W1IEKX TOOBT AN Dear Beloved Rev. Billy, About the ‘IMPACT’ site for the school; Is there a big problem with putting a safe crossing bridge across 101? If there is, is it financial, or emotional, or engineering? If there isn't, I hope the school gets cited east of 101, because I think that tiny, swampy, comer of forest is very important. They are the town’s windows on the wilderness - and on the past. I’d hate to see the windows shut, sealed up with asphalt and concrete. I want to take my granddaughters walking in those woods. Love, Ursula Le Guin (W. Washington St.) Dev. Huit» Editorial Now & Then Last m onth w e asked our readers to com m ent on the proposed relocation o f the C annon Beach Elementary School. W e received letters, e-m ails, had conversations and heard shouts from folks driving past the book- store. A s prom ised w e are printing a selection o f the m ost thoughtful responses. T he three to one ratio that favors the RV site seem s to be in keeping with our personal feelin g s about the IM PACT site. W e feel that the IM PA C T site is already an educational facility and art center and any efforts on our part to im prove on it w ould lessen its value to the com m unity. There has been another option suggested; that being to sw ap w ith W illam ette Industries for som e land they o w n east o f 101. T h is w ould give the city a g eo lo g ic a lly sound site for the sch ool, and get W illam ette out o f the sticky situation o f rubbing our n o ses in a clear cut in our back yard. W e were also inform ed that bears w ere dam aging a lot o f the trees on the land, and that a ‘hunt’ m ight be needed, if the city agreed to a deal. W e can just im agine how much the children w ould enjoy that. M aybe w e could have a baby bruin stuffed to serve as a school mascot. A n yw ay thanks to all for your thoughts. Hey Billy. Since you asked 111 share with you my views about the relocation o f Cannon Beach School. First of all, I don't think the IMPACT site is the best place to put a school. Too many wonderful trees, too much traffic for the neighborhood, things like that. So if we really are going to build a new school, the RV Park has the space, a pool (good for teaching the kids how to swim), better traffic pattern, things like that. But what I really think is that we will never get a new school because by the time all parties agree to a location and hire all their experts and do all their studies, hire an architect, pass a bond (I'm sure there'd have to be something for Seaside & Gearhart in it!) all the grade school age children will be in high school nd there won't be a need for a school because about the only people that can afford to live here are retired!!! I hope I'm not sounding too cynical. What bothers me as well, is what would happen to the property that the school sits on now. The County owns the property!!! So, there you have it, my condensed version!! Happy Trails, Anita To the Editor: I am in favor of having the school located at the "Imagination, Method, Persistence, Acting Creatively Together" site. Perhaps the most important reason for me is that I feel that the school should function in as close a manner as the longhouse that Doug Deur wrote so eloquently about in this (last) month's column. The school serves its primary function to educate our children and also can be a place for us to celebrate our cultural aspirations both for how we live with each other and with nature. The school currently is located in a special site that has a view of the ocean and the river as well as being closely connected to the center of our community. It is fitting that our community should seek to provide an equivalent site for the school. The Impact site comes closest to providing that equivalence exactly because of its beauty and sacred nature. The School district is asking for only 2-3 acres o f the 9 acres available. The portion being considered is mostly alder trees along the north edge. A school at this site would be at a symbolic center between residences, the business community, and natural systems of forest and wetlands. Our community has the capability to create a school at this site that melds the school into the site and serves as a model of how a school can be fully integrated into the community to not only educate children, but serve other community functions such as an art center, performance space, community center, and laboratory for restoration o f ecosystems. The latter is especially important since the site is actually unoer stress from earlier interventions and its proximity to the city. The site needs to be actively helped and we could borrow a model being used by Neal Maine and the North Coast I .and Conservancy to preserve and study wetlands in Warrenton. The school and students already use the wetlands as a study area and this can be extended to the upland area o f the Impact site. The remaining land not used for the school would be a dedicated nature preserve under the control of the North Coast Land Conservancy. The Conservancy would use the school as base for the study and restoration of the site which would help educate not only our own children, but others throughout the state about this unique environment. When combined with our special wetlands/sewer treatment facility, the entire site becomes a lab for how communities can operate in a sustainable way in the environment. The idea for using the school as the long desired art center was raised by the Blue Ribbon Commission and supported by the School District and the City Council. The Impact site is the best location for the Art Center because o f its beauty and for its direct connections to the downtown, other cultural facilities such as the art galleries and the Coaster Theater, and existing City Parking. The simple ability o f being able to walk easily between the school, post office, businesses, and the beach is a powerful but subtle way o f tying together our community. This ability to walk to visit the community is one that the school district views as essential to its educational goals. It is also a necessary element for a future art center to reach its true potential. We should hesitate long and hard before moving any community functions away from the downtown since it is one o f the essential ways we keep it as our own, rather than as the exclusive realm o f visitors. Jay Raskin P.O. Box 1160 Cannon Beach 2 f UFPCK LEFT EDGE AUGUST f l l f t C annon Beach Jupiter's Rare and Used Book». O cbu inS Grocery. The Cookie Co . Coflee CabaAa. Dill's Tavern. C annon Beach Book Co.. HaneS Bakerie. The Bistro. Midtown Cafe. Once Upon a Breeze, Copies A Fax. Haystack Video. M ariner M arket. Espresso Bean. Ecola Square A CleanUne SurT M ansan lta. Mother Nature's Juice Bar. Cassandra's, M anzanita News A Espresso. A Nehalem Bay Video Rockaway: Neptune’s Used Books T illa m o o k Rainy Day Books A Tillamook Library Bay C ity: Art Space Yachats By the Sea Books Pacific C ity: The River House. Oceanside Or can Side Espresso L in c o ln C ity : Trillium N atural Foods, Driftwood Library. A Lighthouse Brewpub Newport: Oceana Natural Foods. Ocean Pulse Surf Shop. Sylvia Beach Hotel. A Canyon Way Books Eugene Book Mark. C aff Navarra. Eugene Public Library. Friendly St. M arket. Happy Tralla. Keystone C aff. Klva Foods. Lane C.C., Light For M usic. New Frontier M arket. Nineteenth Street Brew Pub. Oasis M arket. Perry's. Red Barn Grocery. Sundance N atural Foods, U of O. A WOW Hall C o rva llis : The Environm ental Center. OSU Salem : Heliotrope. Salem Library. A The Peace Store A sto ria: K M U N . Colum bian C aff. The Com munity Store. The Wet Dog Cafe. Astoria Coflee Company. C a ff U niontow n, A The River Seaside: Buck's Book Barn. Universal Video, A C a ff Espresso P ortland : Artichoke Music. Laughing Horse Bookstore. Act III. Bsrnes A Noble. Belmonts Inn. Bibelot A rt Oallery. Bijou C a ff. Borders, Bridgeport Brew Pub, C a p tn Beans (two loestlonsl. Center for the H ealing L ig h t Codec People (three locations). Com mon Grounds Coflee. East Avenue Tavern, Food Front, Ooose Hollow Inn. Hot Lips Pizza, Java Bay C aff. Key Largo. La Pattlsserle. Lewis A Clark College. Locals Only. Marco's Pizza, M arylhurst College. M t. Hood CC. Music M illenium . Nature's (two locatlona). NW N atural Gas. OHSU Medical School. Old Wives Tales. Ozone Records. Papa H aydn. PCC (four locations). PSU (two locational. Reed College. Third Eye, M ultnom a Central Library, and moat branches A the YWCA. Ashland: G arbs Java House, The Black Sheep, Blue Mt. C aff. A Rogue River Brewery Cave J unctio n. Coflee Heaven A Kerby Community M a rk e t Grants Paas: The Book Shop (Out o f Oregon) Vancouver. W A The Den Longview , WA: The Broadway Oallery N aselle, W A Rainy Day Artistry N a h eo tta, W A Moby Dick Hotel D u v a ll, W A Duvall Books B ainbridge Is la n d , W A Eagle Harbor Book Co. S e a ttle , WA: Elliot Bay Book Co., Honey Bear Bakery. New Orleans Restaurant. Still Life In Frem ont. Allegro Coffeehouse. The Last Exit Coffee House. A Bulking News San Francisco, C A City Lights Bookstore D en ver, Co: Denver Folklore Cente W ashington, D .C .I Hotel Tabard Inn (Out o f U A A .) Parts, France: Shakespeare A Cle B rig h to n . England! The Public House Bookstore , ** nx« To the Editor: It would be better to relocate a new Cannon Beach Elementary School at the RV Resort property than at the IMPACT property. The RV site provides enough room to construct an arts center and sports facility as well as a new school. Vision dictates that the school site should be able to accommodate a facility that is twice as large as the existing school. CBES is over-crowded. There were two kindergarten classes this year. The District has re-drawn the school boundaries so next year some kids that would have gone to CB will have to go to Seaside. IMPACT proponents argue that a same-size school would fit on the northern 2 acres o f the site and not jeopardize the spruce forest part o f the site. This concept lacks vision and represents limited planning foresight. (See Compre­ hensive Plan, Recreation, Open Space. . . Policies 4,5. Visual and Performing Arts Policy 5.) Vehicular access, especially for buses, would be much easier at the RV site than at the IMPACT site. New access o f 101 to the IMPACT site, if that is considered an option, would probably be disallowed (CP Transportation Policies 4,7.) The current school site o f about 2 acres has no on-site parking. The new school would have to include parking spaces which immediately makes the argument that only 2 acres of the IMPACT site would be necessary incorrect. A school at the RV site would come with its own swimming pool. The infrastructure at the RV site is already in place. Site preparation at the RV Resort would be minimal compared to that required to develop the IMPACT property. The commercial structure at the RV site could possibly be recycled by the District. IMPACT proponents argue that the site is better because it’s closer to town and residents would have a better chance to interact with the kids. Regardless of the school’s location any resident or business that chooses to volunteer with the students would still be encouraged to do so. (Do the kids at recess really care whether their playground is .2 miles from downtown Cannon Beach or .6 miles?) The neighborhoods in town that arc most densely populated with year-round residents are the ones located east of the highway. They are very much part o f the community. A school at the RV resort would be a true neighborhood school. There is concern about kids crossing the highway. They should be taught not to, no matter where a new school is constructed. Demographic information might indicate how many kids currently cross the highway to go to school who would not have to if the RV site was used. The vast majority o f kids travel to and from CBES by bus anyway. The city could eventually build a walking-biking bridge over 101 at the east end of Monroe St. (CP Midtown Policy 6.) The opportunity to preserve a nine-acre, second-growth coastal forest, next to a busy downtown area, west o f Highway 101, along the Oregon coast, is extremely unique and should not be squandered. (CP Midtown Policy 2. Recreation, Open Space Policy 10.) Comprehensive Plan Housing Policy 7 reads, ‘The City shall preserve and enhance the qualities that contribute to the character and livability o f its residential areas. These qualities include limited traffic disruptions, uncongested streets and a low level o f noise and activity.” Consider this policy in light of how many vehicle trips (buses, staff cars, parent cars, service vehicles) will be generated per day at each o f the proposed sites. The RV site is prepared to easily handle this traffic influx, the IMPACT site is not. It is probable, due to site conditions, that the foundation for a new structure at the RV Resort would cost more than one at the IMPACT property. So what? A new school should last 50 years. Choosing the best place to build one should not be based on the cost of its foundation. One o f this year’s City Council’s goals is to establish a more specific Open Space acquisition policy. The last Council pledged $125,000 for Inspiration Point. The IMPACT site is a fabulous piece of open space that simply requires preservation, not acquisition. It makes no sense to purchase one piece of open space while simultaneously sacrificing an existing piece for development, especially when there is an alternative. - A sm all paper far a sm all planet.* I'D PPER-LEFTEDGËZÎ1 E d ito r/P u b lis h e r /J a n ito r : The Beloved Reverend Billy Lloyd Hulls Graphics E d ito r The Humble Ms. Sally Louise Lackaff C opy Editor/Science E d ito r/V o ice o f Reason/Uncle Mike/etc.: Michael Burgess W ild life In fo rm a n t/M u s ic R epo rter at Large: Peter "Spud" Siegel Im p ro v is a tio n a l Engineer: Dr. Karkeys Education E d ito r Peter Lindsey June's Garden: June Kroft W eb W o nd er W om an/D istribution D iv a /S u b s c rib e r's Sweetheart: Myrna Uhlig Bass Player: Bill Uhlig Ecola Ilahee: Douglas Deur Environm ental News: Kim Bossé Low er Left Beat: Victoria Stoppiello Life on the "O ther Edge”: Meg Stivison Local Colour: Ron Logan Two Drinks Ahead: Darrin Peters W eb Mother: Liz Lynch Essential Services: Ginni Callahan Ad Sales: Katherine Mace M a jo r Distribution: Ambling Bear Distribution And A Cast O f Thousands!! Advertising rates: * Business Card Size Ad S30. l/16th approx. 3x5 S35. 1 /8th approx 4 x 7 S50. 1 X4lh approx. 6 1/2x9 $ 100. 1/2 page SI50. Full page $300. Back page S400. . .. per month. Payment is due the 15th of the month prior to the issue in which the ad is to appear. Camera ready art is requested. We are usually on the streets by the first weekend of the month. Kirk Anderson MAHZArtitA News 8- ESPRESSO A Cheerful Presence in MAnzanita PORTLAND ROASTING Coffee & Espresso Drinks TEM PTA TIO N S Homemade Pastries, Sandwiches & Soup 435 MAGAZINE TITLES Oregon Coast and Local Maps, Local Newspapers THE OSBORNE WORKING STUDIO & GALLERY Open Daily 7:30am— 5:00 pm 500 Laneda Ave. Manzanita 368-7450 F IN E AR T, S P E C IA L E D IT IO N P R IN T S , ft C O M M E R C IA L R E N D E R IN G S 6 3 5 M A N Z A N IT A A VEN U E P .O . BOX 3 0 1 M A N Z A N IT A , O REG ON 9 7 1 3 0 The fact is that censorship always defeats its own purpose, for it creates, in the end, the kind of society that is incapable of exercising real discretion. In the long run it will create a generation incapable o f appreciating the difference between independence of thought and subservience. Henry Steele Commager PH O N E OR F A C S IM IL E 503 368 7518 mwmmmwnBMmmamaaiMmnmHBBmmiaBBB*»w» Q. W hy did the Zen Master cross the road? A. It w as too far to go around. I I