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Residents urge Spokane leaders to protect river and improve housing‑project oversight
Summary
During open forum speakers pressed the council to prioritize Spokane River conservation and to create mechanisms for handling safety and service gaps in private supportive housing projects.
Margo Hill, a Spokane Tribal citizen who said she is a tribal court judge and an urban planning professor, told the council that parts of the Spokane River ran dry last year and urged continued investment in river water quality and conservation.
“We are the river city,” Hill said, asking the council to consider water conservation measures and to protect the Spokane River and aquifer for future generations.
Sunshine Wigan, a West Plains resident, described safety and coordination problems in private supportive housing developments where room‑rental models are used. Wigan recounted an assault of a client who was off his medication and said law enforcement responded; she urged the city to create a point of contact or mechanism to manage toxic or dangerous conditions in such projects.
“There is nobody that you can turn this kind of stuff into, and I'm asking you guys, please make something for that,” Wigan said, adding that current service networks do not consistently respond to incidents in privately run facilities.
The chair closed open forum and the meeting adjourned. No formal council action on the comments was recorded during the meeting.
