JUNE 6, 2025

By Gavin Cooley

Photo courtesy of the Spokesman Review. 

Downtown Spokane’s empty office buildings have lost millions in assessed value. That’s a concern for the entire region, business leaders say

June 3, 2025 Updated Tue., June 3, 2025 at 10:12 p.m.

Though I’m out of town this week, I’ve continued reflecting on last week’s final round of 5 a.m. walks and site visits in other cities as part of our 100-day downtown challenge. One place stood out above the rest: Portland.

Just a year ago, Portland—like Spokane today—was caught in the grip of a fentanyl-fueled public health and public safety crisis. But what I witnessed there last week was not despair. It was momentum, collaboration, and remarkable results.

Portland’s story is a powerful reminder to us here in Spokane that urgent problems can be addressed—if we’re willing to work together and treat them like the emergencies they are.

As we’ve previously discussed in Three for Thursday, Portland’s turnaround began with a bold step in early 2024: a joint 90-day state of emergency declared simultaneously by Governor Tina Kotek, Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson, and Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler. That unified declaration—coordinated across city, county, and state—was not just a symbolic gesture. It became the structural umbrella under which every key accomplishment was made possible. As they noted during a joint press conference, none of the success could have occurred without that shared emergency framework. Going it alone simply doesn’t work in a crisis like a fentanyl emergency.

Pictured from left to right: Multnomah County Commissioner Chair Jessica Vega Pederson, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek and former Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler

90-day fentanyl state of emergency declared by state, county, city leaders by KATU Staff, Emily Girsch

Tue, January 30th 2024 at 12:50 PM Updated Tue, January 30th 2024 at 8:00 PM

Unified Emergency Response - Press Conference

Over the course of those 90 days, Portland launched a truly integrated operation—deploying 52 dedicated staff members working full time under a single, unified mission. These efforts were managed using the Incident Command System (ICS), a nationally recognized emergency protocol that ensures coordination across agencies, rapid communication, and measurable accountability. Importantly, many of those 52 individuals continued their work even after the formal emergency declaration expired, ensuring that momentum didn’t fade.

The outcomes speak for themselves:

• A 40% reduction in fentanyl-related deaths

• A significant drop in car thefts and property crimes, especially in targeted zones

• A visible revitalization of downtown blocks and commercial corridors

• And perhaps most importantly, a restored sense of public safety and progress among residents and business owners

People often ask me, “What would a real emergency response look like in Spokane?” Some assume we here at the Spokane Business Association are making broad recommendations without a roadmap. But the roadmap exists—and Portland has laid it out clearly. Their strategy, staffing structure, daily 8 a.m. briefings, interagency collaboration, and community engagement are all documented in real time and available for others to study and adapt.

Final Report - Portland Unified Emergency Response

I will soon be meeting via Zoom with the Multnomah County Director of Emergency Response on June 10th at 3:00 PM. I strongly encourage any of our elected leadership—city, county, or state—to join me. This is a valuable opportunity to hear directly from the people who led Portland’s remarkable turnaround.

Beyond that conversation, Spokane should send a delegation of city, county, and community leaders to Portland to meet in person with their political leadership, emergency coordinators, and front-line responders. We should go not just to learn, but to begin building our own coordinated model—tailored to Spokane’s unique realities. If we want real change, we need to move beyond our current pattern of isolated efforts and siloed initiatives. This is a big emergency—and it demands a big, unified response.

This kind of comprehensive, collaborative emergency response is exactly the antidote to some of the persistent issues we’ve seen locally—whether it's the disagreements over Spokane Regional Emergency Communications or the tensions surrounding the City’s recent $52 million utility bill to Spokane County. This is our chance to flip the script. Instead of fragmentation, we can choose coordination. Instead of revisiting old battles, we can reset around a common goal.

Many of our local leaders—including the mayor, members of the County Commission, and City Council—have demonstrated their ability to collaborate in the past. And while confrontations have surfaced in recent months, these same leaders have consistently called for greater collaboration. Daily 8 a.m. meetings under a unified emergency framework—like Portland’s—offer the ideal opportunity to bring that aspirational spirit into focused, collective action.

We don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Our Portland neighbors have shown us what’s possible when public safety, public health, and political leadership unite around a shared emergency mission.

Let’s be clear: this is a call to action. An urgent opportunity to study a proven model, adapt it to our community, and launch a meaningful, measurable emergency response. Not years from now—right now. As Pericles warned, “the worst injustice is that which becomes a habit.” Spokane must not allow overdose deaths to become part of our city’s status quo.  

Spokane’s situation is every bit as urgent as Portland’s was. It’s time we start treating it that way.

Portland Central City Task Force Recommendations

BOARD OF DIRECTORS