The Spokane community has a history of doing its best work when leaders work collaboratively. That's one reason that a recent trip to Bellingham, Washington, by a Spokane contingency is so encouraging. 

Five months into 2024, we have a sense for what this year looks like from a fiscal and economic standpoint. At this juncture, our call to action is this: Believe what you see.

A sustained housing shortage hovers at a crisis level in the Inland Northwest. In such an environment, elected leaders should be doing what they can to ease pressure and encourage development of workforce and market-rate housing. 

An executive order penned by Mayor Lisa Brown to streamline permitting and development processes is a step in the right direction. But it's just that: a step. 

Measures to clean up the primary gateway into Spokane are positive first steps to making our city more welcoming to those who enter it and to getting our more vulnerable population the help it needs. 

A trio of new interstate compacts that enable greater mobility for some professionals are essential steps in giving employers the needed flexibility to fill positions in a persistently challenging labor market. 

Unemployment insurance is intended to replace wages for workers who have lost their jobs, not those who have decided not to work for whatever reason. Proposed state legislation that would provide jobless benefits to striking workers goes against the intent of the program and should be struck down by the state's elected leaders. 

As Ignite Northwest's 25 + 5 event approaches, we're reminded of how the Inland Northwest's entrepreneurial ecosystem has matured and diversified in such a way that it has performed well, overall, through a tumultuous few years.