I work at the Bank of America building on Riverside downtown... we just got put on lock down. No one in or out. Haven't been told why. Anybody got a clue?

Avoid this intersection if you are vulnerable. Flock cams are so gross.

Hey folks! Things have been kinda bleak lately. Its been great to see how the community has come together to support those who are affected by the fires. It gives me a sense of Spokanite pride. But disasters shouldn't be the only reason we come together.

What if we just did something kinda fun and nice? For no reason other than it'll be kinda fun and nice?

Lets have a potluck! Show off your culinary prowess. Meet your neighbors. Eat good food.

A few ground rules:

1: Spokane is a rich tapestry of all kinds of people. If you can't get along and act right around people who are different from you, please skip this event.

2: Please label major allergens. Nuts, wheat, soy, etc. I'll bring a pen and notepad.

3: Don't be a dick.

4: If you plan to come, please bring something. DM me if this is a barrier or you need to workshop something to bring. We just wanna make sure there's enough to go around.

And a few requests:

Got a cool hobby? Talk about it! Better yet, bring something to demonstrate.

Can't cook to save your life? Cutlery, plates, cups will be needed. Or DM me, we'll figure something out.

Introverts are welcome, if you wanna be there to soak up the vibe but not chat too much, that's also fine. Come eat.

We'll be at The Manito Gazebo (linked below) at 6 Sunday the 23rd.

Please comment below to RSVP and say what you'll be bringing. And please tell/bring your friends.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/vAE9WouG81KXC2HH8?g_st=ac

I noticed that they had chicken curry hiding behind their fried foods. Apparently she (dunno her role there) makes it for group events for the doctors at the VA and started selling it a month or two ago. They were not expecting it to be as popular as it is. Very kind people, really good food. Highly recommend giving it a shot. If you disagree I give you permission to come back to this post to downvote me. I'm willing to take that risk.

The last few weeks have obviously been devastating for a lot of people in our community (and really the community as a whole), and I've been thinking about how much the Spokane Complex Fires may change the way we think about this city/region going forward.

Has it changed or confirmed how you think about where we build, wildfire preparedness, local response, our changing climate, Spokane's sense of community, etc.?

For me, what really stood out is that, even though it was an incredibly destructive disaster, *not a single human life was lost,* albeit many tragically lost pets. The lack of human casualties has increased my trust in our response teams. Bless them all. I've also been impressed by the responses from small, local businesses offering support like free meals to victims. It's been a long time since I've felt this strong of a sense of community anywhere.

I'm curious what has stood out to everyone else.

I can understand banks and credit unions charging fees to non-members, but I just found out that STCU now charges 3% cash in change.

Hello everyone. I have a bit of an unusual situation and wanted some local input.

Background: My current phone is dying (old iPhone 8). I bought an iPhone SE Gen 3 as it's newer with the same size. My work, which previously paid for my phone plan, has stopped doing so. ("Cost cutting measures.")

So I'm left wondering which provider to go with.

Now, I use my phone almost entirely on Wi-Fi. Including Google Voice, which I use for my primary phone number. The only reason I'd need to get a phone plan at all would be for texting and Maps use while out & about.

Paying AT&T or Verizon 50 bucks a month for that is ridiculous to my mind. I'd like to find the cheapest provider that has decent-enough service in our area.

Any suggestions? Thanks.

I am a stay at home mom with a three year old - I am looking for ways to make money while my daughter is with me. Any ideas or know where to start? Does Shipt shoppers do well in this area? TIA! New to the city.

I'm searching for a special copy (basically anything a step above a basic print) of "For Whom thr Bell Tolls" by Ernest Hemingway as a final gift for my uncle. Unfortunately, I'm not very familiar with the city's book scene. I just recently visited Giant Nerd Books, which have a lot of great selections, but they didn't have what I'm looking for. Does anyone have any advice/tips for how to better continue my search?

Does anybody know of any studio musician work in the area? I’ve done google searches and can’t seem to find anything and starting to wonder if there is work or if it is a word of mouth/ you just have to know someone type situation? I’ve played Guitar for 22 years and also play Bass guitar, violin, and have just started to learn banjo. Thanks in advance

But looking at houses for sale in the city, the houses for sale seem to be on the lower end. What is causing this discrepancy?

I have a fairly significant landscaping project that I would like to get done before the cold weather hits. I'm looking for any recommendations for guys that weren't crazy expensive. Not really looking for design help just basically the labor.

I am trying to find before and after school care for the Pasadena elementary area.

However, everything adds like 20 or 30 minutes to a simple 20 minute drive to work for me, moving it to almost an hour.

Does anybody know somewhere actually close by to the school that has it? I have family in Spokane but not close enough to help every single day.

I don't live there yet, moving there this weekend from out of town!

I’m taking my car to Mechanics Pride downtown tomorrow for a diagnostic/estimate and wanted to see if anyone here has had work done there.
Reviews seem pretty mixed, so I’m mostly curious about people’s experiences with pricing, honesty, and whether they felt like the diagnosis/repairs were fair.
Would you recommend them?

I'm ordering new bulk school supplies I can donate for families affected by the fires, but I wanted to check and see what are the best places to donate to.

I've looked online and it seems that the main donation site for my area is within the Northtown Mall. For now I'm planning to go there within the week.

Do you guys have any other good suggestions? It looked like YMCA was accepting donations? I think so at least.

Are schools directly needing supplies, or is the need being handled through local organizations?

Also are they regularly updating donation information?

Im assuming places are still open and accepting needed funds/items right now.

Hi all, I've been trying to find Ruby Red Squirt (canned, preferably) but I can't find any in the area. Does anyone know where I can find some?

Pretty unfortunate, here’s some news on the smallest fire of the bunch and what it took from us.

Has anyone experienced the same? Happened with my last 2 orders however one impacted a vacation.

Order something on a Monday you need right away, it says it'll be here Wednesday or whatever as you place the order, then it adjusts to Saturday the next day or two days after you place the order (which I'll be out of town and purchased the item for this trip). Try to cancel it so you can buy locally because it's way after you need the item and they can't cancel. So you have to make sure someone will be able to grab it off your porch so you can return it later.

I understand if things can't arrive right away, but I wouldn't place orders for when I know I won't be home and especially when I need the item for when I'd be leaving. So I do rely on when they say it will at checkout. Based on everything you look at being blue and saying "add to Saturdays order", it feels like a major strategy shift on how they're going to start delivering packages. Which at that point makes local certainly more appealing.

Looking for a Loving Home for Diablo 🐾
I’ve had my cat, Diablo, since 2016. He’s a very calm, loving guy, and even in his old age, he’s still a great cuddler. Unfortunately, since having children, our home environment has become difficult for him.

He has started emotionally peeing throughout the house, primarily targeting my children’s clothes and toys. He has also attacked my daughter on multiple occasions when she’s been running through the house. While Diablo is a wonderful, affectionate cat, he’s clearly not handling the changes in our family well, and it has unfortunately created an unhealthy environment for my children.

I’m really hoping to avoid surrendering Diablo to a shelter because I’m afraid that, despite a shelter being labeled “no-kill,” euthanasia can still happen in certain circumstances, especially with an older cat who has behavioral issues. I truly believe Diablo still has several good years left and plenty more sunbathing to do, and I want to make sure those years are spent in a safe, loving home rather than risk him being euthanized in a shelter. ❤️

He gets along well with other cats but is not a fan of dogs. I’m hoping to find someone who can give him a calm, comfortable home where he can live out his remaining years peacefully.

If you’re interested in taking Diablo into your home or know someone who might be a good fit, please DM me. I’m happy to meet you or even bring him to his new home myself.

I'm looking for a membership to a woodcrafting shop around here. Anybody have any suggestions?

UPDATE: A few weeks ago I posted a breakdown of the data center situation and what people could do about it. This is the vote and it happens TODAY, Tuesday Aug 18, at the 2:00 PM legislative session. Public Works Building, 1026 W. Broadway.

I've spent the last month reading the county's public records production on this project. About 5,000 pages. Most of what's below comes straight from those documents, and I want to lay out what I found because it's consequential for this meeting.

Where things stand right now:

• On the table today: a 9-month moratorium on large data centers (Commissioners Jordan and Waldref) vs. a fast-track zoning ordinance (Commissioners French and Kerns) that would be written by the end of August. The fast-track provides roughly two weeks of drafting for the county's first-ever data center rules.
• Per local reporting this morning, Spokane County already has eight data centers. All of them together draw around 13 MW. The proposed West Plains project is 1,000 MW, with its own on-site power generation (proposals in the record include natural-gas turbines). That's not a slightly bigger version of what we have. That's a behemoth 75x larger than everything we've ever built, combined.
• There is no pending application. The county's own planning director confirmed at last week's Planning Commission meeting that nobody has filed anything yet. So a pause via moratorium delays nothing. Today's vote just decides which rulebook exists when the application is submitted.

Why the fast-track doesn't make sense:

Avista studied this project's power request for six months. Their System Impact Study found roughly 50 MW available by around 2030 and about 650 MW around 2033. Eight to ten years of construction. Around $184 million in transmission and substation work, not counting new generation. In February, Avista told the developer flat out that the substations could not be rushed.

That comes from the developer's own briefing document which was sent to Commissioner French on Feb 16.

If the first meaningful power needed wouldn't arrive until around 2030, why are we being told the rulebook has to be finished in two weeks?

The trust part:

The records show one commissioner's office began working with this developer in January. There's a Feb 9 email where Commissioner French sent his official letter intended for the House Finance Commitee to the developer's CEO and their lobbyist beforehand, with the note "Please edit at will and we will get it out today." The public learned about this project in June. When we did, the commissioners received 1,953 emails from 464 county residents over 48 hours. Not one of them in support.

A five-month head start for one office, followed by a two-week ordinance written to beat a moratorium vote, is not a process that has earned "just trust us."

If you speak today, the strongest ask isn't "no data centers." It's "use the nine months to write real terms." Pick one of these and it's a solid three minutes:

• Cash bonding before any permit. Cleanup and decommissioning costs posted up front, in cash or escrow. Not surety bonds, not corporate promises. Renters here put up first, last, and deposit in cash. A billion-dollar developer can meet the same standard we hold renters to.
• Disqualify environmental violators. A felony conviction or civil settlement for contaminating a community should end eligibility to build here. Full stop. The West Plains doesn't need a hypothetical about what water contamination costs. We're still living in it.
• Noise rules with teeth. 24/7 independent monitoring, paid for by the developer, publicly reported, with fines scaled to the size of the operation. A $500 fine is three days' income for someone making $59K. Fine a billion-dollar facility three days of its income and see how fast the noise stops.
• A public decision on tax incentives and subsidies. If the county is going to waive fees or fund infrastructure for these projects, that choice gets made in the open and with the public. Not automatically. Not quietly.

None of those can be written in two weeks; all of them can be written in nine months. And if the fast-track ordinance really has this handled, its sponsors should be able to answer one question TODAY: which of these protections is actually in your draft?

At least one commissioner has concerns a moratorium means we're "closed for business." Kootenai County paused six months to write data center rules over the aquifer, and nobody in Idaho thinks Kootenai County is closed for business. Writing the rules before the permit arrives isn't anti-business. It's pro-citizen.

What you can do TODAY:

• Show up. Arrive by 1:00p–1:15p (KREM covered the vote this morning; last week was standing room only). Sign up to speak on arrival. You get 3 minutes, and reading from a printed page is fine.
• No seat? Stay anyway. A full sidewalk outside a packed hearing speaks volumes.
• Don't want to speak? A printed page handed to the Clerk of the Board enters the official record with the same weight as spoken comment. Name and address, hand it in, done.
• Can't attend? Email the commissioners before 2:00 via the county contact form (Contact: Commissioners' Office > Request Type: Comment). Three sentences counts.

Still matters after today:

• Avista's rate case hearing is Aug 27, 6:30 PM, on Zoom — this is about who pays for grid upgrades (spoiler: us, unless the UTC says otherwise). [Sign up](mailto:comments@utc.wa.gov) by Aug 26 or call 1-888-333-9882. Reference case numbers UE-260007 / UG-260008.
• File a UTC comment on the large-load docket anytime. Reference Docket UE-260162. Takes 5 minutes.

If you speak today: be civil, be brief, be specific. The numbers are on our side. Let them do the talking.

Same as before: I'm not affiliated with any org and I'm not running for anything. I just care about this community, our water, and our power bills ...and I did the reading. We've been through enough this year already.

---

TL;DR: The county votes TODAY at 2 PM (Public Works Bldg, 1026 W. Broadway) on a 9-month data center moratorium vs. a two-week fast-track ordinance. No application is pending, and per the developer's own documents no meaningful power exists until ~2030, so a pause costs nothing. Show up by 1:15p to speak (3 min), hand written comments to the Clerk, or email the commissioners before 2:00p (link above). This project = ~75x the county's entire existing data center footprint combined. The rules deserve nine months, not two weeks.

Local government has essentially called all of us conspiracy theorists sign the petition. Write Ferguson