Washington Business Fall 2019 | Washington Business | Page 20

washington business
In Their Words
Spokane Mayor David Condon has spent the last eight years leading and
promoting his hometown. Spokane has thrived during his tenure, which began
in 2012 as many cities were still recovering from the Great Recession. Condon
prioritized public safety and infrastructure investments, which he says are critical
to encourage private sector confidence. He’s also drawn attention to the city via a
creative marketing campaign called “Hacking Washington.” Condon’s experience
with business began when he started working for his father selling Christmas trees
as a 9-year-old. Condon was elected to his second term in 2015, becoming the
first Spokane mayor to win reelection since 1973. Term limits prevent him from
running for a third term. He recently spent a few minutes talking with Washington
Business staff writer Andrew Lenderman and reflecting on his tenure as mayor.
David Condon
What would you say is your top accomplishment overall?
You know, we came in some eight years ago and had a vision for the community. We
often talk about it now. It’s morphed into our joint Council-Administration Strategic
Plan for the community. But early on, it was about being a safer community. Back then,
we were at a point of distrust in our police department. Now, as we look at being a
favored community, the reality is, the trust and legitimacy of our police department
is at an all-time high, based on the amazing innovative work that they’ve been doing.
You know, secondly, we focused on the area of infrastructure. As infrastructure is
crumbling around the country, our city is poised, just the city government alone, some
$800 million already going into our infrastructure over the next six years. And that
doesn’t even include the $500 million Spokane Public Schools is investing. So as other
cities grapple with their infrastructure, we’re on a pattern of strength, of financial
strength to invest in our infrastructure.
How does public safety, or lack thereof, impact economic development and
a business community’s confidence to invest in a place?
I think the two go hand-in-hand. That sense of security, and also good infrastructure,
are two key issues that businesses look at. And you can see in our community, in the
area of infrastructure, how we’ve been able to align our economic strategy around
that. So, it starts with targeted areas. And so the city of Spokane has identified three
targeted areas to focus major economic development. And those areas include the
Northeast Public Development Authority, the University District Public Development
Authority, and in the West Plains and Airport Public Development Authority. And
then the second piece of that is targeted infrastructure. So, all three areas have had
nearly $1 billion dollars going into them over the last decade … In Northeast Spokane,
you have the North-South corridor, which we’ve advocated for, which will be going
in. In the University District, you now have two medical schools, two nursing schools,
a pharmacy school, the Gateway Pedestrian and Bicycle Bridge, which was part of
the Connecting Washington. Major upgrades and infrastructure there. And then of
20 association of washington business
course in the West Plains, we have a billion-
dollar infrastructure in our airport, in the road
systems, and in sewer and water out there.
And then that allows the third component
of our economic development, which is
targeted industries. And so, whether it be in
the West Plains, joining some 130 aerospace
manufacturers, we align well with the state’s
strategy of being an aerospace leader. In the
University District, we are a leader in health
care. And in Northeast Spokane, we are focusing
on logistics and manufacturing operations.
Sounds like a pretty good place to live.
That’s why we launched “Hacking Washington”
last year, to show what’s happening here in
Eastern Washington and to show life hacks for
professionals, including that our cost of living
is far more beneficial than on the I-5 corridor
and that we have far less traffic. We also talk
about our forward looking build-out of our
infrastructure and our growing companies. It’s
been a great opportunity to share the story of
Spokane, in particular, and Eastern Washington.
So, was it safe to say you were surprised
at how well it worked?
It was all based on fact. Not only that, but in the
industries, we really focused on the industries