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--> --> Vigilance is our duty in face of urban development By Eric Navickas Ashland Regarding the development in Ashland, we appear to be following the pattern of mistakes made in the latter part of the twentieth century that led to the destruction of the downtown as a vital living part of the city. Though recent years have seen many of America's urban centers somewhat revitalized, the late twentieth century must be seen as an era where land speculation, unconscious development and unfortunate though often well intentioned political decisions proved tragic to the vitality of our downtowns. Urbanism in the sixties was an era dominated by large-scale urban renewal projects associated with federal funds provided by the 1956 Interstate Freeway Act. Downtowns were redeveloped with large-scale convention centers along with the parking lots and garages needed to accommodate their visitors. These projects usually moved forward at the cost of existing historic urban fabric. Simultaneously, shopping malls were developed outside of city centers. Consistently throughout this history land speculators bought up affordable urban housing, raised rents, evicted tenants and redeveloped land as expensive condominiums or office buildings. Urban centers were fractured as a result of over-scaled development, affordable housing was nearly nonexistent and the shopping mall became the center of economic commerce. Downtowns that had once been diverse living places with mixed housing, commercial and small scale industry became nearly dead zones for convention center tourists and daytime corporate executives. The living walking city had been destroyed through unconscious development decisions. Looking to Ashland, I see a similar pattern of unconscious mistakes regarding development, especially in association to the downtown. The recent expansion of the Shakespeare complex appears congruent with the last century's attitude that downtowns should be developed as destination convention centers. Though an additional theater may have been needed, a chamber hall with gardens would have been a much more appropriate building for the site. The current design dominates Ashland's cityscape in much the same way that Hult Center does in Eugene. The project also came along with Ashland's first parking garage and Ashland Springs Hotel will most definitely develop a second. Convention centers, hotels and parking garages - Houston, Texas comes to mind. The recently proposed development of the railroad property beyond A Street will most definitely have a similar impact on our downtown that mall developments have had on other cities across America. Though the proposal doesn't fit a strict definition of the shopping mall and does include mixed residential, it is a large scale commercial development done by a single development firm. It will include a second plaza and extensive retail space. It is time that the Chamber of Commerce take a close look at this project with regard to the potential impacts that this could have on the economy of our downtown. It is all too often that businesses come and go within existing retail spaces. I would hate to see our historic downtown suffer as a contemporary development draws away a percentage of the customers. It is time to become very conscious of development proposals moving forward in Ashland. We must move forward with the utmost caution and vigilance if we hope to maintain the scale of our city, the economic health of our downtown, access to affordable housing and our existing green spaces as intact. Unfortunately, current decisions do not appear to have these interests in mind. 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