This sentiment was echoed by George Sheldon, former president of the Portland Planning Commission, who said. “What is bad about this proposal is that it’s going to read like a monolith; the skyways will make it read like a unit. That’s atypical of Portland, where most of the blocks have more than one existing building. The incorporation of the existing tenants would help alleviate some of the problems.” As for the increased night life in the area, Tina Frost from the Burnside Council made a very interesting point, and one which is rearing its ugly head with more and more regularity in city shopping centers and malls. “People have said that this project would assist in making there be a nightlife in Downtown,” she said. “However, if you make night life in an area which has no housing, you simply make the area extremely dangerous for people to be in at night. The downtown area is fast becoming notorious for rape, which seems to be taking place in those parking garages, and they are not taking place where I work, which is north of Burnside, where people live and are on the street.” Despite all of this discussion and genuine concern for not only the design of the project, but the toll it will have on people's lives and interaction, the PDC viewed the problem as merely cosmetic in nature. They returned the original ( project to the architects, Bob Frasca of Zimmer Gunsul Frasca, the same people who developed the PGE “space station” along SW 1st Avenue, and suggested another “approach.” And another approach is what they got back. Instead of looking at some of the substantive issues of design, and going into the community to look at alternatives, they came back to the PDC with a “cut-and-paste” job that presents the same design with a few minor and, in some cases hideous, changes, which are hoped to placate the historical buildings question and to have the project look “more outward instead of inward" (have some storefronts opening onto the sidewalks). The revised plan calls for taking down the facade on the Goodenough Building and rebuilding it, brick by brick, into one of the other walls of the retail building. The building would tower above and around this patchwork veneer, giving it the look of a young boy in old man’s clothing. As for the Gilbert Building and the Taylor Hotel, they would be moved, in total, across the street from their present location to a site along “porno alley” on 3rd Avenue. However, this is not what most of the people at the PDC hearing were after. Those were not the changes they had talked of. So, for perhaps the first time in the history of Portland development fights, a group of people is getting together to “not only try to bring political pressure on the situation, but to look at alternative ideas and see if a plan cannot be developed which would not only provide the area with the needed development, but would include the merchants and the people down there in the design and development,” said Kay Reid, head of the Irvington Neighborhood Association and spokesperson for the group. “ It isn’t just an issue of merchants who are defending their own interests,” said Reid. “Everyone who uses the downtown area will be changed by this development. It affects the entire city because of its potential impact on housing, air quality and historic preservation.” Many merchants in the area, along with some architects and planners, feel that there are several possibilities for development of the area into a stronger retail center without the search-and-destroy program being advanced. “They could start with the lots that are being used for parking,” said Bill Kloster of the Looking Glass, “or they could look at something that wasn't so large, so imposing, a two- or three-story development.” Said one planner for a major Portland architectural firm, “When you are talking about something this big, you have to leave room for mistakes; you have to leave yourself a way out. This project doesn’t do that, and if it doesn’t work it is something we will have to live with for a long time. That area should be built in sections, pieces that blend but can stand together on their own.” This writer is suggesting that there are many possibilities for development in this area which will not only “make it a competitive retailer,” but can maintain and enhance the charm and quality of the area. The large parking lots which sit on the better part of half of two of the blocks are ripe for development. Either into medium-sized office buildings or retail stores, perhaps even mixed use. And whatever does go on those blocks, it is vital that there be retail shops and food outlets along the ground floor. Let’s be daring in the area, but let’s not live among the giants. Mixed use for this area could just as easily mean the blending of art galleries, workshops, service offices such as doctors and lawyers, below-ground parking perhaps, a plaza or fountain, several restaurants, book stores, an expanded fish and vegetable market. But not, cried the voices, not another mall. The efforts of Ms. Reid’s groups will be to show the city council that there is sizable opposition to the plan as it now stands, and to try to force the council into considering some other methods of achieving the “ retail strength” of Downtown while preserving the community. At last count, the city council seemed prepared to give the project the go-ahead in late July or August, though there appears to be some signs of weakening within the ranks. One downtown restaurateur I spoke with told me that he had met with Commissioner Charles Jordan, and Jordan said that he “didn’t think the development was appropriate, but I know I am a minority of one.” However, in recent weeks Commissioner Connie McCready was quoted as saying that, “We have to be absolutely sure that with our awesome powers of acquisition [and condemnation] we don’t move through the city with a sieve.” McCready was also quoted as saying that she wondered if “there are other avenues we can pursue.” If some of the merchants in the area, working with Kay Reid’s organization, have their way, there may be some alternatives to pursue. “We are trying to say, hey, wait a minute. Retail strength isn’t the only thing that makes a Downtown viable,” said Reid. “What we need for this area is a mixture of shops and galleries and workshops and markets, places where people can meet, and go Downtown for reasons other than shopping.” In what may make for an alliance of some of the strangest bedfellows in Portland politics, a group of property owners, lawyers, tenants, folks from the Taylor Hotel, representatives from several neighborhood groups, the Downtown Community Association, the Burnside Council, artists, planners, some city developers, musicians, barkeepers, and other interested people are going to try to stop this development. “We feel that these businesses have shown their faith in Downtown through the years, and they've stuck by Downtown. It wouldn’t be fair to sweep them aside to make room for the types of people who have fled to suburban centers.” said Martin Gix of the Downtown Community Association, “and we don’t think it would be appropriate for the city to have a place in displacing them." “ I don’t know what action we will be taking,” said Reid, “but a lot of people with some good plans are interested in the problem. There may be some lawsuits, and there may be petition drives to stop the development at city hall. Or. if things work out, maybe the landowners and the merchants can work with the developers in Portland who are interested, and convince the PDC and the city that there is another way.” However, if this project does come to pass, and the efforts of this committee and all of the other interested parties go for naught, there will be one small consolation that will warm the hearts of many. For with the same construction ball that levels Dave’s Deli and the markets and the bookstores and all of the other pleasures of this area, the Armed Forces Induction Center, the scene of many demonstrations and much heartache during the Vietnam War, will also crumble into history. The public condemnation/private development modus operandi which the Cadillac Fairview Company has pursued in Portland in recent months is strikingly similar to the approach which the company used in the development of the Pacific Center complex in Vancouver, B.C., several years ago. Pacific Center, a $120 million multi-use office and shopping center, was the focus of a bitter, four-year battle between the merchants and landowners in the proposed development area, and the City of Vancouver. The question at that time concerned the legal right of the city to purchase and condemn private commercial property for the purpose of selling it to a private developer. In effect, turning one business out into the streets to allow another business in. The battle went to the Provincial Supreme Court of B.C., which ruled in favor of the merchants and landowners and returned the proposal to the city, telling them that the condemnation route was indeed illegal. Not to be stopped, however, the city went to the British Columbia Legislature and received a special legislative act which allowed for the condemnation action. This act, which had to pass a vote of the people, became law in 1968. Ultimately, only seven of the 18 merchants who were doing business in the development area decided to relocate in the new steel and glass center. They argued that the Pacific Center was too expensive for them to rent space in, and that the stark, dominating building with its underground shops and walkways was not conducive to their type of business. The major complaint, however, was similar to the complaints being made by merchants in Portland. The fact that Cadillac Fairview refuses to consult or involve the local merchants in the planning or discussion of the development. Although the Pacific Center has been considered a financial success, it bas come under severe criticism for its architectural style and ultra-modern veneer. In fact, Cadillac Fairview is already considering a major facelifting which would make the structure, which is barely 10 years old, more of a “people place with softer colors and more l ig h t ,” according to Ray Spaxman, a planner for the City of Vancouver. Today, the building permit which marked the beginning of construction for the Pacific Center hangs on the wall of Cadillac Fairview’s office as a symbol of victory between the public good and the corporate purse. 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