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At issue in paradise: Parking lot vs. park Jacksonville officials dispute need, location, old mines By PAUL FATTIG JACKSONVILLE -- To hear Larry Smith tell it, the city council wants to pave paradise and put up a parking lot. You can almost hear singer Joni Mitchell's popular refrain as Smith talks passionately about the gentle sloping parcel immediately behind the Jacksonville Post Office, where he hopes a park will be built instead of a parking lot as planned. After all, it was there that gold was first discovered in 1851, he said. "We're dumbfounded over the whole thing," said Smith, a member of the Parks Not Pavement Committee, which recently began a petition drive to collect 1,000 signatures supporting the park. "They are going to destroy a beautiful site. There is no need for it." Horsefeathers, responded John Dodero, a veteran council member who was among the majority voting to support the parking lot plan. "I'm not into paving over paradise," he said. "But I understand there are practical issues the city has to address to function as a city. "We're looking at Jacksonville as a place where people can come and experience the city on foot," he added. "We've been working on this for a long time." At issue is the future of nearly an acre of bare land that borders Jackson Creek and California Street. Although Smith, 58, and Dodero, 52, may be on opposite sides of the debate, the longtime Jacksonville residents are friends who have earned reputations of working for the public good, including preserving local woodlands and creating public parks. What Smith would like to see if a park is built is a statue of two or three miners in a pool of water, complete with picks and gold pans. He also envisions an adjacent picnic area. A school teacher who has taught in Jacksonville for 33 years, Smith, who was reared in the Rogue Valley, noted that two large parking lots already border Jackson Creek. Those parking lots are rarely full, he said. Smith points out that the city's comprehensive plan created several years ago called for a park on the property. He also noted that the council first voted in support of the park proposal late last year, only to reverse itself a month later. "But we really don't need any more parking lots," he said. "We've paved over 30 acres in the last two years in Jacksonville." Dodero, a potter who has lived in Jacksonville for more than 20 years, agrees that history is important to the town's future. But the traffic system plan within the comprehensive plan called for creating a lot for visitors to drive to, get out of their vehicles and explore on foot, he said. "We felt this would be a good spot to take people off of Highway 238," he said, noting the parking lot will accommodate up to 35 vehicles. A quarter of a million dollars in grant money is already invested in that area which includes a bus stop, he observed, adding that his research shows the Jacksonville doesn't have enough parking. "We've already gone through the public hearings," he said. "Now, after the fact, Larry has decided it's what we need for a park." As for it being the site of where gold was first discovered, Dodero isn't convinced. "I've been in Jacksonville for 21 years and the spot where they first found gold has changed four times that I know of," he said. "That (gold discovery site) is a pretty weak argument. We've already got two or three other areas where that is supposed to be." Historian George Kramer of Ashland, who was asked by the city in 1993 to conduct research for Jacksonville, agreed that everything about Jacksonville history is subject to legend. Part of his mission was to find out where gold was first discovered in 1851. Although an old marker on South Oregon Street answers that question, Kramer is dubious of the answers. "That marker has always amused me," he said. "It has about six pieces of information, all of which is wrong." Nonetheless, Smith says the first site represents the rich history of the town. He hopes the city council will reconsider the decision. "This area (Jacksonville) is so special," he said, adding that the council has been good to work with over the years. "We want to convince them to save this site for a park." His friend isn't wishing him luck. "I think his heart is in a good place," Dodero said. "But I have the city's interest at heart." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA