Thursday, July 18, 2013
Unexpectedly smart
A couple of surprisingly smart things are happening here in Spokane. Surprisingly because the local gov't tends to be benignly semi-competent. They get the basics done pretty well and they don't try anything new or fancy.
This attitude is a lasting legacy of a citizen revolt in 1993. For many years the city council had been wholly owned by the Cowles Family, which also owns the newspaper and much of downtown. The Cowles Council neglected potholes and snowplows, but spent millions on grandiose projects that purely served Cowles interests. The public (led by KXLY, the only major non-Cowles media) finally replaced the old council and demanded a reformed system. Since then, no large projects. Just fairly competent performance of the basic stuff.
First smart item:
The Spokane Police Department said that downtown crime dropped nearly 15% since the start of 2013 after opening a downtown precinct. ... Officials said that police bike patrols are stopped every 20 feet by people with questions or concerns. They added that it helped deal with petty crime immediately and sent a message to everyone downtown that the police are patrolling aggressively.Precinct offices are an old idea in big cities, but until now we didn't have them. We had a few 'COPS' offices occasionally staffed by volunteers, which didn't work well. Second smart item: The school district is working fast to develop a charter school. This will be the first one in Wash. The state passed a pro-charter referendum last year, but Seattle HATES the idea for obvious reasons, and other cities aren't bothering with it. Spokane's superintendent Rediger was hired partly because of her previous experience in setting up a successful charter school, and she's proceeding to do it again. Yay! ¶ 3:59 AM
