OPINION
6A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2016
Founded in 1873
DAVID F. PERO, Publisher & Editor
LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor
BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager
CARL EARL, Systems Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager
DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager
HEATHER RAMSDELL, Circulation Manager
OUR VIEW
Tracks are more
than nostalgia,
it’s an investment
The media’s moment of truth
A
century ago, running freight trains between Astoria and
Portland made economic sense because there were bulk
products — most notably logs, finished lumber and
salmon — that originated here and were being conveyed into
interstate commerce.
Nowadays, Astoria’s rail corridor is treasured as a pictur-
esque means to travel along the waterfront. It ties river frontage
together into a themed package of maritime industry and sights.
In addition, a potential exists for industrial rail to become use-
ful if Tongue Point ever achieves its destiny as a manufacturing/
warehousing terminal, a dream that might also enhance the rele-
vancy of re-extending heavy rail service to the Port of Astoria’s
main facilities in west Astoria.
As explored in our story last week, some vexing issues sur-
round maintaining the parts of rail infrastructure that remain
useful at this moment, while deciding how much effort should
go into preserving and enhancing the tracks, bridges and other
assets between Tongue Point and Wauna — where the paper mill
makes use of the rail connection to points east.
By FRANK BRUNI
New York Times News Service
T
he media’s responsibility for
Donald Trump’s political
success will be debated for a
good long while, with the network
honcho Les Moonves’ words about
Trump’s candidacy (“It may not be
good for America, but it’s damn good
for CBS”) front and
center. But almost
from the moment
Trump entered the
2016 presidential
race, he has been
a justifiably huge
story. A lead in the polls became a
lead in the delegate count and then,
surreally, the nomination of the
Republican Party.
Was he ridiculous? Beyond mea-
sure. Relevant? Beyond doubt. As
long as the reporting about him was
skeptical — and, after a certain point,
the bulk of it was — there was more
reason to train the spotlight on him
than to pull it away.
That’s about to change — bigly.
He is bound to lose the election, and
we in the media will lose the ratio-
nale that his every utterance warrants
notice as a glimpse into the character
of a person in contention for the most
consequential job in the world.
But he will remain the same
attention-whoring, head-turning
carnival act that he is today. And we
will face a moment of truth: Do we
care chiefly about promoting con-
structive discussion and protecting
this blessed, beleaguered democracy
of ours? Or are we more interested in
groveling for eyeballs and clicks?
Just as Trump is a candidate like
no other, he may be a test like none
before him.
Mitt Romney didn’t cause any
ruckus after his defeat four years
ago, and even if he had, he was Mitt
Romney: a decent man and an able
public servant but hardly box-office
gold. He moved on. So did we.
The situation was much the same
with John McCain in 2008, John
Kerry in 2004 and Al Gore in 2000.
Once they had definitively lost their
bids for the presidency, they no
longer asserted any claim to center
stage, and none had lifted the media’s
fortunes to a point where letting go
of him could be seen as a financial
risk. Trump has been a singular boon
and singularly potent drug.
Expensive to maintain
Largely running above or near water, the rail line between
Tongue Point and the Port of Astoria is expensive to maintain.
Downtown, emergency repairs are underway now in advance of a
multi-year $12 million renovation project scheduled to start next
fall. Another $950,000 is needed to bring bridge ends up to rail
standards to allow freight trains to move along the waterfront.
Bringing the now-unused segment from Tongue Point east
to Wauna up to snuff would cost even more — perhaps $1 mil-
lion a mile, with no sign that freight traffic will soon achieve
anything like the 5,000 to 9,300 freight cars per year neces-
sary to make the line economically feasible. The cost may climb
even higher, depending on how water levels rise in a world with
unstable icecaps.
West Coast cities once avidly competed to become the Pacific
Ocean anchors for major east-west rail corridors. Astoria’s justi-
fication for such an interconnection has always been undercut by
the fact that ocean-going ships and barges can move freight far
upriver at an even lower cost than rail.
The argument for rail freight service along the Columbia
will grow in potency as population and industry fills the gaps
between here and Portland. In addition, commuter passenger rail
— last toyed with the years leading up to the Lewis and Clark
Bicentennial — could someday become a vital part of the trans-
portation picture in northwest Oregon.
Make the case
We need to continue making the case to the state that spend-
ing on rail infrastructure is a good investment in our region’s
future. At the same time, it behooves us to recognize that our
port, waterfront and Tongue Point all have much potential for
multiple industries — not just tourism. This means that while
we work to preserve views and enhance hospitality and retail
options along the river, we also must stand up for the kinds of
heavier industries that can make viable use of rail.
Supporting rail facilities must be about much more than nos-
talgia: We have to advocate on behalf of all the economic sectors
that require affordable links to the Interstate 5 corridor.
New rules
We need rules for quitting him,
guidelines for the circumstances in
which coverage of him is legitimate
and those in which it isn’t. That
distinction is all the more crucial
because he seems poised to under-
mine important institutions and the
democratic process itself. We can
lend that effort more credibility or
less by paying rapt attention to it or
not.
The closest contemporary
antecedent to Trump is Sarah Palin.
As McCain’s running mate in 2008,
she attained a loopy celebrity that
transcended both the campaign and
politics, and the appetite for her
— in the media and the electorate —
didn’t wane after Election Day. Nor
did her zest for notice. She kept ven-
turing out in various ways, and there
were various signs that she’d become
a symbol and a spokeswoman for
a sizable political constituency. We
didn’t quit her.
But she never loomed as large
as Trump does, and her reach was
abridged in ways that his might not
be. She didn’t have, around her, the
sorts of advisers and ready-made
media machine that Trump has
assembled, especially since he
brought Breitbart News’ Stephen
Bannon onboard. She didn’t have
Trump’s money. She didn’t have his
decades of practice at manipulating
journalists.
He’s already teeing up a stunt:
his possible rejection of the election
returns. How much should we
indulge this tantrum, and for how
long? If Trump actually marshals
the necessary strategy and resources
for legal challenges in states where
the results allow them — if he hires
lawyers and files paperwork — that’s
an indisputably newsworthy develop-
ment. If he simply rages? That’s not.
He may well be using this cam-
paign as a pivot into a new media
venture, which would be a bona fide
business story. But it would not be
an excuse to record his every insult
or attend to his nonstop naysaying
about politics and government.
His perspective will continue
to matter — within limits — if
there’s proof that he’s commanding
a real political movement: rallies,
infrastructure, the cultivation of
candidates in his mold. Without such
evidence, he’s merely what The
Weekly Standard’s Jay Cost branded
him last week: the windbag in winter.
Maybe the media will be spared
any tough decisions by Trump
himself. He could go gentle into
that good night (hey, stranger things
have happened). Or he may have
finally exhausted the curiosity and
patience of all but a tiny fraction of
Americans, so that journalists have
no economic incentive to stick with
him.
Audience power
The greatest power resides with
the audience — which bears much
of the culpability, too. Never before
have news organizations been able to
judge so quickly and accurately what
our consumers respond to. If those
consumers hadn’t demonstrated
such intense interest in Trump, we
probably wouldn’t have, either. And
if they turn from Trump, they can be
sure that most of us will, too, without
much equivocation or delay.
But we can’t place all of this on
their doorstep. There are adjustments
we should make, regardless of
metrics.
One is tonal. Trump’s mendacity,
viciousness, vulgarity and lack of
preparation encouraged a kind of
political journalism that wasn’t
just adversarial but outraged,
urgent, mocking — and rightly so.
An uncommon peril called for an
uncommon approach. The pitch of
the commentary had to match the
peculiarity of the moment. But that
style can’t become the new normal,
not in a country that’s already this
polarized. We should dial it down
after Trump.
And if he remains catnip to read-
ers and viewers? We should show
some courage and restraint.
Yes, it’s an economic necessity
— a matter of survival — that we
mingle popular fare with more
important stuff, using the former
to fund the latter: pet videos for
Pentagon reporting; a Kardashian
for a Khamenei. But Trump isn’t
harmless fodder, not if his words and
actions after the campaign match
those during it. He has the potential
to do great damage and is threaten-
ing as much.
We can’t outright ignore
him, because there are important
post-mortems to be written, because
he’s a central character in the
drama of where the GOP goes from
here, and because he has captured
the imaginations and vented the
frustrations of tens of millions of
Americans.
But we also can’t roll over for
him, the way we’ve sometimes done
over the last 16 months, chronicling
even those speeches and rallies that
amounted to sales pitches for his
properties and products. His reck-
oning comes on Nov. 8. Ours comes
shortly after that.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Many other options
n response to the proposed amend-
ment to the development code
concerning accessory dwelling units,
Section 3.020 (“Astoria seeks bal-
ance between housing, tourism,”
The Daily Astorian, Oct. 20), and the
public hearing being held tonight by
the Astoria Planning Commission:
The city has set a goal of creating
additional affordable housing units
for Astorians, although there has
been little communicated as to either
actual number of units, nor desired
price point.
A year and a half ago the City
Council hoped to tackle a solution
as part of the library expansion proj-
ect. When bigger expansion plans
died away, so did all talk of the city
seeking ways to build apartments
downtown.
Now the housing shortage is
being directed toward the historic
hillside properties, implying that the
city’s housing problem should be
solved by individual home owners
being invited to add the density of
one or two additional families to their
small lots. Long term homeowners
are unlikely to add units at the cost of
I
their own privacy, and the integrity
of the historic setting. The few units
added will annoy neighbors without
addressing the housing shortage.
On the other hand, let’s again
consider vacant properties on Duane
and Exchange streets and Marine
Drive. These might include the Dari-
gold property, Merwyn Hotel, Lum’s
former space, the city’s public works
yards off Marine, and various empty
lots along Marine.
Incentivize developers to pur-
chase properties and develop housing
units to meet the city’s specific needs
at desired price points. Their design
could incorporate appropriate park-
ing capacity and, with economies
of scale, be delivered at a per-unit
cost considerably lower than the per-
unit cost that would be experienced
by individual homeowners building
accessory dwelling units.
This process would provide
affordable housing within the down-
town core, while filling vacant prop-
erties and preserving the historic hill-
side neighborhoods of which Astoria
is justifiably proud.
Before rushing to a “code amend-
ment solution” which by the Com-
munity Development director’s own
admission is not likely to yield ade-
quate numbers, let’s look at the many
other options that would more pre-
dictably address the need for afford-
able housing.
TED and WENDY OSBORN
Astoria
Brown for Gearhart
t’s been almost 100 years since
Gearhart Park, a destination resort
for transient vacationers, liberated
itself from that status and became the
city of Gearhart, a real community
committed to independence, self-re-
liance, and the public peace, health,
safety, and welfare. Both permanent
and seasonal residents were the imme-
diate beneficiaries of that sea change
under the administration of the new
City Council, which included William
Badger, the first African American to
hold public office in the state of Ore-
gon, and the first mayor, P.A. Lee.
Running for mayor this year is
Matt J. Brown, who knows and stands
for the traditions of our unique com-
munity. He was raised in the heart
of Gearhart, on the Ridge Path, in
I
the house his father — a fisher, log-
ger, carpenter and member of our
heroic Volunteer Fire Department
— designed and built with his own
hands. Matt has followed in the tradi-
tion of service, putting in years on the
Gearhart Planning Commission and
serving as its chairman. He knows the
city’s organization and laws, recog-
nizes the Comprehensive Plan as the
city’s covenant with the community,
and supports it 100 percent.
Matt Brown’s advice and expe-
rience were helpful to the city as it
recently legislated the great com-
promise on short-term rentals — a
compromise that grandfathered cur-
rent transient rentals that could have
been declared illegal, while gradu-
ally reducing their number. Matt, a
businessman sensitive to the housing
needs of his employees, argued per-
suasively that this legislation would
result in more long-term rentals, mak-
ing much-needed housing for per-
manent residents more available and
affordable.
Matt Brown promises to be “true
to Gearhart”; he envisions an era in
which all residents, east and west,
permanent and seasonal, participate
in the life of the community. Experi-
ence is not his only strong suit; Matt
is well-known and liked throughout
the area, and I do believe he’ll accom-
plish his goal. He’s won my vote, and
I hope he has yours.
BILL BERG
Gearhart
Thanks to God
egarding the headline “Pacific
storm fizzles after dire warn-
ings” (The Daily Astorian, Oct. 17),
and sub-headline “Why wasn’t it so
intense?”:
No. 1, God is sovereign and con-
trols the weather.
No. 2, a simple yet effective prayer
— “God, please divert the storm
from this area and cause it to dissolve
and fade to nothing; please keep the
power on for life sustainment” —
subdued the intensity of the predicted
storm.
No. 3, it was a powerful demon-
stration of his protection, strength and
mercy to us. He deserves a standing
ovation. Let’s give him one.
MARJ SNYDER
Astoria
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