7A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 2015
Drownings: Money for
brochures would need to
come from community
fundraising or grants
Continued from Page 1A
EDWARD STRATTON — The Daily Astorian
From left, Ganesh Sonpatki of the Param Hotel Group, accompanied to the Port of Astoria Commission meeting Tues-
day by his general anager, Franky Dsilva, will assume the remaining lease on the Astoria Riverwalk Inn from Brad
Smithart of Hospitality Masters, accompanied by his general manager, Lenny Cheyney.
Hotel: ‘If we don’t move forward here,
I’m going to have to close the hotel’
Continued from Page 1A
eventually joined by Hunsing-
er, John Raichl, Stephen Ful-
ton and James Campbell in
voting “yes” to the assign-
ment of the lease.
Smithart’s lease calls for
him to pay the Port $10,000
a month in rent May through
October; $5,000 in monthly
rent November through April;
and 10 percent of his gross
revenues. For paying off Smi-
thart’s debts and investing
about $300,000 up front in the
hotel, the Port will cut the rent
to $5,000 a month year-round.
It will also agree to collect 7
percent of gross revenues.
Smithart’s lease on the
Riverwalk Inn runs through
September 2017, with an op-
WLRQ WR H[WHQG DQRWKHU ¿YH
years. As part of the lease as-
signment, the Port will enter
negotiations on a new lease
with Sonpatki, who said he
seeks at least 17 years.
“We’re planning on put-
ting over $500,000 into this
property,” Sonpatki said, add-
ing he will look to structurally
and aesthetically improve the
Riverwalk Inn while keeping
it a budget hotel.
Desperate situation
“If we don’t move for-
ward here, I’m going to have
to close the hotel,” Smithart
said at the meeting Tuesday.
Hospitality Masters, a
partnership between Smithart
and Seth Davis, took over
operation of the former Red
Lion in March 2012. Smi-
thart has since become the
sole owner of the company
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cial trouble with the River-
walk Inn.
He and Davis originally
agreed to pay the Port $10,000
a month, while sharing 10
percent of gross revenues. But
by August 2013, Smithart had
received an eviction notice
from the Port, falling behind
on rent and revenue-sharing,
in addition to being behind on
transient room taxes with the
city.
He avoided eviction,
and in November 2013,
the Port Commission vot-
ed 3-2 to give Smithart a
$30,000-a-year break on
rent, lowering it to $5,000 a
month in the winter months,
provided he invest the saved
rent into the Port’s building
and provide an accounting of
the improvements.
The Port’s counsel mailed
Smithart a letter Feb. 9 giv-
ing notice of default, since he
had once again fallen behind
with the Port, the city and
had about $16,000 in federal
tax liens against him.
Focus on arcade
“I found someone who can
make the hotel what I want it
to be,” Smithart said in an ear-
lier interview Tuesday, adding
that Sonpatki plans to keep the
existing staff.
As a sole operator, he said,
LWZDVGLI¿FXOWWRJHW¿QDQFLDO
backing from banks. But Smi-
thart added he doesn’t feel as
if he failed on the hotel, hav-
ing opened it up and providing
more than $500,000 in payroll,
with 18 to 27 employees.
As soon as Friday, Smi-
thart will open an expansion
of the Arc Arcade, which he
opened at the corner of 11th
and Commercial streets in
July 2014. “Being debt free
with the city and county is go-
ing to be nice to work on my
other projects.”
the group has been working
on a plan ever since. After
the town hall meeting, “The
committee triaged all of the
ideas. We brainstormed,”
Malin said. The group
eventually settled on the
three priorities that seemed
the most practical.
“Number one is a bro-
chure to go to tourists,
hotels,” Malin said.
The Surf Rescue team
does have a brochure
that is packed with help-
ful information about
how to avoid various
local hazards. However,
the information is a bit
outdated and supplies
are running low. Addi-
tionally, Malin said the
group would like to give
the brochure more visual
appeal and make the lan-
guage more accessible
for younger readers. It
also needs to be helpful
to those with limited En-
glish.
“We’re looking to ei-
ther completely revamp
that brochure, or put it in
the form of a handout,”
Malin said.
In-person contacts
The group’s next pri-
ority is a beach-safety
outreach program. Malin
envisions a group of vol-
unteers in easily-identi-
fiable hats andT-shirts,
who would be trained to
talk with tourists about
common safety issues,
such as not allowing chil-
dren to swim in danger-
ous places.
Finally, the group
would eventually like to
create a flag system that
would help alert beachgo-
ers when hazardous con-
ditions exist.
“In the past, we’ve
used signs, but they get
stolen,” Malin said, ex-
plaining that flags are
less vulnerable to theft
and vandalism, since they
can be taken down at
night. According to Ma-
lin, some Florida commu-
nities have used flag sys-
tems with great success.
For now, the group is
working on revising the
brochure. Malin said it has
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way to get all the crucial
safety information into
something that is pock-
et-sized and easy to read.
Knutzen
endorsement
Knutzen, who is trying
to turn over some of his
extensive volunteer du-
ties over to others, said
he is confident Hanson
and Malin will come up
with a good design.
“They’re doing a
great job and I support
anything they’re doing,”
Knutzen said.
Malin said once the
designed is settled, the
next step is fund-raising.
For 50,000 brochures
would cost about $7,000.
The money would need
to come from community
fundraising or grants.
She hopes to raise the
money and get it to the
printers within the next
couple of months, so that
they can move on to the
next part of the plan —
getting volunteers, mer-
chants and hotels to dis-
tribute the safety brochure
as widely as possible.
“Summer is coming
and we’ve got to get this
ready for it to go,” Malin
said.
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