SPOKANE, Wash. — Concerned residents near the Ridpath Club Apartments are raising the alarm about the reality of drug use, crime and theft in the downtown Spokane neighborhood.
The Ridpath Club Apartments are on West Sprague Avenue between Stevens Street and North Howard Street. A majority of its apartments are affordable housing while others go for the normal market rate.
Rhonda Gardner, who lives in the apartment complex, contacted 4 News Now to share the issues the community is facing.
“Fentanyl, a lot of fentanyl smoking,” Gardner said. “They go to our laundry room. They steal laundry. They steal packages from in front of people’s doors.”
While some believe these issues are coming from those who are homeless, others say some of that problem comes from people living at the apartments.
Rainbow Connection Daycare is also located in the same area. The daycare owners said the issues are so bad on the street that they had to tint the windows to prevent people from seeing inside. But, this wasn’t done recently. The owner says she noticed these issues shortly after the pandemic, and they haven’t improved.
“It’s kind of scary to have kids here,” said Pamela Hayley, the daycare’s owner.
Rainbow Connection is a daycare for children ages newborn through 13. It fosters an environment of innocence, but the frosted windows blur the reality of what’s going on outside.
“We have to be even more vigilant than anywhere else in town would have to be in the same situation,” Hayley said. “They see things they shouldn’t see. They see people having sex against the window. I’m constantly chasing people away. Now that it’s screened, it’s better but you can still see shadows.”
Hayley is also the mayor of Spokane Valley. She said the open drug use on the street has gotten out of hand.
People who live in the apartments and those who work at Satellite Diner further down the street see the problem too.
The owner of Satellite Diner said these issues began after the pandemic, when people started working from home. He said without the business people in the neighborhood, the issues are more noticeable. He’s hopeful though that the city’s new C.O.R.E. pilot program will help address these issues and make downtown a safer place to be.
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