SPOKANE, Wash. – Robert Hemphill, owner of Chicken-n-Mo on Sprague Avenue, has been serving soul food since 1992. "Gumbo, rice, mashed potatoes and potato salad, macaroni salad, coleslaw, you name it," Hemphill said. Hemphill recalls the bustling days of Sprague Avenue. "I used to be really, really busy," he said. "I mean, Sprague Avenue was just... you couldn't jaywalk on Sprague Avenue. It was so busy." However, over time, traffic in the area slowed down. Many attribute this to the increasing number of homeless individuals in the downtown core. "That hurt a lot of small businesses down here," Hemphill said. New policies and enforcement efforts are now being seen as an opportunity to bring customers back to downtown Spokane, a necessity for the long-ter

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