"The Street Beautification And Improvement" Project In Lake Oswego
Submitted by rustyc on 06/30/2008 05:21 PM
- Category: American History
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"The Street Beautification And Improvement" Project In Lake Oswego
"The Street Beautification and Improvement" Project in Lake Oswego
Lake Oswego has been seeking to build a more dynamic uplifting downtown all the way back since its founding in the mid-1800s. By the 1900s Lake Oswego was becoming a prominent suburb of the ever growing Portland, while Portland sought to assimilate Lake Oswego into its sprawling metropolis, the small town was trying to find ways to set itself apart and keep its unique feel and atmosphere. From the 1960s to the 1980s the town included an expanse of elegant homes and clubs clustered around the lake. As the city expanded in this form, the downtown declined throughout these two decades. The problems were so large that the town's main drag, A street, seemed isolated and out of character with the rest of the city. With the creation of the LORA (Lake Oswego Redevelopment Agency) in 1986, plans were set in motion for the renewal of several blocks of downtown Lake Oswego, including A street. Over the next decade the LORA added a marina boardwalk, lakeside park, excursion trolley to Portland, and numerous other projects involving the refurnishing of housing and commercial areas. The most recent and largest measure yet is dubbed "Street Beautification and Improvement." Over the last year this new project has added fountains, plants and fauna, sculptures and new walkways. While the improvements made by this measure have been greeted with much applaud, the question of whether the improvements justify the costs still remains.
Some citizens have complained that they do not feel they should have to pay tax money to fund public art. Others did not like how their money was spent on refurnishing the downtown and felt that they should have had a larger say in the matter, considering it was their money. The people complaining about the issues in Lake Oswego are virtually non-existent and that is mostly due to people liking the changes and the wealthy population of the area, but looking at the big...
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