Downtown Spokane, Soulfood and Sips: Time for a change

For the first time since returning to Spokane after our recent European excursion, I am inspired to write blogs on consecutive nights. In many of the blogs written while we were in Europe I remarked on downtown city squares that had limited or no traffic; and tremendous numbers of cafes, restaurants and bars with chair, tables and umbrellas on the sidewalks/streets outside the businesses. The other significant factor in Europe was the number of people occupying those chairs and squares. I am talking about large areas, sometimes as large as the entire Spokane downtown area. It was often difficult to walk more than a couple of blocks without running into another cluster of businesses populated by laughing talking people hanging out, rarely on phones. Little or no traffic, no parking meters, and business areas that are cleaned nightly. To sum it up, nearly all of the European cities (and in Mexico) we visited successfully invited the populace to patronize the businesses around them, and to enjoy the pastime of leisurely hanging out.

I have written harshly about Spokane at times. I have advocated for many years closing Main Street and Spokane Falls Boulevard to traffic between Monroe and into the U district, with a free circulator bus running through the area from Coeur d’Alene Park in Brownes Addition to the  area past Division. People would be able to park for free on the outskirts and still patronize downtown. Well, the bus is there, though I do not know if it is free. I know it is there because I spent a few hours downtown today between Spokane Falls Boulevard and Main. I saw the bus go by numerous times. Each time there were no more than a few riders and a couple of times I saw no riders. Kind of a waste of an expensive new electric bus.

Still, it is a start. I believe closing the streets and constructing a wide beautiful walking corridor would encourage businesses to fill the area with tables, chairs and umbrellas. A vibrant social community could be produced if the city cared to promote it. Oh, but the money! I just read how much money the city made last week with speeding cameras in 8 school zones. There is plenty more to made there with more cameras. Add fines for driving when using the phone. It is remotely possible this could make driving safer. I know some people will be rebel against the invasion of privacy. It occurs to me that privacy is already a thing of the past, so lets get something useful out of the invasion.

I bring this up because it was so delightful and effortless to walk around town in Europe and be in a vibrant environment. I have made a sincere effort to find that in Spokane in the past month that I have been here. I have walked around downtown several times, but have yet to feel the vibrancy that was a daily occurrence through most of our time in Europe. At least not until today.

Today we went downtown for the Soulfood and Sips event. It  featured African, Caribbean, creole and other cuisines, as well as several African American inspired musical artists performing everything from gospel to reggae music, and a few artist booths.  It took place on the Wall street corridor downtown between Main Street up to Spokane Falls at Riverfront Park. Downtown was alive, largely because of Pig Out in the the Park. Pig Out spilled over into Soulfood and Sips. Lots of happy people everywhere, listening to music, dancing and just walking around. It was great to see Spokane’s downtown so well utilized. It should not take a special event to get people downtown. Close a couple of streets to traffic, improve the look of the streets, encourage businesses to cater to the foot traffic, add free commuter buses and areas to park and catch the bus without feeling abused by the price of parking, and Spokane could have that vibrant downtown core.

For too many years it has felt as though Spokane politicians have vigorously pursued finding excuses not to do things, rather than finding reasons to make Spokane a great little city. I would like to see that change.