Published in slightly edited form April 10, 2013 in The Foothills Sun-Gazette
The fight is over, at least momentarily: Embree Group has withdrawn its proposal to construct a Dollar General in downtown Lindsay. Now I can organize the papers on my desk and glean the lessons learned from their pages for whatever lies ahead.
And many things do. If we learned anything from this, it's the need for a planning commission. Our planning staff, which we also learned is half invisible, has had its way far too long. My immediate task is to bring that part to light so we can move ahead with plans that meet the needs of the population, not the city planner's glorification.
We learned that we need a component in our general plan that speaks for historic preservation. Exeter adopted one last year, which could serve as a model for one for Lindsay. This isn't rocket science: it's understanding the qualities that make a small town environment special and preserving them rather than bulldozing and paving them over.
Something I myself learned was the value of asking for help. My whole life I've been help-impaired: I don't know how to ask for it and don't know what to do when help arrives. But that shifted for me these last two months, and it started with Steve Slagle, one of my former mini-storage customers who cares for people's lawns and the Lindsay United Methodist Church.
Steve was standing outside the church one Sunday morning in his suit and tie when I drove by, trying to track the truck routes Dollar General's semi's might use. Robin Mattos, my attorney's dynamite research arm, had discovered that the Exchange building's architect had also designed a church in Lindsay, but not which one. So I pulled over, jumped out and asked Steve if he knew who designed that beautiful, Spanish-style church right next to city hall. He said no, but knew there were plans in the basement he might be able to find. By 9:45 Monday morning he had the answer: yes, it was Wm. W. Ache, in October 1954.* From that moment on, I knew we could demolish the city's finding of "no historical significance," and hopefully prevent the demolition of the Exchange building.
In response, the developers offered to move off the Exchange building site and develop on Elmwood where a parking lot had been planned. That was fine with me until it became clear they were going to demolish Ed's Auto (now M&J's) for their parking lot. After talking with Miguel about what would happen to his business if that occurred, I was distraught. It felt like Sophie's Choice: which child do you turn over to the Nazi's for their incinerators, your son or your daughter? So I prayed, stopped talking with people who thought it was a reasonable deal, and prayed some more. Good Friday the answer arrived, and it was "No." Neither my attorney nor I knew what the developers would do.
Gracias a Dios, they backed out. Now there's work to do creating a new life for the Exchange Building, protecting the life already in full-swing at Miguel's, and continuing the effort to make this city's staff accountable and transparent. But for one moment more, I'm celebrating the silver linings that came part-and-parcel with the Dollar General project: reconnection with members of this community who know and care about it, and the fresh and jubilant reminder of the role of faith.
*Mr. Ache had designed the Exchange building in 1933 as well as the Sierra Citrus packinghouse on Tulare Road that same year, which, with its domed roof, was very innovative at the time.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trudy Wischemann is a formerly faithless person who is rebuilding her ideas of community. You can send your silver lining stories to her % P.O. Box 1374, Lindsay CA 93247 or leave a comment below!
No comments:
Post a Comment