Having strolled through the once-small-beach-town of Seaside recently, it was observed how overwhelmingly developed the area has become. The TrendWest WorldMark resort or "over-sized vault-like coffin structure" literally blocks out the sun where once an amusement park used to be enjoyed by the youth of Clatsop County. It appears that every nook and cranny in the town has squeezed out yet another coffee shop, boutique or "faux" antique mall or another condo development. No space is wasted (by developers standards) and nary a green space is to be seen anywhere. Barring those who have made a profit in land sales, longtime Seaside residents must be oblivious to what has gone on around their town over the last 10 years. More believably, perhaps they have all cashed in and left the area. Over a very short period of time it appears that several condo developments have sprung up from nowhere and it may come as no surprise that as a result of the quest for the almighty dollar (or in this case the room tax dollars that go to the city) there exists literally no affordable housing in the Seaside area.
Whats a bit puzzling is that although there seems to be rampant unchecked growth featuring what looks to be thousands of rooms available for a fee, it appears that many new businesses already have their “business for sale” signs out or the precursor, the 50% clearance sale signs. The rooms in most of the edifices to the almighty tourist buck looked mostly vacant and except for the people who were attending a convention of some kind, the town was pretty dead.What was once a ‘small’ funky little beach town of our youth, has now blossomed (or you could say withered) into a summer “tourist-resort-village” with literally no character left intact. The very same atmosphere that evoked ‘vacationing pleasure’ for visitors years ago no longer exists.
This is not an isolated transformation by no means, however. It happens around the country when places become too quaint and desirable for their own good. Just wished it hadn’t happened so ‘close to home’ and hadn't in effect priced people out of their own hometown.
2 comments:
Amen.
Let's hope Seaside never becomes as popular as Ocean City, MD It's mile after mile of condos and hotels. The late afternoon sun is blocked out by the monstrous towers. Businesses come, fail and are replaced with regularity. An amusement park that's been there for a century is likely to close because the property values have gone so high they can't afford the taxes.
I don't know what will happen as the country's population keeps spiraling upward and more baby boomers want to retire with a view of the ocean. I think nothing short of a pandemic that wipes out half the population will make any difference. That, or an energy crisis that sends us back to the stone age.
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