Dick Withnell calls for Salem riverfront mediocrity

A few days ago Salem businessman Dick Withnell tried to make the re-development of Salem's Boise Cascade site sound a lot better than it really is. 

Good try, Dick. But I found your "Boise Cascade site a great opportunity" guest opinion in the Statesman Journal decidedly unpersuasive.

As noted in my recent Salem Weekly Strange Up Salem column, Larry Tokarski and Mountain West Investment have given up on the appealing original concept for the riverfront property.

I thought of this when I read an opinion piece by Larry Tokarski in Salem’s non-alternative newspaper. Tokarski heads up the company that is developing the old Boise Cascade property on the riverfront.

Tokarski spoke about how excited he was in 2006 when the Urban Land Institute presented a vision that included “an appealing mix of restaurants, shops, grocery, hotel, residential and office uses.”

Among other reasons that prevented this vision from becoming reality, Tokarski cites “multiple limitations regarding our market.” I translated that as: not enough cool people able and willing to patronize cool businesses.

...Developers like Tokarski need to do their part also. Take a chance on Salem. Not recklessly. Confidently. Remember “If you build it, he will come.” She, too.

I hope Tokarski will rethink being content with a medical rehab facility and apartments on Salem’s riverfront. That isn’t cool.

Withnell has the attitude that keeps Salem mired in a morass of mediocrity. Something, anything, whatever happening in Salem is better than nothing. Instead of aspiring to a full-glass city that draws people and businesses in, he says:

What a great opportunity, both for the city of Salem and its residents, to see the glass being half-full with the “new vision for the old Boise Cascade site,” initiated by Mountain West Investment Corp.

Well, here's an even better opportunity: a full freaking glass!

The new vision Withnell speaks of is, as noted in my column (1) rental apartments fenced off from Riverfront Park, and (2) a medical rehab facility. Whoopee.

I guess San Antonio's River Walk area (photo above) can stop worrying about Salem being a competitor. Our glass isn't even half-full compared to other cities that have made their riverfront a real hotbed of economic and recreational activity. More like a few drops full.

One of Salem's biggest problems is a lack of vision. Also, of confident courage. Businessmen like Withnell and Tokarski are afraid of taking a chance on hitting a home run. They are satisfied with small ball singles.

Which don't add up to a genuine score. No matter how many glass half-full's Salem has, none of them yield a satisfying world-class, nation-class, or even state-class project/development.

Withnell focuses on the economic benefits the apartments and rehab center supposedly will bring. I suspect these are exaggerated. Yet even if they come to pass, Salem is still left with much less than could have been. 

Remember: a full glass can hold twice as much money as a half-glass.

Here's another part of Withnell's opinion piece that struck me as dubious.

I have lived in Salem for almost 50 years, and the livability of our Mid-Willamette Valley has been initiated by private entrepreneurial types who believe this is the best place to live.

They are showing this by passage of bond issues, including both Chemeketa and School District 24J, coupled with the sweat equity of hundreds of volunteers/mentors — all carrying water to make this the best place in which to live, raise a family and retire.

Huh? I've lived in Salem for 36 years. I've never thought, nor have I ever talked with anyone who thought, that this area's livability springs from "private entrepreneurial types."

To paraphrase a line we heard much of in the last presidential election: "Mr. Withnell, private entrepreneurial types did not build Salem's livability. You guys did not build this."

Everybody did. Including government workers. Including people of all sorts. Not just private entrepreneurs. 

Further, saying that the Salem area is "the best place in which to live, raise a family and retire" is ridiculous. Some people would agree. Many wouldn't. The fact that many other parts of Oregon and the country are experiencing a much greater influx of visitors, homebuyers, and business relocations shows that Salem isn't exactly the peak of Livability Mountain.

Withnell then says:

Opportunities of this magnitude, as presented by Larry Tokarski through his company, do not come often. It’s an old adage, but “one in the hand is better than two in the bush.” 

Huh? An opportunity to build a couple of apartment buildings and a medical rehab facility don't come often? That opportunity comes all the time. What won't come often, and in fact won't ever come again, is the opportunity to develop Salem's one and only downtown riverfront area in a full-glass way.

That opportunity shouldn't be forsaken.

But I'm afraid that it will be, because too many business and political leaders in Salem are content with having that proverbial single bird, while other cities have leaders who aren't content until they've got birds in each hand.

(Because the Statesman Journal quickly files stories away into paid archives, I'll include Withnell's opinion piece as a continuation to this post.)

Boise Cascade site a great opportunity

Aug. 12, 2013 

What a great opportunity, both for the city of Salem and its residents, to see the glass being half-full with the “new vision for the old Boise Cascade site,” initiated by Mountain West Investment Corp.

The physical change the improvements would make is significant; however, the intangibles are the real building blocks for the community as a whole.

ECONorthwest did an economic third-party study on the return on investment (ROI) for the Boise Cascade Project. The combination of the apartments’ and Marquis Post-Acute Rehab economic impact (ROI) is Herculean:

• The total investment construction impact would be $41 million and 388 jobs.

• The ongoing impact would be $17.7 million annually, supporting almost 200 jobs annually.

• The total 10-year impact would be nearly $220 million and 190 jobs annually (plus the initial 388 construction jobs).

• The property tax, beginning in 2023, would be $110,000 annually.

• Unfortunately, if this project does not move ahead, we will only get $77,000 total property tax for the next 10 years.

This project could literally be the “high tide” that stimulates the lifting of a number of developments just waiting to start up at the first sight of economic growth.

I have lived in Salem for almost 50 years, and the livability of our Mid-Willamette Valley has been initiated by private entrepreneurial types who believe this is the best place to live.

They are showing this by passage of bond issues, including both Chemeketa and School District 24J, coupled with the sweat equity of hundreds of volunteers/mentors — all carrying water to make this the best place in which to live, raise a family and retire.

Opportunities of this magnitude, as presented by Larry Tokarski through his company, do not come often. It’s an old adage, but “one in the hand is better than two in the bush.” This is particularly so concerning economic development with a proven return on investment for the community as a whole (and has been substantiated by a third party, ECONorthwest).

Dick Withnell of Keizer is a businessman and longtime community volunteer. He can be reached at [email protected].

Comments

[Breakfast on Bikes]

"Huh? An opportunity to build a couple of apartment buildings and a medical rehab facility don't come often? That opportunity comes all the time. What won't come often, and in fact won't ever come again, is the opportunity to develop Salem's one and only downtown riverfront area in a full-glass way."

Yes, exactly.

[A Man from Salem]

Small ball wins games and championships. Long ball results in strikeouts, fly outs, and losses.

[Brian Hines]

A Man from Salem, here's the problem with your analogy:

In baseball, three singles can produce a run by advancing a runner around. In commercial or residential development, this can't happen. Each project is almost entirely distinct.

Build a mediocre development here. Then build another mediocre development there. And then, another mediocre development over there.

Now you've got three mediocre developments. Three singles. No run scored.

This is the problem with Salem: small ball thinking. What we end up with is a city that isn't a "champion," as you said in your comment. If we were, businesses and people would be flocking here, drawn by our outstanding livability and dynamism.

Subscribe to the Oregonian, like I do. Along with the Statesman Journal. Compare what is happening in the Portland area with what is happening in the Salem area. We are moribund, lackluster, in comparison.

Sure, there are good reasons for this. Excuses can be given for why Salem lags and Portland leads. But I say that some of the reason is a lack of imagination, creativity, and courage among Salem's "business class."

Like Withnell and Tokarski, they are content with doing something that has been done before. Wow. Rental apartments and a medical rehab facility on the riverfront. And Tokarski wants an (illegal) tax break even to do the rehab facility.

So much for daring independent capitalism.

[Curt]

I agree with you and B on B. But both those critiques fail to acknowledge that the resistance to the development is not a call for the highest quality urbanism we can get on our waterfront. Like you, when I am with my kids at the Carousel, I gaze down the path toward the acid ball and pine for an esplanade of shops and street cafes where I can watch the sunset and people watch while my kids enjoy the playground.

Instead the criticism is a collection of the most tired NIMBY cliches, as reflected in this recent opinion:

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20130816/OPINION/308160008/Planned-apartments-pose-problems

1. There isn't enough parking! The author claims that there NEVER is enough parking! It is far more likely that, if given the opportunity, park users will spill into the apartment parking lot and not vice versa.

2. Traffic! The way State St. is built now it can easily handle 15,000 cars per day but only sees about 3000 cars per day west of Liberty. The author completely ignores that many of the largest employers (State, Salem Health, Willamette U., SAIF) will be an easy and pleasant walk away.

3. Too tall! You can't see the acid ball from Commercial! As if drivers need any more distractions on this infamous traffic sewer.

4. Residents will use the park! I would like to see more integration with the park. But critics say the barriers are not rigid enough to prevent "residents from using it for BBQs". Ya know, stuff that makes living near a park attractive.

So while I agree with your criticism, I think this development, as proposed, is a good fit for Salem right now given the anti-urban NIMBYism that is currently driving the debate. Salem is not ready for a Pearl District, but this is a solid step in that direction.

[Laurie Dougherty]

(I also put most of this in a comment on the Breakfast on Bikes blog.)

I'm not so interested in the "cool" factor in regard to this development. I'm more interested in places for people to live within bike/walk distance of downtown businesses, government offices and Willamette Universsity. There is plenty of vacant commercial space downtown where cool, or merely useful, things can go.

Funny that Curt used the phrase "esplanade of shops and street cafes." The Esplanade in Boston is a park along the Charles River. It truly is Boston's back yard, constantly filled with people walking, jogging, biking, playing ball or tennis, playing in the playground, going to concerts and other events at the Hatch Shell, hanging out, watching the sunset. The Esplanade connects to a linear bike path that goes upriver for miles into the suburbs, occasionally opening out into larger spaces for playgrounds, picnic areas and the like. (Same thing on the Cambridge side of the river.)

There is NO commercial activity except for a hot dog stand next to the Hatch Shell, a small ride in a Venice style gondola operation, and a canoe and kayak rental outfit. Local colleges, private clubs and community organizations have boathouses scattered along the banks for their sailing and rowing teams. That's it. For miles and miles.

The Boston Waterfront, along the harbor, is a whole other thing. It has always been highly developed, but now that there is very little shipping in or out of Boston, the old brick and stone warehouses on the wharves have been converted into million dollar condos and offices, with a yacht club or two. Parts of the waterfront are overrun with tourists visiting the aquarium, taking harbor cruises, and looking for the best clam chowder.

To my mind Salem doesn't need gentrification. Salem needs places to live and work and play - connected by safe ways to walk and bike and a decent bus system.

(my new blog: Like a Cat With Nine Lives at
http://lauriedoughertyblog.wordpress.com/