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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 15, 2018)
SEASIDE BOYS RALLY FOR VICTORY ON BUSY HOOPS WEEKEND SPORTS • 10A DailyAstorian.com // MONDAY, JANUARY 15, 2018 145TH YEAR, NO. 140 Price talks delay crab season’s kickoff ONE DOLLAR MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY KEEPING THE LIGHT ALIVE INSIDE: MAKING HER OWN MLK DAY IN MANZANITA • PAGE 3A By KATIE FRANKOWICZ The Daily Astorian Crab boats loaded with pots sat at the docks all weekend while fishermen and pro- cessors remained in a gridlock over prices. The commercial Dungeness crab season was set to open today in most of Oregon and Washington state, but price negotiations and ocean conditions are keeping boats at home. The fishery is off to one of the latest starts that fishery managers can remember in over a decade. The season traditionally opens Dec. 1, but was pushed back because crabs did not have shells full of meat. At one point major processors had offered crabbers $2.30 a pound — not nearly enough to convince them to go out, local crabbers said. The price inched up during the state-spon- sored negotiation period in Oregon, but by the time those negotiations ended the processors’ price still remained under last season’s aver- age starting price of $2.89 per pound. Processors had extended an offer to Coos Bay and Newport crabbers for around $2.75 per pound since crab meat there had already hit the required limit, but argued that crab off Astoria still had not filled out to the required 23 percent meat recovery. The last test in the area had the crab at 22.8 percent, according to John Corbin, chairman of the Oregon Dunge- ness Crab Commission. A local boat went out Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian See CRAB SEASON, Page 7A ABOVE: People gathered at the Liberty Theatre Sunday in Astoria for a candlelight vigil and a walk downtown in cel- ebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday. BELOW LEFT: People light candles in front of the Liberty Theatre in Astoria Sunday ahead of the walk. BELOW RIGHT: Dozens of people showed up in downtown Astoria Sunday for a candlelight vigil and other events to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Dollar General moves ahead in Gearhart Parking in rear waives need for review By R.J. MARX The Daily Astorian GEARHART — After denial of a park- ing variance in September, Dollar General is back with plans for a store in Gearhart along U.S. Highway 101. Now that designs show the number of parking spaces required by city code, the retail store is considered an outright use in a com- mercial zone. The application will be reviewed by Building Official Mark Brien, said City Administrator Chad Sweet, but will not undergo further Planning Commission review. Parking and traffic issues were at the forefront of the September Planning Com- mission denial. At the time, Cross Develop- ment, the Dollar General developer based in Texas, sought a parking variance to reduce the number of spots from 46 to 27, argu- ing the business would not generate enough traffic to warrant that many. By designating a rear area of the building to accommodate shoppers’ parking, owners bypassed a sec- ond commission review. Approximately 50 people participated in a walk through downtown Astoria Sunday in support of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. See DOLLAR GENERAL, Page 7A Silicon Valley transplant becomes active in local politics After decades working in the tech industry, Bronstein moved to Astoria By JACK HEFFERNAN The Daily Astorian s Steve Bronstein set- tled in to his new abode, he was struggling to abide by the results of the presidential election. Bronstein, 57, spent much of his working life develop- ing technology for corpora- tions and law firms in heavily Democratic areas. On Nov. 9, 2016 — one day after Donald Trump’s seismic election vic- tory — he moved to Astoria. The day marked a personal and A political crossroad. “It was actually kind of depressing,” Bronstein said. “Not the arrival here, but the outcome of the race.” Bronstein spent 25 years in the San Francisco Bay Area. Soon after moving to Asto- ria, he joined Indivisible North Coast Oregon — a grassroots organization dedicated in part to stopping Trump’s pol- icy agenda. Bronstein said he quickly noticed that the area is not as politically homoge- neous as others he’d lived and worked. “Leaving my vote in Cal- ifornia was not a problem,” Bronstein said. “It was just a blue vote in a bunch of other blue votes.” Bronstein grew up in a Chi- cago suburb. With no formal training, he went to work in the mid-1980s as a data processor at Medline Industries — an Illinois-based hospital supply manufacturer. See BRONSTEIN, Page 7A Steve Bronstein moved to Astoria from the San Francisco Bay Area in 2016. Steve Bronstein
