Campaign To Save Downtown Could Have Unintended Consequences

Downtown merchants are finding themselves between a rock and a hard place.

For months, the downtown establishment played up the decline of the central business district in order to help win broad acceptance for a major rescue operation.

It worked, and organizers succeeded in persuading most central business stakeholders to vote for a special self-tax district that enables them to maintain and manage downtown like a shopping center.

The special taxing district (known as a Parking & Business Improvement Area or PBIA) is in the process of gearing up to turn downtown around, clean up the sidewalks, increase safety, enhance the streetscape, create color and excitement.

So far so good.

But now central business and property owners who finally fessed up to how bad things were getting want to minimize these very same problems.

And understandably so.

Property holders and business proprietors - especially retailers - abhor “negative” publicity. It’s not good for business. Anyone who has ever been in business knows this.

Right up until the time the tax man comes and padlocks the doors, the rule is: Deny any suggestion of trouble.

Unfortunately for those who would like to retreat into denial again, the formation of a downtown management partnership is but one side of the downtown renaissance coin.

A new Nordstrom store, two blocks of retail shops, expanded parking, and a pedestrian-mall spanning Post Street are the other side of the coin.

And success in this effort continues to hinge on public and private support for a proposed $80-million redevelopment of the River Park Square shopping and parking complex. Unless the community and public officials get a clear picture of how dire the situation is downtown, support might fall short of the commitment needed.

So, stakeholders are confronted by a dilemma - just what do they want the public to know about downtown’s problems? And how bad are things?

Without dwelling on the “negative” - plenty bad enough. Believe it.

But there’s a plus side, too, that should not be overlooked, says the president of the newly constituted downtown management organization. “A tremendous number of positive things are going on,” says the Downtown Spokane Partnership’s Karen Valvano, “that are extremely important building blocks for the future.”

She advocates a “more-balanced” news approach that gives the proper weight to these plus signs.

“Everyone talks about the retail flight - about this store and that store pulling out of downtown,” Valvano says. “But we don’t talk that much about retailers who have come in who are better and stronger.

“I think downtown Spokane has had many undercapitalized businesses of all kinds, many of which probably wouldn’t have survived in any economy,” says Valvano. “The businesses that are coming are much stronger, and offer a much better shopping alternative than some that have left.

“I mean, you look at those like Moose Lake and like Cucina! Cucina! for example. They come in and run tremendous operations. Well designed. Top-notch merchandising skills. Outstanding service.

“They offer a better product in my mind than a number of those who left,” says Valvano. “And we also have some very strong local merchants who have continued to improve their business - Anderson & Emami, and Harvey’s, and so forth.

“So, when you look at the sum of those parts,” she says, “I think we will be stronger in the future than we were.

“The number of retailers that are left is smaller. But those who are left are very strong. And those who will be coming are strong as well.”

Thus, with the new management structure and funding in place and new programs in the works, from Valvano’s perspective, “Downtown is not in trouble. Downtown is in transition.

“And I think we have to call the community to action,” Valvano says. “That doesn’t mean just saying, ‘I support downtown.’ It means shopping downtown.

“It means dining downtown. Doing business downtown. Getting involved in downtown. All of those things.

“We also need participation in the transition planning process. In the implementation process. Everywhere.

“That’s our thinking. And we’re trying to bring more and more people into participating - whether they do it through a committee or board, or just helping out over the holidays.

“The community has a real supporting role to play down here - not just pay lip service.”

Sunday: The Downtown Spokane Partnership is performing a balancing act of its own.

, DataTimes MEMO: Associate Editor Frank Bartel’s column appears on Monday, Wednesday and Sunday.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Frank Bartel The Spokesman-Review