OPINION
4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, AUGUST 27, 2015
Trump-ward, Christian soldiers?
Founded in 1873
STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher
LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor
BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager
CARL EARL, Systems Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager
Astoria needs more
workforce housing
A
fter decades of having too many dwellings for its popula-
tion, Astoria’s housing market is much tighter.
Although this is a good thing
for property owners and agents,
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supply and demand will make the
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economic prospects.
Rentals are a particular challenge.
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cult to match new hires with places
to live within the city. For those with
adequate transportation, options still
exist elsewhere in Clatsop County
and across the Astoria Bridge. But
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civic leaders to pay close attention.
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city of Astoria and our Wednesday
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and anecdotal evidence that should
serve as a call to action:
• “City planners took the gen-
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households that devote no more
than 30 percent of annual income
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percent of homeowners and 45.6
percent of renters exceeded the
threshold in 2013.”
• “There really is virtually zero
vacancy,” said Sean Fitzpatrick,
who serves on the Planning
Commission and is a property
manager.
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ative and also a little careful that
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ing for residents of Astoria,” said
Dave Pearson, the president of the
Planning Commission. “Not that we
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Pearson’s reference to Cannon
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years ago, the idea that Astoria
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ation in any way analogous with
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nario would mean many of the
wage-earners who support the
economy of the city would have
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housing markets. Such a situation
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San Francisco. It should not hap-
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tivities is what makes Astoria a fas-
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private property owners. The U.S.
Coast Guard will have to participate
in housing discussions; the prospect
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The city’s study makes a num-
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which largely revolve around
making the most of the space and
existing housing, while facilitating
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Some of the current situation is
a direct consequence of the nation-
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resulting tightening of lending. To
a certain extent, construction will
eventually catch up with demand.
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in Astoria, however, considering the
small river peninsula it occupies.
Maintaining a healthy mix of hous-
ing will demand ongoing attention
for many years to come.
Gov. Brown makes
a signature hire
Upgrading state computer systems
ZiOO Ering enormous eI¿ciencies
C
lyde Saiki is not a household
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FRPH RQH RI WKH PRVW VLJQL¿FDQW
players in Oregon state government.
Saiki (whose name rhymes
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and head of the Department of
Administrative Services.
This is Gov. Kate Brown’s sig-
nature hire. A good measure of
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government’s computer opera-
tions from antiquated to up-to-
date. Many of the state agency
computer systems cannot talk to
other agencies’ systems.
Gov. Brown inherited two ma-
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unexpectedly last January. There
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panion Cylvia Hayes had used the
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major software rollout. No one with
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ings with the software giant Oracle.
Saiki said the goal of his agen-
cy and the new state chief informa-
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issues sooner and deal with them
quickly.
Saiki told Oregon Capital
Insider that Gov. Brown spoke to
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HQF\ 7KH JRYHUQRU EHOLHYHV WKDW
knowing why government is doing
things is as important as knowing
what government is doing.
State government is enormously
important to all citizens. It reaches
into every community with ser-
vices ranging from employment to
economic development to human
services to law enforcement. It is
also a huge enterprise.
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where the real work of state gov-
ernment happens. Updating the
state’s computer systems is not
sexy or eye-catching. But it will
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as Saiki has said, money saved
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to Oregonians’ needs.
By FRANK BRUNI
New York Times News Service
L
et me get this straight. If
I want the admiration and
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ant, judgmental Christians in
America, I should marry three
times, do a queasy-making
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everyone else while I’m at it,
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rhage their savings in casinos
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money I’ve amassed?
Republican
Seems to work for Donald
Trump.
Charlie Neibergall/AP
presidential candidate Donald Trump greets supporters
during a rally Tuesday in Dubuque, Iowa.
What’s different and fas- SD\EDFNIRUKLVGRQDWLRQVWRFRQVHU-
3ROOV VKRZ KLP WR EH
FLQDWLQJ DERXW WKH 7UXPS vative religious groups.
the preferred candidate
worship is that he doesn’t
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even try that hard for a righ- mesmerized them. It could, in the
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party’s vocal evangelical
kin piety. Sure, he speaks of
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enthusiastic churchgoing, there’s no sense in the fact that many
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and he’s careful to curse of the people who most frequently
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Planned Parenthood and to espouse the Christian spirit then pro-
former evangelical pastor,
LQVLVWWKDWPDWULPRQ\EHUH- ceed to vilify immigrants, demonize
or Ted Cruz, an evangel-
served for heterosexuals as PLQRULWLHVDQGOLQHXSEHKLQGDFDQGL-
Frank
ical pastor’s son, or Scott
GHPRQVWUDEO\LQHSWDWLWDV date who’s a one-man master class in
Bruni
Walker, who said during
he is.
such misanthropy.
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From Trump’s Twitter account
RQO\E\WKHEORRGRI-HVXV&KULVWWKDW UXQV WKH WDEOH RQ WKH VHYHQ GHDGO\ gushes an endless stream of un-Chris-
tian rudeness, and he was
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VLQV+HSHUVRQL¿HVJUHHG
at it again on Monday
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The
night, retweeting someone
OHVVELEOLFDODV0HJ\Q.HOO\FDQZHOO lust. Wrath is covered
else’s denigration of Kelly
attest.
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holy
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No matter. The holy rollers are anti-“losers” rants, and
rollers EHWXUQLQJWKHRWKHUFKHHN"
smiling upon the high roller. And if we interpret gluttony
For politicians as for
they’re proving, yet again, how selec- WR LQFOXGH ELJ EXLOGLQJV
are
voters, devotion and grace
tive and incoherent the religiosity of and not just Big Macs,
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many in the party’s God squad is.
he’s a glutton through and
smiling FDQ
things. Courting the evan-
Usually the disconnect involves through. That leaves envy
gelical vote, Cruz used
stern moralizing, especially on mat- DQGVORWK,¶PEHWWLQJWKDW
upon
his own Twitter account
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¿JXUHVZKRDUHWKHQH[SRVHGDVDGXO- former, though I’ll con- the high last week to say that his
and prayers are
terers or (gasp!) closet homosexuals. FHGHWKDWKHH[KLELWVQRQH
roller. “thoughts
with President Jimmy Car-
I’d list all the names, starting with of the latter.
ter,” whose struggle with
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In 2012, inexplica-
EXW P\ FROXPQ GRHVQ¶W VSUDZO RYHU EO\ KH ZDV LQYLWHG WR /LEHUW\ 8QL- cancer was riveting the nation. But
an entire page of the newspaper.
versity, where he digressed during then Cruz pressed on with a speech
2U WKH GLVFRQQHFW LV EHWZHHQ his remarks to extol the prudence of WKDW EHPRDQHG WKH ³PLVHU\ VWDJQD-
HYDQJHOLVWV¶SDQHJ\ULFVDERXW&KULVW¶V prenuptial agreements. But all was tion and malaise” of Carter’s presi-
penury and their hustle for funds forgiven: His host, Jerry Falwell, told dency. He couldn’t have hit pause on
to support less-than-penurious life- DXGLHQFHPHPEHUVWKDW7UXPSFRXOG WKH&DUWHUEDVKLQJIRUDZHHNRUWZR"
&DUWHUSUHVVHGRQWRR²ZLWKKLV
styles. John Oliver, the host of HBO’s EH FUHGLWHG IRU ³VLQJOHKDQGHGO\´
³/DVW :HHN 7RQLJKW´ KDV EHHQ IRUFLQJ 3UHVLGHQW %DUDFN 2EDPD WR usual weekend routine of teaching
PDNLQJ EULOOLDQW VDWLULFDO IXQ RI WKLV UHOHDVH KLV ELUWK FHUWL¿FDWH 2K KRZ Sunday school, which he has long
E\ SURPRWLQJ KLV QHZ WD[H[HPSW they cheered, as if ugly, groundless done with little fanfare. His own
church, Our Lady of Perpetual Ex- partisan rumor-mongering were on a &KULVWLDQLW\ LV QRW D EOXGJHRQ EXW D
emption. Last Sunday he apologized saintly par with washing lepers’ feet. EULGJH
$V IRU 7UXPS , PXVW QRW EH
to viewers that his wife, Wanda Jo,
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adore. They venerated Ronald Rea- watching the same campaign that his
“She’s at our summer parsonage gan though he’d divorced, remarried HYDQJHOLFDOIDQVDUHEHFDXVH,GRQ¶W
in Hawaii,” he continued, “for a week and spent much of his career in the see someone interested in serving
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of spiritual introspection and occa- godless clutch of Hollywood.
sional parasailing.”
0D\EH WKHLU IHDOW\ WR 7UXPS LV ing God.
Living in the northwest Ring of Fire
the North American plate
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KDV ¿QDOO\ VHWWOHG D WVX-
where most of the world’s
nami from an ocean heave
earthquakes happen.
,¶YH EHHQ WU\LQJ WR
KH:HVWKDVEHHQRQ¿UHDOO ZRXOG EXU\ VPDOO FRDVW-
al
communities.
More
make
peace with these
month, with dream homes
than 13,000 people would
calculations ever since
IDOOLQJ WR D FRPEXVWLYH SXQFK die, most of them under
geologists mapped out
ZLOGKRUVHVVHDUHGE\ÀDPHDQG a mountain of seawater.
the Seattle Fault, more
than 20 years ago. Smaller
VXIIRFDWHG E\ VPRNH HYHQ D Throughout the region, a
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PLOOLRQ
SHRSOH
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EH
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along the coast, this east-
temporarily displaced.
Timothy
landscape in which seven million
west fault runs right under
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Egan
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DFUHVKDYHEHHQEXUQHGWKLV\HDU all of this for some time.
,W ZDV VKRFNLQJ WR EH OD]LQJ 7KH 3DFL¿F 1RUWKZHVW LV VR EHDXWL- city’s downtown skyscrapers and the
through the rituals of summer at IXOEHFDXVHRIWKHVWLOODFWLYHWHFWRQLF QHZEXLOGLQJVRI$PD]RQ¶VFRUSRUDWH
forces that have shaped it. But this kingdom, under the stadiums where
Lake Chelan, one of the world’s summer, The New YorkerSXEOLVKHGD the Seahawks and Mariners play,
PRVWEHDXWLIXOERGLHVRIZDWHULQ piece that wrapped old news in new DQGEHORZP\IDPLO\¶V\HDUROG
Washington’s eastern Cascades, WHUURU$QGZKDWKDGEHHQEXULHGLQ house.
So yes, I’m living on top of the
ZKHQZLOG¿UHVDUULYHGZLWKDFDQ- the recesses of Northwestern minds
QRQDGHRIOLJKWQLQJ²EOD]HVWKDW VXGGHQO\ÀDUHG7KHFROOHFWLYHDQ[L- Seattle Fault. It’s somewhat reassur-
ing that the thick walls of my home’s
have now taken lives and forced ety has not gone away.
The larger question, from Seattle to foundation have survived three rel-
towns to evacuate.
Sagamore Hill, is how atively minor earthquakes, in 1949,
But
even
as
ZH ¿W GLVDVWHU LQWR RXU 1965 and 2001, without even a hair-
It’s
eye-tearing smoke, red
GDLO\ OLYHV ² D SDFW line fracture. And I certainly sleep
sun and yellow-shirted
with the known un- EHWWHU NQRZLQJ WKDW WKH WLPEHUHG
ghastly
¿UH¿JKWHUV KDYH EH-
known. There is no such IUDPHRIP\ROGKRXVHLVQRZEROW-
come a part of life this
thing as a safe place on ed, in most places, to that foundation.
to think
summer, many of us on
this earth. More than 90 :RRGKRPHVDUHVKDNHQEXWJHQHUDO-
about:
the West Coast can’t
percent of Americans O\QRWVWLUUHGLQDELJTXDNHLIODWFKHG
VWRS WKLQNLQJ DERXW D
live in an area with at to their footings.
10,000
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least a moderate risk
TXDNHV VSHFL¿FDOO\
of tornadoes, or wild- LQSDUWE\GLVFRYHU\RIWKHUHPQDQWV
or
more
the Really Big One.
¿UHV RU KXUULFDQHV RU of giant trees that slid into Lake Wash-
The unclenching of
buildings ÀRRGV RU HDUWKTXDNHV ington 1,100 years ago. That quake
two large plates along
Not to mention the WXUQHGEOXIIVLQWREHDFKHVDQGEHDFK-
WKH 3DFL¿F VKRUH IURP crumbling. larger threat of climate es into cliffs, so my little earthquake
Northern California to
FKDQJH H[DFHUEDWLQJ ¿[HVDUHKDUGO\DGHTXDWHLIWKHEDFN-
yard drops 20 feet.
9DQFRXYHU,VODQGZRXOGEHE\FRQ- PRVWRIWKHDERYH
,¶YHJRWP\ZDWHU¿OWHUIURP5(,
sensual predictions, the worst natural
You gauge the odds; that’s really
disaster in North American history.
the crux of choosing where to live. my emergency supplies, my propane.
It happened once, more than 300 And you hope your political leaders I have a woodstove for emergency
years ago, a magnitude 9 shake that have the foresight to spend money heat, decent vino in the cellar, canned
was 60 times stronger than the 1906 on things that may not have an im- JRRGVZLWKDQH[SLUDWLRQGDWHIDUEH-
yond the Donald Trump moment.
earthquake that left San Francisco in PHGLDWHEHQH¿W
%XWLW¶VODXJKDEOHDOORILWLQWKH
ruins. It most assuredly will happen
In the Northwest, these are the odds:
again, perhaps tomorrow, perhaps in There is a 10 to 15 percent chance of ELJ VFKHPH RI WKLQJV<RX MXVW KDYH
a hundred years.
a magnitude 9 earthquake happening to hope that the surface plates remain
,W¶VJKDVWO\WRWKLQNDERXW over the next 50 years, and a 30 percent stuck, in a wrestler’s tension grip,
RUPRUHEXLOGLQJVFUXPEOLQJ%ULGJHV chance of a smaller, though still enor- for another century or so. And you
VZD\LQJEXFNOLQJVKXFNLQJRIIFDUV mous, collision of plates. If you live in REVHVV RU WU\ WR SDUVH WKRVH RGGV
A tangle of natural gas lines causing WKH5LQJRI)LUH²WKDWKRUVHVKRHRI all while realizing that you wouldn’t
explosions no terrorist could pull off. seismic activity running along the Pa- have stayed here without the condi-
And then, just as the shaken crust of FL¿FVKRUHIURP&KLOHWR$ODVND-DSDQ tions that created that risk.
By TIMOTHY EGAN
New York Times News Service
T