Outstanding examples of rooftop agriculture can be seen in cities like New York, Portland, Seattle, and Los Angeles. The Eagle Street Farm in Greenpoint Brooklyn is possibly one of the best examples of rooftop gardening in the nation. This farm sits on top of an old warehouse covering 6,000 square feet. Kale, lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, radishes, peas, and herbs all grown on the roof are delivered to residents and local restaurants through a community supported agriculture model.

What about the rooftop farm possibilities right here in Spokane? Our built environment boasts a variety of roofs and walls that could support urban farm operations. There are a few rooftop container gardens and the Main Market Co-op greenhouse, but there are yet to be any food growing endeavors that produce on a large enough scale to regularly supply residents and restaurants. Imagine an urban farm on top of the Jensen-Byrd building, the Wonderbread building on Lincoln and Broadway, or even on top of the Spokane Transit Authority storage and maintenance center!

Local developers, property owners, universities and community colleges could be engaged to assist in developing rooftop farms and other forms of urban agriculture in our city. Supportive developers and property owners are essential to the success of urban farming; they hold the keys that open onto the roofs of Spokane. The City and the County could help by writing or re-writing ordinances that are conducive to urban agriculture.

The universities could bring their programs together to develop an “Urban Agriculture Institute of Spokane” which would research and develop best practices and models that could be applied in other cities. Urban farming would greatly benefit the people, natural environment, food culture, and local economy, as well as reinforcing Spokane’s reputation as an innovative and creative city.

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately … I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life.

The reasons Thoreau once gave for his retreat into the forest near Walden Pond are eerily similar to our own reasons for moving to Spokane last month after ten years spent living abroad. My wife and I wanted a more measured pace of life without sacrificing the arts and culture that enrich our existence. We sought a place that wasn’t stagnant, that was reinventing itself without falling victim to vanity and greed and therefore losing sight of the things that mattered — things like the environment and a strong sense of community. We were looking for somewhere we could easily concentrate on the essentials and not, as that surly transcendentalist dismissively wrote all those years ago, fritter our life away on a headlong rush of insignificant details.

You could be forgiven at this point for snickering at our naiveté. Deliberate living? Arts and culture? Spokane? There’s a prevalent strain of thought that will grant the city just one concession when it comes to positive attributes: “It’s a good place for families.” In other words, it’s quaint. Predictable. Stodgy. Dull. And, for better or worse, maybe it is. This city could certainly use a few more bookstores, bands, and exhibitions.

But right now there’s a week-before-Christmas kind of vibe in Spokane, a feeling that something’s on the verge of happening; or maybe it’s already been happening for a while and the effects are only now starting to become apparent: the Main Market Co-op and the larger slow/organic food movement, the push for bike- and pedestrian-friendly “complete streets,” the resurgence of community-oriented and sustainability-minded businesses such as Roast House, the one hundred blocks of free Wi-Fi coverage at the city center, the development of the long-dormant and dilapidated Kendall Yards area, the moves to protect the aquifer.

To us Spokane appears to have, for the first time since the mid-’70s, the requisite impetus and desire to reflect and decide precisely what form it will take in the twenty-first century. And unlike those enduringly beguiling destinations of Seattle and Portland, whose powerful cultural tractor beams continue to entice some of Spokane’s finest away (I’m looking at you, Sherman Alexie et al.), this city still has the ability to do just that, to collectively re-imagine itself in whole or in part. Its reputation and fate are not yet so fixed.

That’s a unique position for a city of this size to be in. It has the opportunity to maintain the back-to-basics qualities that attracted us in the first place and still adopt the very best amenities that cities such as Seattle and Portland have to offer: bike lanes, arts funding, music and film festivals, architectural highlights, the proliferation of public parks. And it can grow and evolve in this way while resolutely avoiding what are so often viewed as the inevitable by-products of progress: a grotesque sprawl at its periphery, a blight of exclusive upmarket condominiums, a wanton pursuit of white-collar job creation that often succeeds only in raising the cost of living, poorly planned traffic thoroughfares and expensive public transportation.

Spokane is indeed a diamond in the rough, and we’re excited about the ways it’s begun to shine. If it were to take the right steps and channel the right resources, Spokane could exert a cultural influence to rival that of its more cosmopolitan coastal cousins. Stem that creative drain and it won’t be long before this city shakes off its parochial stigma altogether. A vibrant creative class attracts a vibrant business class. Which in turn cultivates a vibrant middle class. A city like that doesn’t need to woo location scouts and CEOs; they come of their own accord.

To truly live deep and suck the marrow from life… that would be a challenge even in Eden itself. But to live simply, to live deliberately; to live in a place where your farmer has a Facebook page, where you can drop in unannounced at a specialist coffee roaster and be invited to “cup” before they even learn your name, where you can stroll down to the most popular citywide annual event and not have to fight for a front-row spot, where more than ten cars at a stoplight constitutes heavy traffic, where the symphony orchestra plays to an annual audience almost as large as that of the Oregon Symphony operating out of Portland, where there’s a local public radio station for every 100,000 inhabitants, where the historical buildings haven’t been razed or yuppified, where there’s a postcard-perfect waterfall and rapids running right through the heart of downtown, for heaven’s sake — these are the things that drew us to Spokane. And as this city in flux attempts to augment those qualities with much-needed technological, creative, and environmental assets, our active support is with those who will ensure that any changes are carried out for the sake of those existing qualities and not at their expense.

So what do independently owned food carts and generic multinational chain restaurants have in common? They are both forms of “fast food.” After placing an order your meal is served within minutes. One offers a great degree of culinary variety, “sidewalk spunk,” potentially healthy dishes, circulates money through the local economy more efficiently, and provides management and staff more tangible pathways to career advancement in the food industry.

The other is tightly managed and unimaginative, creates cultural dead zones in urban environments, causes diabetes, inflates the corporate consolidation of agribusiness, and promotes working environments that position employees to be a drain on social systems. I’ll let you guess which is which. Why would you want to scarf down this while you could savor that?

L: Burger King on PictureMyFood.com, R: Pop-Up Spokane

Distasteful as it may be, traditional fast food is not the only food cart-killing culprit in Spokane. Excessive regulation seems to be an issue as well.

To get a year long permit to operate on the street you have to go to the environmental health office and fill out the paperwork, bring approved plans by an engineer regarding your cart, get it approved, and pay the fee. Total turnaround time of about three weeks. Compared to other counties, Spokane is very expensive. A temporary permit that costs $15 in  Colville costs $130 here. To sell meat is four hundred eighty something. Prices double if you don’t get it in two weeks early.

-Local Food Vendor

It seems as if Spokane is determined to cram its entire food cart scene into one week of maniacal caloric consumption: Pig Out in the Park. What exactly is standing in our way of having a more sustained sidewalk presence?

The biggest factor is that the county requires vendors to have a state certified truck or trailer to operate with a mobile food permit.  Bathroom access is another hurdle along with the need to use a commercial kitchen other than the truck or trailer to prepare and store the food. The reality is that none of these necessarily rule out a larger street food scene in this town which leads me to believe that Spokane just lacks the people motivated enough to get it done.

The entire food scene is marked by one hard to ignore fact: we have a small percentage of chef-owned restaurants. Innovation and advancement of food culture in a community tends to be driven by people who have motivations other than just making money. Jeremy Hansen has been able to grab the city’s attention because he has not played to the middle.

The trend that will make the greatest impact on this community will be when more cooks get the entrepreneurial bug. Food carts are a less expensive way of getting this done but with an unproven marketplace, some worry whether they can cover the cost of a certified truck or trailer. The good thing is that change is happening, albeit at a slower pace than some of us might like.

-Chef David Blaine

Why should we care about the lack of food carts in Spokane? Because they indicate a kind of social environment that speaks volumes about our region’s chosen lifestyle and culture. Portland has almost 400 food carts, compared to less than a dozen around here. The Portland food carts are so vibrant they have garnered national attention. This is a tangible homing beacon to creative class types all across the world. This is not just about making people who already live in Spokane happier, it is about being competitive in a global marketplace. Note to any antsy vendors in the 503: Spokane is ready to embrace your business. Now pack up and move on over, we are ready for you! Or better yet, young local entrepreneurs, here is your chance!

• SpoCOOL covers Tacos del Sol.
• Taste of the Town on Jon Howard’s hot dogs.
• SpoCOOL on Pop-Up.
• Luke’s “Mobile Feasts” article, coincidentally written while I was away. The fact that multiple people are thinking about this all at once is just more proof that Spokane’s mass consciousness is shifting.
• Nifty Inlander food cart locator tool.
• Maybe the City could rip off this packet.
• “Food carts take the curse off Portland’s parking lots.”

One that particularly caught my eye was an architectural exhibit at the Garage Door gallery showcasing the Pacific Bridge Development project. Nystrom | Olson | Collins has hosted local artists in the past for First Friday, but this is the first time they are displaying their own work.

Their purpose in participating on First Friday is to display their creative edge as a component of Spokane’s art and design culture, as well as provide an opportunity for the public to learn about and critique a project that will function as a key bridge between Downtown and the University District.

The Pacific Bridge development project is a mixed use development consisting of residential, commercial and retail uses located at the “Gateway” to downtown Spokane. The project consists of three phases to create low income and living wage jobs while revitalizing one of the City’s most underutilized and underserved neighborhoods. The property lies within the boundaries of the University District and enjoys one of the most recognized and heavily traveled locations in Spokane’s central business district.

The presence of the Spokane Public Market will greatly enhance the long term stability of the neighborhood while allowing local farmers and artisans the opportunity to interact with buyers in a year round indoor/outdoor venue. It is anticipated that that the market will be a community gathering place where individuals and families will be able to take advantage of locally grown and manufactured goods.

The developer BR3 development group in partnership with Spokane Neighborhood Economic Development Alliance will develop business incubator opportunities. This concept will provide small start up businesses the opportunity to lease inexpensive office space on a short term basis allowing maximum flexibility for long term growth.

Success of this development will create a diverse mix of uses which will add necessary density to the neighborhood in order sustain an active, secure and vibrant 24 hour presence. With the reintroduction of one or more residential components comes the requisite lighting and other security enhancements to ensure not only the viability of the project but the perception of a more secure environment. This housing is not intended to be high-end but rather a combination of workforce and low income units.

• New Members Group Show at the Saranac Art Projects
• Art at the Globe with Matt Bogue, Jason Bagge and Travis Masingale
• First visit to the new J.F.Thamm Gallery on Washington
• Concept Home featuring Ben Joyce (my inner yuppie made me do it)
• Tiffany at Second Space (always a big deal) a.k.a. INK
• This Garage Door thing (see above)
• Where I would go if I weren’t riding my bike: Ruby Slipper
• More complete listings and details.

Happy art marketing!

Design by Carson Schultz

Instead of describing their project as a gigantic armor-plated (albeit awesome-looking) cardboard slug slinking across the floor of River Park Square Mall, it is “a spatial intervention that is intended to intercept the public’s attention and inform them about National Architecture Week and the creativity/abilities of local architects.” It is similar in purpose to a 2-dimensional display our staff refers to as “Stonehenge,” cobbled together by Gabriel Brown for CME.

While the young architects are bristling with off the wall ideas unbridled by years of experience in an often painfully pragmatic industry, they also have undergone intensive study of architectural history. In the April issue of Inland Architect, a yAIAg member describes the profound influence the Expo had on Spokane’s landscape in a column titled “The Hometown Tourist.”

Designed and fabricated by Jeff Hyslop, yAIAg and several students from WSU-Spokane’s Masters of Architecture program.

Dare I detect a hint of 60′s/70′s prism preoccupation in this sculpture’s design? I love the patterns in the skylights on the ceiling of the Pavilion, and the shapes and colors of the floor tiles in the women’s restroom at Suki Yaki Inn and the breakfast area at Shangri La.

When one of the graduate students working on this installation was asked by a little kid “What is that?” he responded, “A question machine.”  I think that is a great way of looking at and approaching this project. It is a way for us as future architects and designers to push ideas on an attainable scale, while contently asking questions and challenging preconceptions. In this case architectural questions like, what is circulation, how can information be displayed, what is structure, and how does form evolve, and what makes a form engaging. -Jeff Hyslop

As a city that juxtaposes the Public Health Building with the Courthouse, I think we have something to say about architecture. For better or for worse. Either way there are a growing number of groups interested in alternative building and design, with several more invariably on their way.

There are a handful of folks who cast off their blinds long ago, and they are all running around the room ragged tapping people on the shoulders to ask, “Wouldn’t you be willing to untie this knot?” One is asking you to sign a petition. Another is imploring you to send them a postcard. Yet another is inviting you to a party, or to mentor, or to gather, or to vote.

You know that cheesy bonding ritual called the “trust fall”? When I ask people to dive into the unknown with me, too often the blindfold is so tight they just can’t take the leap. “There aren’t enough people like that around here” they say, “at least I haven’t met them.” When I assert that indeed they ARE out there, (in droves!) the suspicion is so thick I could saw a knife through it.

It is time for our creative class scene to pull itself together and get serious about revolutionizing our city. We are capable of a much higher degree of coordination. We need to take a chance, collaborate, and MAKE it happen.  We need to get an ad-hoc “Sounding Committee” together to have a real discussion about what we want to have happen in this town. It is in our hands and nobody else is going to do it for us. This needs to be like Wonderground on steroids.

We will have representatives from each of the grassroots groups out there trying to get things off the ground. People from Terrain, Riverspeak, Lilac Mob, Shrinking Violets, SSYP, Spokane MarCom, Emerging Professionals, the Entrepreneurs Group, the Young Architects, the Emerging Green Builders. The list goes on and on and on. Spokane has it all and it is long since time we put the pieces together. It is on us to create the identity that will carry this city into the future. That is, the future we want it to be in right now.

What is in store for this effort? The first push would involve some pulse taking. We’d host a large-scale gathering of creative people all across the city in different disciplines. This is called a charrette, and it would be awesome. There would be taskforces formed around the issues identified in the charette(s). One could be around the issue of incubating and supporting small, local creative class businesses. Another could be around the issue of all-ages and local live music. They would succeed because they would be operating under the same holistic umbrella. There would be synergistic critical mass that would mutually reinforce the momentum of each effort. And not before long, people would feel like “Holy Moses! We can actually win when we are working together!” AND IT’S FUN.

Then the moment would be ripe to launch a grassroots capital campaign. Screw magic money from the Federal government. This would be born by the blood, sweat and tears of everyday Spokanites longing for a better way. The vision would be to fund a backbone that holds all these groups together. Not in lock-step, but in partnership and constructive conversation. A core of resources that would be dedicated to catapulting this collective agenda forward. Yes, there would be staff. And eventually, a public headquarters. The Mayor is already on board, and just about every other booster out there would be too.

The thing that really gets my garbage goat is that I’ve been thinking about this concept for quite a while, and then I wake up one morning to a Facebook invite from some random, painfully hip Portlander inviting me to pretty much the exact same thing. At some point enough is enough. You can only kick a Hillyard dog so many times before it gets up and beats the bejeezus out of you. I am sick and tired of Portland being *the* hub for this kind of innovation. We are going to create our OWN hub. And no, WE WON’T be moving there, thank you very much!

I would like to see Mary Verner’s face on a poster like this. I would like to see partnerships between venues and advertising firms and education lobbyists. Let’s create our own condensed version of the following, with more of an economic development/quality of life/creative industry spin.

• The Right Brain Initiative
• Creative Advocacy Network
• Work for Art
• Regional Arts & Culture Council

Spokane’s P-Jammers at the last MLK Jr. Day march.

The P-Jammers (or PJAMRS, standing for the Peace and Justice Activist Musical Rascals of Spokane) are a rag tag bunch of folks that love to get out and be the life of any social or economic justice party. They often accompany events organized by the Peace and Justice Action League, and can also be heard at a smattering of other relevant political gatherings.

In no small part due to our vigorous sports culture and our position as  a hub to hundreds of small rural towns, marching bands are actually still a pretty big deal around Spokane. But they tend to be of a stiflingly traditional nature that emphasizes militaristic uniformity to the detriment of personal creativity and expression. Not so with the P-Jammers! This funky bunch fashions itself after the Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band, and members often make their own uniforms by hand out of reused materials.

While I might cringe a bit at some of the comments made by the crazier bards in this video, you’ve got to hand it to them for entertainment value. When people talk about a city being “vibrant,” for me this is the pinnacle of good old fashioned public fun.

Apparently these Honk! Fests aren’t unique to Seattle, they take place in a small number of cities all around the country. Not to wax nostalgic about Portland or anything, but in the brief time I lived there I encountered several Honk! style groups. There was the No War Drum Corps, a percussion booster band that often plays for the Rose City Rollers, and the unforgettably talented March Fourth, to name a few.

If we ever made a cultural asset map in Spokane and came up with indicators to measure our local creative health, I think the number and vitality of Honk! bands could be used as one of the canaries in our culture mine. They require a high degree of coordination dedication and guts, and thus would do well in reflecting our creative surplus. So cheers to the day when our people can go to Seattle to represent without the inevitable comment, “I didn’t know you had [insert cultural/social whatever it is] in Spokane!”

• Apologies for not mentioning the recent Musical Freedom Rally in Riverfront Park. Apparently it was a big success.

The purpose is to educate local art consumers about the diversity and accessibility of local original art, elevate the status of collecting local art, and cultivate critical taste among Spokane’s growing art community.

Design by Nick Tibbets

It’s been said that the key to persuasion is to “show not tell.” I hope New Originals will create an atmosphere in which everyday people can realize the value of supporting local artists as a means of personal expression.  For the price of a pair of designer jeans (or less) you can replace that tacky poster in your apartment with something that challenges, inspires, and lasts a lifetime.

Artwork by Jeremey Vermilion

Unlike many of the other First Friday exhibits that will open tomorrow night, New Originals: Collections, Champs, & Champagne is a one night only event. There will be live boxing, performances by several popular local bands, and general revelry in a part of town that too often doesn’t get its fair share of love. For the nay-sayers who like to think they’ve seen and done it all, the exhibit will also include a large body of new work by emerging artist Jeremey Vermilion. It warms my heart that our art scene is sophisticated and altruistic enough that it can offer a deserving new artist what amounts to a debut show.

Artwork by Jeremey Vermilion

Unlike the two paintings I’ve included here (couldn’t resist giving in to this curious interpretation of Spokane fetishism), most of what will be on display will not be your run-of-the-mill ho-hum traditional Spokane art. Expect a lot of pop art, photography, and things heavily influenced by graphic design. There will be some graffiti inspired paintings, things that look like they could be tattoos, and an all around eclectic mix of styles. Like KYRS on canvas.

Not only does this show represent collaboration between a few different social spheres that were previously more separate from each other, it represents several decades of local “alternative” art history.

Thanks goes to the organizers, the artists and these local sponsors:
Community-Minded Enterprises, Audio Affiliated, Silhouette Lighting, Spokane Boxing, Platform Booking, Caterina Winery, Big Sky, TheSomShow.com, Aaron Schaber Design, Mojo Reprographics and Object Space.

• RSVP and invite your friends to New Originals on Facebook.

1. All the cool kids were doing it, and
2. There wasn’t much that was appealing for anyone under 21 to do.

My disdain for Spokane has since turned to delight in no small part due to the explosion of people working really hard to make Spokane reach its full potential. Although the Friday night scene for many young people in the 509 hasn’t changed much, Spokane now has a fighting force for change in the Youth Sustainability Council (YSC).

Community-Minded Enterprises refers to the Youth Sustainable Council as a way for young people to contribute in the ways they want to contribute. The organization is known for its innovative “youth-lead” approach, which has resulted in projects as small as PARK(ing) Day and as large as Sustainable Uprising.

This spring break the YSC is putting on its first Earth Turners Convergence Wednesday the 31st through Friday the 2nd. It’s a series of 13 workshops on topics ranging from gardening and composting to grassroots organizing and starting a business, all led by some of Spokane’s finest. This is an event led by young people, but the workshops include skills that are of interest to everyone.

The Earth Turners Convergence kicks off with an issues forum, where young people will be invited to share their reasons for being involved and how they hope to affect change in their community. Workshops and fun events will continue over the following days, culminating on Friday, April 2^nd during the Youth Sustainability Council’s Transcendence Project installation.

Want more information? Check out the YSC blog or contact: spokanceysc@gmail.com

“Spokane Has Art” is not the Deviant Art group that proclaims:

This group is to support the belief that Spokane art exists.
Feel free to invite other Spokanites and ask questions.

Spokane Bus by Justin Aerni

“Spokane Has Art” is an invitation to send original art to friends in other cities with the phrase incorporated into the postcard design. It is a simpler version of the Spocare Package idea I pitched back in June.

How often can we say it? Spokane DOES have excellent arts venues and opportunities, but so often we are judged by our big-city neighbors. It’s time to set the record straight by sending a little artistic love snail-mail style.

For April’s Creative Challenge, we’re asking our members to create artistic postcard images (about 4″ x 6″) that will be printed and sent to artists and art collectives in other cities.

You may use any visual medium you wish, as long as it is your own, original work, and the words “SPOKANE HAS ART” are incorporated on the postcard.

1. CREATE your “Spokane has art” postcard
2. SCAN your postcard image
3. SUBMIT/UPLOAD it at http://riverspeak.net/challenge by April 15th

We look forward to receiving your submission!

If you live outside Spokane and would like to receive a handmade postcard, send your name and mailing address to thespovangelist [at] gmail [dot] com and I’ll do my best to hook you up!

• Show your support for this project on the Facebook event here.