7A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2017
Help: ‘This is a reality check’
hurricane-struck areas.
In Cannon Beach, Beach-
comber Vacation Homes is
offering a vacation package
with brewery tours, Coaster
Theatre tickets, surf lessons
and variety of other local
goods valued at $6,500.
“We are trying to learn how
to be better prepare for future
tragedies. We weren’t pre-
pared,” Upson said. “But at
least now Texas properties can
say to their clients, ‘You can’t
stay with us, but you can stay
in Cannon Beach’ and get a
cut from the profi t. We’re try-
ing to give hope back to com-
panies who thought this was it
for their business.”
Continued from Page 1A
Companies all over the
North Coast use LiveRez.com
to help manage and rent out
vacation houses. As a way to
raise money, companies like
Olson’s are creating silent auc-
tion vacation packages, where
all of the proceeds of the bid
will go to those affected by
hurricanes. In a month, Liv-
eRez.com has raised about
$60,000.
“This isn’t about helping
second homeowners,” Olson
said. “This is about helping the
people who work in this indus-
try put food on the table. If
all of a sudden we were with-
out, I don’t know what we
would do. Vacation rentals are
such a huge part of our local
economy.”
Moving forward
‘ What are we doing?’
After Hurricane Irma hit,
Kelly Willey said all that was
on her mind were the basics.
“When we came back, we
didn’t have electricity. We
couldn’t fl ush toilets,” she
said. “People weren’t nec-
essarily thinking about busi-
nesses until sometime after.
We were focused on little hur-
dles — like being able to fl ush
the toilet again, thank God.”
But after amenities for
basic survival started to come
back, the reality of what the
storm meant for her business,
Coco Plum Real Estate, came
back, too. Before Hurricane
Irma, Willey managed about
70 properties in Marathon,
Florida, a town of about 8,000
in the Florida Keys. After
Irma?
“Four. Four are opera-
tional,” Willey said. “My fi rst
thought was, ‘Oh my god I’m
out of business.’ When will the
visitors want to come back?
Will my employees be coming
back, and how do we take care
of them?”
LiveRez.com
estimates
about 100 property managers
like Willey were affected by
Hurricane Harvey and Hur-
ricane Irma, 30 of whom lost
all of their properties in the
storms. Like Cannon Beach,
many of these towns are small,
coastal and driven by tourism.
Tina Upson, v ice p resident
Submitted Photos
Business cards and a medallion lie in the debris at Miss
Kitty’s Fishing Getaways in Rockport, Texas.
A doll found in the wreckage of one of the vacation homes
managed in the Florida Keys.
of operations at LiveRez.com,
said the company initially
responded how they always did
after disasters : sent thoughts
and prayers. But immediately
the company started receiving
phone calls and emails.
“They kept asking us,
‘What are we doing?’” Upson
said.
I n response, LiveRez.
com launched a program that
allows property managers to
share inventory. For example,
a property manager in Can-
non Beach can donate one of
their vacation rentals to a prop-
erty manager based in an area
affected by a hurricane to rent
out temporarily. That way,
someone in a place like Rock-
port, Texas, which is still reel-
ing from inconsistent access
to power and utilities, can still
make money while their own
properties are rebuilt.
The nonprofi t is also host-
ing a silent auction. More
than 50 property manag-
ers around the country have
donated vacation rental pack-
ages. Whatever is made off
the bids will be donated back
to the property managers in
While she always knew
hurricane damage was a possi-
bility, Dawn Huff said imagin-
ing how destructive it can be is
almost impossible.
“Eighty percent of my
homes are wiped out. I can’t
say I really planned for that,”
Huff said. “This is a reality
check.”
Huff owns Miss Kitty’s
Fishing Getaways in Rockport,
Texas, a small fi shing town hit
by Hurricane Harvey. When
she returned from evacuation,
starting up her business proved
to be a challenge. Many of her
employees were displaced,
and some, like housekeepers,
had to be let go . Finding ways
to communicate with confused
and disgruntled customers was
a challenge with phone lines
and internet service inconsis-
tent at best.
A lot of these problems will
take time to solve. But Huff
said having a steady stream of
income to help rebuild offi ces
and pay her staff will help her
get closer .
Vacation h ouses are still in
shambles, but for Willey, in
Florida, it’s the little conve-
niences that count as success.
“I’ve been able to keep staff
employed who have come
back,” she said. “To me, my
success was that I was able to
tell someone they could use
my fax machine. We don’t
expect people to do all the
work for us. But hold my beer,
so to speak, so I can get my
people back to work.”
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Jon Broderick, far right, plays a song at the Arts Coun-
cil of Clatsop County reception on Thursday in the tap-
room at Buoy Beer Co. in Astoria.
Boon: ‘It’s about
giving back’
Continued from Page 1A
domestic product. The retail
industry, in comparison,
accounts for 5.8 percent of
GDP.
The arts also supported
4.6 million jobs and added
$27.5 billion to governments
at the local, state and fed-
eral levels. Cohen hopes the
study illustrates that spend-
ing money on the arts is
more than simply a charita-
ble decision.
“Those dollars don’t just
disappear in some black hole
of goodness,” he said. “It’s
giving back to the commu-
nity, cultural benefi ts and
economic impact. Show
me another industry in our
community that provides
that kind of benefi t to the
populace.”
Allison Tigard, a member
of the arts council , said the
ability to reveal economic
data has been the 3 -year-old
organization’s top event thus
far.
County Commissioner
Sarah Nebeker recalled
Thursday a moment prior
to her fi rst election in 2012,
when she met with Brian
Wagner, community arts
coordinator for the Ore-
gon Arts Commission. Soon
before she decided to run,
the two agreed that arts and
culture
needed
more
attention within county
government.
“I did see, and I still see,
this area of the North Coast
as being at the precipice in
just fabulous growth in the
creative economy,” Wagner
said.
Mall: Facebook
page will be set up
Continued from Page 1A
“I really want to do the
place like a Roman court-
yard,” he said. “So there will
be the pillars, fl uted pillars
going like a colonnade on
each side.”
The building was con-
structed in 1945 for Abeco,
which recently downsized
to a location west on Com-
mercial Street. Hicks plans to
take off the metallic decora-
tion on the storefront, tear out
carpet and polish the original
black-and-white tile and oth-
erwise restore the building to
its original look when it fi rst
opened .
Hicks will be setting up
a Facebook page for Astor
Court and recruiting inter-
ested tenants.
#powerofrural
Celebrating
Hope
CMH-OHSU Knight Cancer Collaborative
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
From left to right: Michael McNickle, Kerry Strickland and Sheri Salber wait for those in
need to take advantage of resources including food, water and a new needle exchange
program at Peoples Park in Astoria on Thursday.
Needles: Events are scheduled
to take place each Thursday
Continued from Page 1A
“We’ve had a few inter-
ested people but no takers so
far,” McNickle said. “It’s all
about building trust. We want
people to know we’re not
going to arrest them or do any-
thing like that.”
The six-month pilot pro-
gram offers drug users the
ability to trade used needles
in a one-for-one exchange.
Exchange sites Thursday were
located at 16th Street and
Marine Drive in Astoria as
well as the Knappa Fire Dis-
trict Station. Staffers oper-
ated the fi rst exchange site in
Astoria early in the afternoon
before eventually heading to
Knappa.
The county Board of Com-
missioners approved the pro-
gram in August. The outreach
is funded through a $50,000
donation from the Friends of
Columbia Community Health.
The CMH-OHSU Knight Cancer Collaborative has been built
with extraordinary support from our community. The center has
been designed to serve the entire region with expanded capac-
ity and the most state-of-the-art technology found anywhere
on the Pacific Coast. It’s truly been a journey of hope—for CMH
caregivers, the community, donors, and patients who will no
longer have to travel to receive radiation treatment.
Join Columbia Memorial Hospital in celebrating this achieve-
ment at a Community Open House.
(630) 701-7193
Sunday, October 15, 2017
2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
1905 Exchange Street
Astoria, OR 97103
Sheri Salber with the Clatsop County Department of Pub-
lic Health checks on supplies during the first day of the
new needle exchange program.
The health department will
explore potential exchange
locations along the Astoria r iv-
erfront, a well-known hang-
out spot for drug users , and
throughout the county, includ-
ing Seaside. Events are sched-
uled to take place each Thurs-
day for the duration of the
program.
Medical Excellence without the Miles
503-338-4085 | columbiamemorial.org/cancer-care