Inbox

[December 24th, 2008]

THE SHORT AND TALL OF IT

The article detailing Mr. Lee’s complaints about Old Town development [see “Height of Unfairness,” WW, Dec. 17, 2008] misses the real point. In fact, NONE of the property owners should be allowed to build higher than the current 75-foot limit. The article blindly repeats the point of view that these so-called “opportunity sites” are “uncompetitive” with the rest of the city because of the height limitation, and claims that they are “of no historical value.” This is absolutely wrong. If redeveloped in a historically appropriate manner, these sites will be super-competitive. A fully restored cast-iron district can become a nationally known magnet for heritage tourism, but construction of 130-foot buildings within its borders will dash these chances for all of Old Town, and probably cost the area its official designation as a National Historic Landmark. City staff has developed an excellent set of design guidelines for Old Town redevelopment, and they should apply to every parcel in the District within the current height limitations.

Robert Jordan
Northeast 57th Avenue

READ THE FINE PRINT ON STORAGE UNITS

[Re: “Raiders of the Lost Crap,” WW, Dec. 17, 2008] I rented a storage unit several years ago while I traveled through India for three months. The storage company filled out the paperwork incorrectly and my automatic payment setup ended up not being processed properly. I came back to Portland to find that my life had been auctioned for $600 just days prior. This article states that buyers are instructed to not take photos and other personal effects—that was not the case for me. I lost everything. Read the fine print when you set up one of these units...the folks running these places don’t always know what they’re doing.

“PDX Reader”
via wweek.com

DIRT YET TO BE DUG

[Re: Murmurs, WW, Dec. 17, 2008] Is Oregon REALLY the least corrupt state or have we just IGNORED the problems better than anyone else?

With Kroger as AG maybe we’ll see things aren’t as squeaky clean as we like to self-congratulate ourselves!

“Jason”
via wweek.com

CORRECTION:Last week’s story “Raiders of the Lost Crap” incorrectly reported what Daniel L. Kasch does with the clothes he finds in self-storage units. In fact, he donates the clothes to Goodwill and the Salvation Army. WW regrets the error.