08
april
vernonia’s
voice community news
2008
Food Bank Adjusts Hours
Vernonia Cares Food Bank adjusted its hours of operation as of March 4, 2008.
The food bank, located within the American Legion Building at 627 Adams Avenue,
opens at 10:00 and closes at 2:00 each Tuesday and Thursday. If a client works out
of town and cannot visit the pantry during its regular hours of operation, they are
asked to call the food bank (503-429-1414) to make special arrangements.
The focus of Vernonia Cares Food Bank continues to be to assist low income
households and those whose homes were flooded. The income guidelines for low-in-
come households are: for a household of one person, monthly gross income $1,603;
two person households, $2,158; three person households $2,713; for each additional
member, add $555 per month. Flood victims whose income is above this level but
need grocery assistance may still receive a food box once a month. Registration
includes names and birthdates of all household residents. A proof of address is also
required to verify clients live within Cares’ service area.
Director Sandy Welch states, “Before the flood, the food bank assisted about
120 households a month. Following the flood, we were open more days and helped
690 households (plus over 250 holiday food boxes) in December 2007. In January
2008, Cares aided more than 400 households. February statistics show about 280
households utilized Cares groceries.”
“As the food bank returns to our former system of three days worth of emergen-
cy groceries given once a month, we expect our client load to level out to about 250
households per month. This will require twice the groceries from the pre-flood days
in order to meet this increased demand. Right now, flood survivors’ money is often
spent on flood recovery building materials, and this short-changes the personal gro-
cery budget. Food donations have dwindled, so we hope the public will once again
step forth to help Vernonia Cares provide food for those who need it the most.”
Donations of food or funds are always appreciated. Food can be brought to the
food bank during Cares’ regular hours or call 503-429-1414 for other arrangements.
Financial donations may be sent to Vernonia Cares, PO Box 126, Vernonia, OR
97064. Receipts for tax-deductible donations will be issued upon request.
Getting the Big Picture about Flood Recovery
By Scott Laird
A recent presentation by Jim Tierney at a Flood Recovery Workshop was eye
opening. The workshop was a joint meeting between the Vernonia City Coun-
cil, Columbia County Commissioners and Columbia County Flood Relief
(CCFR) and was supposed to help establish Flood Relief Policy. Although
no policy was actually established, good information was shared among those
involved.
Tierney was part of the community flood recovery effort after the 1996 flood
and is buried in the process as county coordinator this time. Tierney finds
himself in the unique position of being able to give some real insight into
the after effects and consequences of flood recovery based on choices a com-
munity makes for dealing with the risk of flooding. One of the most powerful
tools the city and county can have is a Hazard Mitigation program.
What exactly is hazard (in this case, flood) mitigation? It is identifying flood
risks and causes and finding ways to reduce or eliminate those risks. It can
consist of acquiring properties and homes, moving or raising homes, flood
proofing businesses, flood control projects, and community planning for fu-
ture development.
Tierney’s presentation on March 17th, following a Vernonia City Council
meeting, addressed how Vernonia chose to respond to the flood in 1996 versus
what he is recommending should be done this time. He called the community
response in ’96 “inadequate,” meaning that we did not understand the need to
be much more aggressive in our response. What he suggests is that the city
and county be more “ interventionist “ this time, meaning more proactive,
thoughtful and aggressive - in our fund raising, in our policy setting, in the
personal choices we make, and in how much assistance and guidance we ac-
cumulate and distribute.
“I believe we all misjudged the situation last time,” Tierney says. “This time,
it seems we have all gotten religion.” He believes that we must “make no more
mistakes.” His plan is for the creation of a seventy-five-year strategy to elimi-
nate our risk from flood hazards.
Tierney distributed a chart that showed the circumstances, actions and deci-
sions that he believes have led us to be at risk of repeated flooding. Based
on his belief that we will experience another or several similar events in our
lifetime, Tierney has also created a chart showing likely outcomes if the com-
munity makes better choices from now on.
The first chart shows how state and federal requirements, geography, public
choices, and individual choices led to ruined lives, ruined schools, threatened
economy, and unwanted enforcement actions. Among the detailed actions
Tierney identified that led to those results were:
• A failure to enforce compliance by local government
• Land use rules that hindered development choices
• The location of our community at the confluence of three drainage basins
• The failure to obtain, maintain (by citizens) and enforce (by lenders) cur-
rent flood insurance requirements
• Ill-conceived recent property developments
• Highway 47’s function as a dike
• No real storm water management plan
• Short-term thinking including the belief that ‘96 was an aberration
Tierney countered this with his second chart. This showed how a plan that in-
cludes strategic choices, smart public investment, a healthy business climate,
and smart growth will hopefully lead to a clear and open flood plain, efficient
sewage treatment, safe school and community facilities, an increasing tax
base, healthy real estate values, and business investment. Actions identified
as leading to these outcomes included:
• The eventual conversion of land below the Rock Creek Bridge into green space
• Working towards eventually clearing the “tree streets” of all development
• An efficient drainage of the mill site
• Building a new “green” school campus on high ground- then planning de-
velopment around that new location
• Inclusion of city input during new school facility planning to ensure ef-
ficient infrastructure development and smart city growth
• Moving public utility systems to higher locations
• Exploiting cleared areas in the flood plain to encourage tourism
• Replacing Nehalem River bridges to cause less flood impact, and
• Preserving historic downtown Vernonia by making mitigation choices that
reduce future flood risk.
Flood workers note that victims are surprised and devastated by these floods.
“Working in the flood center gives one a clear sense of the enormous losses,
personal and financial, suffered by flood victims,” Tierney explained. “In our
wildest dreams we will never restore all that was lost.” He believes that local
officials have an obligation to protect future citizens where they can.
During his presentation, Tierney also showed examples of types of individual
projects that CCFR is working to accomplish. CCFR is currently identifying
and securing funding to assist property owners with mitigation including: land
acquisitions, home buyouts including new home construction, and home lifts
and repairs. Tierney showed how - through state and federal grants, charitable
donations, and the work of faith groups - many local property owners will be
able to receive needed help to get themselves out of the path of future flood-
ing. This mitigation will also dampen the negative economic impact of future
events.
The process of adopting a more inclusive and encompassing mitigation plan
also has some drawbacks. First of all, it will take a large amount of resources;
Tierney is seeking upwards of $10 million dollars. It will also take time, and
residents are beginning to get impatient.
“The challenge here is to understand each owner and their property well enough
to help them devise their best recovery strategy using their resources and those
we have available,” Tierney said. “We are working to develop the skills of our
volunteer case managers and construction staff to meet this challenge as the
resources become available.” At this time, Tierney and Planning Commission
Chairman Dan Brown are working to complete policy recommendations for the
City Council and County Commission that will implement these strategies.
Jessica Davis
Dance Class
April Workshop 2008
Classes being Wed. April 2, 2:30pm
Vernonia Community Church Gymnasium
Instructor Heidi Rice assisting
Pointe Jessica Davis
Taking all experience levels
(call for specific times)
429~0850