Spokane’s first ever on-the-water protest was everything we could have hoped for and more on Sunday.
There were more than a few factors that played a role in making Sunday’s NO DOCKS AT THE ROCK – Spokane River Rally a HUGE success. First and easily most important was the fact that on Friday morning we were notified that the developer of Coyote Rock (Neighborhood Inc.) was ready to sit down and talk settlement, meaning postponement of the three-day hearing before the state Pollution Control Hearings Board (PCHB) that was supposed to start yesterday. The timing of the Rally / Protest was far from a coincidence as we planned it to take place the day before the hearing as a way to show the community support we believed we had for pushing this issue all the way to the PCHB. Given Friday’s news, we decided to go forward with the event because our intent to show widespread support in opposition to the docks at Coyote Rock was only the driving issue at heart, the larger issue being overall Spokane River and shoreline protection and appropriate and responsible river recreation. While we hammered home the message of the former, we also paid due diligence to the latter. And while we’re on the subject, while I was a tad gun shy to proclaim Sunday a victory Rally, I feel more than safe in saying part of the reason the hearing was called off and we will now go in to talking about settlement is because of the widespread support and good press we received over the Protest. So it’s possible that it worked before it even happened.
With a blue-bird sky and temps climbing towards 90 degrees, to say I was surprised that we had 30 people turn out isn’t totally true (who can turn down a day on the river in those conditions) but you never know when you’re planning an event. As you’ll see in the pics below, the site of all the colorful boats on the crystal clear water with pristine shoreline as a backdrop made for quite the sight. As evident by the nice photos taken by the Spokesman-Review.
This story is far from over, and this issue is something we’ll continue to fight day in and day out, but for now we’re taking the early part of this week to enjoy what happened on Sunday.
For more coverage, see the Spokesman-Review article HERE, Center for Justice Communications Director Tim Connor’s recap (with great photos by his daughter Audrey) HERE and stay tuned to our Facebook page where we’ll post anything else that pops up. And enjoy the pics I took from the Riverkeeper raft below:
