SPOKANE, Wash. -- Traces of graffiti on the brick walls -- some brand new, others recently scrubbed off -- cover the old Ridpath Club Apartments in downtown Spokane.
While the Ridpath is still being renovated, the marks of vandalism at the once abandoned building are still apparent to anyone who walks by.
But the graffiti is not the only problem -- downtown groceries on the same block as the Ridpath had a cement block smashed through a window over the weekend. The window has since been boarded up, but that kind of vandalism is not new to the area.
Spokane Police officer Ben Maplethorpe said he noticed something odd about the vandalism as he walked the around the Ridpath.
"Half of the block had the most graffiti. The other half of the block, I don't know if it's a different building management, but it's occupied and has been for quite some time," Maplethorpe said. "So what I've noticed is there's not a whole lot of graffiti on that end of the block."
He said that there could be many reasons for that, but he believes it is the result of the so-called broken window theory.
"Disorder and instability can lead to crimes. So possibly one of those is someone broke a window and it wasn't replaced," he said. "Then another person saw it and thought it's ok to do that, and they continue to damage the building."
Maplethorpe said that may be the case at the Ridpath because it's been unoccupied for quite a few years. But it's still being renovated and more tenants are moving in as construction nears completion.
From the outside, it might not look that way. Project architect Ron Windel said crews have nearly completed up to the ninth floor out of the 11 floors total. He said they have worked on scrubbing off most of the graffiti on the building's exterior, but a final clean sweep outside will be the final phase of construction.
