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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 2018)
4A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, JANUARY 1, 2018 editor@dailyastorian.com KARI BORGEN Publisher JIM VAN NOSTRAND Editor Founded in 1873 JEREMY FELDMAN Circulation Manager DEBRA BLOOM Business Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN Production Manager CARL EARL Systems Manager OUR VIEW Issues looming for the Columbia-Pacific area in the new year E ach year, countless Americans and businesses make resolutions for the com- ing year, everything from individuals wanting to lose weight and join a gym to businesses wanting to be more productive and profitable. At The Daily Astorian ours are centered on readers, website visitors and our adver- tisers, rather than ourselves. We will strive to serve each reader, visitor and customer better than we have before to meet increasing expectations in print and online, pro- vide excellent customer service in all aspects and remain faithful to our core values. urrection of those two street fronts will For the coming year we’ve resolved make an enormous difference in the vis- to be even more of an active and rep- itor’s introduction to Astoria. resentative regional voice and a more Elsewhere in the region, 2017 saw inclusive advocate for those who live the completion of the town of Chinook’s and work throughout this dynamic remarkable effort to restore its beauti- Columbia-Pacific area. ful 1920s school complex, which now We will also continue to pay spe- serves as a venue for south Pacific cial attention to a variety of local and state topics. Some have been with us for County events and houses a new branch years — in some cases moving toward office of the Long Beach Peninsula resolution, while others show only scant Visitors Bureau. signs of progress. Few things worth A number of environmental/regula- doing are ever susceptible to perma- tory issues remain very much on our region’s agenda. In some cases, vital nent fixes. Sometimes the only way to industries are at the whim of state agen- achieve anything is making certain they cies, as is the case for Willapa Bay’s remain a visible and active item on our oyster growers, who await approval “to-do” list. to stem loss of tidelands to burrow- Top of the ‘to-do’ list ing shrimp. Also in Washington, rural One of these important ongoing homebuilding remains at a near-stand- issues is the housing crunch. It can still due to court-imposed restrictions be said that some genuine progress on well drilling, which await legislative was made during 2017 in making cer- action. tain everyone finds safe and afford- Other issues that remain in need of able places to live. But much remains attention continue to include local and to be done in 2018 and for many years state political dysfunction and the use of beyond. scarce tax dollars, children’s well-being Awareness of the problem has in all matters, emergency preparedness, spurred private investments in hous- planning and prepara- ing — perhaps most tion that can save lives, notably in Warrenton environmental issues — while local gov- We hope like climate change, ernments and housing mental health treatment advocates are making our local and the need for greater at least some progress governments standards of care, and in addressing the need homelessness and the resolve to work for innovative solu- need for strategies to tions. In Long Beach, together more help those who need it. Washington, for exam- diligently to Readers — includ- ple, construction will soon start on new sub- develop solutions ing political leaders — can expect much addi- sidized apartments. for common tional coverage and Much more will need comment on all these problems to be done to maintain matters during the com- a healthy mix of hous- like housing, ing year. ing for different income economic categories, especially ‘Resolve to solve’ as our region gains in development We hope those in terms of positive pub- and emergency state and local politi- licity and resulting preparedness on a cal leadership make a in-migration. few and keep them too. Also relating to regional basis. They include: housing — as well as • For all state and commercial and gov- local leaders to adopt a ernment buildings — simple motto for themselves to “resolve the issue of historic preservation has for to solve” problems. more than a decade been a value pro- • For Gov. Kate Brown to resolve to moted on this page. In 2017 two devel- become a more visible, problem-solv- opments, sought for decades, took root. ing leader for all Oregonians, as she They are the Flavel properties on either was elected to be. With the next legis- side of the 900 block of Commercial lative session only weeks away, Brown Street. In 2018 we anticipate more visi- needs to step up and be at the fore- ble progress on those projects. The res- Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian Workers renovate housing units at the Alder Court Apartments complex in Warrenton. Affordable housing remains one of the region’s top issues. Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian The Waldorf Hotel building adjacent to Astoria City Hall will likely become about 40 units of low-income housing. front of finding and advocating solu- tions for longstanding issues. These continue to include reforms of the enor- mously underfunded Public Employees Retirement System, state taxation and revenue generation, sustainable funding for education, transportation and infra- structure improvements, and raising the bar for the leadership in key state agen- cies to solve performance, personnel and functionality problems that have been highlighted in recent state audits. Brown has an enormous career oppor- tunity that many in the political arena aspire to have but haven’t achieved. Unless she steps up her performance, she should certainly face serious com- petition in her 2018 election race. • For Oregon state representatives and senators, who like the governor, need to resolve to put their partisanship aside during the upcoming session and seek solutions. Voters in the last elec- tion made it abundantly clear they’re tired of seeing politicians kick the can down the road for others to solve some- time in the future while they continue to push their own personal agendas in the present. Closer to home • We hope our local governments resolve to work together more dili- gently to develop solutions for com- mon problems like housing, economic development and emergency prepared- ness on a regional basis. Individually and collectively, they need to think strategically and compare notes to get results that can raise the quality of life throughout the region. We also hope that in-fighting and grandstand- ing between members of some of those entities — and between some of the entities themselves — comes to an end. They need to stop wasting the pub- lic’s time and to show far more profes- sionalism and civility in their interac- tions with each other. They also need to remember that their duty is to serve the public rather than themselves. When interests conflict, individual members of some of those boards resort to lob- bing insults at each other or at staff rather than working together. Some of those entities would rather use scarce tax dollars and human resources to pur- sue litigation against each other than negotiate settlements. None of that is in anybody’s best interest. • And finally, for taxpayers to resolve to hold our leaders at all levels more accountable, and to mandate that they put performance above partisanship when making decisions on the issues that impact each of our lives. Voters must hold ourselves accountable for electing the best public-spirited lead- ers available in 2018 to help guide our nation and region through perilous and confrontational times. The still-unfold- ing consequences of the 2016 election vividly demonstrate the importance of electing qualified leaders at every level. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Best wishes W e would like to take this opportunity to wish all of our customers, volun- teers and those who train from Tongue Point Job Corps, a very Merry Christmas and a hope that the New Year will see the fulfillment of all your wishes and hopes. On Jan. 8, we hope that all those who wish to learn more about their brain diseases (what people call mental ill- nesses) will take the opportu- nity to attend a meeting of the Depression and Bipolar Sup- port Alliance (DBSA). Meet- ings are generally held on the first Monday of each month at Columbia Memorial Hospital, Conference Room A, from 7 to 9 p.m. This could be a great start to your New Year. We need to take this new year to raise awareness of the mental health problems within the commu- nity, and spread the news of what we are doing to provide help to those with this illness. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of our many customers at Pen- nyWise Thrift Store for their continuing support in this past year, and look forward to pro- viding your needs in the com- ing year. And, not to be for- gotten, Elleda Wilson of The Daily Astorian for her assis- tance in putting our letters to the community into that publication. For those customers who have been diagnosed with dis- eases (cancer, heart problems, etc.) know that our prayers are with you, and we will con- tinue to be here to support you in any way we can. PETER and PATRICIA FESSLER Facilitators, DBSA of North Oregon and South Washington Coast Astoria
