Editorial: Keep public involved with Riverfront Park makeover

With the release scheduled today of a request for qualifications, the second and more difficult phase in the transformation of Riverfront Park begins.

City of Spokane officials, led by the Spokane Park Board, worked hard last fall to convince voters the park needed a $60 million makeover after 40 years of hard use, first as the site of Expo ’74, then as the centerpiece of a downtown that its greenery and events helped vivify when municipal times were tough.

Voters overwhelmingly supported the renewal effort. But, because the park is Spokane’s front yard, its progress will be very visible. The second-guessers will be out, as they were in Coeur d’Alene, where McEuen Park has become a showpiece.

Many may be disappointed the work will roll out over at least three years, but the park must remain as open as possible while the work is ongoing. Repairing the weakened Howard Street bridges, which will be more important as that becomes the main north-south thoroughfare, will be a chore in itself.

Devotees of ice skating will have to wait a year before work can begin on a new rink opposite City Hall, where their skills and spills will become fodder for passers-by with more bark than balance.

Iconic attractions like the Red Wagon and Looff Carrousel – in its new display case – will survive. Others, like the old IMAX, will be wiped from the parkscape.

Park Board members said before the election they would continue to take public comments as the details of the projects are filled in. They should follow through. A project with as many components as the new Riverfront Park should provide many opportunities to get the details right. Re-imagining the central pavilion in particular will be a sensitive endeavor to those who remember that area before it became frayed from overuse.

Mostly, Spokane wants a park that can entertain with events like Pig Out and outdoor concerts but, more importantly, provides space and greenery for a refreshing noon-hour walk or romp with the kids.

The park’s history as a gathering place for the region’s Native Americans must be celebrated.

Balancing the demands of different users has always been a challenge for park planners. Spokane was fortunate that the Olmsted Brothers, famous for their work on Central Park, among others, designed the city’s park system a century ago.

The success of the Riverfront project, or projects, will depend on managers with Olmsted-like vision sensitive to community needs, yet a sense of urgency about getting the tasks done.

Expo ’74 wiped away a grim landscape of railroad tracks and trestles in which Spokane residents had little stake. They’re fully invested now and look forward to a park worthy of a city that might not thrive as it does but for the work done four decades ago.