Last week, Dan Alger Sr. wrote that the loss of Alpenrose Dairy in Portland to a housing development “is a really sad deal” (“Loss of dairy is sad,” Our Readers’ Views, May 27). The loss of Joe’s Place Farm and Store here in Vancouver is a really, really sad deal. Acres of fruits and vegetables, and many beneficial insects and wildlife, will be replaced by tightly packed apartments, single-family houses, and parking spaces. This is not community creation; it is culture destruction.
In my brief and only conversation with Joe Beaudoin, he looked toward the fields and said, “This was my dream.” The Beaudoins are true stewards of the land and Joe shared his dream with Vancouver. Joni Mitchell warned us: “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone. Pave paradise, put up a parking lot.”
