Dear Spokane Community
A Tale of Two Spokanes: Beauty, Desperation, and the Barriers to Meaningful Change
This morning’s 5 AM walk through Spokane was a study in contrasts. The first leg took us through Riverfront Park, where a thick fog draped beautifully over the U.S. Pavilion and the Vietnam Memorial.
We continued east along the river before cutting south through the Browne Street viaduct and heading west along Second Avenue, where the sidewalks were lined with individuals—some alone, others in groups—openly smoking fentanyl. The suffering and impact of this crisis on our city are impossible to ignore, and the weight of it stays with you throughout the day. (One of our group members even felt ill for hours after breathing in secondhand exposure.)
Tim Thomas, president of Bouten Construction, joined our walk this morning. Our conversation turned to the nature of his industry—one built on absolute deadlines and unavoidable constraints. Yet, somehow, successful companies like Bouten ALWAYS find a way to deliver results. That same level of discipline and urgency—the kind that Spokane businesses and households manage every day—is exactly what we should expect from our local leaders as this crisis of human suffering and economic decline continues to threaten our community.
I keep asking myself: What is preventing us from addressing this crisis—one that has been the top concern of our citizens for years? The answer, at least in part, seems to lie in policies and decisions that prioritize political identity over real solutions.
Take proposed House Bill 1380 as an example. On the surface, it claims to protect the rights of our most vulnerable by allowing individuals to sit, lie, and camp on public property under certain conditions. But common sense tells us this is merely a superficial fix—one that doesn’t actually do the real work of helping those in need and instead perpetuates the very conditions that keep these vulnerable individuals in crisis.
The biggest problem with performative legislation like HB 1380 isn’t just that it doesn’t work—it’s that it forces leaders into their political corners, making collaboration nearly impossible. Consider that just this week, the County unanimously passed restrictions on sitting, lying, and camping in public spaces. Meanwhile, our Mayor has taken the opposite approach, refusing to take a position against HB 1380, despite the fact that it may directly contradict what the County just enacted—not to mention Prop 1, which was approved by nearly 75% of Spokane voters in November 2023.
And this isn’t an isolated case—it’s a pattern we’re seeing again and again. Take emergency communications, for example—something that should be above politics. Instead of working alongside the County on our “regional” emergency response system, city leadership supported state legislation allowing Spokane to pull its share of emergency communications sales tax revenue away from the County and build its own system. The result? Fragmented emergency communications that won’t function nearly as well as the regional system taxpayers expected and voted for.
If we are serious about solving this crisis, then the legislature (and our own local legislators) must do their part—not by passing more laws that divide us, but by crafting policies that incentivize real cooperation. We need legislation that unites jurisdictions in building collaborative solutions—not policies that reinforce political divisions.
At SBA, we will continue to oppose HB 1380, advocate for a regional emergency response system that includes the city, and work toward regional, collaborative solutions to the public health and safety crisis Spokane continues to face.
