A large number of residents voiced opposition to using portions of Lake Ellyn Park to create more off-street parking during a meeting Monday night to discuss preliminary sketches for the Lake Ellyn Park Master Plan.

The meeting held at the park’s boathouse had a strong turnout from residents concerned about the park’s future. More than 50 people attended the meeting.

Parking was just one of the areas touched on during the two-hour meeting, but it raised the most concerns and garnered the most feedback. 

The Glen Ellyn Park District hired the firm of Conservation Design Forum and Farr Associates to help it address a number of issues including landscaping, hydrology of the lake, parking and access, recreational use and the boathouse.

The goals and priorities for the Lake Ellyn Master Plan include the park experience, retaining the beauty and authenticity for the park and making considerations for sustainability and the park’s ecology.

After the first meeting held in late August, the consultants gathered feedback and aggregated the comments to determine what residents’ main concerns were, said David Yocca, director of Landscape Architecture and Planning for Conservation Design Forum. 

Parking concerns

Parking and access to the park was one of the areas discussed Monday night. A sketch showed the use of angled parking along Lenox Road. Residents were concerned about the use, which would mean the loss of roughly 25 feet of greenspace.

Yocca explained that the parking was not the park district’s issue. But, in fact, the Village of Glen Ellyn is exploring plans to rebuild Lenox Road and is considering options to widen the road, to make two-way traffic easier and to improve parking in the area.

Residents were concerned that the greenspace might be lost to make way for additional parking, which they did not feel was necessary. Residents also said driving up and down the road has not been an issue so far and there was no need for change.

“I do not want to see it widened,” Christa Mannion said after the meeting. She’s lived on Lenox Road 20 years. “We need to preserve every inch of greenspace we have. I don’t want to see any of it touched.”

Many residents voiced the same concerns during the meeting. A few adding that to create 50 or 60 additional spaces for students unwilling to take the bus was not worth losing a possible 25-feet of greenspace long the road and, in addition, risk the health of the trees.

The consultants said they would share the concerns residents have with the village, adding that parts of the park were in the public right-of-way and so it would be up to the village to determine how it might use that land. But, Yocca said, the village wanted to make changes based on what residents wanted. 

Other areas of the park were discussed during the meeting. Yocca said one thing that was clear from the responses were that whether residents lived near the park or not, they had a strong connection to Lake Ellyn Park and felt it was an important part of the community.

Boathouse updates

Based on feedback from the first meeting, Yocca said there was a mixed response to possible changes at the boathouse and pavilion. The main response was that residents did not want the boathouse expanded, but possibly would be open to having some additional uses located separately.

Consultant Jonathan Boyer of Farr Associates offered ideas for the boathouse, including removing a west addition, which was added for additional space and is an area where trash is currently stored. Boyer said the addition “covers up a beautiful limestone fireplace.” Removing that would allow views of the fireplace.

Boyer offered suggested renovation ideas for the boathouse that would include raising the ceiling of the boathouse and bringing it back to its original design from the 1930s with exposed beams. The windows would also be replaced with more efficient double-pane windows.

He also suggested reconfiguring the dock to make it easier for skaters to get onto the lake in the winter. He said reconfiguration would be done in a way that would use the current structure, would keep it to scale and reduce size of the dock.

He also suggested creating a temporary warming area outside of the east side of the building, so that the interior of the boathouse could be used by people who didn’t want to skate and or would allow the space to be rented out during the winter when skating was happening.

An idea to have additional restrooms placed outdoors near some of the park equipment was also shared. A berm would be created with restrooms underneath. The berm would allow for views of the lake, while shielding the restroom area. 

Landscape and water improvements

A number of other ideas were shared with the residents including allowing areas of woodland restoration. “Discreet” areas of the park would be left untouched, allowing the growth of the next generation of oak timbers and other historic plantings to take root. 

Erosion around the shoreline would also be addressed with the use of ornamental landscapes.

A lot of water is draining into the lake from streets and homes nearby, and that means some pesticides and fertilizers from lawns are washing into the water.

“From a water quality perspective we are looking at ways to utilize runoff to improve quality of the lake,” said Tom Price, director of water resource engineering for Conservation Design Firm.

One option is to include floating islands, which are artificial in terms of how they are made, but are wetlands that could provide filtration and integrate them in with the trail system.

The floating islands, called restorers, are placed in the landscape and hard to distinguish from natural islands, he said. The root zone is floating into the water and that is where the nutrients are taken up, a lot of beneficial bacteria and microscopic plants can attach and take up nutrients and reduce growth of algae. The islands could also be moved out of the way for the winter so they would not be in the way of ice skaters.

Another meeting will be held in December, where more refined plans and concepts, along with phasing options will be shared. 

Learn more about the Lake Ellyn Park Master Plan and view the presentations. 

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As Larry Neskey plucks a plump heirloom tomato from where it clings to the vine, he notices a blemish and quickly rubs it away on his shirt.  Looking out across the University of Montana’s many grassy pastures divided by concrete walkways, he sees a lost horticultural and educational opportunity. 

As the head gardener for UM, Neskey said he imagines the Dining Services Garden as an educational opportunity to be utilized by multiple departments on campus. He said he sees possible transformations all around campus. 

For one, growing cut flowers to be used at campus events, he said, would be a great way to cut costs and repair damaged soil. 

“I think a university should be progressive in what we do and what we think,” he said. “If we just have Kentucky bluegrass and traditional landscape, then we aren’t creating a very good example of what we learn in class.” 

He would also like to see a new, unused space appropriated for horticultural purposes every growing season — exactly what he hopes Dining Services’ new greenhouse will accomplish. 

The greenhouse project is a result of a two-part effort by UM Dining Services’ Farm to College program and the UM Foundation Senior Challenge. Voted on by the 2012 senior class, the passive solar greenhouse became the senior class gift.

“We are focused on building a culture of philanthropy here at UM, and this campaign provides a visual for all UM students,” said Tara Udall, the associate director of internal programs at the UM Foundation. 

After raising $2,500 for the project, the UM Foundation reached out to the Farm to College program asking to match the amount, to $5,000. Ian Finch, the Farm to College coordinator, then began researching traditional greenhouse designs but could not find a plan to suit the needs of the project. 

As a result, he contacted Walter Redfield, whose Missoula-based construction company specializes in green building, about earthbag construction and coordinated the supply of timber from Bad Goat Forest Products. Earthbags are polyurethane-thatched bags that are packed with dirt and used to build walls.

“Bad Goat utilized beetle-killed wood from within 200 miles of Missoula, so the timber frame of the greenhouse has a very low environmental impact,” Finch said.

The greenhouse is just the first of many long-term projects Neskey hopes to work on for the school.

Neskey enrolled in the environmental studies undergrad program as a last minute decision. He soon found inspiration from the Program in Ecological Agriculture and Society Farm and its founder, Josh Slotnick. After taking a mixture of science and environmental studies courses and spending three consecutive semesters interning at the PEAS farm, he knew urban agriculture was his passion. 

“He has horticulture in his blood,” Slotnick said.  “He has a sense about plants that can’t be explained any other way.” 

For an internship with environmental studies professor Vicki Watson just before graduating, he researched and designed a business model for an edible landscaping company in Missoula. Upon graduating last spring and needing to find a job, Slotnick urged him to apply for the head gardener position in the new Dining Services Garden. 

Slotnick explained how experimental Neskey can be while utilizing a small area like the raised beds and greenhouse in the Dining Services Garden — something that makes him perfect for the job. 

“The cure for the modern world is what Larry is doing,” Slotnick said.  “It is revolutionary.” 

thomas.bridge@umontana.edu

An Orcutt Junior High School teacher plans to scoop up more veggie and landscaping ideas for his gardening course when he attends the California Agriculture in the Classroom Conference Thursday, in Sacramento.

“One of the reasons I go is to network with teachers who teach (agriculture) all over the state,” Robert Falero said.

Falero established a special elective gardening and landscaping course for eighth-graders in 2005. Since then, students have learned to cook and tend to fresh foods. They also put that knowledge to use, landscaping school grounds and producing pesticide- and herbicide-free fruits and vegetables for their school salad bar.

Falero said community contributions, such a recent donation of topsoil and compost from Engel Gray and a $500 grant from the California Women for Agriculture, help make the course and trip to Sacramento possible.

CHANDLER, Ariz. (AP) — When Lone Tree Golf Club’s namesake cottonwood fell victim to storm winds in July, the club’s staff held a contest among its golfers to decide what to do with the tree.

What turned out to be the winning idea did not come from the suggestions, however. The 113-year-old tree is being ground up to be used as fuel for the Snowflake White Mountain Power biomass plant.

Rod Pappas and the people at Xeriscapes Unlimited, a Phoenix-based landscaping firm, proposed the idea to Lone Tree owner Greg Avant.Xeriscapes also arranged for an ironwood tree, more appropriate for the location, to be planted on the site.

“One of the things I was looking for was the different and cool factor,” Avant said. “Not just making tee markers out of it or something. The people at Xeriscapes had some great ideas. We kind of meshed our ideas together and came up with this. It’s a nice ending to the story.”

Last week, Xeriscapes employees cut up the giant cottonwood tree that was believed to have been planted in 1899 when the land on which the golf course sits was a potato farm. The golf club retained a large stump and another section of the tree as keepsakes. The club even kept some smaller slices of the tree, one of which Avant said would be used to make a trophy for a club tournament.

The rest of the tree was carted away. The Snowflake White Mountain Power plant burns scrap wood and paper sludge from nearby mills to generate electricity.

“We saw the article about losing the old cottonwood tree and thought, ‘Let’s see if they would like a new tree and start the cycle all over again,’ ” said Pappas, president of Xeriscapes Unlimited.

“We did some head banging over the idea and thought we’d ship the remains off to Snowflake and fire up the plant over there. It’s kind of a win-win situation. Even though we lost a tree, we got a new one, one that I think will do better.”

Pappas said two other metro Phoenix businesses are involved. Native Resources, a Phoenix firm that specializes in plant relocation and landscape construction, donated the ironwood tree that replaces the iconic tree. Gro-Well of Tempe, the state’s largest recycler of green waste, is handling disposal of the downed cottonwood.

Once the land was converted from a potato farm to a golf course, the cottonwood wasn’t getting enough water. The tree had been dead for about five years before it fell.

The ironwood tree needs less water and is better suited for the location. Pappas said the tree could last for as long as 1,500 years.

That kind of longevity could mean that the new tree might have the same kind of significance as the old cottonwood. Once word got out that the tree fell last summer, golfers and former residents of the area contacted Lone Tree with stories about what the tree meant to them.

Avant said one former resident of the area, now living in Ohio, called to ask for a piece of the tree and talked about how she used to sit under that tree with her grandmother, who had died recently.

“(Head golf pro Josh Janowiak) sent her a nice big branch,” Avant said. “You don’t think a tree touches that many lives, but it was amazing some of the stories and requests we got for it. There were a lot of surprises like that that were pretty cool. You think, ‘Big deal, it was a tree,’ but it meant something to a lot of people.”

___

Information from: The Arizona Republic, http://www.azcentral.com

CHANDLER, Ariz. — When Lone Tree Golf Club’s namesake cottonwood fell victim to storm winds in July, the club’s staff held a contest among its golfers to decide what to do with the tree.

What turned out to be the winning idea did not come from the suggestions, however. The 113-year-old tree is being ground up to be used as fuel for the Snowflake White Mountain Power biomass plant.

Rod Pappas and the people at Xeriscapes Unlimited, a Phoenix-based landscaping firm, proposed the idea to Lone Tree owner Greg Avant.Xeriscapes also arranged for an ironwood tree, more appropriate for the location, to be planted on the site.

“One of the things I was looking for was the different and cool factor,” Avant said. “Not just making tee markers out of it or something. The people at Xeriscapes had some great ideas. We kind of meshed our ideas together and came up with this. It’s a nice ending to the story.”

Last week, Xeriscapes employees cut up the giant cottonwood tree that was believed to have been planted in 1899 when the land on which the golf course sits was a potato farm. The golf club retained a large stump and another section of the tree as keepsakes. The club even kept some smaller slices of the tree, one of which Avant said would be used to make a trophy for a club tournament.

The rest of the tree was carted away. The Snowflake White Mountain Power plant burns scrap wood and paper sludge from nearby mills to generate electricity.

“We saw the article about losing the old cottonwood tree and thought, ‘Let’s see if they would like a new tree and start the cycle all over again,’ ” said Pappas, president of Xeriscapes Unlimited.

“We did some head banging over the idea and thought we’d ship the remains off to Snowflake and fire up the plant over there. It’s kind of a win-win situation. Even though we lost a tree, we got a new one, one that I think will do better.”

Pappas said two other metro Phoenix businesses are involved. Native Resources, a Phoenix firm that specializes in plant relocation and landscape construction, donated the ironwood tree that replaces the iconic tree. Gro-Well of Tempe, the state’s largest recycler of green waste, is handling disposal of the downed cottonwood.

Once the land was converted from a potato farm to a golf course, the cottonwood wasn’t getting enough water. The tree had been dead for about five years before it fell.

The ironwood tree needs less water and is better suited for the location. Pappas said the tree could last for as long as 1,500 years.

That kind of longevity could mean that the new tree might have the same kind of significance as the old cottonwood. Once word got out that the tree fell last summer, golfers and former residents of the area contacted Lone Tree with stories about what the tree meant to them.

Avant said one former resident of the area, now living in Ohio, called to ask for a piece of the tree and talked about how she used to sit under that tree with her grandmother, who had died recently.

“(Head golf pro Josh Janowiak) sent her a nice big branch,” Avant said. “You don’t think a tree touches that many lives, but it was amazing some of the stories and requests we got for it. There were a lot of surprises like that that were pretty cool. You think, ‘Big deal, it was a tree,’ but it meant something to a lot of people.”

___

Information from: The Arizona Republic, http://www.azcentral.com

When he was 13 years old, Dan Kindergan caught the entrepreneurial bug. He rode his bike around his hometown of Bergenfield, N.J., a mower trailing behind him, and serviced locals’ lawns. He was too young to drive, so he often had a high-school friend help out, and his business steadily grew. At 18, he incorporated the business and has worked on growing the firm for the last 25 years. “I used to cut school to mow lawns,” he says.

Today, Kindergan Landscaping is a significant player in the competitive New Jersey market, and the firm has continued to expand in spite of tough economic times. During the recession, Kindergan added staff each year, growing his team to 34 members. He purchased equipment – even real estate, recently shifting the headquarters office in Bergenfield to a 2,500 square-foot office space to accommodate growth. “It has been a tough battle, but the good guys will always survive, and I consider myself one of the good companies because we have never changed our focus,” says Kindergan, relating the importance of client contact, nurturing relationships and hiring the best people.

With Kindergan, there are no compromises on quality and service – and he won’t risk margins on a job just to keep on working. “We stick to our guns, and we won’t undersell ourselves,” he says. Sure, it’s tempting. “One side of your brain is saying, ‘Go get the next job,’ and the other side of your brain is saying, ‘If you take that job, we still have risk and if something doesn’t go right we are working for nothing.’”

Kindergan has always chosen the higher road. “I’m proud that during these really rough times, we have maintained an expansion mindset and survived through all of this,” he says, adding that he’s watched smaller competitors who used to bid for the same work go out of business.

But staying on the map and winning jobs in cutthroat New Jersey has required investing resources into the business. Kindergan has answered the call, in part, by opening a design center in Wyckoff, about 20 miles from Bergenfield and where Kindergan has lived for the last 13 years.

So far, the design center is building brand awareness and will eventually lead to closing more referrals in this area of town, Kindergan says. “I live in the town, I’m active in the town, I volunteer a lot – we really needed to have a larger presence,” he says.

Stage presence. The lot is 50 by 120 feet in size – no larger than the yard of an average home in the area. But every bit of that space has been transformed into a live show for Kindergan Landscaping. It contains displays as simple as perennial gardens and pergolas, and as complex as intricate brick and paver work and a decked-out outdoor kitchen and dining area. Low-voltage landscape lighting shoots high up into the trees, and at night the property is aglow.

In the middle of the property is a building the size of a pool house, and that’s the new design headquarters for Kindergan Landscaping. “It’s a small space, but it has a lot of punch,” Kindergan says. The company restored what was essentially an oversized shed into a little boutique retreat. This is where the firm holds client meetings.
“We designed it to make people feel as if they were actually in a back yard,” Kindergan says. “The office doesn’t overpower what we are trying to show off outside, which is our work.”

The company completed final touches on the outdoor space several months ago, and already the design center is grabbing attention. “We are hearing, ‘Oh, you’re the guy with the little design studio over there,’” Kindergan says. “They’ll say, ‘You’re there next to Wyckoff Florist (which has been there for 30 years) and we walked around there after going to Dairy Queen.’

“People just want to know you are for real and not Johnny-bought-a-truck and you’re in business one week and the next you’re doing something else,” Kindergan says of the value his company will gain from the design center’s visibility.

And the reality is, people in the area have certainly heard of Kindergan Landscaping because of the owner’s roots and the company’s reputation. Kindergan was getting referrals in the area, but the competition had a stronger appearance. “We needed to have more of a home base in this area because we have less of the market share here and the larger competitors we are up against had put in design or display centers,” Kindergan says. “We needed to put Kindergan Landscaping on the map here.”

Wyckoff and surrounding towns are home to an affluent client base suitable for Kindergan’s high-end residential design/build work. (This service encompasses about 60 percent of the business, while maintenance is 40 percent.) “In a semi-recession market and especially during an election year when consume confidence is probably not where it should be, it helps for us to grow in an area where people are a little more well off,” he says.
And besides, the Wyckoff expansion was a natural way to grow because of Kindergan’s allegiance to his town. With the headquarters still based in nearby Bergenfield, the company is grabbing a larger radius of business now. “We are in the process of hiring more employees, buying more equipment and building additional services,” Kindergan reports.

Entrepreneurial people. Steady growth has been possible because of a strong team that Kindergan continues to hone. Interestingly more than half of the staff once owned a business. For some owners, bringing on personnel with entrepreneurial stripes could cause friction. But Kindergan sees great benefit in hiring enterprising folks.
“I allow people to bring their expertise to the table,” Kindergan says.

“Rather than saying, ‘Here is your rule book,’ we give people guidelines and we let them be themselves a little bit. I have found in some cases you still need to train them, but in some cases you find people who have a lot of good qualities that they develop on their own, so I let them blossom and give them a chance to really show their expertise.”

For example, in the field, a worker (and former owner) might have better ideas about how to improve efficiency. Kindergan is all ears. “You are only as good as your people,” he says. “I can be the greatest landscape designer and salesman in the world, but if I don’t have good people to support what we’re doing, we won’t survive.”
Kindergan says he is often approached by people from the industry who are interested in what he’s doing and eventually apply for a job. “Word of mouth travels,” he says. “People find out you are a guy who pays his bills, pays his people…”

Kindergan’s reputation is what drew in the lead designer. “I was approached by a designer who worked for a competitor, and after several interviews, we got together and now we have our design department,” he says.
And Kindergan is comfortable with hiring from outside the industry. In fact, he finds great benefit in this, too. He recently brought on an office assistant who worked in the food and high-end catering business. She had a lot of experience creating advertising collateral, so he turned her loose to create some marketing materials for the company’s fall services.

“I say to you, within about four total hours, she had a one-page, full-color sheet that went out in every one of the maintenance invoices at the end of September,” Kindergan relates. “The phone is ringing with people calling about firewood and seeding. And she did this, honestly, as if she just finished a bagel and had a cup of coffee.”

Partly because of the sense of ownership and some autonomy employees enjoy, attrition is low. Kindergan says the average employee has a 10- to 12-year tenure at the firm. And he’s in the trenches right along with them. “Whatever task I’m asking them to perform, they know that if they need a hand, even though I’m an owner and I might have a clean shirt on, I’ll get in there and get the job done when its’ necessary,” he says. “That’s one reason I believe we’ve been able to find a sweet spot of good people.”

Meanwhile, Kindergan says recruiting is an evolving process, as is the expansion of the firm with its new design center and larger headquarters. Kindergan is proud of how the company is positioned for future growth. “I’m excited about today and that we have been able to accomplish all of this, but I’m even more excited about tomorrow and the direction the company is going.”

 

View full sizeTerry Richard/The OregonianThe chinook salmon over the Museum of Natural and Cultural History at the University of Oregon.Here are some things I’ve been encouraged to see during my upcoming visits to the University of Oregon campus (Oct. 17-19) and the Oregon State University campus (Oct. 24-26).

There’s still plenty of time to join in on this project. Send in your college photos and tips by clicking on these links.

Here are some links for connecting with the campus blogging project.

• UO and OSU alums can submit photos from their college days.

• A listing of favorite places on or near the Oregon and Oregon State university campuses.

• UO and OSU students (faculty and staff, too) can send in photos of themselves taken in their favorite spot on or near campus.

Send me your tips by posting a comment on one of my reports at oregonlive.com/travel, or by email at trichard@oregonian.com.

You can also tweet me your tips and photos — and see what others are suggesting — using #Ocivilwar on twitter.com.

And go ahead, take the advice of these tipsters. I will.

UO tips

From emails:

1) Suggest you contact
the UO archivist for campus highlights. Or, contact Keith Richard, who
retired as archivist about 10 years ago. I’m sure he’s still around.
He’s a great storyteller and can fill you in with insight and lore.

2)

Much
of the U of O beauty and campus charm can be experienced by one of the
older buildings Deedy Hall. Views of the east entrance takes one back
100 plus years (looking west). Southern scenes from this vantage point
quickly show the vastness of the campus while views to the east contain
new modern Science facilities. Enjoy your visit to University of
Oregon

From Twitter

 

UO AlumniAssociation
@‏UOAlumni

Civil War travel style…“@trichardpdx: Oregonian/OregonLive launch survey: is OSU or UO campus best? http://bit.ly/RlQ4dF  #Ocivilwar”

From Reddit:

OSU recommendations:

1) The school has a brewing facility at Wiegand Hall. Shoot the manager an e-mail and check it out. Also, the architecture on campus….can’t go wrong with that. Linus Pauling Science Center and Kelley Engineering are absolute marvels to look at and sit around in. Sounds too simple I suppose?

I do have to say I think WSU is pretty lame and the area itself. Wheat fields for miles unless you go to Moscow. Ferdinand’s, the bears, and the freak animal museum hidden on campus are probably the only highlights from my experience. Then again, I am biased since my ex goes there.

2) The reactor is pretty interesting as well if you can get inside.

OSU tips, from emails:

3) Benton hall, the oldest building on campus, has an Ivy covered window

on the very top floor that turns the tiny space red in the late

afternoon sun. This combines nicely with the old varnished interior

and the various sounds of practicing music students. It is lovely.

4) I did graduate 38 years ago, so my perspective may be a bit dated and the issue that I want to raise really will only do OSU a minor favor. But here goes. The subject is art, and the U of O may have an actual museum gallery, but OSU has its whole campus as the gallery. Check out the book; ‘This Bountiful Place’ (Art about Agriculture; The Permanent Collection). OPB’s Artbeat did a piece on this a few years ago.

But while I’m at; Expertise is trees and while the U of O does have some very large exquisite ones. My thinking is that the OSU campus is more park like, pastoral and cohesive as a landscape.

5) Begin with the evocative splendor of the Memorial Union staircase rising to a classic, 90 year old open lounge with 20 foot south-facing windows, elm-shaded, a piano, spiral staircases, historic fixtures, all in the heart of campus. The hallway outside with the flags of all nations and an always-excellent display of local art. Exit down the same marble staircase to an archetypal, three acre quad, radiating into the campus. Other great old buildings: the Women’s Building with woodwork creaking with character, light fixtures and woodwork worthy of any great campus. Waldo Hall, towering, aslant its space, with a sunset-facing courtyard glorious under the dome. Some new noteworthies: the Kelley Engineering Center and the Linus Pauling Science Center, 21st century spaces nicely integrated and state-of-the-art.

The excellent LaSells-Stewart performing arts center adjacent to the new alumni center.

Crowd-filled Goss baseball stadium echoes with the ping of bats in heart of campus. Ninety year old Gill Coliseum three blocks south of the Union. Reser Stadium…okay, OSU cannot equal the glories of Autzen and Knight. U. of O. b’ball and f’ball arenas rank among the twin best anywhere in the country.

Just north of campus, abutting, and again, just four blocks from the Union, Monroe Avenue offers a score of restaurants, coffeehouses, brewpubs, and music venues. The northwest corner of campus melds into the College Hill Historic District, 40 blocks of oak-shaded homes redolent with early 20th century collegiate neighborhood architecture, elegant landscaping, Audis and Beemers and Volvoes, and, of course, Prii, polished.

No noisy, four-lane arterial streets intersect or border the campus.

And some spring and summer days, speaking of redolence, the cow barns waft their scent over campus to remind Beavers of their aggie roots.

6)If you tour the new Linus Pauling Science Center, drop in and say hi. It’s a beautiful building, lots of air and light.

Forget UO/OSU, go here:

1) While you are in between Portland and Corvallis, you need to

stop at Western Oregon University in Monmouth. It is without a doubt

the prettiest of the three very state attractive campuses…a hidden

gem, in my view. (By the way, I didn’t go to school there and came

across the place doing an informal campus tour with my daughter a few

years back.) May be it is a side bar.

And a thanks from WSU, via Twitter

 

Elson S. Floyd
‏@ESFloyd

Thank you @trichardpdx for the kind comments about WSU. We believe it’s a special place as well. Return at any point to complete the tour.

— Terry Richard Follow @trichardpdx

The City of Port Washington will have two miles of walks on the lakefront after the completion of the coal dock project, according to plans shared at last night’s public information meeting.

The meeting was to update the community on the project and to solicit ideas about possible uses for the 13-acre coal dock park, parts of which are scheduled to be completed June 2013.

The entire 17-acre project entails work on two areas: the north coal dock and the four-acre south coal dock. The latter, which opened in August, includes a bird sanctuary and walking trails. The two parts are planned to be connected via a pedestrian bridge.

• Comment: Mayor asks, “What else haven’t we considered?” Share your thoughts in the Comment section.

Director of Public Works Rob Vanden Noven updated attendees on progress with the project. After the completion of engineering plans and bidding out and awarding contracts for the work, construction began last month to lay the foundations of a park on the former coal dock. The building of pedestrian bridges, paths and laying of sewer and water lines has begun.

Pathways, some parking, the large green space, boardwalks and some landscaping are scheduled to be completed by next June.

Some changes have been made from the proposed plans:

• A pedestrian bridge from the north side of the dock to Rotary Park will not be built because it would need to be high or be operated manually to prevent the blocking of navigation, Vanden Noven said.
• Also, a floating dock at the end of the park is no longer planned. The city determined it wouldn’t work because there is no breakwater protecting that area.
• There is also a war memorial planned for the park. Approved by the planning commission and the council, it would be located on the southeastern edge of the green space near the boardwalks, according to Vanden Noven.

Once the project is completed, the lakefront of the city will be connected by walkways.

“We’re boasting over two miles of walkway along the lakefront, which is not too bad for a community our size,” Vanden Noven said.

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About 10 people besides coal dock committee members attended the meeting. Attendees were encouraged to share ideas for the park. More work on the project is scheduled to be completed after 2013, including some type of community building.

“Of course we do have a master plan, but we’re also looking for ideas for special events or permanent improvements,” Vanden Noven said.

One resident, Dan Micha, suggested that the city consider a planetarium for the park. It would be a year-round facility and would enrich the community educationally.

Another suggestion for an activity at the new park was to hold a kite festival.

Mayor Tom Mlada said the focus will shift to what will need to be planned for the area after the grand opening in June 2013.

“After June 2013, we need to look forward to 2020,” he said, referencing the mission statement for the project: By 2020, create a signature four-season public waterfront that serves the community and attracts regional visitors.

“What else haven’t we considered that will draw people out there?” he asked.

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By JEANETTE PAVINI

Early-bird holiday shoppers may find deals on gifts and decorations in October, but this also is the month to find the best deals on landscaping supplies, holiday travel and insurance. Here are some best-buy ideas for October:

1. Thanksgiving airfare

Traveling during the holidays is stressful enough, without having to pay a small fortune for your ticket. Tom Parsons, chief executive of BestFares.com, says, “this year, the airlines have given some great sales for the holidays…but [in the second half of] October, expect the airlines to raise their prices for travel almost every day of the week. They are figuring that if you haven’t purchased your holiday airfare by then, you are going to pay dearly for it.” (It’s already mid-October, so every day counts.)

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Gabriel Guma

Mr. Parsons says Sunday, Nov. 25, is the day you want to avoid traveling if possible. This is not a day on which airlines will offer any fare breaks. If Thanksgiving plans are flexible, he says, travelers will probably find the cheapest airfare departing on Sunday, Nov. 18 or Monday, Nov. 19 and returning on Friday, Nov. 23. Another alternative is to wait until the Tuesday after Thanksgiving.

2. Holiday vacations

October also is a great month to shop for holiday-season vacations. Because Thanksgiving is celebrated in the U.S. in November, now is a good time to find deals to Europe that week. Mr. Parsons says Thanksgiving is a “directional” holiday—vacationers are heading out for their trips as expats are returning home.

He recommends Dublin as an arrival spot, as the fares can be up to $200 less than other European destinations.

3. Health insurance

This is the time to take account of what your insurance needs are and what you are paying for. For most employee insurance plans, it’s open-enrollment season, which provides more opportunities to improve insurance coverage and weigh the costs and benefits.

“Really, for any type of insurance policy, it is important that whatever you currently have, you make certain to update to what you need,” says Tully Lehman, a spokesman for the Insurance Information Network of California.

Mr. Lehman says people should update dependent coverage for their spouse, partner or children. Consumers should always review the exclusions for pre-existing conditions, check prescription coverage and calculate co-payments for health-care services.

4. Toys

Holiday sales start this month, and toy retailers want to begin this important sales season off right. Many offer deals and discounts to get shoppers into their stores.

If an item is out of stock, ask for a raincheck to hold onto the best price. Shoppers also should save receipts. If the price on an item drops within about 14 days of purchase, most retailers will refund the difference.

Several major retailers are creating consumer friendly layaway programs this year. For example, Toys “R” Us, is offering free, no-minimum-purchase layaway plans for orders placed before Oct. 31. Wal-Mart Stores has lowered its layaway fee to $5 from $15 for the holiday season.

5. Nuts

Two factors make nuts an October best buy: harvest time and holiday baking promotions. Now is the time to buy the freshest almonds, pecans, pistachios, walnuts and hazelnuts. They lend themselves perfectly to the apples, pumpkins, figs and other produce of fall.

6. Trees, shrubs and greenery

We tend to associate planting season with spring, but fall is also a desirable time to get your greens in the ground. The one thing spring and fall have in common is mild weather, which gives plants time to acclimate to their new surroundings before harsher conditions in summer or winter. But there is another reason to plant in fall: lower prices.

“Fall can be a good time to pick up end-of-the-season bargains at nurseries and garden centers in many parts of the country,” says Susan Littlefield of the National Gardening Association.

Ms. Littlefield says many kinds of trees will do well when planted in the fall, including maple, linden, ash, honey locust, crabapple, pine and spruce. Most deciduous shrubs are good candidates as well. Ideally, you should get them planted at least six weeks before the ground freezes so they have a chance to get established.

Savings can be substantial because some nurseries will have to toss inventory if they don’t sell it by winter. While sales may continue into November, plants are at higher risk because they won’t have as much time to adjust to the soil before winter.

—Jeanette Pavini is a is a columnist for MarketWatch. Read more at marketwatch.com.