Have you ever tried to walk from, say, Columbia Point, to the Jantzen Beach shopping Center? If not, let me take you on a walk.

Starting from the end of Hayden Bay Drive to Tomahawk Drive, you walk on the roadway since there are no sidewalks. Once at the firehouse there is a side walk but to get to it you must cross Tomahawk and there is no designated crosswalk. So, you are left to the not too tender mercy of the motorists coming off I-5 and driving more than the 25 MPH limit. If you follow the walkway to the Newport Bay Restaurant where it ends, you have to walk on the road way, cross a “Y” intersection, again without marked crossing lanes to the safety and security of the parking lot fronting Burlington’s ( no designated walk pathways) to the main entrance of the enclosed mall.

If you opt to walk to Jantzen Beach Mall via Tomahawk you must walk through the hotel parking lot to the roadway; there are no sidewalks here either, cross at Joe’s Bento, fighting more traffic from I-5 and no crosswalk, until the sidewalk begins.

Once at the Mall, if you want to walk from Target to Hallmark cards, you have to battle the traffic since some cars obey the pedestrian law and other do not and then you encounter another sidewalk. It becomes more complicated if your destination is Video Only or Toys-R-us. You have to walk in the open parking lot, at your own risk.

What is my point? Well, if there was any sort of a plan in place when development of this island began, there would have been, at the least, sidewalks. And, if there was any sort of a development plan existent when Jantzen Beach expanded, there would have been some pedestrian safety included in the expansion.

For the Oregonian or the developers of Jantzen Beach mall to say otherwise about our opposition to development without planning is just too disingenuous to mention.

Respectfully submitted,

Charles