Where the Sun Doesn't Shine

Here is a handy website for all you techies and even for Luddites like me.  I hope someone does some figuring to see what kind of solar access is available in close proximity to tall buildings in LO - specifically the Wizer Block development.  If  you do, can you please pass on your calculations to me?

 The downtown and Lake Grove are poised to see more of this kind of development, so we should know how it will affect us.  This works for trees also.  If you live in a single family home that is limited in height to 2 stories plus a pitched roof and live amongst either tall buildings or tall trees, you can use the website to figure out how much sun light will be blocked from your home, windows and back yard.

Unless you are new to Oregon and have not spent a winter here, you do may know how important sunlight is for one's mental and physical health, not to mention winter heat gain and growing tomatoes in the summer.  Solar water heating systems and PVC panels need sunlight too.  Google "sunshine" and "health" and see how the two are related.

The implications of large buildings in Lake Oswego - next to, nearby, and within existing residential neighborhoods is damaging to the health and well-being of citizens in the city.  For a city with a Comp Plan that espouses health and livibility for all its citizens, it seems to put the flawed Utopian concept of mixed-use and density ahead of what is essential to the livibility and quality of life in Lake Oswego.  Talk about preserving the character of Lake Oswego - hint:  it doesn't happen with a fake Lake Oswego design style.

Just one of the multitude of studies linking sunlight and health.

Keeping your sunny side up: How sunlight affects health and well-being

Stephen J. Genuis, MD, FRCSC, DABOG

The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature

"The implications of this research are interesting. Since sufficient levels of serotonin facilitate well-being, sunshine might well be considered nature’s oldest remedy for adverse moods. If people feel better, they will naturally be more active, sleep better, and have more positive outlooks—outcomes that promote health and wellness and make patients less likely to develop other afflictions."