I am a conservative, but somehow I end-up in liberal cities for vacation. Now, to be fair, if I had it my way I would be in the middle of Wyoming, Montana, or Idaho somewhere in a place where I couldn’t see me neighbors (no offense to my great neighbors). I just like to see the stars, the Milky Way, and to generally still go to places where I can get lost and not see a soul. I want to walk down a gravel driveway where I can’t see my house from my mailbox. I love to see big ranches and wide open skies. I like to get up on summer mornings and feel temps in the 40s with low humidity and smell the lodgepole pines in the air. I enjoy seeing prairies with sage brush which lead up to mountains ranges where hawks and eagles soar and where marmots peak around the corner for a handout. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I love to flyfish in cold rivers surrounded by steep canyons and a willing rainbow(trout) parked behind a massive granite boulder. Man, I just can’t get enough of it. It takes work to get there.
So, when we decided to go on vacation this year, we decided that we wanted to see the United States Track and Field Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon – Tracktown, USA, home of Bill Bowerman and Steve Prefontaine. Housing wasn’t cheap around the trials, so we decided to stay outside of Eugene. We had stayed in Port Orford on a prior trip, but all of us (with the exception of our lone beach lover) decided to head for the mountains. Our choices were either on the side of Mount Hood or Bend. We ended up with Bend, Oregon. Why? Well, we are runners and Bend is pretty much heaven for runners. Plus, there is great fishing, and the climate is similar to other high forested desert communities. So, off we went.
The first thing you notice about Bend is that eveything is new. It is one of the fastest growing cities in the United States. It is similar to Bozeman,Montana, and Boise, Idaho, in that regard. Bozeman, Bend, and Boise…the three Bs. They are fairly liberal cities, and places where people have fled the urban decay of blue cities. It is nearly impossible to find affordable housing due to the speed that the city is growing. Housing demand has far outpaced the supply.
I tend to look at things from the perspective of both an artist, an architect, and a city planner. I know. It’s weird, but that is just how I am wired up. With that in mind, I noticed that the city growth is either very lucky or very planned. Each new section of the city has a small main street in each section. There are banks, Thai restaurants(man, the food in Bend is so good due to being a melting pot), parks, and you guessed it -> -> -> well placed schools. We stumbled across so much good stuff. One of those was the Northwest Crossing District in on the west side of Town.
The Nortwest Crossing District and Compass Park is just nifty. Go to Google Earth and look at it. Their schools are integrated into the design of that neatly laid out, suburban district. The architecture has that uniquely Bend bungalow appearance. There are green spaces, and lots of intersections with circles. It is what Kingsport used to be, and what we can still be! I wouldn’t be shocked if there is some connection between who designed that area and the Model City. It would be magnificent if we could use that concept here.
Shevlin Park and Riley Ranch are just a gems. They are exemplars(I know…I like that word) of how to incorporate natural beauty into suburban landscapes. I like how Bend prioritizes green ways, and then keeps them well kept and free of people dealing drugs or moving drugs around. Hint…we have a huge problem with that in Kingsport – both in keeping our Greenbelt clean of mud and keeping drugs away from that green space.
Bend makes sure to connect their city to tourism. That is a good part of how their city creates revenue. Why in the world we don’t do that in Kingsport is beyond me. We are close to premiere fly fishing rivers, ski slopes, endless of miles of hiking in both Virginia and Kentucky, and just outdoors activities in general. We have many lakes and mountains.
Here are some of the places close to Kingsport which are withing a 1.5 hour drive:
Bays Mountain Park (hiking, running, mountain biking)
Roan Mountain State Park (hiking, fly fishing, camping, cabin rentals)
The Mendota Trail (great for running)
Warriors’ Path State Park (fishing, boat rentals, Boundless Playground, hiking)
South Holston Tailwater (fly fishing)
Watauga Tailwater (fly fishing)
Steele Creek Park (splash pad, running, fishing, hiking)
Virginia Creeper Trail (running, biking, fishing)
Natural Tunnel State Park (hiking, cabins)
Rocky Fork State Park (flyfishing, hiking)
Kingsport Green Belt (When they clean the mud off of it, there is no better green way for running and biking)
Mountain Communities (Roan Mountain, Boone, Damascus, Erwin, Unicoi, Flag Pond, Shady Valley, Hampton)
Lakes (Watauga, South Holston, Boone, Wilbur – winter bird watching, Patrick Henry)
Many of those areas are recovering from flooding due to Hurricane Helene. However, once they have recovered, the very best thing we can do is to spend money in those places. That will help them re-establish their economic base and pay for rebuilding. Again…spend money in those places.
In closing, we don’t want to become a blue city in Kingsport, but we can surely learn from the stellar planning found in Bend, Oregon. We also need to take a play from their playbook and place our new schools in new housing developments. Maybe we can be a conservative version of Bend. Either way, it is a great place to visit. They pride themselves on being friendly and welcoming. They are an innovative community.
