Last week in response to a call earlier from me, I spoke to a Washington Federal Bank VP in Seattle. He informed me that they had an offer on the half-acre lot behind the WA FD branch in Cave Junction. He wanted to give the city of Cave Junction, as a community entity, the opportunity to counter. Unfortunately, the city does not have the funds. Resources for a land purchase are hard to find. We had to let that property go to a private buyer. I don’t know who the purchaser is. Sadly, this would have been the perfect place for a pocket park with room for food trucks and off-street parking with easy access to businesses and Jubilee Park. I have been told to “never give up on things I want to see” so I am open to other ideas about how we can make Cave Junction a more welcoming and interesting place to stop.
You may remember the “First Impressions Secret Shopper” report done by Rural Development Initiatives in 2019. There were comments that it is difficult to determine what the businesses are, and the need for signs about where to stop, parking in town, and attractions. We have some work to do Cave Junction!
Last week I met with Public Works Director Alex Ponder and Main Street Cave Junction (MSCJ) president Amy Lusson. We had a good discussion about MSCJ and City for in-the-works and future projects and how we can work together. The city is in contact with the builder for the Welcome to Cave Junction sign at the north end of town. Other planned projects coming up are groundbreaking for the splash pad, finishing the playground upgrades, the north side welcome sign, and moving the bulk water station. Future needs at Jubilee Park include ADA bathrooms, the second ball field, and a pickle ball court. We also talked about street lighting, holiday lights, new benches, and new trash cans. Several other great ideas came up, but we need to ascertain what ODOT controls.
It was exciting to talk about MSCJ’s projects for bike racks, pop up sidewalk art, murals, and the Labor Day Parade. Some future ideas include an Art Walk, hanging flower baskets and bike paths.
Congratulations for the great turn out cleaning up the I.V. Hope Village site Saturday. I couldn’t be in two places at the same time so I would like to hear how the Rotary downtown clean up went.
