Late last month, volunteers in Spokane, Washington, fanned out across the city, placing handmade benches at bus stops that had long lacked seating. Over the course of a weekend, they installed 29 benches, one for each neighborhood district in the city.
The volunteers were members of Spokane Reimagined, a local advocacy group focused on increasing transportation options and safety in the city. The group timed the project to coincide with Good Neighbor Day, as well as the beginning of the national Week Without Driving, which challenges participants to experience life without a car — and to consider what life is like for people who cannot or choose not to drive.
For group leaders (and Strong Towns members) Sarah Rose and Erik Lowe, the project is a “love note” to Spokane, a gift from residents who care deeply about how their neighbors experience the city. It’s also a message to city leadership:
“It’s just a matter of the public stepping up and saying, ‘Give us what we deserve,’” Rose told the local news. “We all have a right to wait for the bus and be able to sit.”
“As great as STA [Spokane Transit Authority] is — and don’t get me wrong, it’s a phenomenal agency — there’s also blind spots,” Lowe agreed. “And one of those blind spots is how they treat their bus stop infrastructure.”
Volunteers built the benches with lumber and paint donated by local businesses. Some of the benches were painted collaboratively by community members, while others were decorated professionally by local artists, including Rose herself.
The project took hundreds of volunteer hours to complete, and local officials are taking notice. The Spokane Transit Authority released a statement saying, “We applaud Spokane Reimagined for their resourcefulness and their genuine concern for bus riders of all abilities.”
Mayor Lisa Brown also seemed open to the group’s guerrilla urbanism. While the benches aren’t safe from city removal yet, Mayor Brown said she is open to a conversation about how to handle them, noting that “sometimes small things can be very meaningful to people.”
As anyone familiar with the Strong Towns approach knows, that’s exactly the point. A simple bench may not seem like much, but to the people who ride the bus every day, it’s the difference between being seen and being ignored.
Spokane Reimagined saw community members struggling and took action to alleviate that struggle. This is how communities become stronger: bench by bench and block by block.
If you want to bring this kind of change to your own place, click here to find a Local Conversation near you.
