Ellington’s life
and times
Social Security
turns 80
OPINION • 4A
PAGE 5A
143rd YEAR, No. 31
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 12, 2015
ONE DOLLAR
Back to
business
Warrenton biz
group to focus
on promotion,
may cede charity
activities to city
By ERICK BENGEL
The Daily Astorian
WALK AND ROLL
Downtown Astoria tour highlights obstacles to mobility
By ERICK BENGEL
The Daily Astorian
T
he city benches in down-
town Astoria — the
wood-slatted ones with no
back, arms or handles and that
dip lengthwise along the center
— look comfortable enough, but
tell that to aging and disabled
residents and visitors who, after
sitting down, struggle to escape
from them.
Purchased and installed a few
years ago, the unusual benches add
quirkiness to the cityscape. They’re
low enough that they don’t block
anyone’s sight lines (a feature that
merchants opposite the benches
quite appreciate).
However, to expect older cit-
izens and those with mobility
issues — not to mention short-
er people with little upper-body
strength — to dismount the bench-
es gracefully may be asking too
much, according to City Councilor
Drew Herzig.
“Try putting your grandmother
in a bean bag chair and see if she
can get out,” he said.
Herzig helped lead almost three
dozen residents through an infor-
mal one-hour “walkability tour”
of Duane and Commercial streets
Monday evening.
The tour — facilitated by Alan
DeLaTorre, a researcher at the In-
stitute on Aging at Portland State
University; Elaine Friesen-Strang,
a member of the AARP Oregon’s
executive council; and Noel Mick-
elberry, executive director of the
pedestrian advocacy organization
Oregon Walks — gave the group a
chance to notice what able-bodied
WARRENTON — The Warren-
ton Business Association, an all-vol-
unteer city advisory board tasked
with promoting the city’s business
community and increasing livability
citywide, may soon cease to deal in
social giving, possibly allowing the
city to take over that role.
The City Commission, at its
Tuesday work
session , agreed
that the asso-
ciation, whose
budget comes
from business
license
fees,
should focus
on
advertis-
ing Warrenton
businesses and
business oppor-
Rick
tunities rather
Newton
than on screen-
ing and consid-
ering grant applications from local
nonpro¿ ts.
Social giving “really doesn’t ¿ t
in with what their goals are at all,”
Commissioner Rick Newton said.
The issue of whether charity
should be within the association’s
purview arose last month when
the city noticed that $13,000 of the
$20,000 given to the association for
social spending in ¿ scal year 201-
16 would have gone toward three
religious organizations.
Only one of the three donations
— $3,000 for a Christian youth
camp — was intended for a religious
function; the church later withdrew
its request for funding. A donation of
$,000 for a playground fence went
ahead because the fence served a
public purpose. The third donation, a
See WARRENTON, Page 10A
Photos by Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
ABOVE: Dr. Alan DeLaTorre, of Portland State University’s Institute in Aging, speaks to the crowd
about some of the accessible features within the Garden of Surging Waves during the Roll and Stroll
walkability tour of Astoria Monday. TOP: People walk the streets of Astoria during the tour.
pedestrians tend to overlook: the
design features that can prevent the
mobility challenged from navigat-
ing the built environment.
“The more walkable and acces-
sible we can make communities,
the more likely people are able to
stay in the place that they want to
live,” Mickelberry said.
Hazards
The benches — triumphs of
form over function, character over
convenience — came up time and
again.
Pointing at a bench near Co-
lumbia Bank, DeLaTorre said, “If
it had a back and arms, and a place
underneath to put your feet so that
you could leverage yourself up,
that’s the best set of design features
that you could get.”
Scott Tucker, superintendent of
Lewis and Clark National Histori-
cal Park, noted that he wouldn’t be
able to spend federal funds on such
a bench because the design doesn’t
comply with the Americans with
Disability Act.
“We weren’t thinking in terms
of ADA,” Herzig said.
A nearby homeless man, who
asked to remain anonymous, said
of the benches, “They’re all right
to sleep on, but to sit on?”
The awkward benches aren’t the
only problem.
For people using canes and
walkers, potential tripping hazards
abound: broken sections of pave-
ment, uneven slabs of sidewalk,
warped utility vault covers that get
slippery when wet, etc.
By KATHERINE LACAZE
EO Media Group
SEASIDE — An ordinance regu-
lating medical marijuana grow sites
in Seaside is in the books, but setting
a local license fee for growers is still
to come.
At its meeting Monday, Seaside City
Council unanimously approved legisla-
tion to amend the city’s general business
license ordinance to allow medical mar-
ijuana production and processing and
add a new chapter in the Code of Sea-
side setting restrictions on where and
how those businesses operate.
The ordinance will go into effect
after 30 days . At that time, medical
marijuana grow sites will be restricted
to the three areas zoned for industrial
Kevin
Cupples
Angela
Fairless
usage in Seaside .
A marijuana grow site is a location
registered with the state where mar-
ijuana is produced or processed and
may be transferred to a medical mari-
juana facility registered by the Oregon
Health Authority.
How to decide
City Planner Kevin Cupples said
he believes the ordinance would ap-
Restrictions grow
for man who tried
to arrest mayor
By DERRICK DePLEDGE
The Daily Astorian
ply to all medical marijuana growers
registered with the Oregon Medical
Marijuana Program, whether they’re
growing one plant for pro¿ t or the legal
limit. He said he is unsure how the city
can differentiate for-pro¿ t operations
from personal in-home grow sites,
which became legal under Measure 91.
“Part of it is dependent on them,” he
said. If growers are part of the state’s
marijuana grow -site registration sys-
tem, they have to take the initiative to
get licensed with the city.
“I’m not sure how that will or won’t
happen,” Cupples said.
Seaside resident and activist Ange-
la Fairless said the ordinance is a good
start, but she believes there should be
more clarifying language about how
the city “will decide who has to apply
for this business license and be restrict-
ed by those zoning regulations.” As the
A Circuit Court judge Tuesday
expanded restrictions on a man
who tried to perform a citizen’s
arrest of Astoria Mayor Arline
LaMear in June to include the en-
tire City Council.
Zachary Seidel, 29, had been
restricted from going back to City
Hall after the
disruption at
a City Coun-
cil meeting.
Upset
over
the move of
a communi-
cations tower
off Coxcomb
Hill, he at first
tried to arrest
Zachary
LaMear, then
Seidel
Police Chief
Brad
John-
ston, before Johnston tackled him
to the ground.
Seidel was charged with crim-
inal trespass, disorderly conduct
and resisting arrest. As a condition
of his release, he was barred from
City Hall.
Later in June, he told The Daily
Astorian he wanted to arrest the
entire City Council.
The action Tuesday by Circuit
Court Judge Fred Avera was large-
ly to correct an oversight in the
original release agreement.
See SEASIDE, Page 10A
See SEIDEL, Page 10A
See TOUR, Page 10A
Seaside restricts marijuana grow sites
Licensing fee schedule
yet to be determined
Stay away