Document text
May 19 , 2004 - Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels April 6, 2004 Persistence is not obsession For 15 years, I have opened the Daily Tidings and turned first to these opinion pages which serve as a unique public forum in Ashland. Thoughts expressed here are excellent reading. So I've chosen this important space to discuss with you why I have opposed recent land-use projects. Over the years, I have become increasingly active on local issues. I opposed the destruction of the ginkgo and other mature trees at the Library park. Later I urged reform of Ashland's planning process in my "Slow Toad Fable" in December 2002. I recently joined other concerned citizens in a successful appeal to overturn the Ed and Tanya Bemis' big box. And currently a few of us are again appealing to the council, asking them to reject a massive, out-of-scale entertainment center that Sid and Karen DeBoer wish to build in a historic neighborhood. It takes diligence to become conversant with Oregon's land-use legislation. My understanding of this body of law began when I served on the charter board of the Jackson County Citizens League in the early '90s. Since then I've spent many hours studying land-use and I've gotten a "Naugahyde Burn" on my behind while sitting through local meetings. Over time, I gathered my courage and added my voice to the conversation in the spirit of dialog and democracy. Not once have I proclaimed that I alone had the solutions to Ashland's problems nor have I indulged in attacking others. At a recent meeting, councilor Chris Hearn warned the council and others to avoid becoming as obsessed as Captain Ahab, the tragic protagonist of Herman Melville's "Moby Dick." The suggestion was that persistence to preserve Ashland's small-town character was similar to Ahab's compulsive and doomed search for the white whale. It's interesting that we admire someone, for example, who practices many hours a week in order to compete as an Olympic gymnast or swimmer. We call them disciplined and inspirational, not obsessed. Yet those who regularly participate in civic affairs are labeled as obsessed. I suggest to you that personal attacks advance no one's cause. I'm not obsessed, folks, but I also know that I'm not alone in my concerns about the slow erosion of the quality of life in Ashland. We are at a turning point as a community, differing in our views about development pressures, the pace of growth and Ashland's future. Our broken planning process permits residents to become involved only after the decisions are made at meetings inside the planning department. By the time of the public hearing, when people come forward to support or oppose a land-use action, most of the important issues have already been determined. Real reform and a reworking of our procedures, I maintain, are urgent priorities. Some believe that the existing process is fair and reasonable, arguing that progress is inevitable. I ask you to consider instead John Muir's potent words of guidance when he wisely urged, "Not blind opposition to progress, but opposition to blind progress." Thus, I oppose what I perceive as "blind progress" as proposed by a small but powerful minority who want to irrevocably change the character of our small town by building big boxes or trophy mansions. They have hired a posse of paid professionals and will spend whatever it takes to secure all required planning approvals. Even after the council rejected the Bemis plan, they defied both that decision and residents' concerns, appealing to LUBA to force their big box on Ashland. Who is obsessed? As George Kramer recently stated so well, "Individuals who pursue their own rights and desires against the will and wishes of the community are certainly entitled to do so, but it is unfortunate that their actions are seen as reasonable when those of concerned citizens are dismissed as obsessive." Finally, Melville is recognized as a pillar of American literature and, having been prompted to research his writings, I came upon this profound thought from him: "We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects." Melville speaks truth. We are all connected. To create a sustainable Ashland, therefore, we must work together to find solutions that resolve our differences. How we achieve that lofty goal should be, in my view, one of the central debates in this year's mayoral and council election campaigns. I respectfully challenge all of you to get off the couch and participate in the process of creating our future. It's our town and thar' she blows! Bryan Holley Ashland DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams