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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 2, 2016)
3A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, AUGUST 2, 2016 City contracts out park maintenance Move could expand capacity for parks staff By DERRICK DePLEDGE The Daily Astorian A private contractor will take on maintenance of the Astoria Riverwalk, Smith Point, Fort Astoria Park and other downtown park prop- erty as the city hopes to raise the standard of care to a higher level. The City Council agreed Monday night to award the $94,850 contract to Greensmith Landscaping. Councilors had endorsed using Promote Asto- ria tourism dollars for the work as part of the city budget. Angela Cosby, the director of the Parks and Recreation Department, said that using a contractor downtown could expand the ability of city staff Alex Pajunas/The Daily Astorian A private contractor will take over maintenance of the Astoria Riverwalk and other down- town parks. to care for other parks by 15 to 20 percent. The contractor will per- form mowing, trimming, pruning, hedging, edging, weeding, fertilization and aeration, along with two cleanup projects annually. “So the fact that we’re discussing being able to take greater care of these tourist-related sites, we’re excited about,” Cosby said. In other business Monday night, the City Council: • Held a moment of silence for Rae Goforth, a longtime community activist who died Sunday at 87. Goforth, who was affec- tionately known as the “mayor of Uniontown,” was among the residents behind the Mar- itime Memorial under the Astoria Bridge. “Just a tremendous force in our community,” Mayor Arline LaMear said. City Councilor Russ Warr offered condolences to Goforth’s family. “She was just terriic. Wonderful person. And I miss her tremendously,” he said. • Heard a plea from City Councilor Drew Herzig for the community to reduce the stigma around mental illness. Herzig described himself as someone living with mental illness. He said he did not feel free to discuss the issue more Washington state attorney general iles lawsuit against Comcast $100 million claim alleges customers were deceived By RACHEL LA CORTE Associated Press OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson on Monday iled a $100 million lawsuit against Comcast, say- ing the cable and internet giant deceived customers into pay- ing tens of millions of dollars in fees for a “near-worthless” service protection plan. Ferguson, who iled the lawsuit in King County Supe- rior Court, said at a news con- ference that in addition to its misleading service protection plan, Philadelphia-based Com- cast committed more than 1.8 million violations of the state’s Consumer Protection Act by charging improper service call fees and using improper credit screening practices. “This case is a classic exam- ple of a big corporation system- atically deceiving Washington state consumers and putting proits above those consum- ers,” said Ferguson said. According to the lawsuit, Comcast misled 500,000 cus- tomers in Washington state by having them pay a $4.99 monthly fee to avoid being charged if a technician visited their home to ix an issue cov- ered by the plan. But Fergu- son said the company didn’t reveal that the plan didn’t cover repairs to wiring inside a wall. As part of the investi- gation, customers contacted Comcast numerous times. Fer- guson said that 75 percent of the time, Comcast representa- tives falsely told the customers that the plan covered all inside wiring. AP Photo/Tali Arbel Comcast trucks parked in a lot in the company’s West- ford, Mass., operations center. Washington state has sued the cable giant for $100 million, alleging the company de- ceived customers with a service protection plan. More than $73 million of the amount that Ferguson is seeking is for restitution to cus- tomers who paid for the pro- tection plan over the past ive years. “Comcast needs to pay that money back,” he said. The remainder of the amount he is seeking is for res- titution for charging improper service call fees and for penal- ties related to violation of the state’s consumer protection act. First in the country The lawsuit says that Com- cast violated that act to all of its nearly 1.2 million custom- ers in the state because of its deception. He noted that the Washington lawsuit was the irst on this issue in the coun- try, though the company’s service protection plan is a nationwide program. Ferguson said he’s not yet aware of any other states planning to sue the company. SHANGHAIED IN ASTORIA S 3 EA 2 S O N N D Tickets on sale ONE HOUR before all shows! SHOW RUNS THRU SEPTEMBER 10, 2016 Thursdays to Saturdays 7pm (July 7th-Sept. 10th) and Sundays 2pm (7/24, 8/14, 9/4) RESERVATIONS RECOMMENDED For tickets go to astorstreetoprycompany.com Or by phone: 503-325-6104 ASOC PLAYHOUSE 129 W. BOND ST (UNIONTOWN) ASTORIA (Behind the Chamber of Commerce) fully before because he did not want to jeopardize his effec- tiveness as an elected oficial. He has recently announced he is moving to Massachusetts and will not seek a second term on the council. “So I want to call on our community to do everything in its power to reduce the stigma associated with men- tal illness,” Herzig said. “I know irsthand how much that stigma imposes shame and guilt on people trying to cope with mental illness, adding to the burden of living with a disability. “It makes it dificult for us to seek help, and dificult to ind help. The stigma sharpens our pain, and deepens our iso- lation. As I said, I can take the risk now in speaking out about this; others cannot because it is still too much of a risk. “The stigma is still too powerful a deterrent. So we need your voices to speak on our behalf.” Warrenton schools need a volunteer struction Inc., also moved out of the district. A spot has opened on the The deadline for apply- Warrenton-Hammond School ing is Aug. 12, with applicant Board. interviews Aug. 24 and Joe Talamantez, appointment Sept. 13. who served in the fourth Applicants must have of seven positions on been residents in the the board, moved out district for at least one of the district. His term year. runs through June. Applications can be Talamantez, then downloaded at www. Joe a inancial manager Talamantez warrentonschools. for Tongue Point Job com, or picked up Corps Center, was appointed from the district ofice at to the board in February after 820 S.W. Cedar Ave. from Adam Neahring, a project 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday engineer with Bergerson Con- through Friday. The Daily Astorian “Over and over and over again, Comcast most certainly did not play by the rules,” Fer- guson said. Ferguson said that the investigation began after an employee of his ofice brought the credit screening issue to his attention. Com- cast requires a deposit for equipment, but customers can have that deposit waived if they undergo a credit check and have a high credit score. However, Ferguson said that on more than 6,000 occasions, deposits were paid by peo- ple who still had their credit checked, meaning that either Comcast wrongfully ran a credit check in spite of the customers paying the deposit or else the company still made the customers pay the deposit despite their high credit score. W A NTED Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber N orth w es t H a rdw oods • Lon gview , W A Contact: Steve Axtell • 360-430-0885 or John Anderson • 360-269-2500 6 P C OUNTY 1 20 TSO F AIR A L C P RESENTS B ROWNSMEAD F LATS O LIVIA T EXAS T RIBUTE M ATT H UNDLEY K ARAOKE F INALE R AEANN P HILLIPS T HE O LSON B ROS. 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