[Grovenet] Future of Downtown Forest Grove (WAS: Fwd: LandUse Update August 16th)

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

David wrote:

If you are concerned about "random" implementation of land use laws,  
consider that those people who purchased land since the  
implementation did so with the reasonable expectation that the laws  
would be applied, as written, uniformly on all similarly situated  
parcels. 

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You misread me. I said that people were penalized at random by the land use
laws, not that the land use laws were applied at random. That's two very
different things. Even though the land use laws are implemented uniformly,
whether someone was injured was based on when they happened to acquire the
property. 


David wrote:

Raising livestock is tough enough without suddenly having a  
subdivision sprouting next door with owners who think that they can  
let their dogs run loose "out in the country".

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I agree, and that's an issue at the edges of all urban areas that I've seen.
It has nothing to do with M37. They exist today. They existed yesterday
wherever housing abuts other types of property, whether it's a factory, farm
or whatever. 

David wrote:

So who has better prices, better variety and better advice, Home  
Depot or Ace Hardware?  Sears or Van Dykes?  Costco or Gratteri's?   
Be careful this is a trick question.  It isn't just convenience, you  
are purchasing more than a product, but who really wants to find out  
the truth when the advertising all runs the other direction.

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The consumers choose just as voters choose Presidents and other elected
officials. You may not agree with their choices, but the reality is that
people choose to shop at Sears, Home Depot or Wal*Mart in large numbers. 

Does that mean that a historic shopping district cannot be vital and
successful? Just look at McMinnville with its "Big Box row" and a very
prosperous and active historic town center a short distance away filled with
boutiques of all sorts. People are attracted to a convenient, pleasant town
center with nice and interesting shops. 

In Forest Grove people come to town, find little parking on the street on
busy days, go to the civic parking lot, if they can find it, then walk to
Pacific Avenue down an ugly, smelly alleyway lined with garbage bins and
trash and debris. As a visitor exploring Forest Grove, I'd not do that
twice! If they come on Sunday they don't have to use that parking lot
because the streets are empty: the stores are almost all closed. 

That's an eloquent message for people. They used to come into the book store
or real estate office on Sunday afternoons and wonder what was going on: we
were the only businesses open! Even the restaurants along Pacific Avenue
downtown were closed!  

When that changes, downtown Forest Grove will change. 

Ron D'Eau Claire