North Notes
Spokane-North Rotary Club
March 4, 2024
Calendar:
March 18: Noon meeting at Fairmount Memorial Association, 822N. Government Way. Speaker: Fairmount CEO David Ittner.
March 25: Noon meeting at the Bark. Speaker: Club President Ron Noble, quarterly report.
Anniversaries:
During March, John Mailliard reaches 34 years in Rotary. Bill Simer reached 27 years with Rotary and Bob Romney has 5 years.
Happy Buck$:
John Mailiard was happy to have a procedure to straighten a troublesome finger, though the wrap makes getting on his left sleeve a challenge.
Dave Hayward was $10 happy during his six weeks in Mazatlan, Mexico, where the Haywards have wintered since 1998.
Sheila Fritts was $5 happy that Ray Brown, a former Club 21 Rotary president, joined the meeting. Brown, whose classification was hospital administration, now lives at the Fairwood Village.
Lenore Romney was happy to join the other members who served dinner March 8 at the Ronald McDonald House.
No fast food on this Rotary menu
On Friday March 8th, Club members took “Service Above Self” on the road…to prepare and serve a hearty dinner meal to the families staying at Ronald McDonald House.
One of the many kitchen bays at the facility is for volunteers to prepare meals. It felt a bit like the atmosphere on one of those timed cooking shows, as we laughed and worked around each other to get everything ready in a two hour window.
The group divided the myriad of tasks involved with prepping, cooking and cleaning up and were ready to serve our menu right on time at 6pm. Our menu consisted of Lenore’s Mexican chicken entrée, seasoned salmon fillets, cilantro & lime rice, fresh fruit salad, and hot fudge sundaes with Laura’s homemade hot fudge sauce right. With hardly any leftovers, we took it as a thumb’s-up sign!
Helping to support these families was a fun and worthwhile way to spend a few hours on a Friday evening…we look forward to doing this project again.
A special Paul Harris moment
At the March 11 club luncheon, David Hayward was given a Paul Harris Fellowship, celebrating $1,000 to the
Rotary International fund. It was the 4th Paul Harris mention for long-time member Dave and reading the tribute was
Dave’s grandson, Hunter Hopkins.
Get your kicks with the Velocity
Perhaps the luck of the Irish will be with Spokane’s new pro soccer team in the United Soccer League One.
On Saturday, March 16, the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick start their annual Irish Parade at noon.
At 2 p.m., the Spokane Velocity FC kick off its home schedule at One Spokane Stadium against the Richmond Kickers.
Logan Robben, Velocity assistant manager, said just 600 tickets remained for the 5,000 seats at the inaugural home game. He told the club that 200 soccer fans crowded a local bar to watch the first road trip, where the Velocity lost 3-1 to the Greenville Triumph in South Carolina.
The men’s team home schedule has 15 games with the last regular home game on Oct. 26. The pro women’s team, the Zephyr, start in the summer. Robben said soccer games will play all months except November and December.
Individual ticket prices range from $18 to $39, he said. Team colors are “River Rapid White and Impact Blue. The club has a merchandize store in the Davenport Grand Hotel.
The pro teams here, Robben said, “are at the level at Double-A baseball and are modeling after British Leagues in soccer,” where winning teams may move up and losers may drop a bit. Robben said personally, he’s a Chelsea fan.
Joining Robben at the club’s meeting was Hunter Hopkins, a WSU student majoring in sports management. Hopkins, Dave Hayward’s grandson, is an intern with the soccer teams. Hunter said he played (the other) football in high school, not soccer.
Home sale outlook: Challenges continue
An active home sales spring is expected in Spokane, and while prices continue to rise, homes are even pricier elsewhere.
“The lack of inventory continues to be our number one issue,” said Eric Johnson, who has tracked Spokane area home sales for decades. In 2021 he was president of the Spokane Association of Realtors.
Eric said in 2024 the Realtors forecast a 6 percent increase in units and a 3 percent price increase. Another Realtor index expects a 3.6 percent gain in units, but a 10.2 percent price drop, while the National Association of Realtors forecast a 13.5 percent increase, with no overall increase in prices.
He said in February the median home sales price was $400,000, up 6.7 percent and closed sales totaled 341, a 13 percent increase.
“There are about 1,000 homes on the market and the ‘churn’ has been pretty good,” Eric said.
He said a number of home buyers are moving to Spokane. “They are coming from L.A., Portland, Seattle, and even Coeur d’Alene, where costs are pricing out of that market. “The Spokane Valley is the benefit of that,” Eric said.
Inventory is low, he said, and, with prices rising, some new “ruthless builders” are cutting quality, like not installing soffits, and locating on just 5-foot-wide setbacks.
He said, with “a lot of variables,” some younger people are “more of a rental mind,” rather than buying homes.
But overall, Johnson said, “This is not a bad market for home sales,” even when interest rates “has been the most sensitive we’ve ever had since I have been doing this.”
Bulletin editors: Chuck Rehberg, Lenore Romney, and Sandy Fink.
Spokane, WA 99201
United States of America