The North Coast times-eagle., May 01, 2004, Page 9, Image 9

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N O R T H C O A S T T IM E S E A G L E , MA Y/JUNE 2004
Valerie M. Ball
Lucien Swerdloff
It seems that the Friends of the Column...still do not
comprehend the greater significance of Coxcomb Hill.
The environment that surrounds us is shamefully out
of balance: pollution floats down the Columbia River, too many
cars and trucks rumble over Commercial Street, the scenic
beauty of the coast is continually being overdeveloped. Yet,
within the heart of all this is a rare and sacred place: Coxcomb
Hill.
To further develop the hill for economic concerns is
a misdirected use of good intentions. The mistake is the
assumption that the only way to enjoy a space is to defeat it:
to construct more buildings, to bring more buses, to provide
more snacks and more gifts.This is just not so.There are plenty
of opportunities for all these activities nearby.
To experience the intimate immensity of the place is to
experience the elements: to walk up the hill, to stand in the rain,
to face toward the wind. Who would suggest paving over the
beach and enclosing it in glass so that we can walk without
getting sand on our feet or salt in our hair? But is not the
equivalent being suggested for the hill?
If an interpretive center is to be built, the only viable
solution is to build it below in Astoria, perhaps adjacent to the
Historical Society. To build it on the hill is to force a building
where it should not go. The latest incarnation of the of the center
has been so restricted that it has lost all sense of its concept. It
has literally been shoved into the ground and its formerly grand
central space has been reduced to the geometric centerpoint for
the toilets.
I entreat (Mayor Willis Van Dusen) not to approve
the proposed building of a large visitor/interpretive center and
expanded parking area in Astor Park in such close proximity to
the Astoria Column These proposed structures would substan­
tially detract from the gem-like setting for the Column and would
seriously downgrade the natural beauty that is woven as a
common thread throughout the rich and colorful history of the
Astoria area.
I realize, of course, that history and progress share
every city’s evolution, but I cannot remain silent when progress
imperils the qualities or beauty that makes an area special. Thus,
I urge you to seek alternatives so that visitors continue to enjoy
the Column and Astor Park — a shuttle service similar to that at
Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello would serve our Column equally
well.
Future generations will condemn us for our waste; there­
fore, please don’t approve the plopping of an overgrown building
and parking lot like a cow pie at the base of the Astoria Column.
Nancy Spaan
Everyone in this county appreciates all that (Friends
of the Astoria Column) has done to restore the Column, but
restoration and new building that destroys views are two very
different things. I think it is unfair to have design decisions made
to benefit tourists who will spend a fascinating hour or two at the
Column when those of us who live here and return over and over
for more reasons than the Column itself feel left out.
The reason so many of us go there so frequently is the
spectacular view; specifically from the picnic area across the
field that is being discussed as a future parking lot. It doesn't
make sense to build anything that will in the process destroy
any part of the reason for being there in the first place.
Ruth Hope
What in Sam Hill is going on down there? Has everyone
lost their senses? Why has the Mayor and City Council allowed it
to go this far? What a shameful waste of time and money. They
and the Friends' group have caused my angry passions to rise.
I believe true friends of Astoria would never do anything
to draw attention away from the monument or the view. Never
pave the hillside for parking lots. Now I read the Friends want to
plant the center underground. Ye Gods! How absurd.
Do not spoil what you have. A most perfect site, magni­
ficent views and beautifully restored monument.
Whatever the good intentions the Friends of the Astoria
Column might be, my fondest wish for the Column is that wiser
heads will prevail.
Robert J. Ross
I strongly oppose any structure to be erected on the
North or West view location of John Jacob Astor Park. There are
certainly more appropriate locations within the vicinity of the
Column that would support a visitor center, provide a lovely view
for our visitors and not inflict a permanent blight on one of our
primary view attractions.
If the objective is to make a meaningful contribution to
this community, surely we can see the necessity of not causing
harm in doing so.
I trust the leadership of this community will consider my
opposition to this project and take appropriate action to protect
this highly visible feature. A petition group with 1,000 signatures
has also stated their concern regarding the proposed action at
Astor Park.
Robyn Starr Dezendorf
As a former travel consultant of ten years, I was very
fortunate to be able to take advantage of the travel that was
awarded to me, to many fascinating countries (in the range
of forty or so)... always on the lookout for what a lot of clients
wanted when they would be on holiday. Over and over again
was the cry for visiting places that were historical that had
interesting monuments or areas that...were in natural, beautiful,
pristine settings without or very little commercialism attached to
them. Low profile but with history.
Now as an 11 year resident, moving here because of
this beautiful, natural, pristine, quiet North Coast area, I would
hope that we would be able to keep this wonderful ambiance.
I feel that if we build a large structure it will take away from this
natural park-like quality setting that is of paramount importance
to the community. Structures like this belong, and are found most
of the time, in the middle of big cities. I don’t think we want the
concrete jungle effect in historical Astoria, not to mention the
commercialism, added traffic pattern that we would encounter,
and, of course, the large burden the city (the taxpayers) could
have in running the daily operations.
This very special, historical site is just priceless, let us
keep it this way and make minimal, practical, not so commercial­
ized, improvements that will benefit all of us.
Dian Kazeauskes
There comes that moment when the artist knows his
painting is complete. When it portrays all that is necessary. It
speaks for itself.
Such is the Astoria Column. It is finished. Nothing more
needs to be said. No interpretation is necessary. The Column is
the painting. The glorious views its frame.
I have never heard anyone complain about the lack of an
interpretive center or the lack of food, candy or softdrinks at the
Column. People come for the view and are then surprised to
behold the wonderful pictorial on the Column. Just the drive
alone to the Column is lovely.
I have questioned many tourists and my own family, and
I have found not one person who thinks an interpretive center is
needed.
At one of the Council meetings...the landscape consult­
ant for the Friends of the Column, referred several times to this
area as “sacred ground." If this is “sacred ground," then let us not
disturb more of it.
Anne Witty
The Astoria Column park provides a haven of quiet,
fresh air, and magnificent views. Crowned with the Column itself,
it is one of Astoria's finest public spaces. Its very openness is a
priceless legacy that should be preserved for future generations
By definition, the parks belong to all the citizens of
Astoria. I urge our leaders to listen carefully to citizens' voices
before approving extensive construction at the Astoria Column
site. We should all think carefully about which legacies we wish
to leave; open green spaces and sweeping views, or a park
clogged with parking lots and an interpretive center that turns its
back on the very monument that should be the focus of attention.
The Column and its setting are priceless — let's not overbuild
this place.
William Barnett
WILLIAM MICHAEL SCHUSTER (1989)
George I. Gunn
I am strongly opposed to any changes being made to the
Astoria Column. Just because some individual with money wants
to construct an edifice to perpetuate the family name, at the
expense of our beautiful Column, is not a valid reason to change
things up there. Why are you trying to interpret something so
obvious?
FOOTPRINTS
BY CAROLYN DUNN
In previous centuries, our human footprint was small,
and monuments to our intelligence and skill — such as the
construction of buildings and plazas — were viewed as neces­
sary assumptions of our presence. Our planet now has been
dominated by human life and human activity; our footprint is
huge.
Posterity will look for signs of this time's collective
energy and wisdom. In doing so, will it look for places where
we have constructed yet more parking lots, more trinket shops
and more information booths (small or large)? I do not think so.
I believe it is already an inevitability that our children and their
children will search the world to find the preserved islands of
the natural world in which a possibility exists to have direct
experience with it.
These will be the places, save at considerable cost,
where human intervention is the quietest, where the human
footprint is the most difficult to find. These places will be the
revered monuments which our time has extended as a gift to
the future. Saved from cars, noise, commerce and ubiquitous
interpretation, these islands of undisturbed nature will constitute
our Parthenon, our Eiffel Tower, our Golden Gate Bridge.
In the continued unimpeded experience of the natural
world which Coxcomb Hill provides, we offer to posterity our
finest gift — and one which may even represent our holy-of-
holies, economic sacrifice: this gift is the inheritance of nonin­
terference.
The most effective way, at the beginning of the 21st
century, to tell the story of the “settling of the West," is not to
build buildings, play music, sell souvenirs, pave parking lots
and offer interpretations, but to provide the opportunity for
direct experience.
If we want to say anything at all about the West, it
should be this. Our ancestors were people who, in hardship
and exhilaration, had direct experience of all we now see,
hear and feel from Coxcomb Hill: there lies the land, the wide
sky and all the mysterious waters of cloud, rain, river and sea
The Internet may give us infinite babble, endless inform­
ation and tireless opportunity for commerce. By inference, subtly,
it seems to indicate a direction for our human lives, a mandate to
proliferate information and commerce into every part of our lives.
But Coxcomb Hill, undisturbed, gives us our real direction as well
as our real sustenance, which includes the phenomena of quiet­
ness and scope and the inherent possibilities therefore of experi­
encing perspective, humility, beauty and joy.
The Astoria Column gives pleasure to many, and all
of us are pleased that the restoration was done intelligently.
Ciearcutting was allowed on the site, and we have had to make
our peace with that, each in our own way. Let’s leave our inter­
vention at that
Most visitors to Coxcomb Hill, both local and from afar,
visit it for the view, and for the total direct experience such a
place offers us.
The reason we ascend Coxcomb Hill or any high place
in the world, is to live, for a moment, in the presence of the total
creation of which we are but a small part, and thus to be aware,
once again, of our relation to it.
From this quiet, unimpeded experience, we gain the
peace and the courage to descend, once again, into our
individual and collective lives
Carolyn Dunn is a poet who lives in Astoria
I think the Astoria Column should be left alone to convey
its own message...
By all means stabilize it and improve the restrooms. But
let’s start parking all those buses and RVs somewhere down the
hill, ideally where there is already plenty of food and shopping.
If, as I suspect, the indoor replica and interactive video­
enhancement is an inevitable extension of the souvenir stand
with blaring music, let's put them in an Astoria theme park some­
where else — and not further congest a formerly quiet hilltop
retreat
MarGwen Land
Loved the sightseeing! The Astoria Column site was
quite breathtaking! I’ve never seen a monument etched in that
manner! And what a view!
I hope you won’t mind if I say that I was concerned about
your charming city's plans to add additional structures, parking
lots, etc., to the site of the Column. Should you have the oppor­
tunity to express opinions of some tourists, please urge them
not to do it. It would absolutely spoil the view and ambiance of
the site, though I personally feel it would be a great step forward
to move that film shack in front to some out-of-sight rear location!
I’ve traveled all over and have been saddened by cities
defacing historic sites by surrendering to moneyed interests who
just want to make a buck at the cost of the beauty of the site.
Mount Rushmore is a Sterling Example! It is a flashy, souvenir
mess amidst tons of concrete. The trees and flora & fauna were
the price. Such a shame! The natural, virgin scene is gone and
will never be the same.
(From a letter to LaRee Johnson, who sent it to Astoria
Mayor Willis Van Dusen.)
Don Marshall
Instead of wasting money on an interpretive center up
at the Column, my uncle says we should build a large climate
controlled dome over the city. That way, we could dictate the
weather to the satisfaction of the tourists as well as ourselves.
He says the expense would be far less than that other thing.
Ute K. Swerdloff
Does the simple and sublime Astoria Column need an
architectural rival on Coxcomb Hill?
Isn't it the fact the Column stands majestically alone that
makes it such a beautiful structure to behold? The Column was
erected on Coxcomb Hill so people can relate what is depicted
on the Column to what they see all around them. To marvel at
what once was and what still remains. That is an act of interpre­
tation.
A building, and an adjacent large parking lot filled with
sun reflecting car hoods will rob visitors of the imagination of
what was here 200 years ago and only leave them mourning
for what is lost
Friends of the Column reconsider! There must be other,
better ways you can express your friendship to the Column....
Make the kind of gift so you will be remembered not only as
Friends of the Column, but friends of Coxcomb Hill and the
citizens of Astoria
Roger McKay
As I am one of the painters in the restoration of the
Astoria Column, I feel a personal love and attachment to it,
and the grounds around it.
When I first heard of plans to build an interpretive center,
complete with a large-size scale model of the Astoria Column
inside, I thought “What a silly idea." I was told the thinking is that
a smaller, indoor Column would be more comfortable and easier
to see all the scenes
It’s like saying, Sorry folks, we know we have crummy
weather, we know our Astoria Column is just too dam big and
high, so you have to crane your neck too far, it gets uncomfort­
able You can hardly see the scenes at the top, and your glasses
might get rained on. Poor things. Come on in, where you will be
comfortable and get a smaller but still Column experience. '
Then there is the parking lot expansion plan. Instead
of looking down the beautiful green grassy slope, we would be
looking at a big parking lot full of cars and campers
One of the greatest things about the Astoria Column is
the view Standing anywhere on the grounds around the Column,
you get a fantastic view, greatly enhanced by the grounds them­
selves The only obstruction now is the rude little concession
stand plunked right in the middle of the view, I suppose to attract
more business than if it were part of the restroom building, where
I think it belongs
I am horrified to think of a huge new building plunked
right in the middle of the view Then we would have the hustle
and bustle of all the traffic, the expansive parking lots and the
lines of people
Our once quiet, peaceful, scenic and historic place
would be lost forever