Cable Park Shelved

brass · Since 15 Jul 2006 152 Posts Stoked

Sweet so now we get a hotel and a paved "trail"? Worst of all worlds from my non-business owning, Sandbar using, plenty of HR County dollar spending perspective.

"Brent Foster, the attorney for Friends of the Hood River Waterfront, which has filed an appeal of the hotel project to the Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals and has threatened the project with several lawsuits, said the Friends were supportive of the idea in general but wanted to see more from the city and the port."
-more bullshit

“This moves it in a positive direction,” Davies said.
-positively bullshit

It would be one thing if people were arguing for habitat restoration but come on. The Basin is so far gone and it's a crappy candidate for that.

With friends like this......

And by the way arthur when you say "borrow against future taxes on the hotel." to me this says "interest" which seems like would come from taxpayer dollars though I might have it wrong.

pjc · Since 06 Mar 2005 649 Posts Addicted

Idaho my friends, I fully expect your cablepark to be built .... in Idaho.

Or Florida, or Texas .... a red state.

Living in a blue state is fun! Unless you want to build something.

I do think the coal export port will be built in Coos Bay (if it makes you feel better) because Peter DeFazio is a freaking force. But he doesn't have any voters in Hood River.

forrest · Fri Sep 28, 12 3:55 pm

Both Arthur Babbitz and Jon Davies have jumped through hoops to try and make this project happen. It's not fair to lash out at them. At this point they're just trying to salvage the shit situation.

I ran into and had a beer with Brent last night, and it felt good to set aside any differences. Lets all move forward, this isn't the end of the world.

I expect that everyone will take a lesson away from this, and that is: Participate in your local government. The least amount of effort you can put in is to Vote!

shred_da_gorge · Fri Sep 28, 12 9:38 pm

Bettyboarder · Fri Sep 28, 12 10:07 pm

Build it in Bingen bet they would be stoked to have a project like that

hilton · Since 15 Aug 2008 798 Posts Opinionated

Since sharing the basin along a North/South divide doesn't seem to be an option, how about splitting it East/West?

Rather than shelving the cable park altogether, is it possible or feasible to just install the 2 tower Sesitec cable on the East side of the basin? It seems like one of the kite schools based out of the spit could run it and use it to teach board riding and/or slider skills. It could even be removed in the off season. The city/port could still develop the Esplanade on the West side of the basin, and there would be plenty of room left for paddlers, swimmers, etc.

Does the new proposal include any improvements to the East side of the basin or the spit?

consumer · Since 28 Nov 2010 406 Posts banned Obsessed

Thank you Forrest and everyone who supported the cable park.

forrest · Sat Sep 29, 12 8:22 pm

There isn't a proposal, there is only the idea of there being a potential budget of $2 million.

jackZ · Since 13 Apr 2008 355 Posts Devon Alberta ca. Obsessed

Hey All ,
This has and continues to be quite interesting . I am reading the posts and feel for you all . It's so frustrating for many I'm sure . Hood River and area seems to me to have a tourism industry as one major contributor to put food on the table . It can be another attraction to help more .
People will be this way though , fight against something they have no interest in other than to cause grief etc.
Here in our little town of Devon Alberta it's the same .
We have a little outdoor pool for the town . It's been here since I moved in in 1981 . I hear the kids all summer . Laughing and playing the diving board rebounds echoing across the school yard . It gives me great pleasure to hear the young ones at play .
The big city (Edmonton ) 20miles away has developed a river front park system with trails etc. This park is to be developed to include all the river valley ! The river also comes through our town upstream .
We had a problem with some youths vandalizing things , from other towns and our own . They had nowhere to release the energy of youth . Some of us would like to see a roof put over our pool to give the kids a place to do this all year . Instead due to police force cutbacks there were no police at night ( when you think they are needed ) so a CURFEW was put in place . No kids under 16 on the street after 11pm . I couldn't believe this was happening and still exists to this day .
However we are not for the last thirty years loud enough as a few years back some decided that our river front needs to be part of the city's park system . Great I say . There needs to be something in town for the youth though !!! Appr.$ 200,000 was quoted to build trails etc for this park .
The study also included a twisted estimate to rework our pool coming in over a million ! Yes these fine outstanding citizens that are new to town bringing their city shit here manipulated the cost so high by saying a new pool with weight rooms running tracks etc would be needed ? We just want a cover so it can be used in winter , period .
Regardless of the few there were more for the trails which ended up nearly 500,000 with cost overruns !!! and there are very few users once the snow flies and even during the summer . There were appr. 4500 when I moved into Devon and now we are appr. 6000 residents .
Whoever or whatever group that can spend the most time ( most workers are at work when these meetings take place , conveniently for the town council; ) at town meetings dealing with lies and nonsense will be the victorious ones . Have tons of studies and reports on your side , an overwhelming amount , the more bullshit the better it seems . Most of the idiots that pushed these trails never use them !! Our town council fell for this hook line and sinker .
It's a fucked up world all over and our kids will pay dearly .
Good luck with the park .
Thank you very much to those that are doing the hard work . Others may get the juice to get involved in positive things for the community .
JackZ
I should add I'm for a river valley park system but feel the immediate needs of our own have been put aside to accommodate the big city and its need to look good on a brochure to prospective tourists visiting their beloved MALL !!

cosmodog · Since 06 Oct 2005 203 Posts Stoked

pjc · Since 06 Mar 2005 649 Posts Addicted

CA has 38 million people, tons of sunny warm days, and soon to have 1 cable park.

TX and FL have a combined population of like 45 million and what ... a dozen cableparks.

Life in TX or FL isn't perfect, and I don't want to move, but I don't think you can really argue that these sorts of building projects aren't easier in other places than they are CA or OR.

You can subsitute "frisbee disk course" for "cablepark" and have a similar discussion. Texas has about as many disc course as CA and OR ***combined***. Is this because disc golf has some sort of deep seated appeal to Texas traditions? No, it's just easier to build stuff there.

BeerKite · Since 29 Mar 2011 471 Posts Obsessed

Going out on a limb here, but I'm willing to bet there are more Wal-Mart's per capita in Texas than most states too.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the park and I think it is a HUGE disservice to Hood River to scrap the plan. What I find most offensive is that there seems to be a fast track to develop "light industrial" on what is one of the best pieces of property in the area. But when someone introduces something cool, it gets canned. Take a look to the west of Event site and you'll see a lot of empty commercial property that was developed in the guise of "Job Creation". So far as I can tell the only job creation that was made was from developers and contractors that are probably no longer in the area. I don't really have a point and I seem to be rambling but I guess what I'm saying is, this isn't really a Blue vs. Red thing. Just because it's "easy" to build something somewhere, doesn't mean you should. Unfortunately, the Cable Park, falls into the "should've been built" category.
I was born and lived in Texas by the way.

SalmonSlayer · Since 27 Nov 2005 648 Posts Addicted **CGKA Member**

pjc · Since 06 Mar 2005 649 Posts Addicted

wylieflyote · Sun Sep 30, 12 8:34 pm

genek · Since 21 Jul 2006 2165 Posts East Po KGB

Build it in Stevenson. There's already a big lake there and I imagine they would love the tourism it would attract.

stringy · Since 23 Jun 2006 1731 Posts vancouver XTreme Poster