community
february16
5
Three Things to Watch as Tall Wood Buildings Rise in the Northwest
2017
A closer look at opportunities
in the burgeoning Cross Lami-
nated Timber market
By Brent Davies
Ecotrust Vice President,
Forests and Ecosystem Services
Tall wood buildings are on the
rise in the Northwest, along with de-
mand for cross-laminated timber (CLT),
the engineered wood product used to
make them. With a foothold in Europe,
Canada, and New Zealand, the market
for CLT is still in its infancy in the Unit-
ed States, but is already estimated at $4
billion.
Building with wood is nothing
new, of course — so why the sudden
surge of interest? Let’s take a closer look
at CLT and three big reasons to pay at-
tention to it.
CLT is changing the building industry
Against a backdrop of rapidly
growing urban populations and a short-
age of affordable housing, and in light of
the abundance of our region’s forests, in-
terest in CLT from Northwest architects
is growing. The material has been incor-
porated into dozens of low and mid-rise
buildings (almost all below 20 stories
tall) around the world, including these
five buildings that are either in design or
construction right here in Oregon:
• Lever Architecture’s Albina Yard
building
• PATH Architecture’s 8-story Carbon 12
building that has broken ground in North
Portland
• Beneficial State Bank’s new Frame-
work building, which is another Lever
project and will reach 12 stories
• OSU College of Forestry’s new Oregon
Forest Science Complex
• Springfield’s 4-story parking garage
These buildings are increasingly
being referred to as “tall wood build-
ings” or “mass timber construction.”
The Engineered Wood Asso-
ciation describes a CLT panel as, “sev-
eral layers of kiln-dried lumber boards
stacked in alternating directions, bonded
with structural adhesives, and pressed to
form a solid, straight, rectangular panel.
While at the mill, CLT panels are cut to
continued on page 17
The Ku Klux Klan and My Grandmother’s House continued from page 3
property ownerships rights to Japanese.
This was the high water mark of
the Klan in Oregon. As quickly as it rose,
it fell. Infighting within the Oregon lead-
ership, a sex scandal and fighting over
the considerable money the Klan was
bringing in – as much as $24,000,000 in
1922 -- helped lead to its demise. Disclo-
sures by disaffected members showed
the deep commercial nature of the Klan.
By the end of the decade, the Klan had
deteriorated significantly. The Klan push
for what they called a 100% society was
hard to maintain. The system of cross-
referrals between Klan businesses hit
a nerve. Signs advertising businesses
as 100% American -- code for Klan --
started coming down. The compulsory
Education Act was declared unconstitu-
tional and a similar version failed badly
in Washington State. Governor Pierce
was badly beaten in his re-election. It
was as if a big storm had blown through
and there was considerable relief it was
over.
It could not have been easy on
Down River Road’s 200 or so residents.
The five black children of school age in
1924 were denied access to Vernonia
Schools. They went to school in Port-
land, boarding mostly with relatives,
while Portland’s foremost Civil Rights
leader at the time, Beatrice Morrow Can-
nady, negotiated on their behalf. While
certainly intimidated, the people in the
shacks were not passive. They formed
their own NAACP Chapter and their
kids were able to enter school in their
home town in 1925.
The Klan was quite active in
Vernonia and the local Klavern dis-
cussed constructing its own building.
The Klan marched in parades and held
picnics and the local paper, the Vernonia
Eagle, reported extensively on its initia-
The Vernonia
Transfer Station
is open on the
2nd and 4th Saturday
from 8am-2pm
February 25
March 11 & 25
Dates and times are subject
to change due to weather
tions. The powerful Tillamook and Asto- head down to play ball at the high school
ria Klaverns held large rallies – Astoria field, across the creek from the shacks.
claimed 2,000 Klansmen – which moved A couple of kids from the shacks would
between Tillamook, Astoria and Verno- play catch or join the pick-up games, but
nia one weekend in 1922. The glow I don’t recall if those kids played on one
of many burning crosses fell on those of the several official teams in our little
shacks.
boys league that
It’s clear
played in Verno-
The five black children
that Vernonia at
nia, Mist, Goble,
the time was an
Scappoose,
of school age in 1924
explosion wait-
Clatskanie, and
were denied access to
ing to happen.
St. Helens.
Vernonia Schools. They
It’s thrown to-
When we lived
gether popula-
went to school in Portland, there, in 1954,
tion, not only
the mill was in
boarding mostly with
contained fairly
the process of
large communi-
being cannibal-
relatives...
ties of Blacks,
ized in a series of
Filipinos and Japanese, but also many mergers and purchases and finally closed
immigrants. A big crowd of Klansmen in 1957. It had created 2.5 billion board
in town and the little Down River Road feet of lumber and cut nearly all the old
community never did clash, though growth fir in the area. The last load of
doubtless there were humiliations and lumber sent out from the mill contained
near misses. Perhaps the O and A com- a message on butcher paper tacked to the
pany was a steady hand in town, not logs:
wanting race or religion to complicate “Last Load”
the business of making, transporting and “Oregon American from 1922-1957.”
selling the lumber from those mighty “Ain’t No More!!”
Douglas firs.
As a college student in 1964
In the summer of 1954, we’d I was driving from Eugene to Cannon
moved in with my grandmother during a Beach to meet friends. Passing by the
tough time. My brother and I slept on a Banks cutoff, I made a snap decision to
big featherbed our parents had rigged up drive to Vernonia over the 15 mile road
in the garage. We’d slowly sink down
until little but noses and toes peaked out
of the mattress and those were quickly
topped with a big comforter.
We’d walk down the hill, past
a very aggressive German shepherd, to
ARRESTS / REPORTS TAKEN
the berry bus that would carry us out to
• February 1, 2017 Report of a Stolen
Banks and its strawberry and blackcap
Vehicle near North Mist Dr.
fields, stopping at the Banks Dairy Queen
• February 6, 2017 Report of outside
on the way back to spend most of the
Agency Assist near Nehalem HWY North
two or three dollars we made. Dropped
• February 6, 2017 Report of Disorderly
off in the early afternoon, we’d then
Conduct II near Madison and Maple St.
• February 6, 2017 Report of Stolen
Vehicle Recovered near Spencer Ave.
and East Alabama Ave.
• February 9, 2017 Report of a Stolen
Vernonia City Council
Vehicle near Louisiana Ave.
Meetings and Closures
• February 9, 201 Report of Unlawful
Entry of a Motor Vehicle near Knott St.
• February 11, 2017 Arrest for Disorderly
City Council Meetings
Conduct II and Harassment near Bridge
are scheduled for 7:00 pm:
St.
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
• February 12, 2017 Arrested on a
Monday, March 6, 2017
Warrant near California Ave.
• February 12, 2017 Report of an
City Closures
Abandoned Vehicle near East Ave. and
are scheduled for:
North St.
Monday, February 20, 2017
• February 13, 2017 Report of a non-injury
Presidents’ Day Holiday
Motor Vehicle Crash near Bridge St. and
Texas Ave.
where, years earlier, I would hold my
breath and wonder if my Dad would pull
over, stop the car and invite me to drive
the rest of the way, my Mom not approv-
ing.
After a disappointing stop at my
grandma’s house – the strawberry field
had a house on it – I drove down to the
High School and walked down to the
baseball field across from the shacks at
what I know now as Down River Road.
It was known as Anderson Park Road
after the RV Park the city developed
once a successor company to O and A
deeded the land to the city of Vernonia.
There was nothing there. I hopped the
creek and inspected the bushes and fill. I
could find no artifacts, none. No pieces
of plumbing or door knobs, a spoon or a
clothes hanger. There was nothing there
to show that people once lived there,
strangers in their own town. Somehow
defeated, I drove on to the coast through
the next generations of Douglas fir.
This article was originally published on
September 26, 2013 in Bob Royer’s blog
The Cascadia Courier, and is reprinted
with permission. Bob Royer is a native
Oregonian who adopted the state of
Washington in 1965. He lives in Seattle
with his wife Barbara.
Police Blotter • February 1-13, 2017
Dates and times subject to change
CITATIONS / OTHER
• February 2, 2017 Cited for Driving While
Suspended and Driving Uninsured near
Bridge St. and Washington Ave.
• February 4, 2017 Cited for Violation of
the Posted Speed near North Mist Dr. and
Grove St.
• February 8, 2017 Cited for Expired
Registration near Rose Ave. and Cougar
St.
• February 9, 2017 Cited for Driving While
Suspended and Uninsured near East
Alabama Ave. and Riverside Dr.
• February 10, 2017 Cited for Driving
While Suspended and Uninsured near
Bridge St. and Jefferson Ave.
• February 10, 2017 Cited for Driving
While Suspended/Careless/and
Uninsured near Nehalem HWY South.
• February 11, 2017 Cited for No
Insurance near North Mist Dr. and
Douglas St.
• February 12, 2017 Cited for Driving
While Suspended near Bridge St. and
California Ave.
Vernonia Police Department responds to calls that do not always end in Arrest,
Report, or Citation. 02/01/2017 through 02/13/2017 VPD had 178 calls for service.