(The Center Square) – Delivering on Mayor Lisa Brown’s agenda, the Spokane City Council unanimously approved an ordinance on Monday creating a neighborhood block party program.
Last month, Brown and Spokane Police Chief Kevin Hall laid out a five-step plan to address a rise in traffic fatalities. The city has taken several steps to improve pedestrian safety over the last year, but critics say it’s “too little, too late” amid pedestrian deaths crossing the street.
Spokane recorded 20 traffic deaths last year and a few already in 2025. Last week, the council approved the first step, prohibiting drivers from turning right on a red light downtown. Monday’s vote pushed her agenda further, allowing residents to close city streets for community events.
“You’ve got to get a permit, so it’s just not willy-nilly,” Council President Betsy Wilkerson said. “It still has to go to the police department, still has to go to the fire department to get approval.”
The measure allows people to temporarily close nonarterial streets for block parties, community events, and areas where children can play. A special permit is required, but it’s free if the event is open to the public, limited to one block, and doesn’t cross an intersection or require traffic control.
According to a news release, the program will launch in June running through Halloween.
The ordinance also requires the city to “develop program policies and procedures consistent with this section.” The officials unanimously approved the proposal, but Councilmember Michael Cathcart took issue with this provision, calling for public-facing engagement on the policies.
Council Policy Adviser Christopher Wright told Cathcart that unless it’s a public rule, it’s unlikely that the council would be made aware of how city staff develops those policies. Cathcart asked to amend the ordinance to include the phrase “public rule,” but his motion failed without support.
“I’m just getting very concerned with more and more and more things happening on the back end, outside of public view,” Cathcart said. “And this is just sort of yet another thing that’s happening, where the erosion, I think, of our duties as a legislative body, are slowly being whittled away through a lot of pushing things to an administrative policy or to a back end.”
He likes the idea of the street program, but noted the ordinance doesn’t outline required ingress and egress points or notify residents of a closure ahead of time.
Councilmember Kitty Klitzke said she agrees with creating a public rule process but said it wouldn’t do much in this case.
The city already allows residents to host block parties in certain situations. This ordinance codifies that right while providing some structure behind it. Klitzke said they might not know what those policies will be but noted that they would likely follow the process already in place.
“Full disclosure,” Councilmember Jonathan Bingle said. “I own an events business, and there’s just really something special about people coming together and having fun.”
