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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (June 9, 2016)
OPINION 4A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JUNE 9, 2016 GUEST COLUMN Founded in 1873 STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager CARL EARL, Systems Manager Lessons for beating the learning gap JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager Time to fi nish Riverfront vision p and down cycles in development are familiar to all who have lived for any length of time on the North Coast and vicinity. Knowledge that upward trends in real estate eventually lose momentum is a perennial factor that discourages long-term planning. There is a tendency among rules as essential in providing elected offi cials, planners and prospective investors with an the real estate industry to let assurance they will not have development pressures run views blocked, neighborhood their course, secure in the values degraded or detract- belief that booms all too soon ing changes of use allowed nearby. run their course. Still awakening from a Earlier this week, Astoria City Councilor Cindy Price protracted slumber, Astoria warned that the city is fl irt- is a place that stands on the ing with loss of mutually trea- threshold of change. We are sured attributes unless it takes inundated with positive pub- charge by fully implement- licity. Oregonians know ing its Riverfront Vision Plan. many examples of cities that She faced direct push back have previously undergone from Councilor Russ Warr, rapid surges in popularity who sees the riverfront plan and development. Places like and similar efforts as getting Bend have been transformed, in the way of needed develop- not in every way for the better. ment and associated employ- Astoria has the advantage of ment. Other counselors didn’t witnessing these nearby real- overtly side with either Price life case studies. These can or Warr on the issue this week, perhaps teach us how to allow but cited competing priorities development that adds to liv- for a fi nite amount of staff and ability and a healthy econ- omy, while avoiding blocking council attention. Looking at all that has off our waterfront, pricing-out changed in Astoria in the past long-term residents or creat- decade, it can hardly be accu- ing gridlock on our streets. Cursory study of a map rately argued that onerous restrictions have frozen devel- reveals Astoria is a small pen- opment. In fact, completion insula surrounded by water and implementation of the riv- and forest. If we choose to, erfront plan might expedite its scale will allow us to con- future development by pro- trol our destiny to a much bet- viding clearcut procedures and ter extent than would be pos- expectations for future down- sible of an unbounded city. Its size also means that any mis- town development. Uncertainty is always a big- takes we make or allow will be ger enemy to development than with us, up close and personal, simply having understandable for many years to come. The Riverfront Vision Plan rules to follow. Far from being anti-zoning, most real-es- deserves wide discussion, tate professionals regard such support and implementation. U Award honors one of Astoria’s best values H istoric preservation is one of Astoria’s best values. For 29 years, the Astoria City Council has recognized those who toil and spend to restore signifi - cant properties. First given in 1987, the Dr. Edward Harvey Award is a window on one of the town’s most signifi cant impulses. Harvey pioneered in mark- ing the town’s signifi cant homes. Some of his historic house markers remain visible. Last Monday, the coun- cil gave the Harvey Award to Laura A. Rogers for her work on the Andrew Young House in Uppertown. Andrew and his brother, Benjamin, arrived from Sweden in 1874. In the following year, Andrew built the home Ms. Rogers now occupies. Benjamin subse- quently built a larger, nearby home, which has become a bed and breakfast. The honored Young Home is one of the older houses in Uppertown. In the style of Gothic Revival It is an intact example of a kind of vernacular house that was once common in the area. Vernacular refers to a low style, done without pre- tense. The home’s relation- ship to the early salmon can- ning industry also makes it signifi cant. Here’s to Laura Rogers, to all those who came before her and those who will fol- low her in restoring Astoria’s architectural heritage. By U.S. Sen. RON WYDEN For The Daily Astorian ith the school year nearing its end, students and fam- ilies all over Oregon are begin- ning to think about the upcoming summer and their time outside of school. W I want to take a moment to stress the importance of providing young people with safe places to learn during the summer months, because not all Oregon families can afford summer camps and summer tutors. This is especially important because increased evidence shows that students who experience sum- mer learning loss start the school year behind. Simply put, the long summer break should not be a long break from learning. With Oregon’s four-year high school graduation rate at an alarm- ingly low 74 percent, it is long past time we shine a spotlight on sum- mer learning loss and its impact on our students’ path toward graduation. That’s especially important in our state where 1 in 4 teenagers doesn’t make it to graduation. Most students lose math and read- ing skills during summer break, as research by the National Summer Learning Association shows. Stu- dents from low-income families fare even worse. The sad truth is that the lack of access to learning programs for underprivileged kids in the sum- mer widens the achievement gap between those students and their high- er-income classmates. Most students lose about two months of grade-level equivalency in math computation skills over the summer months, and children for a free lunch, low-income students also and stay for the free books. lose more than two months This year I hope to see in reading achievement. even more communities As parents, community come out and support our leaders, educators and poli- students by hosting sum- cymakers, we must provide mer learning activities. every resource possible to Summer Learning Day is bridge that gap for disad- July 14, so mark your cal- vantaged and low -income endars. Even if you cannot students. I have long fought attend one of these great to close the achievement U.S. Sen. events to serve lunch and gap and support all stu- Ron Wyden read stories to class- dents on a path toward rooms full of children, high school gradua- The long remember that support- tion and beyond. In the summer learning is recently passed Every summer ing easy. Volunteering your Student Succeeds Act, I time, or donating books ensured the bill requires break or crayons to neighbors that states improve stu- is another way to sup- should dent learning at low-per- port young learners. forming schools and at not be As I have traveled schools with low-per- around the state hav- forming student groups. a long ing conversations in Now, the state of Ore- high school auditori- gon can provide fed- break ums and school gyms, eral funding to school from I have heard so many districts to hire men- good ideas on how tor-teachers or create learning. to help students suc- afterschool and summer ceed in school. Orego- learning programs to support underperforming schools and nians agree that we must support all aspects of a student’s life to improve struggling students. I know so many great education their outcomes, and I will add that advocates in Oregon who share these this rings true all year long. I have goals, and I want to commend Ore- seen fi rsthand that our communities gon’s tremendous educators who are ready to come together and sup- work on this effort every single day. port students who need it. This is My good friends at Oregon After- truly the Oregon way. I am committed to helping more school for Kids have made a com- mitment to keep kids learning all of our students get their high school summer long. Their efforts to open diplomas and increase the rate at up school libraries and school cafe- which our students are graduating terias in Woodburn, Salem, Eugene from high school. Fighting summer and around the state have truly made learning loss is one way we can keep a difference in children’s lives by pro- all students on a path toward a bright viding them with a safe and welcom- future. Democrat Ron Wyden is the senior ing learning environment during the summer. I saw parents bring their U.S. senator for Oregon. GUEST COLUMN Kids are a worthwhile investment By MAX WILLIAMS For The Daily Astorian e shouldn’t be pointing fi ngers; we should be offering helping hands. W This was the theme when New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof spoke recently at The Oregon Community Foundation annual meeting. He was there to educate, support and inspire us to do better in our efforts to give all Oregon children the opportunity to succeed in school and, ultimately, in life. Although our state has many accomplishments, our performance in educational outcomes is consid- erably below our aspirations. Many Oregon children lack the opportuni- ties that lead to economic prosper- ity — and subsequently diminish our overall state economic and social health as well. At the foundation, we strive to tackle these issues with grant pro- grams and partnerships that tar- get education, parenting, children’s dental health, and the economic strength of communities. We focus on early childhood education — including parenting — because that’s where we can make the big- gest impact. Because brain architecture is 90 percent complete by age 6, par- ents play a deeply infl uential role in early childhood development. By age 3, children with college-edu- cated parents or primary caregivers have vocabularies two to three times greater than those whose parents did not complete high school. By the time they start school, children who have limited exposure to vocabulary there are also economic are already behind their issues at play. Economists peers. Many never catch who have looked at the up. cost-benefi t equation say Our concern at OCF is that dollars spent in the that this opportunity gap early years pay off many for children and youth is times over. We can save widening. We know that anywhere from $3 to $17 effective parenting and for every $1 invested in early childhood reading early childhood programs and vocabulary have a because of lower costs for huge impact on preparing Max remedial education, lower children for kindergarten Williams crime and incarcera- — and that readiness costs and higher affects their ability to Oregon is tion productivity over a succeed later in life. Here’s where the poised to lifetime. The bottom line: Oregon Parenting Kids are a worthwhile Education Collabora- play an public investment. tive comes in. A part- important Oregon is poised to nership between four play an important role of Oregon’s largest role in in the early childhood foundations (OCF, education discussion. The Ford Family the early In 2015, the Oregon Foundation, Meyer Memorial Trust and childhood Legislature enacted House Bill 3380, The Collins Founda- education which created a new, tion) and Oregon State funded pre- University, the col- discussion. publicly school system. Called laborative supports Preschool Promise, parenting education the system leverages high-quality, programs. These combined efforts have local and culturally relevant early also resulted in the development child care and education programs, of regional “hubs” to coordinate allowing families with incomes up resources and make parenting edu- to 200 percent of the poverty level to cation easily accessible. These hubs access and choose the preschool pro- now operate in 29 counties, includ- gram which best meets their needs. Providing equal access at the ing Clatsop, with the goal of cover- ing every county in the state within starting line is exactly what we need a few years. In Astoria, the Clatsop to do. It is ultimately only by clos- County Juvenile Department has ing what Kristof calls our “collective just received a $90,000 grant from effort gap” that Oregon can — and the foundation to support Northwest will — be better than it is today. And Parenting, providing coordination by not pointing fi ngers, but by offer- and delivery of parenting education ing helping hands. Max Williams, president and programs in Clatsop, Columbia and CEO of The Oregon Community Tillamook counties. Beyond social equity concerns Foundation. Where to write • U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D): 2338 Rayburn HOB, Washing- ton, D.C., 20515. Phone: 202- 225- 0855. Fax 202-225-9497. District offi ce: 12725 SW Millikan Way, Suite 220, Beaverton, OR 97005. Phone: 503-469-6010. Fax 503-326- 5066. Web: bonamici.house. gov/ • U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D): 313 Hart Senate Offi ce Building, Wash- ington, D.C. 20510. Phone: 202-224- 3753. Web: www.merkley.senate.gov • U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D): 221 Dirksen Senate Offi ce Building, Wash- ington, D.C., 20510. Phone: 202-224- 5244. Web: www.wyden.senate.gov • State Rep. Brad Witt (D): State Capitol, 900 Court Street N.E., H-373, Salem, OR 97301. Phone: 503-986-1431. Web: www.leg.state. or.us/witt/ Email: rep.bradwitt@ state.or.us • State Rep. Deborah Boone (D): 900 Court St. N.E., H-481, Salem, OR 97301. Phone: 503-986-1432. Email: rep.deborah boone@state. or.us District offi ce: P.O. Box 928, Cannon Beach, OR 97110. Phone: 503-986-1432. Web: www.leg.state. or.us/ boone/ • State Sen. Betsy Johnson (D): State Capitol, 900 Court St. N.E., S-314, Salem, OR 97301. Tele- phone: 503-986-1716. Email: sen. betsy johnson@state.or.us Web: www.betsyjohnson.com District Offi ce: P.O. Box R, Scappoose, OR 97056. Phone: 503-543-4046. Fax: 503-543-5296. Astoria offi ce phone: 503-338-1280. • Port of Astoria: Executive Director, 10 Pier 1 Suite 308, Asto- ria, OR 97103. Phone: 503-741-3300. Email: admin@portofastoria.com • Clatsop County Board of Com- missioners: c/o County Manager, 800 Exchange St., Suite 410, Astoria, OR 97103. Phone: 503-325-1000.
