Is Ashland Doomed?

Park City, Utah used to be a nice little town in the mountains. Then, courtesy of noted environmentalist Robert (Bob) Redford it got discovered and now it looks a bit like Scottsdale, Arizona without the lagoons. Ashland used to be a funky little place with a college, a festival, a bunch of students, lots of hippies, Buddhists and New Agers. But, it got discovered, mentioned in magazines as a fine place to live. Rich white people fleeing urban environments gravitated here. It’s a fine place in a wonderful setting, with a nice climate, beautiful vistas, a plethora of restaurants, organic food stores and all the retail you need just down the road. There’s an airport there, too, where you can catch a plane to anywhere; a freeway that takes you to San Fran, Reno or Portland. There are lots of interesting people in Ashland who write, play music, paint, sculpt, yoga and self-actualize to their heart’s content. There even used to be children. Notwithstanding Gen X starting to have a few babies, the kid thing seems to be on a downslide. Two schools have closed their doors.
We returned to Ashland to  this headline about Measure 37.
Measure 37 is an ill-thought law that basically says, “I can do what I want with my property or you have to pay me for it.” The Oregon Supremes have upheld Measure 37 and now Oregon cities and counties are at the mercy of anyone who wants to open a gravel pit in the community’s viewscape, build a golf course or subdivision. Ashland has, ironically, 37 potential Measure 37 claims in its environs. As subdivisions are built up the hills Ashland will go down the hill quickly. No one is going to be able to stop this or even retard it very much with Measure 37 looming. It’s just too nice a place to be overlooked by the manifest destiny of developers and builders. After all, our country, historically, is just one big real estate development. George Washington actually started it with his own vision of westward expansion into the Ohio. Thomas Jefferson kept it going with the Louisiana Purchase and Henry Ford gave it real impetus with his cheap motorcar. Real estate expansion will last until the Arabs decide not to give us fuel and by then we’ll probably figure out some alternative to keep  those hammers flying, pounding the American dream of a house in the burbs right into the future. We might as well get used to the fact that with 300,000,000 plus souls and more on the way, all the good places are doomed.