Under new law, City Hall open to the public with no time limit

Spokane City Hall will now officially be open to the public without a time limit after the City Council approved the hotly debated proposal Monday.

Councilwoman Karen Stratton, who opposed the ordinance along with councilman Mike Fagan, said it was unnecessary because the building is already open to the public. She also said the proposal caught up the homeless looking for a place to go and employees with safety and sanitation concerns in the larger debate over homelessness.

“Our employees and the homeless have been caught in the middle of this battle for months, and no one wins,” she said.

The law, which was proposed by Councilwoman Kate Burke five months ago, formalizes the public’s access to City Hall during office hours. The version approved Monday night was substantially different from the earlier versions that appeared before council. It did not include a section allowing the mayor to turn City Hall into an emergency warming or cooling center.

City Council President Ben Stuckart said the arguments around the law have become a symbolic example of the conversation around homelessness.

“A simple ordinance brought forward to reaffirm City Hall as a public space has been misconstrued as something the ordinance doesn’t, and never did say,” he said.

Some have criticized the proposal saying it could create an unsafe environment for employees or turn the first floor lobby into a warming center.

Stuckart said the debate on homelessness should be focused on income inequality, the root cause of the opioid epidemic and housing instead of consequences of those issues.

“We cannot continue to allow the discussion to be about the consequences of homelessness overshadow the real discussion on the circumstances of how people get there,” he said.

Under the law, a work group would include three members of the public, a union representative, Human Resources, city staff and a Human Rights Commissioner, which would meet twice a year to discuss employee safety and public access. The law also includes a process for other city buildings to become public spaces.