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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 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
LaMear has been a collaborative mayor
M
ayor Willis Van Dusen was a
tough act to follow.
The charismatic Astoria
leader was at the forefront of his beloved
city’s transformation for decades.
When he bowed out of public life
three years ago, up stepped Arline
LaMear.
A professional librarian with a deep
passion for the community where she has
lived since 1997, she had gained expe-
rience serving on the Astoria Planning
Commission and the Astoria City
Council. She won a contested election
and became the city’s second woman
mayor after Edith Henningsgaard.
Last week, LaMear indicated she
won’t seek a second term. As she contin-
ues her diligent approach to running the
city in the remaining year, it’s fitting to
reflect on her accomplishments.
LaMear has brought a noble gentil-
ity to the office, addressing issues with a
polite studiousness that sometimes dis-
guises the pace of activity. Her adminis-
tration has seen some hiccups on staffing
issues but no scandals.
The volume of duties when she
switched from being a City Council
member to mayor was somewhat tax-
ing, she now admits. However, she
embraced the added public appearances
with aplomb, drawing on skills honed
as president of the Astoria chapters of
the American Association of University
Women and the Women’s Political
Caucus.
Solid rapport with talented City
Manager Paul Benoit and his succes-
sor, Brett Estes, has helped throughout
her lengthy service with the city, and she
is quick to praise both — and other city
staff — for expertise and cooperation.
She had three high-profile goals —
ending the Flavel standoff, creating a
new Astoria Library and tackling the
Merwyn/Waldorf Hotel issue. One has
been fixed and two are under way.
Joshua Bessex/The Daily Astorian
Mayor Arline LaMear addresses the crowd during her first City Council meeting as mayor.
‘LaMear has brought a noble gentility to the
office, addressing issues with a polite studiousness
that sometimes disguises the pace of activity.’
For years the city battled eccentric
absentee owner Mary Louise Flavel over
her dangerously deteriorating properties.
But every time they reached the auc-
tion block, she would emerge from hid-
ing to pay the back taxes and prolong
the impasse. Finally a conservator had a
heart-to-heart with Mary Louise, result-
ing in new owners with bright plans for
the crumbling 15th Street mansion and
key storefronts that blighted downtown
for more than a decade.
LaMear wanted to deliver a state-of-
the-art public library in the old Safeway
space next to the Garden of Surging
Waves. It could have become Astoria’s
sparkling community centerpiece, so
it was disappointing that it didn’t gain
enough support. But she’s excited that
library patrons are spearheading revised
plans to refurbish the cramped but solid
existing building, likely expanding into
the basement to provide secure space to
preserve precious archives.
The decision to keep the old library
left the decaying Merwyn/Waldorf build-
ing intact, too. LaMear is pleased about
the new owners’ plans for 40 affordable
apartments, something she sees as sorely
needed, not least because the Warrenton
Walmart under construction will create
200 low-income jobs.
Some delightful smaller successes
have LaMear’s stamp on them. City Hall
insiders smile about her passion for out-
of-town Volkswalks, because she always
returns with photos and ideas. Two
were the salmon label trash cans which
brighten the downtown and the CHIP-In
volunteer park cleanup program. The lat-
ter — the acronym stands for Citizens
Helping Improve Parks — fell victim to
the budget ax, but for a couple of years
it aided cash-strapped parks staff while
building community.
Another success early in her ten-
ure was when the City Council agreed
to move drunken-driving cases from
the city’s Municipal Court to the state
Circuit Court, where such serious crimes
rightly belong. The opportunity for scoff-
law repeat offenders to “game” the sys-
tem and pose a continued danger on our
highways without serious sanctions was
removed.
LaMear quietly embraced the role of
tutoring new colleagues when the “old
guard” retired or left town. Never dog-
matic, she has been an overtly collabora-
tive mayor, involving all four members
of the City Council plus staff and citi-
zens in discussions, occasionally slowing
decision-making by doing so.
Her commendable social conscience
and caring nature have been evident
outside of City Hall. She has advo-
cated for the homeless — especially
embracing the Astoria Warming Center
— and delivered meals for seniors.
She has served on the Clatsop County
Commission on Children and Families
and volunteered as a court-appointed
special advocate.
In her final year in office, LaMear’s
goals include refurbishing the city’s west
entrance, addressing lingering controver-
sies like parking and making progress on
a vision-planning process which tackles
the Heritage Square “hole” problem.
She wants her tenure to be remem-
bered for listening and responding to
concerns, while doing her homework on
the issues, she said. City Hall colleagues
and citizens likely will confirm she
achieved those goals when she retires as
mayor.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
May the heartbreak of
violence against women vanish
here are as many kinds of heartbreaks as
there are of love.
Around the age of 5, I was heartbroken by
the seeming conflict between the two great
wants of my imagined future self: to be good,
and be loved by a girl. It seemed wrong to
have any hope equal to being good.
When I was 10, two sisters, El Paso and
Ciudad Juárez, broke my heart. Seeing the
contrast, between the haves and the have-nots,
made plain our cultural lies.
The border wall is already there: a wall of
indifference.
Decades later, I was aware of the
socio-economically muffled screams of hun-
dreds of women and girls being murdered in
Juarez.
Love stories often begin with a chance
meeting, but one pregnant with something
more. This Valentine’s Day has a touch of that
for me. I stumbled upon learning about V-Day,
Feb. 14; more than a day, a worldwide move-
ment to end violence against women and girls.
V-Day helped end the indifference to femi-
cide in Juárez.
It’s taken a lifetime of heartbreak to know
what’s most important to me. This V-Day, or
Valentine’s Day, I hope the heartbreaks, for
all of us, are fewer. May there be no walls of
indifference to your needs. May the heart-
break of violence against women and girls, be
amongst the first to vanish.
MICHAEL A. “SASHA” MILLER
Astoria
T
The power of love,
not love of power
e live in a world of conflict, where we
can’t have winners without having los-
ers. If we continue down this path, we will
all be losers. I have a vision of a world where
the power of love is the prevailing energy, not
the love of power. I’d like to give a shout out
to a woman who shares this vision: Lianne
Thompson, Clatsop County Commissioner.
Having worked with Lianne for over 10
years on community projects, I know Lianne
cares deeply for the people and the planet we
inhabit. She is thoughtful with her words and
ideas, and looks for real solutions to the com-
W
plex problems we face.
More importantly, she knows that real
change can only come when all parties come
together in a spirit of cooperation and ham-
mer out differences without hammering each
other with egos. She has bravely stepped into
the political arena to do her best to make deci-
sions for the good of the land.
Does everyone always agree with these
decisions? No. We each see the world through
our unique lens, and in the world where love
is the prevailing energy, our gifts could be
used to solve problems.
A step each of us can take is to stop see-
ing those with whom we disagree as our
enemy. The truth is that we simply disagree,
and that we each might have a necessary piece
of the answer.
Another step we all can take is to put love
into the world wherever and however we can.
BARBARA McLAUGHLIN
Nehalem
Need to fill the seats at
Liberty Theatre
n Jan. 4, I attended a wonderful concert,
part of a series brought to us by our inno-
vative new team at the Liberty Theatre. We
have a beautiful theater, dedicated volunteers
and an enthusiastic audience. The only thing
missing is larger audience.
If we want to keep the Liberty alive and
growing, we need to fill the seats. The next
concert in the series is on Feb. 4. Wouldn’t it
be great if there were a crowd?
PETRA MATHERS
Astoria
O
Foolish rental hike
aising the monthly rent by $200 on a
74-year-old tenant residing in a low-in-
come facility for over 20 years is not only
unconscionable, but foolish (“Group starts
fund to assist senior citizens in Astoria,” The
Daily Astorian, Jan. 2)
While managing both low-income rent-
als ($700 per month) and high-income ones
($2,500 per month), I learned early on that it
made no sense to impose a huge rent increase
on limited-income tenants. This is especially
true with respect to long-term tenants who
have made very few demands.
R
It is truly admirable that this community
has people like Chelsea Johnsen, who rise to
the occasion and organizes others to assist
seniors in dire circumstances. However, it is
the government’s responsibility to impose
limits in situations where low-income tenants
are essentially being told: “Go live under a
bridge or someplace.”
In Oregon, the state has preempted the
right of local jurisdictions to pass rent stabili-
zation laws. In the last legislative session, the
lawmakers came close to rescinding this pro-
hibition. In the end, they caved in to the real
estate lobby.
Hopefully, in the future, state legislators
will see the wisdom and practicality of
allowing cities and counties to offer some
rental hike protections to low-income
renters.
GEORGE McCARTIN
Astoria
What is Gearhart doing to
plan for septic failures?
he story about the septic squabble in
Gearhart had one aspect that stuck out for
me: It said the homeowner was given three
options, one of which was “hire a professional
contractor to hook up to a municipal sewer”
(“Double trouble: Gearhart neighbors spar
T
over septic system,” The Daily Astorian, Jan.
10).
The city of Gearhart is giving the home-
owner the option of hooking up to something
which does not exist. So, in reality, they have
given the homeowner two options, come up
with a plan to fix the problem, or move.
Here’s the reality, and the real issue that is
not being addressed by this story, or, appar-
ently, the city. The average septic system
leach field has a life span of about 20 years,
give or take. Because Gearhart is perched on
dunal sands, which I am told tend to have a
pretty good percolation character, you can
possibly double that life span. That’s assum-
ing the septic system is working properly, and
regularly maintained.
The fact is, the majority of the septic sys-
tems in Gearhart are at the end of, or have
exceeded their expected life spans. Very few
lots have sufficient room to move their leach
fields. Maintenance of existing systems is
spotty, at best, and usually only occurs when
there is a problem. Replacing systems and
moving leach fields is incredibly expensive.
Stories, like this one, of septic system fail-
ure will be very common very soon. Since
Gearhart has no municipal sewer system,
what exactly is the city doing to plan for this
unfortunate, but certain eventuality?
BILL GRAFFIUS
Gearhart