It felt like a historical moment with over half of the 120 volunteers meeting at the north shelter of Riverfront Park on bikes. The idea is based off ciclovías – Spanish for “cycle way” or “bike path”- an event in Bogotá, Columbia where 70 miles of streets close for automobiles and open for people powered transit on Sundays from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Similar events occured in Portland – called “Sunday Parkways” – and San Francisco. I was fortunate enough to participate in the San Francisco event when the city shut down a 4.5 mile portion of their streets from Bayview to Chinatown—mainly Embarcadero— for four hours to make way for bicyclists and cultural activities.

For Spokane’s part, this Sunday, July 11th, from 9 am-1pm the people-powered movement takes over Howard Street for the 1.5 mile stretch between Riverfront Park and Corbin Park. There will be healthy food, Zumba exercise dance, hula hooping, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, jump rope, and a bike decorating contest judged by Mayor Mary Verner, Councilman Richard Rush, and Councilman Bob Apple.

View Summer Parkways in a larger map

Organizers attended Neighborhood Council meetings and went door-to-door to let residents know of the street closure and were greeted with enthusiasm. Hopefully, Summer Parkways will become a more permanent fixture in Spokane and lead organizer Bill Bender of Spokefest fame wants it on as many Sundays as possible like Bogotá. Even though we can’t conceivably close more than 70 miles of streets, how far have we come that we are modeling an event after Bogotá’s attempts at a post-automobile city? Will our urban planners take note? Perhaps next year, organizers can shut down a major arterial like 2nd avenue for a path between Browne’s Addition and East Central so participants understand the importance of connectivity.

The free event repeats itself August 22nd.

Hoopfest by Jack High

Even local authors Jess Walter and Sherman Alexie are fans, taking their love of hoops to new literary, ahem, heights:

We play basketball
because we want to
separate love from
hate, and because we
know how to keep score

Sherman Alexie, Why We Play Basketball.

But this weekend, separating love and hate during Hoopfest wasn’t as effortless as in years past. Spokane Police were mandated a DUI quota by contacting three motorists per hour this weekend as part of extra impaired driving patrols. One Geiger inmate escaped from a Hoopfest work crew.

The talk of the tournament was about a shooting between rival gangs. Three victims unrelated to the incident were injured, fortunately all with non-life threatening injuries to the foot and shin. (One of the assailants was responsible for a gang-related stabbing outside Club Uno last fall and was scheduled for trial September 20th.)

“We have a gang problem in Spokane. We have related crimes and they are continuing to be more violent. So when you have Hoopfest, and all those variables, it’s a recipe for disaster.”

Jennifer DeRuwe, Spokane Police Department Spokesperson

Do you feel last weekend’s incidents at Hoopfest will dissuade people from participating  despite their love for the game? It is estimated that Hoopfest contributes about $30 million dollars of economic impact to our community. What will be the cost of this shooting? What can be done to prevent 19 and 20 year old young men from firing into a crowd?

“I’ve done it all,” he said, waving to a broken cheekbone.

Pick-up line: “You’d make a good jockey with that slim figure of yours.”

Another verbatim quote: “I love Spokane. I live in that tower there and have a great view out over the river. I’ve been riding for thirty years. When they tore out the track I was through. That was it for me.”

Now that Bike to Work week is through and SpokeFest isn’t until September, the Spokane biking community could pull together an early season blowout in preparation for the new Summer Parkways festivals that will be taking place in July and August. If it is too late to pull off such a biking fete in June this year, we should definitely think ahead for 2011.

It would be a benefit event for local grassroots groups on wheels, like Pedals2People and the Lilac City Rollergirls. And lets also throw in The FBC since *someone* has to pay to print all the rad spoke cards Jeff painstakingly puts together, and Board of Spokane, since they promote skateboarding, and maybe Meals on Wheels could be sponsored to cater lunch, and so forth.

Core volunteers at P2P.

Lilac City Rollergirls, photo by Josh Smith.

Clearly there is enough critical community mass to make this thing a smashing hit. And clearly this would represent a great way to cross-promote cycling readiness among people in Spokane who are already athletically predisposed to get off their duffs and bike around, but may not be a part of the family/office-going demographic that Bike To Work week appeals to.

I would pay for a bike wash, or donate to be shown (again) how to clean my chain. I could pay to get into the beer garden at the event. I could pay for Pop-Up Spokane lunch, and pay for some sweet P2P and LCRG merch. I think this thing would definitely be worth everyone’s while. We could do it in a church parking lot to avoid the bureaucracy of Spokane Parks and cut down on overhead.

I suggest the Unitarian Universalist Church of Spokane, for example, and volunteer to be the church liaison should someone miraculously appear to organize this event and should the church be able to partner on the project.  It is a nice little ride outside the city center and is close to wonderful rides around Riverside State Park. Finding a parking lot in Spokane to host the event will not be a problem.

After we emerge victorious from all the scrubbing and spraying, the event concept will go viral and people in Bellingham and Tacoma will do bike washes in a similar fashion. Just another idea floating around in the cauldron of community innovation that is Spokane.

Bloomsday spirit down in Peaceful Valley.

One thing I love about Bloomsday is all the funny shenannigans people come up with to grab each others’ attention. For the majority of people doing Bloomsday it isn’t about setting a record, its all about getting outside to stretch your legs and be a part of something fun and kind of silly.

Many folks are on no kind of exercise routine whatsoever, and Bloomsday is an annual tribute to something they know they should be doing year round. It is humbling to walk through a river of imperfect bodies and be reminded that we all suffer from the same mortal ailments.

Home embankment on Doomsday Hill overlook.

Wouldn’t it be rad if the Spokane Arts Commission (or some other similar entity) obtained permission from the home owners to pay a local artist to do some kind of Bloomsday themed mural on this wall? It must be at least 10×50 feet in area. Just an idea.

It is always a gamble with the Best of categories. Some are here today gone tomorrow, others are irreverent, random, or just blatantly designed to drive ad sales. But think of it from the newspaper’s perspective. You can only have so many titles under each meta-category, and you have to hit a sweet spot with things that aren’t a foregone conclusion that a decent number of folks are actually familiar with.

Artwork by ANeMonE

I find it telling that 6 out of 14 of the people topics are TV and/or sports related. Personally, I’d like to see more of the following:

• Best Community Safety Officer
• Best Environmental Advocate
• Best Public Health Proponent
• Best Social/Economic Justice Crusader
• Best Neighborhood Leader

I’m sure that some acknowledgment for these people exists in various nonprofit groups and professional societies, but it is a whole different ball game when probing the mass mind.

I attended my first GU match in 2008 and had to ask a lot about the teams and their players. My friend’s father, who had been patiently answering my questions eventually shot back, “Are you even from around here?”

Photo courtesy of the Spokesman-Review.

So it is with humility that I admit I wasn’t familiar with former coach Dan Fitzgerald before reading his bio in the “Best of” and learning about his untimely recent death. My grandfather died unexpectedly in his 60′s and it scarred my mom and her sisters irrevocably, so my heart goes out to Fitzgerald’s family and fans. Just to consider that he died in the line of duty while at a Ronald McDonald house fundraiser, this seems like a fitting tribute to someone who contributed so much on so many different levels.

Awhile back I wrote 101 Things to do With a Surface Parking Lot. The list was a challenge and took a couple of attempts to complete. Coming up with 101 reasons to ride bikes in Spokane, however, was a breeze. I sat down and whipped these out almost without pause. In no particular order:

1. your engine is in your butt
2. people in bike shops don’t try and swindle you for repair costs
3. cleaning your windshield is as easy as blinking
4. people think you’ve “got guts”
5. wearing bike accessories makes your fashion distinctive
6. insurance doesn’t cost an arm and a leg
7. changing a tire can be done in less than fifteen minutes
8. biking daily adds spring to your step
9. you are more likely to wear comfortable shoes
10. pulling up to lock your bike is a great conversation starter with pedestrians
11. people admire your dedication
12. skip the lines, buses and craziness on your way to Bloomsday
13. you remind traffic to pay attention
14. takes a huge chunk out of your carbon footprint
15. you don’t have to buy gas – this should be reason enough!
16. no license required
17. great compliment to regular exercise
18. people think you’re sporty even if you aren’t
19. bikes come in more colors than cars
20. you never have to worry about parking availability again!!!
21. you can’t lock your keys inside of a bike
22. good for your heart
23. way more likely to stop and smell the roses
24. pot holes are easily avoided
25. you set a good example for kids
26. arrive at work refreshed and ready to contribute
27. cold temperatures locally make biking more comfortable, not less
28. make new friends, volunteer with Pedals2People
29. about 70,000 people die from air pollution annually (this equals the number of deaths from breast and prostate cancer combined)
30. Spokefest will feel like a vindicating joy ride
31. you learn the art of layering your clothes
32. breaks aren’t mysterious and are easy to repair
33. reconnect with the day-night cycle
34. stop fueling the war machine
35. improve your flexibility
36. be prepared for spinning at the gym
37. encourage your friends to ride bikes with authority
38. burn more calories every day to earn that fattening dessert
39. win free prizes on MyCommute.org
40. don’t leave a stinky trail of carcinogens wherever you go
41. squeeze through narrow openings when necessary
42. harness the power of evolution in making your transportation energy efficient
43. you can carry your transit up the steps
44. better your balance
45. help people cost share when you carpool to an event
46. you’ll never be caught off guard by the weather in inappropriate clothing
47. hit up three times as many galleries during Art Walk
48. make the Centennial Trail your freeway
49. free yourself from guilt about hastening peak oil
50. tread lightly on Spokane’s battered roads
51. be invested in watching the local bike culture grow
52. donate your old bikes to the Village Bicycle Project
53. become thankful for red lights instead of being angry at them
54. remove the temptation to answer and talk on your phone
55. get discounts on drinks at Coffee Social
56. improve your coordination by breaking while hand-signaling
57. what a great excuse to get to wear neon!
58. walk the talk when you pull up for a meeting at City Hall
59. you only have to have two functional tires instead of four
60. enjoy carpooling across town with friends you otherwise wouldn’t get to see
61. get some mileage out of that backpack in your closet
62. feel the elation of coasting down a long hill
63. support your local bike materials economy
64. create green collar jobs with your bike service purchases
65. more easily reuse your bike parts across different brands and models
66. flashing lights, light ropes and accessories are legal and encouraged
67. whoever spent years paying off their bike payments?
68. think of biking as a non-dietary “cholesterol cleanse”
69. you are less liable to accidentally kill a warm and furry friend
70. take advantage of existing bike infrastructure
71. create the demand for more bike infrastructure
72. bump total transit costs down from #2 on your household budget
73. invent fun biking rituals
74. pour aggression into powering up a hill
75. vintage rigs are just as fuel efficient as new ones
76. earn a rad “bike muscle” above your kneecaps
77. stave off the risk of diabetes
78. improve your posture
79. beat the bus to your destination
80. increase neighborhood property values
81. slip through the traffic jam and be on time for dinner
82. cycling promotes mobility for seniors
83. cut your noise pollution down to “Near Nothing, Near Perfect”
84. get rid of the need for the volume and overhead on that 2-3 car garage
85. British Medical Assosiation says health benefits outweigh accident risks 20:1
86. reduce the depreciation on your transit investment
87. give your bones a daily workout
88. a non-pharmaceutical/barbituate way to reduce anxiety and depression
89. boost your LDL and HDL readings
90. reduce your mortality by 40% – commute 3 hours a week for 15 years
91. let speed function as your AC system
92. bicycling is a physical meditation – a must for anyone living with ADD
93. smell the pine, orange blossom, and lilac in the air
94. become a crusader against America’s obesity pandemic
95. merging your commuting and exercise time frees up hours for other pursuits
96. ditch the concrete jungle and take the scenic route
97. bicycling contributes to economic justice and equal opportunity for all
98. contribute to Spokane’s urban/enlightened image
99. protect your global neighbor – air pollution exceeds traffic fatalities 3:1
100. foil the meter maids and parking Nazis
101. cars pollute our lakes and groundwater; bicycles don’t

In the 70′s a Spokane chapter of NOW became active and responded with outrage to the reprehensible comments of then Police Captain Richard Olberding. The very existence of this small group of ~26+ active women raised eyebrows all around the city. The undeserved reputation of Spokane NOW as a bra burning Bloomsday running band of Amazons prompted these sardonic shirts:

As the eighties marched on Spokane’s NOW eventually fizzled, but Seattle NOW is still going strong and is ready to seed upstarts on our side of the state. While Spokane is home to a healthy variety of women’s professional societies including NAWIC (National Association of Women In Construction), NAPMW (National Association for Professional Mortgage Women) and the more visible NAWBO (National Association of Women Business Owners) these groups tend to be mostly made up of mature women and feel fairly conservative and routine. Portland and Seattle have The Link, which is a social society for professional women of all walks, but Spokane is sadly lacking in this flavor of organization.

On the other end of the age spectrum we recently witnessed the brief birth and death of the Spokane Women’s Collective. True to form among Spokane’s anarcho-punk youth circles, the organization was entirely spontaneous, horizontal and refreshingly defiant of the regional stereotype.

As a next step in this unfolding history I propose the first ever Shrinking Violet Society. Primarily composed of women in their 20′s and 30′s, SVS would serve as a social outlet, a civic booster club, and a support network of similarly interested women friends. We could volunteer as the “official cheerleaders” of the Lilac City Rollergirls and Fighting Marmots women’s rugby. We could phone bank at PPINW and volunteer to encourage girls to pursue science with WIBIT at Tincan. Craft parties, clothing exchanges and book clubs would be par for the course. Shopping buddies and workout partners would be in bountiful supply.

Women in Spokane have unique abilities to accelerate postive social change in this region and beyond. We could start with our friends and outreach to groups like the Spokane Modern Girls Meetup. We could help existing local charities and create new ones, bringing a Rock’n'Roll camp for girls to Spokane.

We can do it, and our modern boyfriends/husbands/brothers/sons and dads will support us all the way!

Spokane needs a local independent sports blogger.

When I say “local” and “independent” that is exactly what I mean. The vast majority of sports blogs out there are products of the newspaper industry trying to make the digital jump. But for some reason these “sports blogs” don’t seem to be very much fun at all. They read like columns and often lack the kind of interactive features that encourage a dedicated readership. Conversely, most truly independent sports blogs focus on national sports leagues and are plagued by an uninspired commercial feel.

I want someone to blog about local sports culture, ’cause goodness knows Spokane has a really strong one. I want to know what Spokane Women’s Rugby is up to this season. I want to know how to register my kids for baseball or soccer. Where are the best public horse shoe boxes in Spokane? What is the history of the Flying Irish running club? An what about our local Ultimate Frisbee team? This blogger could review all the fitness gyms in Spokane, and maybe the sports bars too.

I’d like someone to help me follow the Zags when its that time of year, and circulate recruiting announcements for intramural soccer. Someone should give critical review of major events like Bloomsday and Hoopfest, and draft invites for things like neighborhood softball leagues and dodgeball tournaments. What are the plans to refurbish the Joe Albi stadium? Where can I read about the positive effects that local sports have on developing teamwork and a healthy lifestyle? And who knew Spokane has a 10 acre archery complex?

Clearly there is more than enough material to go around. So if you if you know someone who is a good candidate for becoming “The Spokane Sports Blogger” please tell them to hurry up and get on it!

• Spokane Youth Sports Association
• Spokane Spiders Soccer
• Spokane Shock Football
• Spokane Indians Baseball
• Spokane Chiefs Hockey
• Spokane Razorbacks Rugby

Premise #2: Spokane has an abundance of boring, windowless building surfaces. We should strive to eliminate them.

What can be done while waiting for the rest of the kayak park funds to materialize? What could be cast as a small but sexy victory for outdoor culture in Spokane THIS SUMMER?

How about transforming the blank white vertical surface of the Parkade Tower into an urban climbing wall.

Currently there is a beautiful little brick courtyard area sandwiched in between Rite Aid and the new Santorini’s Greek restaurant. This interstitial space often feels empty, with only a lonely breeze blowing through. Businesses in this cafe location have historically had a hard time making it, with the delicious Meritage Bistro closing its doors last fall.

If Wild Walls contracted with the Parkade to retrofit the tower column with internally reinforced climbing holds, people would be packing out the courtyard every afternoon. Wild Walls would quadruple their visibility, drawing more people into their summer class programs. The Parkade and surrounding businesses would greatly appreciate the boost, and Spokane could claim a quick victory for innovative progress in 2008.