HILLYARD
Joe Carter, Neighborhood Council ChairCarter has lived in Hillyard for two decades and been neighborhood chair for about eight years.
What is Hillyard’s best landmark or hidden gem?
We’ve got Locos restaurant, which is Texas barbecue, and we have Kismet, which is kind of southwest fusion, and another one called The Bad Seed.
We’re known for having really vibrant antiques, and we’ve got a really cool old train museum, which is where the name Hillyard comes from. Jim Hill, around the turn of the last century, had a train yard out here. He intentionally put it outside of the city of Spokane so he wouldn’t be bothered with regulations, which is sort of why we have a fierce, individual spirit up here.
What sets Hillyard apart from the rest of the city?
It used to be its own independent city or town, and was in fact vying with Spokane for size and certainly financially with the train yard here.
If you had $100,000 to fix an issue in the neighborhood, what would you invest it in?
At Harmon Field and Skate Park there is kind of a freestanding structure that’s kind of like a half gazebo. I’d try to get that thing repaired.
Young Kwak photo
The Hillyard Heritage Museum maintains some of the railyard history in the Hillyard Neighborhood.
What is your favorite place to eat or drink in the neighborhood?
The place that has Locos in it, there’s a couple of businesses that share the same spot, and Derailer Coffee is in there and it’s my favorite place to go at this point. Green’s Fresh Market is a close second, though. They have really good sandwiches.
Who is working hard to improve Hillyard and what do you admire about their work?
Laura Johnson. She gets to a lot of meetings, and tries to make sure Hillyard is represented, when fighting for funds and improvements in our area and fighting for recognition and respect for our community. I really respect her for that.
How would you describe Hillyard in three words?
Tough, fun and growing. (SW)
NEVADA HEIGHTS
Jonathan Tilley, Neighborhood Council ChairTilley has been the neighborhood council chair for two years and has lived in Nevada Heights for 23 years.
What is your neighborhood’s best landmark or hidden gem?
Probably our parks like Glass Park. We have three parks in our area. It’s just nice and pleasant in the middle of all the houses and businesses to just have these little spots.
What sets Nevada Heights apart from the rest of the city?
A lot of blue collar, hardworking people. Salt of the Earth people that just want to help each other and just get by. A lot of positivity and leaning on your neighbors.
If you had $100,000 to fix an issue in your neighborhood, what would you invest it in?
Probably someone to help clean up graffiti in the neighborhoods because a lot of people are busy, and some security cameras so people knew that they were safe to walk around anytime.
What’s your favorite place to eat or drink in your neighborhood, and why?
For breakfast, Hillside Inn is wonderful, and of course, Tomato Street for dinner. If you want some snacks, there is Casual Friday donuts. There is Outback Steakhouse, Buffalo Wild Wings, and China Dragon. We have the Franklin Park shopping center right next to Northtown Mall. You can always find something wonderful there.
Who is working hard to improve your neighborhood and what do you admire about their efforts?
Natalia Gutierrez. She’s from the If You Could Save Just One organization, which I watched grow over the years. She is there to help with kids and provide activities. Also, the Zion Spokane Church helps us every year put on our movie night for our neighborhood. They hand out backpacks and school supplies, and they really help uplift the community.
How would you describe your neighborhood in three words?
Blue collar, hardworking and reliable. (VCM)
BEMISS
Luke Tolley, Interim Neighborhood Council ChairTolley is helping revamp the Bemiss Neighborhood Council in partnership with Hillyard and Logan.
What’s the best landmark, hidden gem or claim to fame in Bemiss?
Market Street Pizza has become a really big draw. Page 42, the bookstore, just moved into our neighborhood. There’s also Hays Park. It was originally an arboretum. It’s full of oak trees and other trees that were there to show off how cool they are.
What sets Bemiss apart from the rest of the city?
Our location makes us a nexus of cooperation. We’re like Hillyard’s little sister sometimes, but we also have the park vibe of Minnehaha, we brush up against the university district feel of Gonzaga and Logan, and we’re very much like Whitman, which is almost completely residential.
If you had $100,000 to fix an issue in the neighborhood, what would you spend it on?
I would love to set up a fund with $100,000 to provide child care and compensation to residents and neighbors to be able to participate in things like the neighborhood council and things that happen at the community center.
What’s your favorite place to eat or drink?
Market Street Pizza. Their pizzas are all really gourmet and amazing, but you should not sleep on the wings.
Who is working hard to improve Bemiss and what do you admire about their work?
Dave Richardson, he’s our executive director of the Northeast Community Center. I don’t think they could’ve picked a better person to bring people together, to try new things, to try to make something out of a neighborhood and regional asset and help as many people as possible.
How would you describe Bemiss in three words?
Bringing people together. (SW)
SHILOH HILLS
Cliff Winger, Neighborhood Council ChairWinger has been involved in the neighborhood council since 2017.
How would you describe Shiloh Hills in three words?
Could I use just one word? Diverse.
We have immigrants. We have renters. We have elderly. We have a lot of different languages spoken here. We have people who’ve lived here when they were raising their kids and they’re now retired. We have young children.
What’s the best landmark or claim to fame?
I’d say Friendship Park off the top. Maybe claim to fame would be Northpointe [Plaza] because it’s a major economic center with shopping and offices, restaurants.
What sets Shiloh Hills apart?
It’s not a unified neighborhood, it’s very eclectic. The north part of our neighborhood is in Mead School District, and south of Lincoln Road is in Spokane District 81, and Nevada [Street] separates us from east and west, so we end up with three or four different neighborhoods. That gives us opportunities as well as challenges.
If you had $100,000 to fix an issue there, what would you spend it on?
What we really need is a community center. The only two facilities we have that are owned by the public are Shiloh Hills Elementary and Fire Station 18, except for the parks, which are sort of woefully inadequate. We have 15.1 acres of parkland for about 16,000 people.
What’s your favorite place to eat or drink?
Texas Roadhouse and Canaan buffet are nice because they give people choices that are fairly popular, but there’s just so many good places. You could eat out for a month [at a different place each day].
Who’s someone working to improve the neighborhood and what do you admire about their work?
Mike Donahue has worked really hard for the last five years to get us traffic calming. I’d have to give him major kudos. (SW)
WHITMAN
Charles Hansen, Neighborhood Council ChairHansen has lived in Whitman for 75 years.
How would you describe your neighborhood in three words?
Working class neighborhood.
It was built originally to house the people from the railroads over in Hillyard. Roughly half the houses in the neighborhood were built in the ’20s. The other half were built in the ’50s. There were a lot of guys from Kaiser [Aluminum] that lived in the neighborhood also. So, we had essentially working class people here.
What would you say is your neighborhood’s claim to fame?
Whitman Elementary School.
What sets your neighborhood apart from the rest of the city?
The school here is unique to the city because the boundaries of the school are all very busy arterials. Over the last few years, we’ve added a whole lot of sidewalks so they can walk to the school very easily.
What’s your favorite place to go out to eat or drink in your neighborhood?
We don’t have any place to go and eat or drink in the neighborhood.
Who is someone that’s working hard to improve your neighborhood and what do you admire about their efforts?
I guess that’s me. I’ve been the one that’s been doing all the work on adding the sidewalks and stuff like that. We fixed up the park, chased out all the drug dealers and pretty much stopped all the crime in our neighborhood.
If you had $100,000 to fix an issue in your neighborhood, what would you invest it in?
I’d keep adding more sidewalks. (EB)
