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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2017
In striking feat, Democrats come Gearhart:
close to retaking Virginia House ‘It’s been a long
haul and it’s
been worth it’
By SARAH RANKIN
Associated Press
RICHMOND, Va. —
Democrats nearly wiped out
Republicans’ overwhelming
majority on Election Day in
the Virginia House of Dele-
gates, with a handful of races
that will decide control of the
body remaining too close to
call.
By Wednesday morning,
Democrats had picked up 14
of the 17 seats they would
need to retake the chamber for
the first time in two decades.
“It really is an unprec-
edented result we’re see-
ing,” House Democratic Cau-
cus Leader David Toscano
said. The last time Demo-
crats picked up more than five
seats was 1975, according to
Toscano.
This election season, with
all 100 seats up for grabs, saw
Democrats make their most
energetic push in years to
gain ground against Republi-
cans. Sixty of the seats were
contested by candidates of
both major parties, more than
in any year for at least two
decades.
The House gains were part
of a stellar night for Dem-
ocrats, who swept all three
statewide races. Democrat
Ralph Northam beat Republi-
can Ed Gillespie in the gover-
nor’s race by nearly 9 points.
Together, Tuesday’s elec-
toral outcomes will be seen
as an overwhelming victory
for those opposed to President
Donald Trump and as a poten-
tial predictor for next year’s
midterm election, when con-
trol of Congress and many
more statehouses will be up
for grabs.
In the run-up to Tuesday’s
balloting, Democrats said they
were confident, but many ana-
lysts had expected them to
pick up no more than a hand-
ful of seats.
Republicans maintained
during the campaign that they
would retain their majority.
Their years in power helped
Continued from Page 1A
Heather Rousseau/The Roanoke Times
Democrat Chris Hurst, right, defeated Republican incumbent Joseph Yost to win House
District 12 on Tuesday in Blacksburg, Va.
them build up a significant
cash advantage, and they
argued that voters in local
races care about local issues
— not what’s going on in
Washington.
“Obviously, tonight was a
difficult night and the outcome
is not what anyone expected,”
Matt Moran, spokesman for
the House Republican Cau-
cus, said in a statement Tues-
day night.
The shift in power could
have far reaching policy and
political implications. It will
change the makeup of com-
mittees, and Republicans may
no longer be able to block
Medicaid expansion. Demo-
crats in Virginia also will have
greater leverage when draw-
ing new congressional and
legislative boundaries during
the next redistricting.
“I told Ralph I am jealous”
of the legislature he will get
to work with, said Gov. Terry
McAuliffe, who fought the
General Assembly unsuccess-
fully on Medicaid expansion
for four years.
It wasn’t immediately clear
how long it would be before
the full results are known.
Five seats were too close
to call Wednesday morn-
ing, according to the AP’s
count, although Democrats
had claimed victory in two
of those. They will be eligi-
ble for recounts if candidates
request them. In one race, only
12 votes separated Republi-
can Del. David Yancey and
Democratic challenger Shelly
Simonds.
Among the Democrats’
influx of candidates this year
were a record 43 women,
many of whom said they were
inspired by Hillary Clinton’s
defeat to jump into politics for
the first time. At least nine of
the new seats will be filled by
women.
Among those will be Dan-
ica Roem, who is transgen-
der. A former journalist, she
unseated Bob Marshall, one of
the chamber’s longest-serving
and most conservative mem-
bers. Earlier this year, Mar-
shall sponsored a bill that
would have limited the bath-
rooms transgender people can
use.
Roem will be Virginia’s
first openly transgender law-
maker. She will also make his-
tory as the first openly trans-
gender person elected and
seated in a state legislature,
according to the Victory Fund,
a political action commit-
tee that works to get openly
LGBTQ people elected.
Several other Demo-
cratic women also made his-
tory Tuesday night: Hala
Ayala and Elizabeth Guzman
— who both ousted Republi-
can incumbents — will be the
chamber’s first Latina mem-
bers, and Kathy Tran will be
its first female Asian-Ameri-
can member.
In the Blacksburg area,
Chris Hurst, a former Virginia
news anchor whose journal-
ist girlfriend was fatally shot
during a live broadcast in
2015, defeated a Republican
incumbent. After the shoot-
ing, Hurst became the public
face of the grieving Roanoke
station.
Associated Press writers
Matthew Barakat in Fairfax,
Virginia, and Alan Suderman
in Richmond contributed to
this report.
Library: ‘I’m just really relieved and excited’
Continued from Page 1A
“I’m excited to see where
our library’s going to go,”
Mayor Henry Balensifer said.
he voter turnout and “yes”
votes are “a testament to the
hard work of the volunteers
… who went out and pounded
the pavement and knocked on
doors and got the word out,”
Balensifer said. “The town
wanted it and the town went
out and worked for it and they
got it.”
The city will not begin to
collect the money until next
year.
“For now we’re celebrat-
ing and looking forward to
whatever that next step might
be,” said Kelsey Balensifer,
the chairwoman of the library
board.
City staff will need to dis-
cuss exactly where the money
will go. Staff and library board
members have said the money
will go toward automation ser-
vices — books are still hand-
stamped — to modernize
library operations. It could
also be used to expand the
library’s limited hours and add
staff time as well as e-books,
books and other materials.
Some of the money may go
to paying routine bills such as
rent and utilities.
If the levy hadn’t passed,
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Shelves are full at the new home of the Warrenton Com-
munity Library on Main Avenue.
the city would have adjusted
its numbers and gone back
to the voters again in May,
Mayor Balensifer said, adding
there would have been “some
really hard discussions.”
For more than a decade,
the library has worked with
the same levy amount even as
costs and demands for services
have increased.
The city has been supple-
menting the library’s small
budget, but the move to Main
Avenue in June as well as
growing demands for library
services compelled the library
board and the City Commis-
sion to reassess a five-year
operational levy set to end this
year.
“It was coming to a point
where we were asking, ‘Do
we cut back hours?’ It’s barely
open as it is,” Mayor Balen-
sifer said. “We’ve got a bigger
facility now which provides
better services and more ame-
nities but at the same time it’s
a lot to manage.”
“I think I can breathe now,”
said site manager Nettie-Lee
Calog. She had been trying
not to think about it all day.
“I’m just really relieved and
excited. … I’m really grateful
to the mayor and all the peo-
ple who really pushed for the
vote.”
Her next step is to begin
researching how to bring auto-
mation to the library. She plans
to talk with staff at Seaside and
Astoria’s libraries for guid-
ance and advice.
Since opening at its new
location on Main Avenue after
decades at a small, deteriorat-
ing building in Hammond, the
library has become even more
of a community hub, Calog
said. People who hadn’t real-
ized the city even had a library
when it was located in Ham-
mond have signed up for
library cards. Calog has her
own office. There is a book
sorting room. There is even a
children’s corner.
It was hard to refrain
from advocating for the levy
increase, she said. As a city
employee, she couldn’t go out
to talk to potential voters and
solicit “yes” votes.
The library board estab-
lished a political action com-
mittee to take on the cam-
paign, setting up a website to
educate people about the pro-
posed levy increase and show
them a variety of ways they
could support the library’s
efforts.
Port: ‘If we can’t fix it, why do we have it?
Continued from Page 1A
Spending smart
“It helps to see the forest
through the trees,” Cummings
said of a longer-term plan.
His agency manages grant
programs such as Connec-
tOregon, a source the Port has
used on several major projects,
and the Special Public Works
Fund. But increased demands
and tighter budgets have put a
strain on the programs.
The state is pushing to
award grants tied to strategic
plans, Cummings said, and
Business Oregon wants ports
to work together to be more
competitive for state funding.
Part of that is having each
port create a capital improve-
ment plan so that Business
Oregon can submit a priori-
tized list of projects statewide
in need of funding, similar to
community colleges, Cum-
mings said.
“If each port does this cap-
ital improvement plan, we can
then go to the Legislature and
ask for a full bucket of funds,”
he said. “Right now, what we
see when we go to the Legis-
lature, is that we have one-off
asks from different ports.”
Port Executive Direc-
tor Jim Knight said the Port’s
problem is not having enough
funding to keep up an aging
infrastructure.
The Port Commission
recently voted to end its lease
at North Tongue Point, an
industrial dock and former
military base lauded for its
railroad and river access but
expensive to modernize. The
land is being negotiated for
purchase by a private maritime
company.
Knight also pointed to the
East Mooring Basin cause-
way, a state-designated bridge
extending from 36th Street
through one of the Port’s mari-
nas to a $30 million Army
Corps of Engineers breakwa-
ter. The causeway has been
closed to vehicular traffic for
years, and it is in danger of
being closed to pedestrians
as well in the next couple of
years.
“The danger I see coming
our way is, if we can’t fix it,
why do we have it?” Knight
said.
“All of us did this
together,” Mayor Matt
Brown said. “This was a
true grassroots movement
like nothing I’ve ever seen. I
think this was really the epit-
ome of the community com-
ing together to fight for what
I think is right: a sustainable,
residential Gearhart.”
City Councilor Sue
Lorain was also happy. “This
vote means we will continue
to have our residential feel. It
is a win — and it is a win for
all of Gearhart for trusting
their local officials.”
As of Oct. 1, 81 vaca-
tion rental permits have
been issued under the ordi-
nance enacted last fall, 57 of
which are complete and pro-
cessed, according to the city
administrator.
The ballot measure would
have changed limits on per-
mit transfers and maximum
occupancy and repealed spe-
cial regulations imposed on
vacation rentals. The rules
cover off-street parking, res-
idential appearance, garbage
service, septic sewer capac-
ity inspections and cesspool
prohibitions.
The measure would have
also eliminated a require-
ment that a 24-hour represen-
tative be able to physically
respond to the site within
30 minutes and removed a
limitation on the number of
vacation rentals.
A public vote would have
been required for any future
amendments to the vacation
rental ordinance or any sub-
sequent ordinance relating to
vacation rentals.
“Fear is a powerful
force,” David Townsend, a
repeal supporter, said. “Gear-
hart has chosen its path …
only time will tell.”
Road to regulation
The trail to Measure
4-188 began in 2013, when
city leaders and residents
sought to improve the stock
of long-term rental housing
amid concerns about how
vacation rentals in residential
zones can negatively affect
the city’s atmosphere and
livability.
At the time, the taxing
ordinance for short-term
rental properties provided
exemptions for the approx-
imately 50 single-family
homes rented out under the
city’s guidelines.
Repeal of that tax came
nearly three years later,
when short-term renters were
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
A ballot measure to repeal
the city’s vacation rental
rules was contentious.
required to pay the city’s 7
percent lodging tax.
By 2016, the nature
of the internet and book-
ing trends through compa-
nies like Vacasa and Airbnb
added to scrutiny of short-
term rentals.
Residents in favor of reg-
ulating vacation rentals cited
Gearhart’s comprehensive
plan, written in 1994 and
expressing the intent to rec-
ognize the importance of the
city’s residential neighbor-
hoods and the need to pro-
tect them from the negative
impacts of rental property.
Complaints that out-
of-town management was
unable to promptly reply to
public safety concerns led
to an increased call for reg-
ulation, including a provi-
sion requiring 24-hour owner
contact information.
Property rights
In presenting Measure
4-188 to voters, opponents
of regulation stressed prop-
erty rights and said the rule
changes go “far beyond”
common-sense measures.
“It’s been a long haul and
it’s been worth it,” Planning
Commissioner Terry Graff,
an opponent of the repeal,
said after election results
were delivered. “You have to
thank the worker bees who
worked out of their kitchens
to pull this off for the city of
Gearhart.”
Tuesday’s vote could lead
to further discussion of the
short-term rental ordinance,
Lorain said. “I would like to
see where we are in a year,
evaluate where we are and
see what we need to do to
change it.”
Brown opened the door to
potential changes.
“I think we should look at
this law every single year,”
he said. “I think we should
ask what are the ways that
we can improve this law for
everyone in the community.”
Chase: Bail set at $50,000
Continued from Page 1A
police affidavit. His blood
alcohol content was 0.00
percent, but police are await-
ing the result of a blood
sample.
Pruitt-Rexroad has been
charged with aggravated
identity theft, unauthorized
use of a vehicle, attempt-
ing to elude, driving under
the influence of intoxicants,
unlawful possession of meth-
amphetamine, reckless driv-
ing and four counts of reck-
lessly endangering another
person. He also has a warrant
out of Multnomah County in
a methamphetamine posses-
sion case.
Circuit Court Judge Dawn
McIntosh set bail at $50,000.
If indicted, Pruitt-Rexroad
is scheduled to be arraigned
next week.
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