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About St. Johns review. (Saint Johns, Or.) 1904-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 11, 2015)
Email: reviewnewspaper@gmail.com * Mail: PO Box 83068, Port. OR 97283 * Web: www.stjohnsreview.com * Phone: 503-283-5086 The St. Johns Review * #25 DEC. 11, 2015 * Page 5 Letters To The Editor - Continued from Page 2 proposed “Greenway” between Ida and Ivanhoe). Please visit face- book.com/saveivyisland Thanks, Tony Darco ___________________________ Dear Editor, I would like to thank the Review for keeping us updated with front page articles. The Bolouri Plan has now passed Planning, the City Council date has not yet been set. Work on the tree mitigation plan has just started and negotiations between the Colony and Bolouri are continuing. It may very well be after the holidays be- fore things settle down enough for the hearing to be scheduled. There will then be a six-week public no- tice period before the hearing can be held, probably in February. In the Review article of 10/30/15, about the razing of Ivy Island, Lindsay Jensen, Executive Direc- tor of St. Johns Main Street said, “We are in support of it happening. We recognize that significant plan- ning, resources, and neighborhood input went into developing the St. Johns Lombard Plan, which is the basis/reason for Ivy Island being vacated.” If we’re going to use the SJLP than fine, let’s use it. It shouldn’t be dragged out when it’s conve- nient to promote a certain agenda. Let’s not cherry pick what it is in the SJLP that will be used or not used. The Plan promotes much more than razing Ivy Island for a right turn signal into SJ. The SJLP is thoughtful, considered, and ho- listic in its approach. Importantly, for the business district, this inter- section is seen as a Gateway into St Johns and the SJLP acknowl- edged that importance. I encourage the readers to fol- low the actual statements from the St. Johns Lombard Plan (SJLP). The SJLP is easy to look up. Just Google “St Johns Lombard Plan.” Or go to the Library. Don’t believe what I say, look it up yourself. I’ve even included page numbers. Concerning Ivy Island, quoting the SJLP, it starts with a simple idea “shift the island north and merge it with the sidewalk…,” (by this simple move the former is- land, becomes a buffer to the traf- fic of Rt. 30/Richmond) This then “allows for more active pedestrian use” (Ivy Island itself protects the pedestrian and what was the Lom- bard Slip Lane becomes a protect- ed corridor for walking). Added benefits are “improved sight lines into the commercial core” and “an opportunity to create an enhanced Gateway to the Downtown Busi- ness District.” This plan has NO impact on James John Elementary School (SJLP, pages 36, 86) The current developers have taken this elegant and uncompli- cated solution and heaped on it apartments, retail stores and un- derground garages, and then tell us that this is what we asked for. In the SJLP, the Lombard Slip Lane becomes an east-west corridor that protects pedestrians from the traffic of Rt. 30/Richmond. In the Bolouri Plan there is no protected corridor, what was the Lombard Slip Lane will have apartments. These apartments are an obstacle that the pedestrian will need to walk around, using the sidewalk that Bolouri provides, bringing the pedestrian uncomfortably close to the heavy traffic of Rt 30/ Richmond. EXACTLY AS WE HAVE NOW. No different. Same exposure, same traffic. Walkabil- ity, important in the SJLP, is not improved. Plus this wall of apart- ments, rather than integrating our community, as the SJLP does, runs the risk of dividing us into a SJ Eastside and Westside. It also be- comes less of a Gateway into SJ as it is a wall that completely blocks the view of SJ and foils the easy access into the Business District. Importantly, the Bolouri plan, unlike the SJLP, has an immense negative impact on the parking and traffic patterns at James John Elementary School. The SJLP is a holistic agreement between the SJ Community and City Government. Livability and respecting the character and small town feel of St Johns is key. James John Elementary School and the Library were singled out as im- portant civic buildings that new construction should compliment. Buildings were to be one to three stories. Architectural examples throughout the Plan show nothing larger than three stories. Boundary developments between commer- cial and residential zones needed to reflect the scale and character of the residential zone. Also, devel- opers needed to provide adequate parking. (SJLP, pages 22 and 100) If we’re going to use the St. Johns Lombard Plan, let’s use it. If we do that, it means that Farid Bolouri will need to make things “smaller and more in line with the character of St. Johns,” which is more in the design and spirit of what the St. Johns Lombard Plan promotes. John Teply FB: Save Ivy Island, Email: info@ ateliergallery.com ___________________________ Dear Editor, A Local Dentist is responsible for three painful extractions on Lom- bard and Charleston St. I would hope that he will listen to messages from recent history. With the dem- olition of Messiah Lutheran, H.F. Clark Furniture-Value Giant and the Tobacco shop the very roots of St. Johns are being excavated. These landmarks were in place so firmly that it required a huge crew, a retainer, millions of dollar and a track hoe to rip out these the St. John’s roots of history, each now demolished. Do you remember Cecil the lion and the dentist who killed him, Walter J. Palmer. Palmer has said they didn’t know that the lion they killed was Cecil, and that all of their permits were in order. “It was a magnificent, mature lion.” Palm- er insists on his innocence. “I hired several professional guides and they secured all proper permits. To my knowledge, everything about this trip was legal and properly handled and conducted,” he said in a statement to the Minnesota Star-Tribune. “I had no idea that the lion I took was a known, local favorite, was collared and part of a study until the end of the hunt. I relied on the expertise of my local professional guides to ensure a le- gal hunt.” There is a local dentist who fol- lowed a similar formula; he hired professional guides and secured all the proper permits. I wonder whether he knows that St. Johns is every bit as sacred as Cecil? Did he know that on the very island, Ivy Island, stands a sign saying, “Welcome to Historic St. Johns.” But like Cecil, Ivy Island awaits execution, after all, the permits have been filed. Cecil and Ivy Is- land have a lot in common and this is why: Cecil was a particularly high-profile lion. He was some- thing of a mascot for Hwange National Park and beloved around Zimbabwe for his distinctive black mane. Ivy Island is a high-profile island and has been a mascot for St. Johns. Historic St. Johns is on the chopping block and up for sale to the highest bidder. Jones Architecture and the good dentist are trying to secure “prop- er” permits and PBOT is in the process of cutting a deal and I am quite sure it will all be legal; it’s just that Ivy Island and Cecil, will have to die. Main Street and St. Johns Neighborhood association are run by those who think very little of the history and of the heritage of St. Johns. Main Street is funded by unknown patrons who seem to want St. Johns as a trophy for one individual’s wall. As property in St. Johns becomes more valuable than the structures sitting upon it, each will be removed, leaving only memories. Main Street St. Johns gives lip service to being transparent and non-profit but in standing behind private developers shouldn’t be held in non profit sta- tus. St. Johns Neighborhood Asso- ciation also stands in stark contrast to HISTORIC ST. JOHNS. Richard G. Tennant N. Haven ___________________________ LETTERS TO THE EDITOR are welcome and encouraged. The do not necessarily reflect the views of the editor or publisher. They must be legibly written and contain a name. Unsigned letters will not be read or pub- lished. They may be edited for size or grammar. Send to the email or physical address at the top of this page. ___________________________ Color BUSINESS CARD ADS