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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2017
Port explores bond for new Life Flight hangar
Project could
spur airport
development
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
The Port of Astoria is
moving toward a bond mea-
sure in the May election to
finance development at the
southern end of the Astoria
Regional Airport, anchored by
a new hangar for Life Flight
Network.
The Port Commission
voted unanimously Tuesday to
develop a bond measure and to
begin permitting and engineer-
ing on the project.
Port Executive Director
Jim Knight brought in David
Albrecht, an expert in the
municipal financing arm of
the Special Districts Associ-
ation of Oregon, to explain
the hypothetical costs of a
bond.
Albrecht said he was given
the preliminary assumption
of a $1.8 million, three- to
10-year bond measure going
to Clatsop County to voters
in the May 16 election. The
Port would need to submit bal-
lot measure language to the
county clerk’s office by March
16.
If the Port went with a
three-year bond, he said, the
additional tax burden to county
residents would be slightly less
than 12 cents per $1,000 of
assessed property value. The
burden would fall to slightly
more than 5 cents per $1,000
on a seven-year bond, he said,
but with more interest. The
Port’s permanent minimum
taxing rate is 12.56 cents per
$1,000 of assessed property
value.
Life Flight, which opened
its first coastal base in War-
renton last spring, received
$665,000 in state grants and is
investing another $285,000 to
build a new hangar. The Port
Commission voted last month
to focus on developing the
hangar at the south end of the
airport, which staff and airport
advisers have said would open
further development opportu-
nities by connecting to Airport
Lane.
The Port has received let-
ters of support for the proj-
ect from most hospitals and
cities around the region, but
staff has estimated anywhere
between $650,000 to about $1
million in additional develop-
ment costs for the Port. Knight
brought in Willis Van Dusen,
the former Astoria mayor, who
volunteered to stump for a
bond on behalf of the Port.
Van Dusen said that if the
bond is less than $2 million
and helps separate Life Flight’s
helicopters from fixed-wing
aircraft, he’s all for it, having a
daughter who’s a surgeon and
a mother-in-law who has taken
Life Flight to Portland twice.
“I have discussed the item
with some different businesses
around the county to see what
kind of support you would
have for a bond measure,” Van
Dusen said. “At this point, it’s
been 100 percent support.”
Airport Manager Gary
Kobes said permitting for the
Life Flight project needs to
start immediately and will cost
the Port about $40,000. If per-
mitting starts today, he said,
construction wouldn’t start any
earlier than November. Engi-
neering costs are estimated
at more than $180,000, but
Kobes said such work could
wait until June.
None of the costs for per-
mitting and engineering are
budgeted, he said, which pres-
ents a risk to the Port. “We’d
probably spend $40,000 to
$50,000 by the time the bond
could pass,” he said.
Travel ban decision in hands of appeals court judges
Washington
state leading
the fight
Only 15 percent of the
world’s Muslims are affected,
the judge said, citing his own
calculations. He added that the
“concern for terrorism from
those connected to radical
Islamic sects is hard to deny.”
By SUDHIN
THANAWALA
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO —
A federal appeals court will
decide whether to reinstate
President Donald Trump’s
travel ban after a contentious
hearing in which the judges
hammered away at the admin-
istration’s motivations for the
ban, but also directed pointed
questions to an attorney for
two states trying to overturn it.
It was unclear which way
the three judges of the San
Francisco-based 9th U.S. Cir-
cuit Court of Appeals would
rule, though legal experts said
the states appeared to have the
edge.
“I’m not sure if either side
presented a compelling case,
but I certainly thought the gov-
ernment’s case came across
as weaker,” said Stephen Vla-
deck, a professor at the Uni-
versity of Texas School of
Law.
A ruling could come as
early as today and could be
appealed to the U.S. Supreme
Court.
Trump tweeted early today:
“If the U.S. does not win this
case as it so obviously should,
Public statements
AP Photo/Jeff Chiu
Karen Shore holds up a sign outside of the 9th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals in San Francisco Tuesday.
we can never have the secu-
rity and safety to which we are
entitled. Politics!”
The appeals court chal-
lenged the administration’s
claim that the ban was moti-
vated by terrorism fears, but it
also questioned the argument
of an attorney challenging the
executive order on grounds
that it unconstitutionally tar-
geted Muslims.
The contentious hearing
before the judges on the 9th
Circuit focused narrowly on
whether a restraining order
issued by a lower court should
remain in effect while a chal-
lenge to the ban proceeds. But
the judges jumped into the
larger constitutional questions
surrounding Trump’s order,
which temporarily suspended
the nation’s refugee program
and immigration from seven
mostly Muslim countries that
have raised terrorism concerns.
Huge audience
The hearing Tuesday was
conducted by phone — an
unusual step — and broad-
cast live on cable networks,
newspaper websites and var-
ious social media outlets. It
attracted a huge audience, with
more than 130,000 alone tuned
in to the court’s YouTube site
to hear audio.
Judge Richard Clifton, a
George W. Bush nominee,
asked an attorney representing
Washington state and Minne-
sota what evidence he had that
the ban was motivated by reli-
gion. The two states are suing
to invalidate the ban.
“I have trouble understand-
ing why we’re supposed to
infer religious animus when in
fact the vast majority of Mus-
lims would not be affected.”
Noah Purcell, Washington
state’s solicitor general, cited
public statements by Trump
calling for a ban on the entry
of Muslims to the U.S. He said
the states did not have to show
every Muslim is harmed, only
that the ban was motivated by
religious discrimination.
Clifton also went after the
government’s attorney, asking
whether he denied statements
by Trump and former New York
City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani,
who said recently that Trump
asked him to create a plan for a
Muslim ban. Judge Michelle T.
Friedland, who was appointed
by President Barack Obama,
asked why the case should not
move forward to determine
what motivated the ban.
“We’re not saying the case
shouldn’t proceed, but we are
saying that it is extraordinary
for a court to enjoin the pres-
ident’s national security deci-
sion based on some newspaper
articles,” said August Flentje,
who argued the case for the
Justice Department.
Under questioning from
Clifton, Flentje did not dispute
that Trump and Giuliani made
the statements.
Clifton said he understood if
the government argued that state-
ments by Trump and his advis-
ers should not be given much
weight, but he said they are
potentially evidence in the case.
Connections to terror
Friedland also asked
whether the government has
any evidence connecting the
seven nations to terrorism.
Flentje told the judges that
the case was moving fast and
the government had not yet
included evidence to support
the ban. Flentje cited a number
of Somalis in the U.S. who, he
said, had been connected to the
al-Shabab terrorist group.
The ban has upended travel
to the U.S. for more than
a week and tested the new
administration’s use of execu-
tive power.
JASON GOODDING
MEMORIAL CONCERT
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F EBRUARY 23
What’s Ahead for the
Regional and State Economies?
A Columbia Forum Presentation
Erik Knoder
Erik Knoder has lived in Oregon since 1988. He received
his master’s degree in natural resource economics from
Oregon State University in 1999. Aside from labor market
economics his research interests include land use, growth
and development, and the fi shing industry. Erik joined
the Oregon Employment Department as a regional
economist June of 2003 and works in Newport. He is
responsible for generating and disseminating labor market information for
Lincoln, Tillamook, Clatsop and Columbia counties.
Josh Lehner
Josh Lehner is an Economist with the Oregon Offi ce of
Economic Analysis. He develops the quarterly Oregon
Economic forecast, including outlooks for employment,
income and housing. Additional responsibilities include
forecasting revenues for the Oregon Lottery, Oregon
Judicial Department and state tobacco taxes.
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