When the City of Portland lets the developer weasels wreck its storied neighborhoods with bulky infill bunkers, we're told that it's saving farmland on the edge of town. That causal connection has always seemed pretty dubious to us, and now we see that the farmland on the edge of town is being destroyed anyway. Just ask the folks out Helvetia way.
How far out can they push the story? What are they going to say in a few years? Probably something like, "We need five-story apartment buildings all around your ranch house in Sellwood so that the millions and millions of people coming here any day now don't try to build houses in Burns instead."
Comments (8)
Like I've said for years, the view from outside the "UGB" looks very different than from inside it.
thanks for posting stories like this. they (hopefully) continue to raise awareness that the UGB isn't a boundary at all--it's just a line in the sand to mark our place while we plan the next expansion. Helvetia, etc. are just the latest protester-victim in front of the bulldozer.
funny how cities must always eat more and more resources, land and taxes just to survive, isn't it?
Without our land use system, we would have nonstop subdivisions and strip malls from Portland to Hillsboro, Aurora, and Sandy. I don't have an answer on regulating infill development in older PDX neighborhoods, but that doesn't mean our state land use laws don't work.
“it's just a line in the sand” agreed. People here blame it for everything from house prices to erectile dysfunction but the reality is the thing is vast and constantly expanding. Now, having driven 176 miles (half the length of Oregon) in California without seeing anything approaching countryside, I accept that it has shaped growth patterns in a positive way. If it were much more restrictive, and perfect agricultural land such Helvetia was labeled as permanently off limits, then we would have something to boast about. Of course there would then be more pressure for infill. Personally I feel that every neighborhood I enjoy in this town has multi-story development as part of the mix – sometimes from the 1920s but often brand new. Jack, are there any “condo bunkers,” old or new, that you like?
The Sellwood Lofts are pretty good. Belmont Dairy is o.k. The cr*p along NE Broadway and Weidler is hideous, and the Randy Rapaport wet dream on Division is grounds for a prison sentence. The guy who's wrecking NE 11th and Tillamook should be taken out and shot.
I accept that it has shaped growth patterns in a positive way.
I disagree on the positive part. Shaped, yes, but once land's inside the UGB, things get generally ugly. case in point: much of the western edge of the UGB.
that line in the sand moves with the tide. "smart" growth is still growth; slowing the tide down and diverting it so that it seems slow to a human lifespan doesn't make it better. the UGB only slows down growth with artificial scarcity so that it's forced to densify--sort of.
but hang about--someone from 1000 Friends will be along shortly to set me straight.
Just out of curiousity, I googled 1000 Friends of Oregon. I doubt they have much to do with anything falling within the UGB but I haven't noticed any activity from that group in some time. They were so active in the 1980s, ran short of money and in trouble for awhile. They've still got a website:
Charamba, Douro 2008
Horse Heaven Hills, Cabernet 2010
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills Pinot Grigio 2011
Avignonesi, Montepulciano 2004
Lorelle, Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2011
Villa Antinori, Toscana 2007
Mercedes Eguren, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Lorelle, Columbia Valley Cabernet 2011
Purple Moon, Merlot 2011
Purple Moon, Chardonnnay 2011
Abacela, Vintner's Blend No. 12
Opula Red Blend 2010
Liberte, Pinot Noir 2010
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Indian Wells Red Blend 2010
Woodbridge, Chardonnay 2011
King Estate, Pinot Noir 2011
Famille Perrin, Cotes du Rhone Villages 2010
Columbia Crest, Les Chevaux Red 2010
14 Hands, Hot to Trot White Blend
Familia Bianchi, Malbec 2009
Terrapin Cellars, Pinot Gris 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2009
Campo Viejo, Rioja, Termpranillo 2010
Ravenswood, Cabernet Sauvignon 2009
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2010
Waterbrook, Reserve Merlot 2009
Lorelle, Horse Heaven Hills, Pinot Grigio 2011
Tarantas, Rose
Chateau Lajarre, Bordeaux 2009
La Vielle Ferme, Rose 2011
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio 2011
Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir 2009
Lello, Douro Tinto 2009
Quinson Fils, Cotes de Provence Rose 2011
Anindor, Pinot Gris 2010
Buenas Ondas, Syrah Rose 2010
Les Fiefs d'Anglars, Malbec 2009
14 Hands, Pinot Gris 2011
Conundrum 2012
Condes de Albarei, Albariño 2011
Columbia Crest, Walter Clore Private Reserve 2007
Penelope Sanchez, Garnacha Syrah 2010
Canoe Ridge, Merlot 2007
Atalaya do Mar, Godello 2010
Vega Montan, Mencia
Benvolio, Pinot Grigio
Nobilo Icon, Pinot Noir, Marlborough 2009
Portuga, Rose 2011
Revelation, Chardonnay, Pays d'Oc 2010
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 2005
Monte Alto, Tinto Reserva 2005
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Cabernet, Indian Wells 2009
Espiral, Vinho Rose
Vin-Koru, Pinot Gris 2011
14 Hands, Hot to Trot Red 2009
Rodney Strong, Cabernet, Sonoma 2009
Abacela, Vintner's Blend #11
Portuga, White 2010
La Bourgeoisie, Red 2009
Januik, Red 2009
Three Rivers, River's Red 2008
Kirkland, Alexander Valley Merlot 2008
Muga, Rioja Rose 2010
Quinta das Amoras, Vinho Tinto 2009
Mauro Molino, Barbera d'Alba 2009
Garda Chiaretto Rose
Columbia Crest, Two Vines Vineyard 10 White
Chateau Ste. Michelle, Pinot Gris, Columbia Valley 2009
L'Hortus, Rose de Saignee 2010
Maculan, Pino & Toi 2008
McKinley Springs, Bombing Range Red 2008
Trader Joe's Pinot Gris 2009
Montes Alpha, Cabernet 2007
Gran Sasso, Sangiovese, Terre di Chieti 2009
Garda, Classico Chiaretto Rose
Beaulieu, Cabernet, Rutherford 1999
Picos del Montgo, Tempranillo 2008
Chateau de Montmirail, Vacqueyras 2008
La Granja 360, Syrah 2009
Montgras, Carmenere Reserva 2009
Lange, Pinot Gris 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Cabernet 2008
Kirkland, Pinot Grigio 2010
Trader Joe's Coastal Syrah 2009
Columbia Crest, Horse Heaven Hills Merlot 2008
Trader Joe's Coastal Chardonnay 2009
Vieux Papes Red
Domaine de l'Aujardiere, Chardonnay 2009
Santa Rita, Cabernet, Medalla Real 2007
Penfold's, Koonunga Hill Shiraz Cabernet 2008
Guild, Red, Lot #02 2008
Dievole, Dievolino Sangiovese 2008
Laforet, Burgogne Chardonnay 2009
Columbia Winery, Merlot 2007
Bonterra, Cabernet 2008
Elk Cove, Pinot Gris 2009
Maquis Lien 2006
Scott Paul, Pinot Noir, Le Paulee 2007
The Occasional Book
Neil Young - Waging Heavy Peace
Mark Bego - Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul (2012 ed.)
Jenny Lawson - Let's Pretend This Never Happened
J.D. Salinger - Franny and Zooey
Charles Dickens - A Christmas Carol
Timothy Egan - The Big Burn
Deborah Eisenberg - Transactions in a Foreign Currency
Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - Slaughterhouse Five
Kathryn Lance - Pandora's Genes
Cheryl Strayed - Wild
Fyodor Dostoyevsky - The Brothers Karamazov
Jack London - The House of Pride, and Other Tales of Hawaii
Jack Walker - The Extraordinary Rendition of Vincent Dellamaria
Colum McCann - Let the Great World Spin
Niccolò Machiavelli - The Prince
Harper Lee - To Kill a Mockingbird
Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus - The Nanny Diaries
Brian Selznick - The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Sharon Creech - Walk Two Moons
Keith Richards - Life
F. Sionil Jose - Dusk
Natalie Babbitt - Tuck Everlasting
Justin Halpern - S#*t My Dad Says
Mark Herrmann - The Curmudgeon's Guide to Practicing Law
Barry Glassner - The Gospel of Food
Phil Stanford - The Peyton-Allan Files
Jesse Katz - The Opposite Field
Evelyn Waugh - Brideshead Revisited
J.K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
David Sedaris - Holidays on Ice
Donald Miller - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years
Mitch Albom - Have a Little Faith
C.S. Lewis - The Magician's Nephew
F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
William Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Ivan Doig - Bucking the Sun
Penda Diakité - I Lost My Tooth in Africa
Grace Lin - The Year of the Rat
Oscar Hijuelos - Mr. Ives' Christmas
Madeline L'Engle - A Wrinkle in Time
Steven Hart - The Last Three Miles
David Sedaris - Me Talk Pretty One Day
Karen Armstrong - The Spiral Staircase
Charles Larson - The Portland Murders
Adrian Wojnarowski - The Miracle of St. Anthony
William H. Colby - Long Goodbye
Steven D. Stark - Meet the Beatles
Phil Stanford - Portland Confidential
Rick Moody - Garden State
Jonathan Schwartz - All in Good Time
David Sedaris - Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
Anthony Holden - Big Deal
Robert J. Spitzer - The Spirit of Leadership
James McManus - Positively Fifth Street
Jeff Noon - Vurt
Road Work
Miles run year to date: 21
At this date last year: 52
Total run in 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269
Comments (8)
Like I've said for years, the view from outside the "UGB" looks very different than from inside it.
thanks for posting stories like this. they (hopefully) continue to raise awareness that the UGB isn't a boundary at all--it's just a line in the sand to mark our place while we plan the next expansion. Helvetia, etc. are just the latest protester-victim in front of the bulldozer.
funny how cities must always eat more and more resources, land and taxes just to survive, isn't it?
Posted by ecohuman | July 7, 2009 10:07 AM
Just one more example of why our land use laws don't work. The whole system needs a serious overhaul but that wont happen.
Posted by Darrin | July 7, 2009 11:05 AM
Without our land use system, we would have nonstop subdivisions and strip malls from Portland to Hillsboro, Aurora, and Sandy. I don't have an answer on regulating infill development in older PDX neighborhoods, but that doesn't mean our state land use laws don't work.
Posted by jimbo | July 7, 2009 11:37 AM
“it's just a line in the sand” agreed. People here blame it for everything from house prices to erectile dysfunction but the reality is the thing is vast and constantly expanding. Now, having driven 176 miles (half the length of Oregon) in California without seeing anything approaching countryside, I accept that it has shaped growth patterns in a positive way. If it were much more restrictive, and perfect agricultural land such Helvetia was labeled as permanently off limits, then we would have something to boast about. Of course there would then be more pressure for infill. Personally I feel that every neighborhood I enjoy in this town has multi-story development as part of the mix – sometimes from the 1920s but often brand new. Jack, are there any “condo bunkers,” old or new, that you like?
Posted by sherwood | July 7, 2009 12:29 PM
The Sellwood Lofts are pretty good. Belmont Dairy is o.k. The cr*p along NE Broadway and Weidler is hideous, and the Randy Rapaport wet dream on Division is grounds for a prison sentence. The guy who's wrecking NE 11th and Tillamook should be taken out and shot.
Posted by Jack Bog | July 7, 2009 2:54 PM
I accept that it has shaped growth patterns in a positive way.
I disagree on the positive part. Shaped, yes, but once land's inside the UGB, things get generally ugly. case in point: much of the western edge of the UGB.
that line in the sand moves with the tide. "smart" growth is still growth; slowing the tide down and diverting it so that it seems slow to a human lifespan doesn't make it better. the UGB only slows down growth with artificial scarcity so that it's forced to densify--sort of.
but hang about--someone from 1000 Friends will be along shortly to set me straight.
Posted by ecohuman | July 7, 2009 6:49 PM
Just out of curiousity, I googled 1000 Friends of Oregon. I doubt they have much to do with anything falling within the UGB but I haven't noticed any activity from that group in some time. They were so active in the 1980s, ran short of money and in trouble for awhile. They've still got a website:
http://www.friends.org/
but there's more on it about the Metolius situation than any urban chatter.
Posted by NW Portlander | July 7, 2009 8:00 PM
http://www.onethousandfriendsoforegon.org/resources/myths.html
but they've got a shiny new site now.
Posted by ecohuman | July 7, 2009 9:32 PM