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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us January 5, 2006 GUEST FORUM: at length Where are the children? By Bill Street Ashland Diana Shavey, a nationally recognized authority on family housing and one of the panelists at the Ashland Housing Commission’s Workforce Housing Conference in December, said it best, “The question you need to ask yourself is: Where are the children?” Shavey’s question has been rattling around in my brain ever since. My college age daughter expanded it for me the other night when we went out to dinner downtown. “Where are all the young people?” she asked. We gazed at our fellow diners. “I’m the only young person in this whole place! What’s happening to this town?” Well, what is happening to this town? It seems like we were a bunch of young families raising children, just yesterday, and suddenly, they’re all gone. Shavey’s question haunts me. I went to the Y this morning. Me and the other geezers were all stretching and groaning in the locker room and I noticed the YMCA mission statement on the wall: “We build strong kids, strong families, strong communities.” There wasn’t a kid or a family in sight. Strong families? Strong communities? Shavey later held up a worn copy of Jane Jacobs’ book “The Death and Life of American Cities” and said, “Read this book. What’s happening here has happened before. If you let it happen, this wonderful community is going to die.” What are we going to do? We can begin by asking that question: Where are the children? Ask it as you drive around town. Ask it as you pass the For Sale signs. Ask it as you pass the empty buildings. Ask it as you pass the empty playgrounds. What are we going to do? A few of us, members of the Ashland Housing Commission, have spent recent months researching the loss of family housing. We now understand, more clearly than ever, that affordable work-force housing is no longer just an “issue” — it’s a crisis. And the crisis affects the lives of every one of us — the closing of schools, the movement of police, fire, city and school employees to other towns in the Valley, the developing financial shortfall at our community hospital — the list is long and getting longer. It is a crisis a strong community must work on together. Where are the children? The children who will inherit our town are busy being born. Hopefully, we will find a way to build a strong and healthy community which welcomes them. Bill Street is a member of the Ashland Housing Commission. 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 Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Generic Viagra Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Sportsbook Absinthe Supply Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations African Safari Hammocks Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino King of Spirits ink cartridges Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams