SPOKANE, Wash. – Spokane developer Larry Stone has funded and produced a video with suggestions for curing Spokane. The documentary makes it clear right away that it is about crime rather than homelessness.
In the documentary, Stone outlines four solutions for “curing Spokane,” including building a larger Spokane County Jail, more police walking the streets downtown, selling the STA plaza and moving it underground, and developing better urban parking.
Stone says he has lived in Spokane his entire life and noticed that what he calls the “crime problem” in downtown and surrounding areas of Spokane has “gotten far worse” over the last few years, inspiring him to fund and produce the documentary.
“They [businesses] are all reporting that crime is getting worse, that people are feeling threatened, they’re finding paraphernalia – just things that are making life more difficult for people,” Stone told KREM.
Stone said he did not make the documentary to deter people from visiting Spokane, but wanted to emphasize that the city cannot continue to deny or hide its crime problem.
KREM’s Amanda Roley met with Stone to ask him questions about the documentary, with some aimed specifically at the four solutions it proposes.
KREM: Some critics of your video say building a larger jail outside of town doesn’t address the underlying reasons behind Spokane crime. How would you respond?
In answering this question, Stone compared Spokane to Boise, saying that the crime rate in Idaho’s capital is a “fraction of Spokane’s” and that Boise’s jail is outside of its downtown core.
“It seems there are so many crime areas in the downtown core that it would be nice to have something outside the downtown core,” Stone added.
Stone also said that a “great deal” of people are arrested for misdemeanor crimes and then subsequently released, adding that there are “essentially no consequences for misdemeanor crimes.”
KREM: If the STA plaza is a crime center for downtown Spokane as you say it is, how does building an underground bus station solve that problem?
“Well I’m no expert on transit systems or bus terminal, all I knew is whenever I grew up in other cities and saw underground terminals…they don’t have plazas. They don’t have areas for teenagers or criminal elements to sell drugs, get in fights and do bad activities,” Stone told KREM.
He specifically referenced cities like Seattle, Denver and Boise.
“For 25 years, it’s been well-known that our plaza has been a failure,” Stone added.
KREM: How does free downtown parking help solve downtown crime?
Stone again compared Spokane to Boise, saying that Boise has a limited amount of free parking.
“It [free parking] encourages the middle class to come downtown. Right now, many people hesitate to come downtown because of the crime and they perceive that parking is difficult,” Stone said.
KREM: Many of the themes in the video echo candidate Woodward’s campaign themes. Did you make this video to support her campaign?
Stone said he “has not taken a position” on candidates for Spokane mayor.
“I hope both candidates for mayor will look to Boise for solutions because the solutions we have right now aren’t working,” he said.
“I think that for all of our candidates…I think they need to go downtown and see how bad the crime is. They need to talk to the businesses and single mothers living in low-income apartments,” Stone said later.
Stone added that he does not have any intention of running for office.
Mayoral candidate Nadine Woodward released a statement in support of “Curing Spokane” on Friday, writing in part, “Spokane developer Larry Stone has gone to great lengths and personal cost to document the serious problems facing our city. Downtown crime and our addiction crisis is driving businesses to leave our economic center and keeping residents from enjoying our incredible restaurants, wineries, breweries and stores.”
KREM: How would you respond to Stuckart’s major criticism of the video?
Stuckart tweeted on Friday, in part, that the documentary spent thousands of dollars with a camera “embarrassing, inciting, and shaming our people to make a political point.”
Stone’s response: Absolutely not.
“In fact, the biggest victims of crime are the low-income and homeless. My heart goes out to those parts of our population and that’s who I think we can help the most.,” he said.
According to the Public Disclosure Commission, Stone has donated $970 to Stuckart’s campaign.
A search of Woodward’s campaign contributions does not show funding from Stone.