THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2015
FRIDAY EXCHANGE
Keep beach bill safe
A
fter reading Louis Sar-
gent’s letter “Beach love”
(The Daily Astorian, Oct. 23),
I wondered why Sargent was
puzzled by Matt Love’s un-
relenting paeans to Oregon’s
“historic Beach Bill,” which
created Oregon’s public beach
access. Love’s constant con-
cern for keeping Oregon’s
coast an open road should be
encouraged, not criticized, be-
cause without people like Love,
Oregon’s Beach Bill would not
exist “in perpetuity,” as it is
now written.
Sargent’s ramble about the
use of the public beaches in oth-
er states, walking more miles
than Love, and being twice his
age, is irrelevant. What Sargent
omits is the fact that if you look
up beach access laws in any of
the states he mentioned, you
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major problems when it comes
to private versus public access.
This is why Love continues to
cry out for us to protect Ore-
gon’s beaches, and to help him
in celebrating the 50th anniver-
sary of Oregon’s historic Beach
Bill on July 6, 2017.
Perhaps Sargent doesn’t
know that Love’s 2009 hard-
back compilation of the best of
Oregon writing, “Citadel of the
Spirit: Oregon’s Sesquicenten-
nial Anthology” also contains a
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umentary “Politics of Sand.”
If Sargent were to see
Love’s participation in that
documentary, and listen to
his passionate and perceptive
commentary concerning the
political process that resulted in
Oregon’s Beach Bill, then I’m
sure Sargent would not ask, as
he has in his letter, “Why doth
Love protest so much?”
But if an answer is needed,
Matt Love might quote Abra-
ham Lincoln and say, “When-
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human rights and property
rights, human rights must pre-
vail.” In terms of Oregon’s
statewide open-road free access
beaches, that cannot be said
enough.
REX AMOS
Cannon Beach
Vote yes for school
A
very important vote is com-
ing up in the next couple
of weeks and in fact, for most
Time to call Gov. Brown about LNG
H
ow many meetings have you attend-
ed that start with, “We are here to lis-
ten to your input”? Oh come on now, it’s
OK, and won’t be cheating if you count
the Federal Energy Regulatory Commis-
sion (FERC) in your total.
Clearly, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown
wants to hear your opinion, because there
is a phone number, 503-378-4582, and a
real staff person to record your comments.
You are probably thinking, “What am I
going to call the governor about?”
Glad you asked. How about the fact
that 68 percent (no that’s not a typo, it
really was nearly 7 out of 10) of Clatsop
County voters said no, they did not want a
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jaw droppingly beautiful Lower Colum-
bia area we call our home. Period. And
that wasn’t just Warrenton and Astoria
voters, it was the whole county.
Now comes Oregon LNG, who wants
to build an LNG terminal on the Skipanon
peninsula that is so big, it will cost enough
of us, it is the only item on the
ballot. Ballot Measure 4-177 is
a renewal of the retiring operat-
ing levy for the Seaside School
District that is absolutely es-
sential to the district’s ability
to continue providing a quality
education for our children.
As the parent of three chil-
dren who have attended Sea-
side schools, and now graduat-
ed from the high school, I have
been continually impressed
with the depth of knowledge
and the level of education our
kids are receiving, even after
the storm of budget cuts the
district has already had to face.
I cannot imagine what will hap-
pen to our educational system
if we fail to renew this commit-
ment.
As the husband of a Seaside
educator, I understand the chal-
lenges our teachers face with
growing class sizes. In some
cases, classes are close to 40
students in size, almost double
what they were when I was in
school, and they seemed nearly
unmanageable back then.
By voting yes on this bal-
lot measure, you and I will be
renewing the local tax option,
providing close to $1.3 million
per year in operational funding
for the district, which is es-
sentially equal to 18 licensed
teaching staff. It’s also import-
What will the
Oregon economy
look like in 2016?
money to wear out your calculator batter-
ies, and will release 2.6 billion tons of car-
bon monoxide, plus methane gas, annually
into the air we breathe. Wow. That sounds
important enough to me to be a 2016 cam-
paign election issue — cough, cough.
So how else would this terminal affect
our daily lives? In all likelihood, it would
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property values and increased insurance
rates for homes and businesses in the huge
blast zone around the terminal.
It would also likely reduce revenue
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would destroy downtown Astoria with the
hundreds and hundreds of trucks trans-
porting construction material through
downtown, from Tongue Point to the Ski-
panon, for four years.
In addition, it would put all Lower Co-
lumbia residents at serious risk because of
the earthquake/tsunami zone location. If a
person doesn’t care about that, they should
probably check their pulse to see if their
ant to remember that this is not
increasing taxes or creating a
new tax, it is simply a renew-
al of the currently retiring tax
option.
With all of the recent discus-
sion around raising minimum
wage to help those in pover-
ty earn a better living, I think
we tend to overlook the single
most important way to combat
poverty: education. I encourage
everyone to join me in voting
yes on Ballot Measure 4-177
and renew our support of the
Seaside School District.
DARREN GOOCH
Warrenton
heart is still beating.
For goodness’ sake, Oregon LNG
doesn’t even have land to build on, be-
cause the court ruled that the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers has an easement on
that property.
Ask Gov. Brown to use her authority,
the Coastal Zone Management Act and
the Clean Air Act to stop this project. No
matter how hard anyone tries, you can-
not mitigate a major earthquake/tsunami,
global air pollution, the extinction of a
salmon run or the will of the people.
So whip out those cell phones and call
Gov. Brown again and again and again at
503-378-4582 — there is no limit. The
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much better after you have had your say.
Some people even say it’s therapeutic.
So come on, folks. This is our democ-
racy. Let’s make it work the way it’s sup-
posed to.
CARL DOMINEY
Astoria
taining what we already have,
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the end. Renewing this levy
is about investing into the fu-
ture of this community. We
need to grow a community that
makes people want to be a part
of it and stay and invest in its
growth.
By voting yes, we will con-
tinue to enrich and improve all
four of our schools. We will
continue to retain quality teach-
ers and programs that will grow
young smart adults who will
contribute to society in a posi-
tive way.
AMY GOODDING
Seaside
owners were eager to rent
their homes non-stop for high
rental fees. Because of the
abrupt entrance of nationwide
rental agencies like Vacasa,
the quiet and charm that once
graced Gearhart has been in-
terrupted. This situation is not
reserved for holidays or week-
ends, it exists every day during
the summer and into autumn.
We have a short term rental
next door to our home, where
we have been observing one
bunch of renters packing up
and leaving in the morning
and another group showing
up in the late afternoon after
the cleaners have come and
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Invest in schools
matically on our street, South
am writing to thank Kath- Action needed
Marion — a narrow, dead end
pen letter to the mayor and street with little or no shoul-
erine Lacaze for writing a
council members of the GHUZKHUHWUDI¿FÀRZLVRIWHQ
thoughtfully detailed article on
the Seaside school levy (“Vot- city of Gearhart: My husband impeded, as has been the case
ers given option to renew local and I have owned a home in with garbage pickup.
tax for Seaside school district,” Gearhart for nearly 20 years.
Realistically, most rent-
When we purchased our home, al agencies don’t know how
The Daily Astorian, Oct. 14).
(YHU\RQH¶V ¿UVW UHVSRQVH Gearhart was relatively un- many people are staying in any
to hearing about any new tax known. Many home owners one rental, let alone how many
or renewed tax is generally to rented their homes to friends cars, boats, trailers, or camp-
cringe. Lacaze did a great job and relatives, or they used local ers they have brought with
of clarifying this levy. I will be UHDOHVWDWH¿UPVWRKDQGOHWKHLU them.
voting yes for kids because re- rentals.
There has been talk of poll-
This system has worked ing Gearhart homeowners. I
newal of a tax that I’ve already
been paying towards isn’t going well until recently, when na- believe there have been enough
to hurt my wallet any more than tional and international real committees, emails, letters, and
saving for my children’s future. estate agencies discovered words of complaint by those of
We are investing and main- that many Gearhart home- us who have been impacted by
I
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this sorry state of affairs, which
often pits neighbor against
neighbor, and has changed the
very essence of our commu-
nity. Now it is time for action,
before next summer, when this
situation will surely escalate as
more and more homeowners
are tempted to take the mon-
ey these competitive rental
agencies offer for renting their
homes.
The mayor and city council
members need to enact rules and
regulations that are enforceable
and have teeth, not $10 parking
tickets, but ones with conse-
quences. Like other commu-
nities in our area, they should
consider capping the number of
short term rental units allowed
in Gearhart, limit the number
of occupants allowed in a rental
unit, and set a minimum num-
ber of days a property may be
rented. We urge the mayor and
city councilors to act quickly
so we won’t have another “lost
summer.”
TERRY AND CATHY
GRAFF
Gearhart
Be fair
W
e are writing this letter
because we disagree
with the way the short term
rentals in Gearhart has been
reported. While I would sus-
pect that The Daily Astorian is
trying to be unbiased, the re-
porter has not interviewed any-
one who rents out their home.
“Why?” we ask.
Chad Sweet mentions that
he has received letters of sup-
port on both sides of this issue.
How many of the letters are in
favor of restrictions, and how
many are opposed? We don’t
know. Isn’t it the reporter’s duty
to make sure it is reported?
Also, we do agree that the
number of short term rentals
has increased in the last year
or so. Readers should ask, as
the reporter did not, how many
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years or more. I suspect that
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homes have been rented for
quite some time.
All we ask is that the re-
porter do his or her job. Be fair
and honest with the reading
public.
GREG AND NANCY
MARSHALL
Gearhart
TO ATTE N D :
F or M em bers:
D in n er & L ecture:$25 ea .
L ecture on ly: n o ch a rge
F or Non -M em bers:
D in n er & L ecture: $35 ea .
L ecture on ly: $15 ea .
Joe Cortright
November 5
Joe Cortright is president and principal
economist of Impresa Consulting of Portland.
He is chair of the Governor’s Council of
Economic Advisors. Also he is director of a
new think tank called City Observer, funded
by the John S. Knight Foundation.
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