Cloudy Visions
March 25, 2006
Coalition for Health Options In Central Eugene-Springfield (CHOICES)
"A vision keeps you on the path when the plan fails."
-- John Fregonese, Planning Consultant
Dear CHOICES members and supporters,
What do visions have to do with hospital siting? Read on (and impatient readers can jump to our conclusion).
Recently, nationally-recognized planning consultant John Fregonese spoke to an audience at the UO law school about "Crafting a Vision for Oregon in Changing Times."
But what is a vision? Some visions are supernatural apparitions or mirages, shimmering illusions in the desert. People who have visions and see things others don't see are considered to be crazy -- or perhaps high on something. Other visions are made real through the efforts of exceptional people. People who realize their visions are called visionaries and are held in high regard.
For Mr. Fregonese, who works all over the world helping communities develop their own visions for the future, a vision is what keeps you on the path when the plan fails. He told a story about Lewis and Clark, who planned to travel to the Pacific Ocean using an iron-hulled boat. Unfortunately, their boat sank and with it their best laid plans. Fortunately, Lewis and Clark kept the vision of reaching the Pacific Ocean firmly in mind and were able to improvise -- change plans -- to reach their destination safely.
So let's consider some visions large and small.
Senate Bill 82 created the Oregon Task Force on Land Use Planning, commonly known as the "Big Look" Task Force. According to Senate Bill 82:
"The purpose of the task force is to study and make recommendations on (a) the effectiveness of Oregon's land use planning program in meeting current and future needs of Oregonians in all parts of the state; (b) the respective roles and responsibilities of state and local governments in land use planning; and (c) land use issues specific to areas inside and outside urban growth boundaries and the interface between areas inside and outside urban growth boundaries."
But what are the "future needs of Oregonians"? One needs to have some sort of vision for the future of Oregon in order to know what those needs are. As the Big Look Task Force is just beginning its 3-year effort, it remains to be seen whether they will identify a broadly supported vision for Oregon, or will merely recommend changing this law and that with no clear sense of where they are headed. In the second case, think of Lewis and Clark wandering in the wilderness for years with no clear vision of where they were trying to go.
For the past two years, the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) has been working on an update to the Oregon Transportation Plan (OTP). The draft released last fall offers a vision for Oregon's transportation system:
"By 2030, Oregon's transportation system supports people, places and the economy. We travel easily, safely and securely, and so do goods, services and information. Vehicles powered by efficient and renewable fuels move all transportation modes. Community design supports walking, bicycling, travel by car and transit wherever appropriate. Our air and water are dramatically cleaner, and community sensitive and sustainable transportation solutions characterize everything we do. Oregonians and visitors have real transportation choices and transfer easily between air, rail, motor vehicles, bicycles and public transportation while goods flow just in time through interconnected highway, rail, marine, pipeline and air networks. ..."
This is a wonderful vision, but is it the vision of a visionary or the vision of people who are delusional? In this case, I am afraid it is more likely the latter. The draft OTP itself identifies $30 billion in transportation needs but only $15 billion in anticipated revenues over the next 20 years. It is great to have a wonderful vision for the future. But it is meaningless to do so if you don't have the commitment to achieve that vision and some plausible plan for doing so. In particular, a vision that hopes for everything when there isn't money to achieve anything isn't much help. Think of Lewis and Clark aiming not for the Pacific Ocean but for the moon. In 1803, there was no conceivable way to get to the moon, and anybody who set out to do so would have been considered crazy.
According to the Region 2050 web site:
"Region 2050 is a voluntary, collaborative regional planning effort to improve and sustain the quality of life in the Southern Willamette Valley over the next 50 years. Region 2050 began in the summer of 1999 with the adoption of formal resolutions by the Lane County Board of Commissioners and the City Councils of Coburg, Cottage Grove, Creswell, Eugene, Junction City, Lowell, Oakridge, Springfield, Veneta, and Westfir. The resolutions endorsed the concept of developing a Regional Growth Management Strategy and defined the forum for the dialogue among the regional partners."
Recently, Springfield decided to withdraw unilaterally from the Region 2050 effort. Ideally, the Region 2050 effort would result in a clear vision -- expressed as a map -- showing how the communities in the Southern Willamette Valley would like to grow as more and more people come here. In practice, when communities don't agree, you end up not with a shared vision but competing visions. Think of Lewis wanting to head for Canada and Clark opting to reach Mexico.
According to the Lane Council of Governments' metropolitan planning web page:
"The Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan Area General Plan, or Metro Plan, is this metropolitan areaŐs comprehensive plan. Metro Plan policies and the Metro Plan Diagram provide guidance on how land use, natural resources, public facilities, and the local economy should be developed, designed, and/or conserved over time, based on a broad range of citizen input. In essence, the Metro Plan contains the vision for the future of the Eugene-Springfield community."
And just what sort of vision does it contain? In part, the Metro Plan contains goals for the area:
This vision -- set of goals -- is like the vision for Oregon's transportation system. It isn't a bad vision. Indeed, it is almost a utopian vision, and therein lies the rub. While some say we need lofty visions as things to strive for, that logic only works if we all agree to such a vision, all have a pretty clear sense of what the vision is, and all are committed to getting there. Far too often, lofty visions that promise everything to everyone are merely excuses that allow the real decisions about the future to be made at another time in other ways.
But the Metro Plan offers more than just general and lofty goals. It also offers a picture of the future: the Metro Plan diagram. This diagram outlines how the entire area is planned to be developed: Where will people live, work and shop? Where will there be parks or natural area? Where will there be high-rise apartments and townhouses, and where will there be single-family homes. The Metro Plan actually does offer a pretty specific view of our future. Alas, a vision is only a useful guide to the extent that it is embraced and pursued. Too often, the Metro Plan diagram is less of a vision and more of an excuse that is easily changed to suit changing desires. In particular, the Metro Plan diagram called for residential development plus a little bit of neighborhood commercial in the RiverBend part of Springfield's Gateway area. The citizens who refined that part of the vision imagined a nice, quiet neighborhood. But then the City of Springfield amended the Metro Plan to allow for a hospital at RiverBend -- not at all what most had envisioned. Now pretty much the same thing is being played out with the River Ridge golf course in north Eugene that Triad wants to turn into a hospital. Some say that the Metro Plan is only a plan, and that one needs to be flexible to adapt to changing circumstances and opportunities. But tell that to the neighbors who purchased their houses thinking they were buying into a quiet neighborhood. Think of Lewis and Clark getting as far as the Snake River, and then deciding that they really wanted to go to the Great Salt Lake rather than to the Pacific Ocean.
According to LCOG's TransPlan web page:
"TransPlan guides regional transportation system planning and development in the Eugene-Springfield metropolitan area. The plan includes provisions for meeting the transportation demand of residents and through travelers through the year 2021 while addressing transportation issues and making changes that can contribute to improvements in the regionŐs quality of life and economic vitality."
TransPlan is actually a part of the Metro Plan and implements goals related to transportation:
"Goal 1: Provide an integrated transportation and land use system that supports choices in modes of travel and development patterns that will reduce reliance on the automobile and enhance livability, economic opportunity, and quality of life.
Goal 2: Enhance the Eugene-Springfield metropolitan area's quality of life and economic opportunity by providing a system that is:
- Balanced,
- Accessible,
- Efficient,
- Safe,
- Interconnected,
- Environmentally responsible,
- Supportive of responsible and sustainable development,
- Responsive to community needs and neighborhood impacts, and
- Economically viable and financially stable."
Do these two goals offer a vision for the metropolitan transportations system? Here's what TransPlan itself says:
"Consistent with the Metro Plan, the following definition is used for TransPlan goals: [A goal is a] broad statement of philosophy that describes the hopes of the people of the community for the future of the community. A goal may never be completely attainable but it is used as point toward which to strive."
Shades of Lewis and Clark? Yes, a goal -- or vision -- is something toward which to strive. But how clear is this vision? Does the community really agree on this vision, for example, to reduce reliance on the automobile. Would building the West Eugene Parkway move us close to this vision or further away? And just which way are we headed as our community grows? towards more industrial development in west Eugene supported by the West Eugene Parkway? towards expanding the Gateway and Chad Drive areas along Belt Line? Towards downtown Eugene and downtown Springfield, perhaps supported by an expanding Interstate-5/Franklin interchange? Or towards the south and new developments around Lane Community College, perhaps supported by a new Interstate-5/30th Avenue interchange? For example, where do we envision putting a major new hospital, or two? If you don't know the answers to these questions, you aren't alone. The vision for our transportation system, like for our community as a whole, is cloudy indeed. Think of Lewis and Clark planning to take a boat up the Missouri River... and horses... and to hike across the plains... and to wait for the development of the transcontinental railroad.
According to A Vision for Greater Downtown Eugene:
"A vision is somewhere between a memory and a map, a picture of where we are and where we want to be. To be successful, the vision for downtown has to help us make choices, and inspire investor confidence. Investing means not just directing financial capital, but time, talent, and a commitment to our community. We invite you to be a part of this effort, to invest your time and energy in our ever-changing, ever-evolving downtown."
And just what is the vision? It consists of seven elements:
So now that you know the vision for downtown, at least in broad terms, here's a test: Do you see a Whole Foods and a city-owned parking structure on Eighth Avenue? Do you see Broadway between Willamette and Charnelton developed as a single mixed-used development with retail, housing and even a cinema? Do you see room for a hospital downtown anywhere in this vision?
In the recent disagreements over plans for Whole Foods and a parking garage, it's a good bet that people with different views had different visions for downtown. Think of Lewis & Clark arguing endlessly over hot to set up Fort Clatsop over the winter of 1805-1806.
Who will provide the grand design, what is yours and what is mine?
'Cause there is no more new frontier, we have got to make it here.
-- "The Last Resort," The Eagles, 1976
Alas, it's been 200 years since Lewis and Clark came and went. Don Henley of the Eagles is right: "There is no more new frontier, we have got to make it here." Lewis and Clark saw the Pacific Ocean, a Northwest Passage, land stretching from sea to shining sea, and a new country in the making. But what do we see? What is our vision? Do we have a vision for Oregon? For the Southern Willamette Valley? for the Eugene-Springfield metropolitan area? for greater downtown Eugene? Where do we begin? Should we start big -- the Big Look -- and try to envision all of Oregon? Should we start small, letting Springfield be Springfield while Eugene tries to figure out what Eugene wants to be? Or, like Goldilocks, is there a middle way that is neither too big nor too small but just right?
Here's what we believe: Our planning has failed on many levels. Our visions are cloudy, or else we don't really believe in our visions and leave them to gather dust on shelves. In particular, our planning has failed -- twice now -- to provide sensible places for critical hospital facilities. And we will continue to stumble and fall in the wilderness until we have a clear vision of where we are trying to go, of what we want our community to look like.
We believe that the communities in the Southern Willamette Valley -- Eugene, Springfield, Veneta and all the rest -- are intimately linked together, more than most realize. These communities are all part of a single housing and job market, and they will rise and fall together. Goldilocks was right: Neither too big nor too small but just right. It is the region in the Southern Willamette Valley, perhaps stretching north to include Corvallis, Albany, Lebanon and the intervening communities of Harrisberg and Brownsville -- to which we all belong and which we must figure out how to grow.
And who are our visionaries, our leaders like Lewis and Clark to show us the way? Are our leaders recognized people like mayors and county commissioners? No, look in the mirror. Our leaders are all of us, you and me. In talking about creating visions, John Fregonese's most important message is this: "Trust the people." We have work to do. Let's roll up our sleeves and begin...
For CHOICES,
Rob Zako
343-5201
rzako@efn.org