Dear Spokane Community,
Discomfort as a Catalyst for Change
Along our walk this morning, we took this picture in front of a COW (Camera Observation Wagon) parked at Division Street and Main. This initiative by the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office is a great example of the collaboration we need more of between the County and the City. Special thanks to Sheriff John Nowels for making this happen!
I’m on the road this morning to Seattle for a quick family visit. I’ve pulled over at a rest stop to dictate this after-walk report, and I’m reflecting on how this daily update must feel a bit over-the-top to many of you. I get it. But that’s just the point – everything about this crisis is uncomfortable.
It’s uncomfortable and tragic that human beings are living—and dying—on our streets almost every day.
It’s uncomfortable that our downtown is being decimated by avoidable chronic homelessness, drug addiction, and untreated mental health issues.
It’s uncomfortable to see businesses struggling and failing, jobs being lost, public spaces deteriorating, and our community being pulled apart by inaction and siloed leadership.
So yes, this is intense. It’s unsettling. And that’s exactly the point.
Beyond all that, people have asked, what exactly are we recommending? The answer is simple – urgent action and the kind of response we bring to a disaster-level crisis. That kind of response also means relentless partnering and collaboration, combined with the determination to attack the problem until it is fully solved.
I keep returning to the example of Houston, and for good reason. When another city has already demonstrated a clear best practice – especially one that can be replicated in our own community – the smartest move isn’t to reinvent the wheel; it’s to follow that proven path. Former Spokane Mayor David Condon had a great term for this: R&D—Rip off and duplicate 🙂
So, Houston! In recent years, cities from across the country – including Spokane – sent delegations to Houston to learn how they had achieved the lowest homelessness rate of any major U.S. city (89% lower than Spokane’s … and a 95% lower 2023 overdose death rate – those numbers are NOT typos!). These delegations often expected to find some unique, groundbreaking program. Instead, what they heard from Houston’s three-term mayor Annise Parker was something much more straightforward: “We found a way to collaborate.” Not just within city government but across jurisdictional lines, across agencies, across public and private sectors—relentless cooperation with a clear, strategic purpose that broke down silos and delivered carefully measured results until the problem was managed.
It’s almost funny how hard it is to grasp that something as mundane as collaboration with a clear strategy – and yes, BIG doses of leadership and determination – are the missing pieces to addressing our #1 issue in Spokane. As Houston’s mayor observed, those delegations often left disappointed, thinking the answer must be more complicated. But, she said, it’s not.
These walks started as a direct challenge to Mayor Brown and her executive cabinet—an invitation for them to walk Spokane’s streets at 4 AM, seven days a week, until they could go a full mile without seeing someone suffering on our sidewalks. While that challenge was not taken up, the reality remains: True leadership means confronting the problem head-on, not avoiding it. So, our own 5 AM walk today was just another step toward embracing the discomfort that can force change.
But yes, the shift from 4 AM to 5 AM was no accident! 🙂