three items; having the City Attorney represent two police officers regarding a lawsuit stemming from action taken in the line of duty, approving a slight lowering of interest rates paid on employee contributions to the Spokane Employee Retirement System, and approval an updating of the priorities for funding for the Human Services Advisory Board, which makes allocations of City funds to local non-profit groups. Regarding this last item, I have had discussions to clarify whether domestic violence related services are eligible for funding under the adjusted criteria with HS Director Jerrie Allard, and she assures me that the criteria is elastic enough to encompass DV.

Come celebrate health and community with the second Summer Parkways on August 22nd. Bring your family, bikes, boards, and feet down to Howard St. between Riverfront and Corbin park. The street will be closed to all motor vehicles and be open for all human-powered transportation such as bikes, skateboards and pedestrians. The event will take place on both days between 9 a.m.-1 p.m. with activities for the whole family, including music, dancing, physical fitness classes, healthy food and a bicycle decorating contest. The idea for the Summer Parkways came from an event in Bogotá, Columbia, called Ciclovia, which means “bike path” in Spanish. The goal is to focus on recreation, fitness and community. For more information about the events, check out the official website and the facebook group. Volunteers are still needed for the upcoming July 11th date to direct traffic, assist vendors, help with recycling, or provide information to participants. Visit http://summerparkways.com/volunteer-opportunities/ or if you have any questions or are interested in signing up to volunteer, please contact Kate Cornwall at (509) 209-2404 or kcornwall@landscouncil.org.

-August 16th 6:00pm City Council Legislative Meeting, City Council Chambers, Lower Level, City Hall, 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.

-August 17th 6:00pm Bicycle Advisory Board, City Council Briefing Center, Lower Level, City Hall, 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.

-August 18th 10:00am Wednesday Growth Management Steering Committee Of Elected Officials, 1230 W. Boone

-August 18th 12:00pm Wednesday East Sprague Business Alliance Meeting, Strong Solutions, 1718 East Sprague Ave.

-August 18th 1:30pm Wednesday Spokane Regional Transportation Council – Transportation Council Spokane Intermodal Facility (Amtrak/Greyhound Station), 221 W. 1st. Avenue, Third Floor

-August 19th Thursday 3:00-7:00pm Thursday Market, The Shop 924 S. Perry

-August 22nd Sunday 9:00-noon Summer Parkways. (See above)

Last Thursday morning I attended a tour and ribbon cutting of the recently completed Lincoln Street Spokane Urban Runoff Greenway Ecosystem (SURGE) Project. Lincoln Street from 17th to 29th is resurfaced and stormwater will be diverted from the wastewater treatment plant to filtered storm gardens and then routed to the Cannon Hill pond. There was an impressive turn-out and Mayor Verner, Engineering Services Director Mike Taylor, Wastewater Manager Dale Arnold and David Thompson did a great job speaking. More photos after the jump.

In the afternoon session the council will deciding not to go forward with putting revenue-raising measures on the ballot to address the City’s budget deficit. The Council bridged the budget gap last year without going to the voter’s and we can do it again this year. I think we need to pursue the Mayor’s same three-pronged strategy from last year; cuts in government and efficiencies in doing business, working to find lower costs with our collective bargaining units, and raising some new revenue.

Also in the afternoon session we heard a detailed discussion from Park’s Director Leroy Eadie and how Park’s plans to pursue the completion of the Spokane River Whitewater Park. Sounds like we have a good strategy to go forward with this popular project that would be the first of it’s kind in Washington State.