In 2018, 22-year-old Benjamin Gedeon was walking back to work after grabbing lunch at a nearby Panera Bread. As he crossed Division Street at Rhoades Avenue, a southbound car struck him and threw his body 51 feet. Gedeon suffered a traumatic brain injury, and doctors had to remove part of his skull. He still has trouble with daily activities today. On Monday evening, the Spokane City Council approved a $3.1 million settlement with Gedeon, who filed a lawsuit alleging the city's failure to design a safe pedestrian crossing at Division and Rhoades was a primary cause of his life-altering injuries. Gedeon's lawyer identified four other people who had been struck by cars at the intersection in the six years before Gedeon's accident, and alleged that the city knew the intersection was unsafe. (NATE SANFORD)
HORSE RACE
As we reported online earlier this month, Spokane City Council member Betsy Wilkerson is running for council president, facing off against Kim Plese, former owner of Plese Printing and Marketing. But who else is running for Spokane City Council this year? With current members Lori Kinnear and Karen Stratton reaching term limits, conservative Michael Cathcart is the only other incumbent council member in the race, running in Northeast Spokane's District 1. He'll be facing off against one-time Pullman City Council member Derrick Skaug. Northwest Spokane's District 3 got a little easier for liberals, thanks to new boundaries the City Council chose after tossing the independent redistricting committee's recommendation. That'll help Spokane Pride President and CEO Esteban Herevia in a race against libertarian and former East Valley Neighborhood Council President Randy McGlenn II and perennial candidate Christopher Savage. In Spokane's District 2 liberal stronghold, Planned Parenthood spokesman Paul Dillon might have an advantage, but he's not the only progressive in the race. He's facing off against small business owner Cyndi Donahue, who touts her experience with the Ignite Northwest startup accelerator as a way to provide a nonpartisan perspective. From the conservative side, that leaves former Spokane Public Schools elementary teacher Katey Trealor, a former school board candidate, to try to take both of them down. (DANIEL WALTERS)
CONSTRUCTION DEJA VU
Monroe Street will soon be closed from the north side of the Monroe Street Bridge to Boone Avenue. Again. While a city announcement about the project last week noted that the work set to begin April 10 would address "failed pavement" from last year's overhaul of several blocks, city Public Works spokesperson Kirstin Davis says the new closure on the primary commuter route of Monroe is actually happening so crews can add the permanent lane markers that weren't installed last year. "When the paving was able to be completed late in the construction season in the fall, weather conditions prevented us from applying permanent striping," Davis says. "The striping that is currently on the street is temporary to get us through winter and will not last." The good news? The last addition to the $1.6 million repaving project, which also included the replacement of non-ADA-compliant pedestrian ramps on the sidewalk along that route, is expected to take just days this spring, instead of months, as the bulk of the work did last year. (SAMANTHA WOHLFEIL)
