OUR 113th Year
October 23, 2020
SEASIDESIGNAL.COM
$1.00
City sounds
alarm on
homelessness
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
Lana Santos, 9, creates a poster for the fundraiser during a Pacifi c Ridge Elementary School PTO meeting at Broadway
Park on Oct. 6.
PTO steps up at Pacific Ridge
By KATHERINE LACAZE
For Seaside Signal
The Pacifi c Ridge
Elementary PTO raised
nearly $7,000 to help pur-
chase Chromebooks for
students during the orga-
nization’s fi rst fundraiser
since the PTOs from
Gearhart
Elementary
School and The Heights
Elementary
School
merged .
The
fundraiser
involved one of the com-
munity’s
longstanding
traditions: selling school
discount cards fi lled with
special offers from local
businesses. The PTO
had the cards printed in
March. Normally, the stu-
dents sell them via their
various social circles or
by going door-to-door.
“The kids really like to
be involved,” said Amber
Clyde, who serves as
co-president alongside
Nina Biasi. “They love
to raise money for their
fi eld trips and their out-
door school and their
assemblies.”
The fundraiser was
halted with the start of
the coronavirus pan-
demic and subsequent
closure of on-campus
learning. Even this fall,
the PTO realized the kids
wouldn’t be able to sell
the cards through their
normal means while fol-
lowing guidelines for
social distancing.
Instead, the organiza-
tion’s leadership and vol-
unteers took to the park-
ing lot of the former
Broadway Middle School
on Oct. 9 to give commu-
nity members the oppor-
tunity to drive by and
pick up a discount card,
along with cookie dough
for $5. Students stood on
the side of U.S. Highway
101, cheering at passing
cars and holding up hand-
made sides advertising
the sale.
The PTO ran out of
cookie dough during the
event and made a signif-
icant dent in the discount
cards, which are being
sold for $10 this year. In
the past, both Gearhart
and Seaside sold their
own discount cards for
$5. The cards this year
merge the businesses
and special offers typi-
cally featured from year
to year.
“We’re just trying to
get them out so we can
support the businesses
that are on the cards,”
Biasi said.
Even though the cards
were put together in
March, the businesses are
under contract to honor
their offer. However,
the PTO has no way of
enforcing that.
“It’s kind of out of our
control,” Biasi said, add-
ing it even happens in
non-COVID years that
businesses will renege on
their offer, particularly if
they change ownership.
Community members
who didn’t get a chance
to purchase a discount
card during the fundraiser
can do so at the Seaside
School District offi ce,
the Seaside Chamber
of Commerce and busi-
nesses in town.
To form the PTO for
the new Pacifi c Ridge
Elementary School, the
Gearhart PTO was dis-
solved and the group
changed the name of the
Seaside Heights PTO.
They started the process
of merging at the begin-
ning of the year and made
it offi cial over the sum-
mer by combining their
monies and fi ling as a
501(c)(3) under the new
name.
“We’ve been able to
work together to plan
which events we want to
keep,” Biasi said.
At the beginning of
the merger , they sent out
a survey to teachers and
families to get a sense
of which were the most
beloved traditions of each
organization.
“It was important to
us to see what they liked
as our fundraisers or fun
event,” Clyde said.
About 90 people
responded. The top two
answers were the bingo
night at the Heights and
the family fun fair at
Gearhart. The Pacifi c
See PTO, Page A7
Seaside Mayor Jay Bar-
ber sounded an alarm
about chronic homeless-
ness, with people living on
the wooded fringes of the
city and increasing num-
bers of people setting up
camps in local forests and
woods.
“In not all of these cases
but in many of these there
is evidence of drug usage
and concerns about the
possibility of prostitution
being conducted,” Barber
said at last Monday’s City
Council meeting.
Many of those who
are homeless have mental
health problems, substance
abuse addictions and may
have fallen on diffi cult
economic times, he said.
While
organizations
like Helping Hands and
others proactively address
the homeless situation,
most of the homeless peo-
ple encountered in Sea-
side don’t want to become
involved in these pro-
grams, either because of
addictions or other life-
style issues, Barber said.
Police Chief Dave Ham
agreed there has been an
increase in homelessness
in Seaside.
“Many factors contrib-
ute to this, but what we see
from our police contacts is
that many of the people we
See Homelessness, Page A6
No parking zone
proposed on parts
of Sunset Boulevard
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
In a move aimed to
protect
dog-walkers,
bicyclists and pedestri-
ans, the Seaside Trans-
portation Advisory Com-
mission
recommended
a parking reduction on
the west side of Sunset
Boulevard.
“When vehicles are
parked along the curb, it
reduces the drive lane to
less than 8 feet in width,”
Public Works Direc-
tor Dale McDowell said.
“Vehicles are forced to
drive into the oncom-
ing lane to go around the
parked cars. You come
around the corner and all
of a sudden you are on
top of somebody.”
He said homeowners
have been notified of the
proposed change between
3000 Sunset Blvd and
3182 Sunset Blvd.
“We wanted to get as
much input as we pos-
sibly could,” McDowell
said. “We’re looking to
get as much input as we
can before we take any
parking aware anyplace.”
The proposed change
came before the City
Council last Monday
night.
A significant amount
of curb line along the
See Parking, Page A6
SEASIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT
Distance learning extended
as virus cases persist
By KATHERINE LACAZE
For Seaside Signal
Katherine Lacaze
The PTO raised more than $7,000 and will continue to sell discount cards around Seaside.
Seaside schools will not
be shifting to a hybrid model
with on-campus instruc-
tion by Oct. 26 because of
the number of coronavirus
cases in Clatsop County.
Students
will
con-
tinue with Comprehensive
Distance Learning until
the county’s number of
COVID-19 cases decline
and meet state health
requirements for in-person
learning.
“It is our highest priority
to be able to bring students
back in school, but when
it is safe to do so,” Super-
intendent Susan Penrod
said during Tuesday’s Sea-
side School District board
meeting.
She made a recommen-
dation to the board of direc-
tors to extend Compre-
hensive Distance Learning
See Classes, Page A6
Halloween Happenin’s brings old favorites, new events
R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
Health restrictions as
a result of the coronavi-
rus pandemic have lim-
ited Halloween activities
everywhere, but the Seaside
Downtown Development
Association is making sure
no one is feeling deprived,
with a full schedule of activ-
ities both new and tradi-
tional throughout the Hal-
loween weekend.
For organizers of the
association’s annual Hal-
loween Happenin’s, this
year is the opportunity to
celebrate a carnival.
“The
most
promi-
nent change is the carni-
val aspect,” Dawn Fuji-
wara-Pavlik, a member of
the association board and
Halloween committee, said.
“In the past, businesses
would host different activi-
ties in their businesses. This
year, we will spread out can-
opies out at Quatat Park.
Participating
businesses
will host their own activity.”
Activities include bean
bag tosses, sand dollar
painting and a tic-tac-toe
game, among others.
“This set-up allows us to
social distance and keep the
storefronts less congested,”
Fujiwara-Pavlik said.
Donations
will
be
accepted in lieu of any fees.
The fi rst “Witches Pad-
dle” event takes place at
Quatat Park on Nov. 1 at
2 p.m., with visitors invited
to dress like a witch or war-
lock, bring their favorite
fl oatable device and fl oat
the Necanicum River.
“We are encouraging
participants to dress up as
witches or warlocks and
bring their stand-up board
or kayak or anything that
fl oats to paddle out from
the launch at Quatat Park,”
Fujiwara-Pavlik said.
“The Halloween com-
mittee has done a fantas-
tic job adhering to all the
guidelines for events for
our COVID restrictions,”
executive director Laurie
Mespelt added.
Events kick off next Sat-
urday on Halloween with
the pet parade at Quatat
Park. Registration starts at
10 a.m. Donations of pet
food or other pet goods
to benefi t Angels for Sara
Courtesy Tiff any Boothe/Seaside Aquarium
See Halloween, Page A7
Participant in a previous Halloween pet parade.