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--> --> A scary Utopia, this Ashland By Thomas C. Howser Ashland The flap over affordable housing is a joke -maybe a cruel joke, but one nevertheless. It just will never happen. But read on. Letters and commentaries are complaining about the owners of the mobile home park who want to put it to what is clearly, from a business purpose, a higher and better use. Maybe not from a social purpose, but even the People's Republic hasn't started expropriating property, yet. The city's two faced position in this situation is remarkable. On the one hand, they complain that development of low cost housing on the former Croman property will deprive the city of its industrial base. On the other our city fathers and mothers wring their representative hands over the fact that not everyone who wants to can live in Ashland. Can you imagine the outcry if an industrial use such as Croman or Parsons wanted to start up in this town? The Council would faint and the anti-everything crowd would froth at the mouth. Those were about the only family wage jobs in town. The tree huggers were glad to see them go. Then what did we get - a living wage ordinance. Excuse me? There will never be a living wage business in this town. Why? Because they have to make profits to pay living wages and "profit" is a dirty word around here. The real culprit is the city policy. Mobile home parks for years were not allowed as a permitted use in ANY zone. They were conditional uses and they were discouraged. A "trailer park" in Ashland? How gauche. Now, the lack of planning for high density mobile or manufactured home parks has doomed any hope of low cost housing. There is a chance, however, that there could be some low cost housing, downtown and convenient. It would reduce vehicle traffic and emulate the city's warm relationship with the Shakespearean Festival. The city's stringent, "holier than thou" planning restrictions have given Safeway pause as to whether they will keep the downtown store open. It would be cheaper to build a nice, big, profitable store out by Talent, a la Wal-Mart. Not nearly the headaches. However, the loss of the downtown Safeway would inconvenience lots of older people who live in the area. It is clearly too small and too old to be really competitive. There is a mutual solution. The city can make a deal with Safeway. It can expand its store without spending a fortune by incorporating a six or seven story building into the plans. The store could be on the ground floor. Then there could be a parking floor. Above that there could be several floors of rabbit warren living spaces that could be sold or rented for low cost housing. Some even with a view. Of course, the city would have to give Safeway some perks, a break on planning restrictions, help with the financing - well, just along the Shakespeare lines. What a deal. There is a grocery store downtown, people can walk or bicycle or bus (there is a bus stop right there), there is affordable housing subsidized by the city and everyone is happy. Of course it may look a little bit like cheap low cost housing in the other People's Republic, China, but then, that is where we are heading anyhow, isn't it? No more trophy homes, use tax dollars to subsidize "worthy" social programs and more. Ah, what a Utopia this could become. Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing