(Ed. Note: traveling, so I missed putting out these two articles from the S-R yesterday)
The Spokesman Review
‘IT’S THE WORST IT’S EVER BEEN AND IT’S GETTING WORSE’
(Paywall - contact dsimonson@mac.com for full text)
After Zona Blanca closure, business owners and area politicians say they’re fed up with crime downtown
Spokane business leaders used the impending closure of a downtown restaurant Monday as a call to arms for elected leaders to begin finding a solution to the homelessness problem.
City Councilman Jonathan Bingle spoke at an event organized by various business advocates, including developer Larry Stone’s recently minted Spokane Business Association, at James Beard-semifinalist chef Chad White’s Zona Blanca Ceviche Bar, which is closing later this month.
The event became a packedhouse affair, with more than 100 people pushing into the serving area at 157 S. Howard St. Bingle apologized to the assembled business groups in the crowded room, saying that elected leaders have not done enough to enforce the law. He railed against the “cultivation of lawlessness” that “crushes dreams” of local business owners, and called for the city to enforce its open public drug use laws, the anti-homeless camping law approved by voters last year through the city’s Proposition 1, and respond more quickly to graffiti.“What hope does the average citizen have in the city of Spokane if our most driven entrepreneurs can’t make it?” Bingle asked. “What message does that send to the rest of us? This cannot be the Spokane that we accept.”
The assembled crowd included a who’s who of conservative lawmakers, business leaders and advocates, including former Mayor Nadine Woodward, County Commissioners Al French and Josh Kerns, developer Jordan Tampien and others.
Spokane business leaders sound off on homelessness
Last month, The Spokesman-Review dispatched a team of high school interns to talk with business leaders about the challenges they face from the homeless situation in Spokane.
Michael Whetstone, business manager of Tempus Cellars, at 8 N. Post St., said that his tasting room has experienced regular disturbances.
“There’s rarely a day I’m not rushed by somebody. They come in there and they want something,” Whetstone said. “It’s terrible. The vast majority of them are on drugs or something and are not in control of their facilities. A lot of them are violent.”
Whetstone has had several customers tell him they feel unsafe downtown, and he believes that city leaders aren’t putting enough effort into making the area safe.
“The whole thought is that the city just doesn’t care,” he said. “People come in here, have the same thought, and that’s not good for Spokane.”
Whetstone said a large part of the problem is the lack of police presence downtown.“You never see police officers down here,” he said. “You used to see the ambassadors. You don’t see them anymore.”