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Casino not in the best interest of the community

I am a longtime resident of Medford and served as a Jackson County commissioner for 16 years, from 1988 to 2004. I’ve also served on numerous boards and committees in and around Medford and have a deep understanding of the Medford community and its needs.

I agree with former Medford Mayor Gary Wheeler’s March 17 letter to the editor: A casino in Medford is not in the best interest of the community.

While I also commend the efforts of Oregon’s nine Tribes to develop enterprises that can fund their governmental services, the Coquille Tribe does not have historical ties to Medford and should not be permitted to open a second casino here. This is especially true when their own calculations show that their second casino will devastate the revenues of our local lottery retailers and other Tribal casinos.

Oregon voters have long opposed the expansion of games of chance, knowing that gambling brings with it a host of societal ills that disrupt communities, families, and the economy.

The balance we have struck, permitting small lottery retailers to offer products and Tribes to operate casinos in their ancestral territories while limiting the expansion outside of those areas, has served the Rogue River Valley well. There is no reason to change it, particularly when doing so will cause such hardship to so many other people and tribes.

I urge the Medford City Council to reconsider its recent change of position and resume its opposition to the casino.

Sue Kupillas / Medford

Remove overpass, homeless camps for a better Medford

The urban renewal districts proposed for city center entrances will be putting lipstick on a pig.

The area is blighted by the elevated freeway and homeless camps bisecting the city of Medford. These must be removed to allow the natural gift of Bear Creek to blossom into its full potential as the heart of a vibrant commercial, entertainment and high-value residential district.

Imagine a curated central park with the creek in landscaped banks overlooked by residences, offices, restaurants and entertainment venues. The park would be crisscrossed by paved walking paths, attractive foot bridges and the existing road bridges.

The now-isolated halves of Medford would be joined, not separated, by a beautiful focal point in the form of a long narrow park incorporating some of the existing park facilities. The park boundaries would not even have to be linear — they could notionally mirror the creek and give it space for natural evolution.

The huge cost of moving Interstate 5 to the west, roughly between Exits 24 and 35, could be covered partially by the almost certain increase in property value and taxes in the improved area and Medford generally.

The cost of eventually widening and making the viaduct safe in a great earthquake would be avoided. Local and stopover traffic would still have good access to Medford and Central Point.

This is neither the place nor time to delve into details. Dream of a greater future for the central Rogue Valley. Then do some planning.

John Ames / Ashland