3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 2016
Cantwell intervenes to help
Coast Guard with health care
High response for citizen
survey in Cannon Beach
LONG BEACH, Wash. —
Due to a change in the status
of a U.S. Coast Guard Sec-
tor Columbia River medical
and dental clinic, local Coast
Guard families are sometimes
being forced to travel hun-
dreds of miles to get health
care.
During a recent meeting at
Station Cape Disappointment,
Coast Guard personnel told
U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell that
some people who are eligible
for Coast Guard beneits are
driving as much as “six hours
or more round trip to access
health care at military treat-
ment facilities with the capac-
ity to serve their health care
needs,” according to a press
release last week.
In a recent letter, Cantwell
urged Assistant Secretary of
Defense Dr. Jonathan Wood-
son to make it easier for Coas-
ties in aouthwest Washington
and northern Oregon to get
local medical care.
The Coast Guard units
at Station Cape Disappoint-
ment, the National Motor
Lifeboat School, and Sector
Columbia River used to be
designated as “Tricare Prime
Remote” units. That designa-
tion allowed local families to
get care through private-sec-
tor providers.
However, the federal gov-
ernment recently recognized
the Sector Columbia River
medical and dental clinic as
an oficial military treatment
facility. As a result, the remote
designation for local bases
was removed, and people who
qualify for Coast Guard ben-
eits are now required to get
their care through the military
clinic.
In her letter, Cantwell said
she thought the clinic’s new
designation “is putting an
inappropriate and dispropor-
tionate burden on the Coast
Guard men and women sta-
tioned there.” She urged
Woodson to reinstate the
remote status for local Coast
Guard facilities.
Cartwright Park mountain bike track gets go-ahead
By R.J. MARX
The Daily Astorian
SEASIDE — “We’re
ready to dig! We’re ready to
move dirt!” Chris Quacken-
bush said this week as the
Seaside City Council unan-
imously approved a plan to
build a mountain bike track
in Cartwright Park.
The project was driven
by Quackenbush, Morgan
Soller and Steven Blakes-
ley, members of the North
Coast Trail Alliance.
“We’ve been thriving
all over the state,” Soller
said. “Mountain bike
trails are just going off the
charts. It’s super popular.”
Organizers hope to pro-
vide a spot for mountain
bike riding close to home.
“It was really cool —
the first meeting 23 people
showed up,” Soller said. “And
it’s grown from then on.”
The track will be devel-
oped on vacant land north
of the park’s boat ramp and
behind the Seaside School
District
Administration
Building. Oblong tracks of
natural soils will be built up
into berms and hills.
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“It’s a place for mountain
bikers to go do what they want
to do without having a lot of
transition, a lot of elevation
change,” Soller said.
The effect will be a similar
experience to a “purpose-built
trail,” he said.
The Seaside Planning Com-
mission conditionally approved
the plan earlier this month.
The commission required
erosion mitigation measures,
bike racks for the park and
minor modiications to the plan.
Phase one includes one
berm and four pump bumps,
requiring 6 yards of clean ill.
Phase two will require about 38
yards of clean ill and material
for the track.
“Next Tuesday, we’re going
to go over and do the site clear-
ing and grading of it, and then
start laying it out,” Soller said.
Building could start the sec-
ond weekend in May.
Northwest Coast Trails Coa-
lition donated $250 for signs.
Teevin & Fischer is donating
materials and an excavator will
be provided by All Rents. Labor
will be provided by volunteers.
“We’re
planning
on
attacking it based on every-
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body’s availability every
weekend until it’s inished,”
Soller said. “The thing with
dirt and rock you can only
pack it so much, you also
have to let the weather hit
it. You don’t want to ride it
prematurely.”
Organizers aim for a Fourth
of July opening.
“That way everybody who’s
been working so hard can have a
barbecue and reap the beneits,”
Soller said.
Sal
e
Kucera has completed strate-
gic plans involving citizen sur-
veys for six communities. The
National Citizen Survey has
administered more than 1,000
surveys of residents for local
governments of various sizes.
“The survey gives an accu-
rate relection about how the
community feels about the direc-
tion we’re heading,” Kucera
said. “It can afirm we’re head-
ing in the right direction or show
us areas we need to concentrate
on more.”
Areas of weakness can be
prioritized in the strategic plan,
he said.
“It is meant to gauge the
public satisfaction rate with the
city,” Kucera said.
The survey includes many
standard questions, but certain
questions were tailored specif-
ically to the community. Can-
non Beach is unique in that it is
a coastal town with tourist activ-
ity in a remote location, Grass-
ick said.
Citizens could also write
comments.
Kucera said he hopes the sur-
veys, by asking citizens for their
honest opinions, help to “build
trust” in the government. “We
are asking all residents to have
an equal voice,” he said.
e
Assessing livability
ay
Planning process
The surveys, mailed to res-
idents about a month ago, will
be analyzed soon. A preliminary
report should be available May
16, and in late May, city council-
ors and consultants will meet to
review the survey responses that
will “become a large part of the
strategic planning,” Kucera said.
By NATALIE ST. JOHN
EO Media Group
nt
Pla
CANNON BEACH — The
last day for Cannon Beach resi-
dents to submit a citizen survey
is Friday.
Along with input from the
City Council and staff, the sur-
vey will play a major role in
informing the city’s strategic
plan.
So far, the city has received
a 40 percent response out of
about 1,700 residents. City
Manager Brant Kucera said
this “very high” response rate is
not expected to increase much
more.
“It’s exciting,” Public Works
Director Dan Grassick said, not-
ing how a “vocal and passionate
group” comes to city meetings
but others do not come. “We
always ight for public input.”
But some residents wonder
what it all means. They say the
survey is vague and will fail to
provide meaningful direction
for the city’s future.
“In completing the survey
for which the city of Cannon
Beach is spending $30,000, we
found that its questions were
designed to apply broadly to any
city in the country,” Rex Amos
said in a letter to The Daily
Astorian. “This expensive exer-
cise is a poor substitute for good
governing.”
At a City Council meeting in
early April, Vinnie Ferrau said
certain questions were straight-
forward and others were vague.
“If I am not in favor of cur-
rent economic development
and I choose ‘poor,’ will that be
interpreted as not enough or too
much?” Ferrau asked.
Kucera responded that
“poor” would mean that the citi-
zen is unhappy with the speciic
city services provided.
At the same meeting, Jan
Siebert-Wahrmund said she was
concerned that the questions
were too vague to inform deci-
sions on complex issues.
“The answers allowed don’t
give any indication of why a cit-
izen votes one way or another,”
Siebert-Wahrmund said, adding
that responses can be “misin-
terpreted” because of the vague
questions and answers. “Our
community needs and deserves
real dialogue, which takes time
and effort but is worth it.”
The strategic plan is a two-
year process that will also
include plans for the next ive
and 10 years and will help guide
future city policies and goals.
The plan is to be updated
continually and reviewed each
year as a “living document,”
Grassick said. “The goal for me
is to take it and overlay it in pub-
lic works to make sure I am pri-
oritizing the right things. It’s
another road map for guiding
each department through annual
work plans.”
For example, strategic
planning would be taken into
account when planning roads,
providing water services or cre-
ating visitor amenities.
PR
By LYRA FONTAINE
The Daily Astorian
Saturday, May 7 th , 2016
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Enjoy music by : Rusty Spurs Band
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THANK YOU TO OUR MAJOR EVENT SPONSORS
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Senator
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