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A popular place to live Photo by Bob Pennell Real estate ads, such as these by Brunner and White, line popular Ashland tourist routes. Many a visitor has contemplated a move to Ashland after experiencing the town's charm. Moving to Ashland Bay area couple gather insights on whether to come north By JONEL ALECCIA ASHLAND -- A California couple daydreaming about starting a new life in Ashland have met warm welcome and stern warning from those who've already made the move. Catherine Waller and Chuck Clenfield of Richmond, Calif., have heard from several Golden State transplants since they asked for comments by e-mail in a Mail Tribune letter to the editor Sept. 2. "One woman wrote and said I'm sure you'll be inundated," said Waller, 46, reached by phone. "The responses have been positive, but they weren't as overwhelmingly positive as I thought they would be." So far, correspondents have praised the cultural amenities, lack of traffic, low housing prices and general livability of Ashland. They've criticized the area's limited employment prospects and the cold winters. "The people who wrote seemed happy to have moved to Ashland, although they mentioned `valley fever' in the winter when the road to California becomes dangerous," Waller said. What Waller hasn't received are hostile responses from people who'd prefer that she just stay put. Perhaps that's because the e-mail address she included in her recent letter was incorrect. The correct address is: [email protected] But perhaps it's because folks inclined to respond to Waller are like Bob Arago, 64, a retired energy company executive who moved to Ashland from the Bay area nearly three years ago. Arago tracked down Waller's correct e-mail address so he could encourage the couple to emigrate from his former home. Now a volunteer at the Ashland Chamber of Commerce, Arago believes the city is an ideal place to live. "It's the general quality of life, the fact that they have the fine arts, the outdoor activities and access to anywhere in the world," he said. Waller and her husband wrote to the Mail Tribune after an August vacation to Ashland that included time hiking the Pacific Crest Trail and strolling the city's historic districts. "We could not resist fantasizing about what it would be like to move to Ashland from the congested San Francisco Bay area," Waller wrote. At least one critic called Waller "funny" and "naive." In a letter to the editor, Don Klienhesselink of Medford wrote that Waller's letter "humors or insults the intelligence of every reader." Sandra Slattery, director of the Ashland Chamber of Commerce, saved a copy of Waller's letter, figuring its writer would be swamped with responses, including perhaps a few hostile ones. "This was a positive letter from an obviously nice person," she said. "If you're someone who has a very dark outlook on the world and want to take some vengeance on a person, maybe you'd write a letter like that. I know some people feel that way. People do have an idea that they don't want others to move in." Mary Kay Michelsen, president of the board of the Jackson County Citizens League counts herself among folks wary of growth. She doesn't oppose the interest of Waller and Clenfield specifically. But she does believe Ashland and other Southern Oregon cities need to be careful as they grow. "Unfortunately, if many of us encourage our friends and loved ones to join us, the qualities of life which we most cherish will disappear in a cloud of bulldozer dust," said Michelsen, who moved to Ashland a decade ago from Southern California. "This is neither elitist nor selfish," she added. "It's reality." Waller, 48, is an artist who works in oils and manages family real estate holdings. Her husband, Chuck Clenfield, 54, is a computer consultant who works with Pacific Bell. The couple, of course, would not be the first Bay area transplants to consider moving to Ashland. California emigrants led the crest of in-migration to southwest Oregon, the state's most recent population survey showed. Figures from the Oregon Progress Board's 1996 survey show that 14 percent of residents in four Southern Oregon counties are newcomers, and nearly half of those folks are from California or Washington. Slattery has no figures on the number of former Californians who live in Ashland, a city of roughly 19,000, but she knows it's pretty common. Of the 7,000 hits last month on the chamber Web site -- www.ashlandchamber.com -- 60 percent included requests for information about relocation. "What people tend to forget is that people leave Ashland, too," Slattery said. "We tend to think just of people coming in. But we have a dynamic changeover." Although Arago, the recent transplant, welcomes folks like Waller and Clenfield, he said he also prefers a cautious approach to growth. "I don't want to see the area turn into solid housing as the Bay area has done," he said. "I still would like to tell the difference between Ashland and Medford. I want a lot of public discussion, then if it's to be, it's to be." Waller, who owns a home in an unincorporated area of Contra Costa County, said she and her husband are still in the daydreaming stages of their Ashland fantasy. They haven't pegged what their house is worth in Bay area prices, nor have they considered employment or housing in the Oregon city. "My main concern is that I am spoiled by the Bay area `scene,"' Waller wrote in an e-mail. "Restaurants, theater, museums, galleries, great get-aways that are close by. Yes, the Bay area is expensive, and, yes, traffic is TERRIBLE. But there are still quite a few pluses." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA