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2 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Ashland needs to make room for trees, arborist says ... Inner Peace: Wired — or, life on Facebook ... Ashlander on TV on Friday ... Ashland needs to make room for trees, arborist says ... Inner Peace: Wired — or, life on Facebook ... Ashlander on TV on Friday ... COMMENTARY Jeffrey Gillespie: A tale of two cities Comment DailyTidings.com Writer Posted Apr. 8, 2016 at 12:01 AM Posted Apr. 8, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Social News Perhaps your columnist is a hypocrite. After all, having recently closed on a home in Ashland, he has entered the ever more impenetrable ranks of "proud homeowner" within the vaunted and exclusive 97520 zip code. Alas, it's time again for another missive on the widening gap between rich and poor in our fair city. But this time there is a wrinkle, which relates to the decisions being made by Ashland itself, and the underlying flaws in logic that seem to reside in the mindset at City Hall. For example, recent renovations at the Grove. A significant $110,000 was spent to create offices for the city employees who will be housed there. A glance around the new space this past week yielded interesting results. On one wall in the conference space, there is a shiny, new, 60-inch flat-screen TV. On another wall, a clock that, as of three days ago, had not yet been set forward for daylight savings time. As far as microcosmic representations go, this dichotomy went a long way towards what many in Ashland now consider to be a theme of city governance — one of flash over substance. While the city of Ashland is more than happy to spend $686,950 on an upcoming renovation of Garfield Park so they can install a new water feature, as well as "shade structures and public seating", they have been compelled by citizens to cut down on their quota of affordable housing units to be built in the Clay Street area because those units would require the culling of a historic cottonwood tree. More than willing to spend over $100,000 on a controversial and unattractive sculpture to be placed on Gateway Island at the intersection of Siskiyou and Main Street (a project now stalled by public outcry), City Hall is simultaneously fighting hard to avoid paying out a local woman named Caroline Shaffer and her family after a brick inside the city sewer system caused a flood of excrement to destroy her home on Morton Street, leaving her homeless. There are other signs of aggressive gentrification that run contrary to the public good. A recent city poll showed that while many would like to see us living in a greener and more sustainable hamlet, far fewer cared about making inroads into the issue of affordable housing, an issue that is having real impact on our friends and neighbors. Sneak Preview recently covered the story of a local, 96-year old female artist who has had her rent increased so dramatically in the last year that she has been forced to rely on charitable donations to remain in her home. While the case of David Michael Grubbs remains unsolved after nearly five years, you can rely on the fact that when you drive through downtown Ashland you should watch your speedometer like a hawk. Local law enforcement is adept at meeting quotas by pulling people over for the most minuscule of infractions. Your columnist was pulled over twice last year, and when he went in to fight the tickets, the judge in charge sanctimoniously announced that she did not forgive tickets under any circumstances, regardless of explanation. So much for due process. These various indicators across numerous city departments give the impression that Ashland's bureaucracy is set up to do two things: pull down as many dollars as possible and use those dollars to fund projects that may not necessarily be finding fast, powerful and sustainable solutions to the ever-more-pressing crises facing working citizens and their families. If we're to be the town we claim to be — a caring and inclusive community — such behavior has to stop soon. It's already a clear pattern. Ashland resident Jeffrey Gillespie is a Daily Tidings columnist, arts reviewer and freelance writer. Email him at gillespie.jeffrey @gmail.com. 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