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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2017
Georgia-Pacific donation will help with playground
Larger project
is a year away
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
WESTPORT — Plans to
revitalize a boat launch and
park area near Westport have
been stagnant, but they took a
step closer Wednesday.
The
Georgia-Pacific
Wauna Mill, which donated
the 27-acre property to Clat-
sop County in 2015, has
given an additional $20,000
toward a playground at the
site. The playground and other
upgrades, such as a picnic
area, restrooms and a refur-
bished boat launch, are at least
a year away from being com-
pleted, Natural Resources
Manager Steve Meshke said.
“We’ve got a lot of things
lined up,” Meshke said. “It’s
just about waiting for the dom-
inoes to fall.”
Georgia-Pacific donated
the thinly shaped property
along the Westport Slough,
valued at more than $230,000,
in 2015. Though much of the
project was expected to be
finished by 2016, it remains
largely in the design phase. It
will take at least another year
to complete, Meshke said.
Damian Mulinix/EO Media Group
The county plans to revitalize a boat launch and park in Wesport. Completion of the project is likely a year away.
Estimated to cost $900,000
for the entire project, the
county parks department is
hoping to secure more grants
from the state, Meshke said.
“There are a lot of different
grant opportunities that could
be had there,” Meshke said.
Costs not secured by grants
County unemployment
rate down to 3.5 percent
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
has cut 90. Leisure and hos-
pitality (130) and construc-
tion (80) added the most
positions. Retail trade was
down 140 jobs over the
year, while both manufac-
turing and local government
education lost an additional
70 positions.
county, said Selene Keeney,
the council’s coordinator. The
departure of former coordina-
tor Margaret Magruder, who
originally spearheaded the
effort, has also been a factor,
she said.
Georgia-Pacific attempted
to donate the land in 2004,
but the move was stalled
when the state Department of
Environmental Quality sus-
pected contamination from
the mill’s use of the prop-
erty dating back to the 1950s.
A regulatory process that
cost the company $1 million
ended in 2013.
Miss Scandinavia is a family tradition
Miss Finland
takes the crown
The Daily Astorian
Clatsop County’s season-
ally adjusted unemployment
rate dipped slightly to 3.5
percent in May, according
to figures from the Oregon
Employment Department.
Clatsop County was
tied for the seventh-lowest
unemployment rate state-
wide, along with Deschutes
and Wasco counties. The
unemployment rate was 1.3
percent lower than the year
prior, slightly lower than the
state rate (3.6 percent) and
nearly 1 percent lower than
the U.S. rate (4.3 percent).
Some regional economists
have argued the region has
reached peak employment.
Nonfarm payroll employ-
ment decreased by 30 from
the year prior, shrinking
one-fifth of a percent. The
civilian labor force over
that time increased by 563.
Over the past year, the pri-
vate sector has added 60
jobs, while the government
will be funded by the depart-
ment’s acquisition fund.
An effort by the Lower
Columbia River Watershed
Council to redirect nearby
Plympton Creek with its his-
toric channel has also been
stalled due to emergency
projects in other areas in the
Once completed, the play-
ground will be more than
half a football field in size,
Meshke said. It will include
climbing areas and swing sets
for children that will have
similar colors to the trees and
rocks surrounding it.
It will be valuable to more
than 60 school-age chil-
dren in the area who cur-
rently must travel more than
10 miles to the nearest play-
ground,
Georgia-Pacific
spokeswoman Kristi Ward
said.
“Our vision when we
donated the property was for
a great park that all Westport
residents could enjoy, so it
is fulfilling to know that the
kids in the community will
have a safe place to be active
and play,” she said.
The county now will seek
an additional grant that will
fully fund the playground
design. Public informa-
tion meetings will be held
in Westport this summer to
review the plans and for resi-
dents to provide input.
Clatsop County Com-
missioner Kathleen Sullivan
said she was thrilled by the
designs she saw Wednesday.
“We’re going to have to have
a big party here when this is
finished,” she said.
Astoria’s newest Miss
Scandinavia comes from a
long line of women who have
worn the crown.
Megan Schacher was Miss
Finland at this year’s Asto-
ria Scandinavian Midsummer
Festival and was crowned Miss
Scandinavia at the festival’s
opening ceremonies Friday.
Her sister, Aimee, was both
Miss Finland and Miss Scan-
dinavia in 2013; her mother,
Melissa, was Miss Finland and
Miss Scandinavia in 1991.
The annual festival, a cel-
ebration of Danish, Swedish,
Finnish, Norwegian and Ice-
landic traditions and food,
marked its 50th year last
weekend.
Schacher, and the other
young women representing
their different counties of ori-
gin, didn’t wear tight spar-
kly dresses or swimsuits; they
were dressed in brightly col-
ored traditional garb. They
urged involvement in the com-
munity, knowing it is up to the
next generation to keep these
traditions alive.
Schacher’s
great- great-
grand parents are the reason
the family now resides in Ore-
gon. They moved to the United
States independently, met in
Montana and later settled in
Hammond.
Schacher’s
great-great
grandmother helped sponsor
other Finns to immigrate to
America, remembering how
hard the journey was herself.
Her Finnish heritage and
the traditions of that culture
provide Schacher with deep
connections to the community,
Schacher said. She could not
imagine life without them.
Schacher will be a senior at
Astoria High School.
Runner-up Kara Dowaliby,
Miss Sweden, traces her heri-
tage back to Finnish and Swed-
ish great-great-grandparents
who met at a popular dance
Megan
Schacher,
Miss Fin-
land, was
crowned
Miss
Scandi-
navia at
this year’s
Astoria
Scandi-
navian
Midsum-
mer Fes-
tival last
weekend.
Georgia
Sutton
was Ju-
nior Miss
Finland.
Thom E.
Dickerson
hall in Astoria now known as
Josephson’s Seafoods.
She echoed Schacher’s
words, saying the Scandina-
vian immigrants who settled
here came with a “suitcase”
and “a dream.” The dream
continues for future genera-
tions, she said.
Other young women
who represented the festi-
val included retiring Miss
Scandinavia 2016 Megan
McCall-Devos, Miss Denmark
Sophia Hansen and Miss Nor-
way Maya McGill.
State senator suggests changes to tenant protections bill
Monroe has
offered revisions
By PARIS ACHEN
Capital Bureau
SALEM — A stalemate in
the state Senate over a tenant
protections bill could end with
changes proposed by a Dem-
ocratic senator who has so far
opposed the legislation.
State Sen. Rod Monroe of
Portland, one of several land-
lords in the Legislature, has
opposed House Bill 2004,
despite several concessions
already made to landlords.
Monroe on Tuesday pro-
posed amendments that he
says would win his vote and
those of other holdouts in the
Senate, both Democrats and
Republicans.
Jonathan Lockwood, a
spokesman for Senate Republi-
cans, said he couldn’t comment
on whether individual Republi-
cans support the amendments.
“Senate Republicans are
optimistic changes can be made
that would be palatable,” Lock-
wood said Wednesday.
The amendments would
eliminate a ban on no-cause
evictions and drastically narrow
the circumstances under which
landlords would be obligated to
pay tenants relocation costs.
The amendments still
would limit rent increases to
one time per year and require a
minimum of six-month leases.
Landlords would be required
to notify tenants 90 days before
the end of the lease whether
they intend to the renew the
lease and increase the rent. Ten-
ants would have to respond 45
days before the end of the lease
on whether they plan to stay or
move out.
The proposed amendments
are intended to prevent mass
evictions, without penalizing
other landlords who may use
no-cause evictions in limited
circumstances, Monroe said.
However, housing advo-
cates say the proposals are a
revival of ideas that were elim-
inated last year because they
were deemed ineffective.
Existing bill
The existing iteration of the
bill would ban no-cause evic-
tions and require landlords
to pay relocation costs of up
to one month’s rent when the
landlord wants to move into the
property, renovate it or sell it.
Landlords who own fewer
than five units would be
exempt from having to pay the
relocation costs. A section to
lift the ban on rent control in
the House version of the bill
was eliminated during amend-
ments in the Senate Committee
on Human Services.
Monroe’s
amendments
would narrow the requirement
to pay relocation costs to the
following situation: A landlord
evicts 50 percent or more of
tenants in a multifamily com-
plex exceeding five units in the
first year after the landlord pur-
chased the property. The land-
lord would, then, have to pay
the evicted tenants the equiva-
lent of one month’s rent.
John DiLorenzo, a real
estate attorney and a spokes-
man for More Housing Now,
said the statewide landlord
coalition supports Monroe’s
amendments.
“I think Sen. Monroe’s
amendments reflect the best
practices of many landlords
throughout the state and are
designed to be targeted to the
outliers, and we are fine with
that,” DiLorenzo said.
John Van Landingham, a
housing advocate with Lane
County Legal Aid, said the
amendment resembles a con-
cept landlords suggested in
2016, when investors were pur-
chasing buildings and evicting
all of the tenants.
“Is somebody going to track
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when evictions pass 49 per-
cent?” Van Landingham said.
“Practically, it doesn’t seem to
us to work, and we certainly
don’t support it.”
Landingham said he sees
no way to target mass evictions
specifically, without banning
no-cause evictions.
“I am still hopeful Sen.
Monroe will support House
Bill 2004B,” Van Landingham
said.
Alison McIntosh of the
Oregon Housing Alliance said
the amendments also fail to
address discriminatory or retal-
iatory behavior by landlords.
The amendments “address a
very small slice of what people
are experiencing” in the state’s
housing crisis, she said.
Limbo
The bill has been in limbo
after it became apparent the
Senate lacked enough votes to
pass the legislation. Sen. Ginny
Burdick, D-Portland, who
heads the Senate Rules Com-
mittee, has been spearheading
negotiations to modify and win
votes for the bill.
Burdick, who also is a land-
lord, said she supports the ver-
sion of the bill passed out of the
Senate Committee on Human
Services.
“I think other members of
my caucus need to go farther
than perhaps where Sen. Mon-
roe is willing to go at this point,
but I am trying to reach that
happy spot where it’s mean-
ingful protection but something
we can get the votes for,” Bur-
dick said.
The Capital Bureau is a col-
laboration between EO Media
Group and Pamplin Media
Group.
SEASIDE
AAUW
(American Association of University Women)
ANNOUNCES SCHOLARSHIPS TO
NORTH COAST FEMALE RECIPIENTS
The Seaside branch of AAUW is proud to announce two scholarships to be used to
further the education of two deserving local female students. AAUW’s mission advances
equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, philanthropy and research.
Fund raising and offering scholarships is an integral part of the Seaside AAUW
Scholarship Foundation.
Through a written application and a personal
interview, Maritza Casarrubias exhibits the
qualities of perseverance, academic achievement
and goal setting that qualifies her as an excellent
recipient for the $2,000 scholarship award. She
will attend Clatsop Community College where she
will pursue a Bachelor of Arts in dental hygiene.
She resides in Astoria with her husband and two
children.
Monica Alward is a 2017 graduate of Seaside
High School. Her Upward Bound experiences of
creating art for the community and working with
the environment in community improvement,
led Monica to apply and be accepted at Portland
State University where she will pursue courses
in architecture and environmental studies. She
resides in Seaside. The $1,000 June Stromberg
Memorial Scholarship will help defray the cost of
her education.