MY BACK YARD’S FINE

I am writing about your article, “DEVELOPMENT 2, A new game in town” (April 26 - May 4, 2001) about the poor neighbors of the newly titled Ocean View Park neighborhood. While I am glad to see more residents getting involved with their neighborhoods, these neighbors don’t seem to get it. The neighborhood planning system that the city is looking to institute is not a neighborhood veto, but an opportunity for neighborhoods to make suggestions (and I emphasizes suggestions) as to the development in their neighborhood.

I know the neighborhood well, as my mother lives just down the street from the home in question, and the conversion of one house into a three-unit structure will by no means destroy the character of her neighborhood as she describes. As a matter of fact, the builder could have torn the building down and replaced it with an ugly monstrosity. They choose to expand on an existing space.

Her real beef appears to be that some of the residents of Ocean View Park will lose their ocean view! This is clearly NIMBYISM in its worst form. I am glad my mother cast her vote against the Comp Plan referendum before her vacation to Ireland. She is one neighbor who supports individual landowners’ right to develop their property with little government and neighborhood intrusion.

Her argument that limiting construction of additional units will keep people in the city does not make sense, or does she mean people like her, because unless we build a lot more units in Portland, we are not going to keep people in the diverse, prosperous city it has been since the 1600s.

Steven Scharf
Portland

RIGHT BACK AT YA’

In response to your letter (Tomlong, Phoenix Letters, April 5 – 12) regarding the so-called meaning of Punk Rock, I have this to say. One of my oldest and dearest friends, Joey Ramone, just died and as he took his last breath, he was listening to his favorite song by U2. According to those close to him, his other favorite music at the time of his last days was his advanced copy of Just Push Play by your favorites, Aerosmith!!

Punk Rock is just a term that was created by journalists. Much like the hack-invented tag, Grunge. No one who made the music called it anything but rock ’n’ roll. Like all stupid and meaningless labels, it becomes about fashion and not music. But since we live in a world of ignorance and judgment, the true meaning of it all is missed and buried in a haze of blue mohawks. “Punk rock,” as my other dear, departed friend Lester Bangs would say, “is Iggy Pop- PERIOD”!! It’s all downhill from there so don’t waste your time trying to analyze it. Joey sums up the whole spirit of PUNK — it’s liking whatever kind of music you want — not being narrow minded — and celebrating the purity of whoever you are — AND still being cool and original. PUNK is whatever you or anyone want it to be. That’s the beauty of it. It’s only a word that has many, many interpretations. You know, kind of like the word “FUCK.”

Bebe Buell
Portland

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