Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 28, 2015)
Royals win Game 1 LQ¿YHKRXUV VWRULDWHDPVKDYH $ 6HQLRU1LJKWVXFFHVV SPORTS • 4A SPORTS • 4A UGYEAR1R :('1(6'$<2&72%(5 21('2//$5 At quirky crossings, signs may change City of Astoria hopes improvements will end confusion By '(55,&.'e3/('*( The Daily Astorian Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian A crack in the M&N Building is visible from Ninth Street. Going, going, gussy up! Some Flavel properties downtown go up for bid By (':$5'675$7721 The Daily Astorian O n a blustery Sunday morn- ing, auctioneer Steve Dwelle from Realty Mar- keting/Northwest arrived to prop open the door to the Mary and Nellie (M&N) Building on the northeast corner of Ninth and Commercial streets, one of the last vestiges of the Flavel family in Astoria . Potential buyers — after sign- ing a liability release form — had two hours to tour through the five storefronts and equally expan- sive basement of the dilapidated 8,100 -square -foot building. Realty Marketing, chosen by Mary Louise Flavel and her conservator, Caroline Evans, to auction off the property, is tak- ing closed bids until Nov. 18, with a minimum reserve price of $180,000 needed , and an asking price of $324,428, equal to the assessed value of the land and improvements. “This is a great area, being right on the strip,” Dwelle said, adding Realty Marketing has re- ceived 15 to 18 requests about the property . Flavel also owns a building on the southeast corner of Ninth and Commercial streets. John Good- enberger, a historic buildings consultant for the city, said Flavel hopes to invest her earnings from the M&N Building sale. Many possibilities The self-guided tours Sunday started at 904 Commercial St. in Stop! No, go ahead. Turn right. Drivers, some who have lived in Astoria for years, have complained that the dual signs at several inter- sections are confusing and poten- tially dangerous. Statistics show that most driv- ers figure it out, if sometimes haltingly. Intersections with signs that read “Stop” and, underneath, “Right Turn Permitted Without Stopping,” have normal crash rates for traffic volume. But the city, sensitive to driver concerns, is thinking about making some improvements. The Traffic Safety Advisory Committee voted Tuesday night to recommend the city go with “Except Right Turn” under the stop signs, instead of “Right Turn Permitted Without Stopping,” and to enhance signage and roadway striping at quirky intersections so drivers can better grasp traffic movement. At one of the city’s most con- founding intersections — Eighth Street and Irving Avenue, where drivers on Irving have the right-of- way as they wind left up Eighth, and drivers going downhill on Eighth are expected to yield — dual signs are not the issue. See SIGNS, Page 10A Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian Leftover debris litters the floor in the basement of the M&N Building. PROPERTY INSPECTION The M&N Building at the corner of Ninth and Commercial streets will be open again for inspection from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 8. a former bank branch, complete with Federal Deposit Insurance Corp . placards along the hard- wood teller counter and a holdup alarm in a back room, near a rein- forced concrete vault. The building’s ground floor stretches over five storefronts, including three on Commercial Street and two more on Ninth Street, all connected by an equal- ly expansive basement. The building has housed many busi- nesses, from a bank and Pacific Power to Sears and Old Town Framing. These days, the build- ing is littered with detritus, the remains of homeless sleepovers, antique utilities and some mem- ories of past tenants , including fliers for a tanning salon. Most of the trickle of visitors on tour Sunday declined inter- views, photos or any mention they had been at the property. One broker, Larry Bensel with Popkin Real Estate in Seaside, said he was trying to get a better understanding of the building’s condition. Bensel’s quest led him to the back of the former bank branch, down a wooden stair- case into the dark recesses of the building’s foundation. See PROPERTIES, Page 10A )UHG/RVHUZLQV6HDVLGH¶V%\URQ$ZDUG Longtime Seaside resident H[HPSOL¿HV volunteer spirit By .$7+(5,1(/$&$=( EO Media Group SEASIDE — Fourth of July Parade volunteer ex- traordinaire. Outstanding “ticket-hawker” for weekly Seaside Downtown Develop- ment Association meetings. Reliable Community Flower Basket distributor. Ham radio operator. Now Seaside resident Fred Loser can add “Byron Award winner” to his lengthy re- sume, replete with examples that demonstrate how he em- bodies the spirit of volunteer- ism and community service. The Seaside Chamber of Commerce announced Los- er, who has lived in Seaside about 25 years, as this year’s recipient during the organi- zation’s annual banquet and awards ceremony, held Tues- day at the Best Western Ocean View Resort in Seaside. Several people nominated Loser for the Byron Award, which is given to a member of the Seaside community who has shown outstanding qual- ities in community service. See LOSER, Page 7A Katherine Lacaze/EO Media Group Longtime Seaside resident Fred Loser ac- cepts the 2015 Byron Award during the Sea- side Chamber of Commerce’s annual banquet and awards ceremony Tuesday night. The award is given to a person who encapsulates the spirit of community service. Warrenton relegates pot biz to eastside Westside dispensary to be grandfathered in By (5,&.%(1*(/ The Daily Astorian WARRENTON — Marijuana enterprises in Warrenton will soon be restricted from operating west of U.S. Highway 101 — except for the city’s sole medical mari- juana dispensary-in-development, planned for East Harbor Drive. On Tuesday, the City Commis- sion held a first reading on an or- dinance limiting marijuana produc- tion, processing, wholesale, retail and medical dispensaries to the in- dustrial and commercial zones east of the highway. In addition, marijuana busi- nesses must occupy stand-alone single-use buildings — rather than take up residence in, say, a strip mall or shopping center — because of the product’s odor, and must have at least a 1,000-foot buffer from any school, church, public park or com- mercial daycare center. The reading comes several months after the City Commission and Planning Commission agreed to amend the city code to prevent legal marijuana from becoming a nuisance to city neighborhoods. But, to some residents’ dismay, the ordinance also came several weeks after the city granted CBDB See POT, Page 10A
