THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, MARCH 2, 2015
NORTH COAST
3A
Cannon Beach housing too
costly for many of its workers
Housing Task
Force examines
reasons why
employees
must commute
By ERICK BENGEL
EO Media Group
CANNON BEACH — The
second meeting of the city’s
Affordable Housing Adviso-
ry Task Force, held Thursday
at City Hall, underlined many
of the well-established rea-
sons that low-income fam-
ilies cannot both work and
live in Cannon Beach.
A lack of available units
and the prohibitively expen-
sive cost of the units that are
available hover near the top
of the list, according to task
force member Todd John-
ston, executive director of
Northwest Oregon Housing
Authority.
Many of the city’s low-
wage employees must re-
side in Seaside, Astoria and
surrounding areas, where
living costs are cheaper, and
then commute to Cannon
Beach.
In addition, many proper-
ty owners actually have little
incentive to create more af-
fordable housing: They can
make as much money in a
month, or even in a couple of
weeks, renting out their units
to deep-pocketed short-term
visitors as they can renting
to a low-income family for a
year, Johnston said.
The Northwest Oregon
Housing Authority, which
administers federal Hous-
ing and Urban Development
funds, runs several programs
that provide access to decent
affordable housing in Clat-
sop, Columbia and Tillamook
Counties. One is a voucher
program that will cover up to
70 percent of a tenant’s rent
if the ¿gure is within 110 per-
cent of what HUD considers
“fair market rent.”
Though this voucher pro-
gram “could have a big im-
pact” on Cannon Beach’s
affordable housing problem,
the people who currently
manage to use the vouchers
in Cannon Beach seem to
be exceptions. Oftentimes,
“the landlord is a friend of a
friend of a friend who agreed
to lower their rent” so that
a family or elderly person
could live in the unit, John-
ston said.
During the next year, the
six-member task force hopes
to prepare a set of recommen-
dations for the City Council
to address Cannon Beach’s
dearth of affordable housing
options.
Russ Thompson has been navigating the Astoria
Riverfront Trolley up and down the rails through
town for 12-plus years.
Volunteer to drive,
conduct the trolley
The upcoming Asto-
ria Riverfront Trolley
schedule is as follows:
• Noon to 6 p.m. daily
March 20 through April
12
• Noon to 6 p.m.
Friday, Saturday and
Sunday only, April 17
through May 24
• Noon to 6 p.m. daily,
May 25 through Sept. 7
• Noon to 6 p.m. Fri-
day, Saturday, Sunday
only, Sept. 11 through
winter closure
Training for new vol-
unteers starts in March.
Volunteers can be As-
toria Riverfront Trolley
conductors and/or mo-
torman, but all volun-
teers learn the conduc-
tor’s duties. Those who
wish to operate the trol-
ley undergo additional
training and certifica-
tion. Volunteers work
one or more three-hour
shifts per month.
Conductors get a
chance to tell visitors
Astoria’s history, what
places to visit, where to
eat and what things to
do, and have an oppor-
tunity to talk to people
about what makes Asto-
ria a great place to vis-
it and live. Those who
wish to be a motorman,
and only want to operate
Old 300 and never use
the microphone, are en-
couraged to find a full-
time conductor to team
up with.
Anyone
interested
in volunteering can call
503-325-6311 for infor-
mation about the March
training.
Learn more at www.
old300.org.
CCC term begins soon
Submitted
Sarahjoy Marsh teaches a class at the 2013 Cannon Beach Yoga Festival in the Cannon Beach Chamber Hall. Marsh will
be one of several instructors at this year’s festival.
Cannon Beach hosts
¿IWKDQQXDO\RJDIHVWLYDO
Three-day
event offers
instruction for
all skill levels
CANNON BEACH —
Yoga practitioners of all
ages and skill levels will
converge on the coast for
the fifth annual Cannon
Beach Yoga Festival Friday
through Sunday.
Over three days, par-
ticipants can choose from
10 hours of yoga, medita-
tion workshops and oth-
er programs presented by
world-renowned instructors
at different spots through-
out town.
“With its inspiring nat-
ural surroundings, Cannon
Beach is the perfect location
for a wellness weekend get-
away, and I’m very excited
about this year’s program,”
said Christen Allsop, the
festival director and owner
of Cannon Beach Yoga Arts.
For the fifth consecu-
tive year, the yoga festival
received funding from the
city’s Tourism and Arts
Commission as seed mon-
ey to organize the event.
This year, the grant was
for $36,000. Organizations
receiving tourism and arts
grants must show that their
events bring visitors to Can-
non Beach from more than
50 miles away and that the
event involves the arts.
Allsop estimated that the
festival will draw 150 to
175 participants, including
teachers and assistants. The
number is about the same as
last year.
Instructors will include:
• Simon Chokoisky, a
teacher at Ayurvedic Insti-
tute in New Mexico and
author of “The 5 Dharma
Types: Vedic Wisdom for
Discovering Your Purpose
& Destiny;”
• Julie Gudmestad, a cer-
tified Iyengar yoga teacher
and physical therapist, di-
rector of Gudmestad Yoga
Studio in Portland and col-
umnist for Yoga Journal;
• Sarahjoy Marsh, a
yoga teacher, therapist and
founder of DAYA Founda-
tion, a nonprofit yoga center
in Portland;
• Brad Waites, one of
a few to be certified at the
2,000-hour level by the
College of Purna Yoga, and
who is a member of the col-
lege faculty.
The lineup also includes
Dave Stringer, a practitioner
of the new Kirtan (call and
response chant) movement.
Stringer has recorded six
CDs and lent his voice to
the soundtracks of the film,
“The Matrix Revolutions”
and the video game, Myst.
Flexible festival
Full festival passes are
$375 and include the choice
of 10 hours of main track
workshops, morning medi-
tation on Saturday and Sun-
day, Saturday night Kirtan
and opening and closing
ceremonies.
Additional
optional
workshops and lectures also
are available throughout the
weekend. Partial festival
passes are priced between
$20 and $125. Saturday-on-
ly passes are $210, and Sun-
day-only passes are $190.
“There’s a ton of flexibil-
ity built into (the festival),”
Allsop said. “It’s depends
on how involved they want
to be.”
A portion of the festival
proceeds supports the pres-
ervation efforts of Cannon
Beach’s nonprofit environ-
mental education organiza-
tion, Friends of Haystack
Rock.
Several Cannon Beach
hotels and resorts are offer-
ing lodging specials and spa
packages for the festival,
including Cannon Beach
Vacation Rentals, Hallmark
Resort & Spa, Inn at Can-
non Beach, Land’s End at
Cannon Beach, Sea Ranch
Resort, Sea Sprite Guest
Lodgings, Surfsand Resort,
The Ocean Lodge, Tolovana
Inn and Vacasa Rentals of
Cannon Beach.
Local shops, restaurants
and wellness business-
es will also offer specials
during the weekend.
For a full schedule of
events, instructors, lodging
packages or to purchase
tickets, visit www.Cannon-
BeachYogaFestival.com,
or call Allsop at 503-440-
1649.
Read Across Astor to be held Thursday
John Jacob Astor Elementary
School is sponsoring the third-annual
Read Across Astor, an event for local
business ones to connect with Astoria
School District students in order to
create excitement about reading.
The event will take place between
10:30 to 11:15 a.m. Thursday, in con-
junction with Dr. Seuss’ birthday. Lo-
cal business owners are invited to join
a small group of first-graders and read
them a book specifically selected for
Dr. Seuss’ birthday. At the end of the
read-aloud, which should take about
20 minutes, each student will get a
copy of the book to keep and share
with their families. Enclosed with
each book that is given to first-graders
is a list of local businesses that have
participated in Read Across Astor Day.
Businesses interested in participat-
ing in this even can call 503-325-6672
or email Principal Kate Gohr at kg-
ohr@astoria.or.us
US Rep. Bonamici schools amendment gains traction
Washington, D.C. —
U.S. Rep Suzanne Bonami-
ci, D-Ore., highlighted
the bipartisan support for
an amendment, co-spon-
sored by her and Rep. Ryan
Costello, R-Pa., that was in-
cluded in the House’s bill to
reauthorize the Elementary
and Secondary Education
Act.
The amendment, a ver-
sion of Bonamici’s SMART
(Support Making Assess-
ments Reliable and Timely)
Act, was adopted in House
Resolution 5, the Student
Success Act. It allows states
and school districts to use
federal resources to elimi-
nate low-quality and redun-
dant tests.
“The inclusion of this
amendment in H.R. 5 il-
lustrates the reasonable
approach the amendment
takes to improve assess-
ments and reduce unnec-
essary testing, which takes
valuable instruction time
from students and teach-
ers,” Bonamici said. “Al-
though I am pleased to have
the amendment includ-
ed, HR 5 still has serious
flaws. It includes several
troubling provisions, in-
cluding one that would di-
vert money from our needi-
est schools by making Title
I funds ‘portable.’ It also
removes the ‘maintenance
of effort’ provision that
currently requires states to
maintain levels of school
funding.
“The Senate is working
on its own bill, and I am
optimistic they can take a
more bipartisan approach
and produce an improved
bill. I will continue to ad-
vocate for including the full
SMART Act in legislation
that ultimately replaces No
Child Left Behind.”
Registration for spring
term classes at Clatsop Com-
munity College opens to all
admitted students Wednesday.
Classes begin March 30.
Registering as early as
possible provides the best op-
portunity to secure your most
desirable classes. Prior to reg-
istering, degree-seeking stu-
dents need to meet with their
adviser. Students who need
advising or other registration
assistance should contact Stu-
dent Services at 503-338-2411.
For more information re-
garding academic advising, vis-
it www.clatsopcc.edu/advising
W A NTED
Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber
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