5A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2015
Parks: City’s newest park opened in May 2014
Continued from Page 1A
On Saturday, Cosby took
community members on a
whirligig tour of the major
areas under the park-and-
rec purview, equipped with
a rough draft of the depart-
ment’s master plan that,
when ¿nished, will lay out
a vision for the city’s parks-
and-rec offerings.
Throughout the daylong
¿eld trip, Cosby and Parks
Maintenance Supervisor Jo-
nah Dart-McLean reminded
the group that, with so few
workers and so many places
to service, a consistently high
level of maintenance at each
site is simply unrealistic. The
staff is just stretched too thin.
Ocean View Cemetery, for
example, is one of 12 areas
rated in “poor” condition,
according to the draft master
plan.
The cemetery requires
the usual park upkeep
(grass, garbage, etc.). And,
like many parks, it has spe-
cial needs: The headstones,
planted in close formation,
make mowing certain areas
problematic; the sandy soil
makes it difficult for grass
to grow; and many visitors
leave behind fake flowers
and other trinkets in viola-
tion of cemetery rules that
the department doesn’t have
time to enforce.
“If it’s not held to the stan-
dard that people would like,
it’s not because we don’t
want to,” Cosby said. It’s
because the department just
doesn’t have the resources to
do it.
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
Parks and Recreation Director Angela Cosby talks about Violet LaPlante park during the tour.
AVWRULDQJUDI¿WL
The bus tour began at the
Astoria Aquatic Center and
hit the major stops — the
Customs House, Alderbrook
Park, the Riverwalk, Mari-
time Memorial Park, Shive-
ly Park and others — before
ending at the Astoria Recre-
ation Center.
Along the way, Cosby
and Dart-McLean pointed
out the conditions of each
site and the challenges in-
volved in keeping them fit
for public use.
The downtown restrooms
and the restroom beneath the
Doughboy Monument attract
many vandals and are chron-
ic headaches for the main-
tenance crew, Dart-McLean
said.
Meanwhile, the Tapiola
Park restrooms also see ex-
tensive vandalism, said for-
mer City Planner Rosemary
Johnson, who provided his-
Photos by Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
LEFT: Rosemary Johnson, former Astoria city planner, gives some information to the tour group about the Customs
House, a replica of an original customs house that sits near the Columbia Fields. RIGHT: Pam Pearce, manager at the
Aquatic Center, gives a tour of the center’s weight room.
torical information during
the trip.
“We’re not talking about
just graffiti. Tearing sinks
out and breaking them. Fe-
ces all over the building. I
mean major, major issues,”
she said.
The playground equip-
ment at Alderbrook Park and
Violet LaPlante Park needs
to be upgraded, Cosby said.
But the equipment is so old
that, if the department de-
cides to repair or replace it,
the entire structure needs to
be overhauled, according
to state statute. The all-or-
nothing rule “makes it tough
for us,” Cosby said.
If the department had its
way, it would deal with play-
ground equipment as it does
with the pool water filtration
system at the aquatic center:
identify the parts that are
nearing the end of their life
span and replace them be-
fore they cause disruptions
in public enjoyment.
“The last thing we want
to do is broadcast: ‘We’re
Though the city contin-
ues to add parks — the lat-
est, the Garden of Surging
Waves, opened in May 2014
— the parks-and-rec main-
tenance budget has actually
decreased by thousands of
dollars over the years, Cos-
by said.
Maintaining a new park
isn’t just a matter of adding
a garbage can, she said. It’s
more like having another
child — something that de-
mands care, attention and an
investment of time and re-
sources that may need to be
pulled from other important
areas.
During the summer, the
department hires five part-
time seasonal employees.
ILW (63): Mackenzie Kaech 29,
Bannister 14, Jacobsen 9, Ellsworth
7, McMillan 2, Kulm 2, Kondos,
Bentley.
NB (39): Moore 13, Shale 8, Ivey
5, Takaci 4, Garman 4, Vogler 2,
Pope 2, Avery 1.
Ilwaco
14 21 15 13—63
N.Beach
7 13 7 12—39
(Josi 2, Martin, Walker, Mast); Sea-
side 3-12 (Babb 2, Thompson). Free
Throws: Liberty 12-21, Seaside 14-
16. Turnovers: Liberty 16, Seaside
17. Fouls: Liberty 13, Seaside 17.
Fouled out: None.
Liberty
12 14 16 15—57
Seaside
13 10 14 14—51
JV: Seaside 59, Liberty 58
BOYS BASKETBALL
Clatskanie 55, Knappa 53
CLA (55): Wyatt McKay 13, Starkel
11, Norgren 9, Luquette 6, Howard
4, Sewald 4, Karber 3, McCallister
2, Nichols 2, Watson.
KNA (53): Dale Takalo 21, Miller
13, Weirup 9, Eltagonde 6, Geisler
2, Rubus 2, Goodman.
Clatskanie 14 10 16 15—55
Knappa
10 9 21 13—53
going to have to close the
center because a pump went
out,’” Pam Pearce, recre-
ation coordinator at the As-
toria Aquatic Center, said.
“We want to try to get to
those things before they
come.”
Poor to excellent
And it regularly contracts
out some of its maintenance
work.
The Mill Pond Home-
owners Association, for ex-
ample, does routine cleaning
at Mill Pond Park. Tongue
Point Job Corps students
take part in the department’s
monthly park clean-up par-
ties. And the North Coast
Watershed Association, as
well as Alderbrook Neigh-
borhood residents, volunteer
at Alderbrook Lagoon.
“We just have so much
area to cover,” Dart-McLean
said. “And, even if you’re
just changing garbages at ev-
ery spot, it just adds up and
adds up and adds up.”
It’s not all bad news,
however. Though the draft
master plan rates a dozen
sites in “poor” condition and
16 in “fair” condition, it also
rates 20 as “good” and four
— Astor Park, Mill Pond
Park, Maritime Memorial
Park and the 15th Street Tri-
angle — as “excellent.”
“Right now, we just try
and maintain things basi-
cally as they are, as intelli-
gently as we possibly can,
and still make it look good,”
Dart-McLean said.
SCOREBOARD
PREP SCHEDULE
TUESDAY
Girls Basketball — Knappa at
Warrenton, 6 p.m.; Ilwaco at Ocos-
ta, 7 p.m.
Boys Basketball — Astoria at Il-
waco, 7:15 p.m.; Rainier at Seaside,
7:30 p.m.; Knappa at Warrenton,
7:45 p.m.
Swimming — Gladstone at Sea-
side, 4 p.m.
WEDNESDAY
Girls Basketball — Ilwaco at
Seaside, 7:30 p.m.
THURSDAY
Boys Basketball — Ocosta at Il-
waco, 7 p.m.
Wrestling — Warrenton at Verno-
nia, 5 p.m.
FRIDAY
Girls Basketball — Astoria at El-
mira, 7 p.m.; Seaside at Cascade, 6
p.m.; Neah-Kah-Nie at Warrenton, 6
p.m.; Knappa at Heppner Classic,
TBA; Jewell at Crosshill Christian,
5:30 p.m.; Chief Leschi at Ilwaco,
7 p.m.
Boys Basketball — Astoria at
R.A. Long, 7 p.m.; Seaside at Cas-
cade, 7:45 p.m.; Neah-Kah-Nie at
Warrenton, 7:45 p.m.; Knappa at
Heppner Classic, TBA; Jewell at
Crosshill Christian, 7:15 p.m.; Chief
Leschi at Ilwaco, 7 p.m.
SATURDAY
Girls Basketball — Astoria at
Cottage Grove, 5 p.m.; Warrenton
at Jefferson, 2:30 p.m.; Knappa at
Heppner Classic, TBA
Boys Basketball — Warrenton at
Jefferson, 4 p.m.; Knappa at Hep-
pner Classic, TBA
Swimming — Andrew Nygaard
Invitational, Astoria AC, 10 a.m.
Wrestling — Warrenton Tourna-
ment, 10 a.m.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Seaside 60, Liberty 53
LIB (53): Kenzie Pimentel 16, Maki
12, Williams 10, Thomas 6, Jobe 6,
Grenfell 3.
SEA (60): Maddi Utti 36, Villegas
11, J.Ideue 3, Westerholm 3, Trott 2,
Babbitt 2, P.Ideue 1, Brown 1, West
1, Smart.
Field goals: Liberty 16-54; Sea-
side 22-32. 3-Point FG: Liberty 6-20
(Ken.Pimentel 3, Jobe 2, Thomas);
Seaside 2-5 (Utti 2). Free Throws:
Bone marrow screening
Tuesday in Warrenton
The Daily Astorian
WARRENTON — Be a
Match, which manages the
registry for the National
Marrow Donor Program, is
holding a free bone marrow
screening from 3 to 8 p.m.
in the cafeteria at Warrenton
High School Tuesday.
The screening takes ap-
proximately 20 minutes
and involves a mouth swab,
which is then sent to a lab for
testing.
A bone marrow or cord
blood transplant may be the
best treatment option or a po-
tential for a cure for patients
with leukemia, lymphoma,
sickle cell anemia and many
other diseases, according to
the National Marrow Donor
Program. Nearly six people
die from a blood disease ev-
ery hour. Thirty percent of
leukemia patients will ¿nd a
match from a family mem-
ber. The other 70 percent of
patients rely on matches with
strangers.
Warrenton High School
is located at 1700 S.E. Main
Ave.
Liberty 15-30, Seaside 22-42).
Turnovers: Liberty 36, Seaside
34. Fouls: Liberty 30, Seaside 22.
Fouled out: Liberty, Ken.Pimentel,
Jobe, Maki.
Liberty
3 22 10 18—53
Seaside
11 17 13 19—60
JV: Liberty 50, Seaside 26
Clatskanie 47, Knappa 24
CLA (47): Rachel Haas 12, Olivia
Warren 11, Dykes 8, Miller 4, Lindb-
lom 4, Mitchell 3, Simmons 2, Baker
2, Sermino 1.
KNA (24): Paris Vanderburg 8,
Kaitlyn Landwehr 8, Vandergriff 4,
Miethe 2, Strain 2.
Clatskanie 10 9 13 14—47
Knappa
8 5 3 8—24
Ilwaco 63, North Beach 39
Liberty 57, Seaside 51
LIB (57): Blake Walker 17, Mast 15,
Josi 11, Stemm 4, Kumar 4, Martin
3, Paterson 2, Magera 1, Bolinger.
SEA (51): Hunter Thompson 15,
Eagon 10, Smith 8, Januik 8, Babb
6, Marston 4.
Field goals: Liberty 20-43; Sea-
side 17-46. 3-Point FG: Liberty 5-11
Ilwaco 61, Naselle 32
NAS (32): Donny Edwards 10,
Dorman 7, Estes 6, Pine 4, Wirkkala
2, Lund 2, Gudmundsen 1, Scra-
beck.
ILW (61): Zac Tapio 17, Tynkila 13,
Mendoza 10, Bannister 9, Kaino 4,
Lazaro 4, Schenk 2, Aguayo 2.
Naselle
7 7 12 6—32
Ilwaco
12 25 10 14—61
Ilwaco 69, North Beach 55
ILW (69): Alex Kaino 27, Bannister
15, Tapio 14, Lazaro 5, Mendoza 4,
Tynkila 4, Schenk, Aguayo.
NB (55): Sierly 17, Perez 12, Paul-
na 11, Gonzalez 10, Johnson 2,
Forvour 4.
Ilwaco
17 17 15 20—69
N.Beach
18 8 14 15—55