Document text
- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us October 5, 2005 Drive-through permits are worth too much for fast food to thrive By Alan Panebaker Ashland Daily Tidings In a town with limited drive-through services, the people with the money appear to hold all the driving power, according to some locals. Of the 12 drive-up permits allotted to Ashland businesses, half are owned by banks according to Ashland’s Community Development Department. Umpqua Bank, Wells Fargo, US Bank and Washington Mutual all have active drive-throughs, and People’s Bank of Commerce and Premier West Bank are moving in, each with their own permits. According to the Ashland Land Use Code, as of 1984 the number of drive-up permits was limited to 12. Mark Knox, the principal planner with Urban Development Services in Ashland, said that the law — originally implemented to make the city less automobile oriented — has backfired. “It was a great planning tool that distinguished Ashland from other towns,” Knox said. “But now it may be time to evaluate it.” Knox said now instead of making Ashland more civic oriented, the policy has created just as much automobile use and ousted places like Dairy Queen to be replaced with massive banks where “you can’t find the door anymore. You have to find it with your car.” And at $250,000 a pop, according to Knox, drive-up permits are precious items in Ashland. “It’s created a trading commodity with the groups with the most money (banks),” Knox said. “In the past, banks were by far the most civic-oriented types of buildings with wide steps and pillars,” Knox said. “But in the last 50 years, they’ve started turning their backs on the street.” Knox is not the only local perturbed by the way banks seem to be taking over Ashland. In a recent letter to the editor of the Daily Tidings, Brent Thompson wrote, “After World War II ... the architecture of bank buildings became lower-profile, trendy and faddish as they too embodied, reflected and encouraged the American cultural climate of automobile dependence and unpredecendented resource waste in land-use planning and in general.” DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Free Music Downloads Slippers Ceramic Piggy Banks Online Casinos FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products best online casino teleconferencing High-End Gaming Computers Diamonds Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Sportsbook Discounted Website Hostings Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations African Safari Myspace Layouts Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Student Loans Bonus Casino ink cartridges Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Canadian Pharmacy Casino Gambling Sites Backpacks Click Here .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams