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MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend December 10, 2004 Among other things, Rosalyn Rhinehart is responsible for introducing Medford to the seasonal chore of bagging leaves for pickup instead of raking them into piles in the street. Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Community monitor will take a break By MEG LANDERS Mail Tribune After 38 years as a community watchdog, Rosalyn Rhinehart is stepping aside. The 75-year-old Medford resident says age and arthritis are keeping her from investigating the planning commission’s agenda packet as intensely as she once did, so she’s resigning from the Citizens Planning Advisory Committee. "It’s just overwhelming, her amount of commitment, care and concern for this community," said City Councilman Bob Strosser, adding that he’s sad to see her leave. Whether seen as advocate or nuisance, Rhinehart has been a familiar presence around City Hall since 1966. "She’s been involved in so much over the years that it’s hard to catalog," said Medford Assistant Planner Steve Rehn, who is the staff representative at CPAC meetings. Advertisement The city’s former parks and recreation director said he got many complaint calls from Rhinehart over the years. "... I usually took heed because the track record had showed that she usually had a valid point," said Greg Jones, now a City Council member. Jones said a few years ago he checked out her complaint about noise levels from the Bear Creek Park amphitheater. Sure enough, the volume was too high and needed better monitoring. He said he appreciated her involvement. "She seemed like a person that really and truly wanted to see a better Medford," he said. Through CPAC, which discusses growth and development issues, Rhinehart has worked on restrictions of cul-de-sacs in new developments, identifying blind street corners at intersections and requesting more enforcement of trimming vegetation back for drivers’ visibility. She’s probably most famous — or infamous, depending on your point of view — for pushing to have fall leaves bagged instead of piled curbside. In 1997, Rhinehart approached the council requesting that the city require residents to bag leaves for pickup to keep streets and storm drains clean of debris. In 1998 the rule was implemented and residents could no longer just rake leaves into the street for pickup. She said many residents didn’t like the extra work — some would stop her and sarcastically ask if she would to hold their bag while they raked. She said her most labor-intensive project was taking an inventory of the 500 or so buildings designed by renowned architect Frank Clark. She did it in the early 1990s with the help of Clark’s children. When Rosalyn and her husband Joseph, now deceased, began attending meetings in 1966, the group was called Community Citizen’s Involvement. The group underwent many changes, and in 1976 became the Citizens Planning Advisory Committee. In the late 1990s when Jim Eisenhard was Medford’s planning director and Don Walker was Medford’s public works director, she said she unearthed a 60-year-old street development plan and encouraged implementing some of its proposals. "Jim Eisenhard and Don Walker do not always see eye-to-eye with me," she said in her farewell message to CPAC. "I have ruffled more than a few feathers in my 38 years of involvement." After much back and forth over its life, CPAC is now a respected body that offers recommendations to the Medford Planning Commission and City Council, she said. The advisory group is identified in the city’s Comprehensive Plan. "We are a legal commission under the city of Medford," Rhinehart said proudly. Medford residents are encouraged to attend CPAC meetings from 7 to 9 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month. Meetings are held on the third floor of City Hall (call 774-2000 to find out room assignment), 411 W. Eighth St., Medford. Reach reporter Meg Landers at 776-4481 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. 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