Hi guys, this is my first ever post in the entire Skyscraper forum! I'm a born and raised Seattleite, went to college at GU in good old Spokane, and am hoping to begin class at UW in fall with their Urban Planning program.
Anyway, I think Spokane is potentially a fantastic city. Over the course of my 5 years at GU, I was never real hot on Spokane for all the usual reasons. My last summer there (about the time I began to become interested in planning and real estate) I changed my mind. Being a GU student, I had the opportunity to live on Sharp Ave across from GU and near downtown. I used the Centennial Trail daily and fell in love with downtown and adjacent neighborhoods. Here are some of the things I "discovered" while living in this location that made me realize Spokane is a great place.
1. Outdoor recreation opportunities. There are some amazing parks, natural areas, and golf courses in Spokane! Even better, many of them are just a couple minutes from downtown!!! To name a few: Indian Canyon, Riverside State Park, the Hangman Creek area, Palisades, Riverfront Park & Spokane Falls, plus the Centennial Trail. These are AMAZING assets that the city should leverage to the fullest degree possible. With the right planning and economic conditions, Spokane could be like a smaller Portland. Portland should serve as a blueprint for Spokane.
2. Historic building stock, especially downtown. You all know what I'm talking about, nuf said.
3. A 20th Century street grid. This is a major advantage over non-grid cities. Spokane should improve the grid by adding more street trees, sidewalks, crosswalks, curb bulbs, traffic calming measures, improved bus stops and signage.
4. Historic neighborhoods. Specifically, Brown's Addition & West Central, are really amazing neighborhoods. I love the historic homes, street trees and location of these 'hoods. Both are close to downtown and at the same time on the edge of the city. Its like you live in the city but have super easy access to the country, especially the recreational opportunities I mentioned above.
5. Colleges near downtown. GU and WSU/EWU Riverpoint are major assets. College kids come primarily from other cities, and spend dollars in Spokane. They also help attract artists, bands, etc to create a hip culture that places like Seattle and Portland are known for.
There's more, but thats all I'll list for now.
Other random thoughts I have regarding Spokane:
- Sprawl will help destroy the things that make Spokane great.
- Davenport Tower is butt ugly and probably wont to anything to help the Davenports brand equity. I cant believe they built something so ugly, it already looks like its been there for decades. Whats the deal with the LACK OF WINDOWS?!?!
- Spokane needs to try to develop better neighborhood character. This starts with decent neighborhood business districts. If you look at the zoning in Seattle, every single neighborhood, big or small, has its own business district (and I'm not talking about big national stores or large parking lots, I mean small business along the sidewalk with street parking and pedestrian activity). The only neighborhood I can think of in Spokane that has any resemblance of this is Garland. Not coincidently, Garland is one of the few streets in Spokane where there is only 1 lane each way plus parallel parking.
- Growth needs to be oriented toward infill and adding density where appropriate. Not in the Valley, not on the north side. Not sprawl.
- Spokane is talking about building new street cars. Talk needs to end and turn into IMMEDIATE action. Streetcars are a great way to circulate people around neighborhoods or to adjacent neighborhoods. They are good for small business, get folks out of their cars, attract more riders than the bus, and generally create more interesting neighborhoods and cities. The first new street cars should connect Gonzaga, Riverpoint, Arena/North Bank with downtown.
- Reevaluate the necessity of the North-South freeway. Freeways are a great way to kill and destroy neighborhoods. I understand the need to more freight more efficiently, but fail to see why a large freeway is needed to accomplish this. I guarantee the N-S freeway is going to encourage sprawl in North Spokane/Mead, etc. Obviously, it will make the poor East Central neighborhood even worse than it is now. So sad.
Those are my thoughts for now. I look forward to continued discussion in the future!
peace, paul
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God forbid I ever invest in any of his "pipe dream" properties just from my experience this week alone..
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