SEASIDESIGNAL.COM • COMPLIMENTARY COPY
OUR 109th YEAR • February 6, 2015
New sales tax to help fund convention center growth?
An increase in lodging taxes is also proposed
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scheme; it will not be sub-
ject to a public vote.
A local sales tax could be
A proposed $25 million
imposed on all businesses convention center expan-
throughout Seaside to help sion has been in the works
pay for a proposed expan- for at least six years and has
sion of the Seaside Civic undergone studies by three
and Convention Center and FRQVXOWLQJ¿UPV7KHWHQWD
a new parking structure.
tive design, however, would
The sales tax also would eliminate 42 parking spac-
come with a bump in local es, which could be restored
lodging taxes, said Russ by construction of a parking
Vandenberg, general man- structure, adding $6 million
ager of the convention cen- to the bill, Vandenberg said.
ter. Vandenberg spoke to the
It would cost $200,000
Seaside Chamber of Com- a month for 30 years to pay
merce at its weekly meeting off the debt, he said.
Jan 30.
C.H. Johnson Consult-
Vandenberg said the pro- ing, which did the latest
posal will come before the VWXG\ VXJJHVWHG WKUHH ¿
Seaside City Council this QDQFLQJ RSWLRQV 7KH ¿UVW
year. The council would suggestion was to work
KDYH WKH ¿QDO VD\ RQ WKH with the cities of Cannon
By Nancy McCarthy
Seaside Signal
SUBMITTED ILLUSTRATION
The existing Seaside Civic and Convention Center would be expanded to the west, doubling
the current space. When completed the center would have 40,000 square feet of public space.
Beach and Astoria to in-
crease their lodging taxes
and contribute the proceeds
to the convention center.
But, Vandenberg said, “I
feel, realistically, that’s not
going to happen.”
The second option was
to raise the city’s 8 percent
lodging tax by 6 percent.
That would bring in $2.6
million a year, about the
amount needed annually.
Another 1 percent in lodg-
ing taxes goes to the state.
In comparison, Vanden-
berg noted, Portland has a
13 percent lodging tax.
The third option was to
create a 2.75 percent “busi-
ness improvement district”
tax that would be applied
to all retail sales — includ-
ing food stores and restau-
rants — throughout Seaside
and combine it with an in-
creased lodging tax that
could reach to 5 percent.
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been determined yet, Van-
denberg said.
See Center, Page 4A
Seaside
Scholarships
reaches its
$50,000 goal
By Andrew R. Tonry
For the Seaside Signal
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An anonymous donor had offered Sea-
side Scholarships Inc. $50,000 if the
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other $50,000 by Jan. 15.
When it came up a few thousand
dollars short of its $50,000 fundraising
goal, the deadline was extended by two
weeks.
“We were thinking that there are
people that don’t do anything until the
last minute,” said Seaside Scholarships
President Celine McEwan.
They were right.
As January came to a close, Seaside
Scholarships was able to exceed its
goal, raising over $51,000. The funds
will be added to the donor’s $50,000
contribution.
“This person thought enough of
higher education that it was an impetus
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we do this too?’” said McEwan.
With more than 100 individual do-
nations — and the help of a few extra
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mative.
Now, with a bank account balance
sporting more zeros than ever before,
Seaside Scholarships Inc. is entering a
new phase.
“We have to decide which percent-
age of what to keep to build the fund
and what to give away,” she said.
“Now we have to be concerned with
building a future for Seaside Scholar-
ships.”
Indeed, it’s a new world.
“Last year we didn’t have these
concerns because we didn’t have any
money,” said McEwan. The group is
looking at the Astoria High School
Scholarships fund as a potential model.
“The next step is to create an en-
dowment,” she added. “We have to
decide where we invest so that Seaside
Scholarships will be going on for the
next 100 years.”
DANCE till you DROP
NANCY MCCARTHY PHOTO
Those attending the Seaside Jazz Festival in 2014 dressed up in their jazziest outfi ts and danced the days — and nights — away.
T
Seaside Jazz Festival can’t be beat
he Seaside Jazz Fes-
tival is becoming one
of the longer-running
events in the city’s history.
Originally dubbed the Or-
egon Dixieland Jubilee, it’s
32 years old and draws nearly
2,000 attendees each February.
Most of those — about 98
percent — are from outside the
North Coast, and at least 80
percent are repeat customers,
say the festival’s coordinators,
Ruth Johnson and Judy Shook.
“There’s quite a friendly
group that just meet up at jazz
festivals and share what’s hap-
pened to them in the last year,”
Johnson said.
By Andrew R. Tonry
For the Seaside Signal
A sense of return and reunion
permeates performers this year
as well. Of the 12 groups sched-
uled for this year’s festival Feb.
19 through 22, 11 have played
the festival in years past.
The lone newcomer to the
Seaside Jazz Festival is Port-
land’s Mardi Gras All-Star
Band, which is also the only
act from the region (with the
exception of the Seaside High
School jazz band).
Led by drummer and vocal-
ist Gary Smith, the Mardi Gras
All-Stars play traditional Dix-
ieland jazz. Another scheduled
group, High Sierra, performs a
similar brand.
“They’re traditional jazz,”
said Johnson of High Sierra.
“They play a lot of the Dixie-
land-style music, and they’re
very good at it. Most of the
traditional bands have seven
members. They have piano,
banjo, tuba, a reed-man, trum-
pet, trombone and drums.”
So, too, are acts at the Sea-
side Jazz Festival whose in-
spiration comes from outside
the traditional sphere of early
jazz (although only by a few
decades — nothing here is
sourced from the 21st century).
“Tom Ridney does some
blues,” said Johnson. “His band
will also play a waltz. He does
Cajun, zydeco. He plays an
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bass and a piano player — and
she’s a boogie-woogie champi-
on on the piano.”
Johnson highlighted Dave
Bennett and the Memphis
Speed Kings as another group
performing outside the purview
of traditional jazz.
See Jazz, Page 9A
New owners of local radio
station key on community
owners didn’t spend a lot of time in Sea-
side. In 2013, Cal Brady died, and his
wife put the station up for sale.
Seaside’s 94.9 FM was purchased
By Andrew R. Tonry
in an estate sale by Mark Evans and his
For the Seaside Signal
wife, Mickie Evans. They closed the
deal in January. Mark Evans wears a
Perhaps, while tuning your radio shirt and tie and has a cool, affable voice
dial anywhere from Manzanita to Long familiar of radio. He’s been a part of the
Beach, you noticed Seaside’s 94.9 FM. industry for decades, both on the air and
Or perhaps you didn’t.
off.
For the past year 94.9 FM, with a
“I have been working for Clear
broadcast studio in downtown Seaside Channel radio for about 20 years,” Ev-
and a 25,000-watt transmitter on a hill ans said. Most recently, in San Diego, he
nearby, has essentially been running on was a news director.
auto-pilot.
“Before that, my wife and I operated
The DJ was a computer. The only a radio station in Temecula, Calif.,” Ev-
WLPHDKXPDQEHLQJZDVLQWKHRI¿FH ans said. “That’s where we got the bug,
— let alone broadcasting live on the originally. We’ve been looking for the
airwaves — was maybe once-a-week, possibility to run a station again, and this
adding songs to a playlist or performing one became available, so we searched it
some FCC compliance.
See Radio, Page 8A
Living in California, the station’s
What once was Calcomm is
now KBGE, ‘The Bridge’
ANDREW R. TONRY PHOTO
Mark Evans, the new co-owner of Seaside’s radio station 94.9 FM, will be an
on-air personality. Before arriving in Seaside, Evans worked for Clear Chan-
nel in San Diego.