City of Spokane struggling to keep riverbank clean

SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokanites and city officials are wondering how to tackle the mountains of trash accumulating near Spokane Falls Boulevard.

Right behind Spokane City Hall, just about 100 feet from the Spokane River and Huntington Beach, is a hillside covered in litter.

“There’s always more, and I don’t know where it comes from. It’s like we’re a black hole. We just suck it in,” said Pia Hallenberg, Riverside Neighborhood Council Chair.

People living in Riverside said they have gotten used to seeing more and more trash in that area every year.

The City of Spokane and Parks Department is responsible for cleaning and maintaining the hill, yet says the complexity of the hill makes it so it can not clean it up frequently.

The city says it has seen the increase of trash volume become a growing problem. From 2023 to 2024 the amount of garbage collected has nearly doubled.

“We’re doing a lot more work with litter and trash cleanups than we have. We have little control folks out there doing a lot of these cleanups,” said City of Spokane’s Kristin Davis.

Those charged with keeping our rivers healthy said it not only ruins the scenery, but also the health of our environment.

“It really hurts me to see this hillside littered with trash,” said Jule Schultz with the Spokane Riverkeeper. “I think there’s an element of civic pride and also pride in our environment that is lacking when you see something like this.”

Spokane Riverkeeper said more consistent cleanups efforts with local community partners could make a big difference. “When people see a clean environment, they don’t want to trash that clean environment, especially with this beautiful river in the background,” said Schultz.

Riverside residents are hoping for a solution.

“I hope the city and everybody else can figure out how to get it cleaned up, because it looks ugly,” Hallenberg said.

Neighborhood councils and groups like Spokane Riverkeeper are organizing annual cleanups. For more information and to volunteer, visit spokaneriverkeeper.org and my.spokanecity.org.