Pave Paradise, Put Up a Parking Lot?

By Kirk Siegler, 11-28-05

The Missoulian has the scoop this morning on the redevelopment of the old Fox Theater site by the Clark Fork River. Passersby may have noticed after an extensive clean-up of what was once a dumping ground for garbage, the city has decided to build a parking lot on some choice riverfront real estate. The lot is apparently only temporary, and city officials are hoping the area just west of Orange Street will attract proposals from private developers.

The site was once an impromptu public dump, as was much of the Clark Fork River, until a massive clean-up and redevelopment effort spearheaded by the public and the Missoula Redevelopment Agency several decades ago. Incidentally, some longtime Missoulians may be heartened to know that the last remenants of the Fox Theater sits rather dormantly on US Highway 93 on Evaro Hill. The theater's huge sign can be seen on the right hand side of the road near the bottom of the hill. Perhaps it should become part of the public art project originally sought after for the site? A sort of rememberance to the days when kids like me used to line up outside the Fox awaiting tickets and gawking at diners through the picture windows of the Mustard Seed Cafe next door. [End of article]