Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (June 15, 2018)
4A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JUNE 15, 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 VIEWS J.C. Penney project part of Astoria’s comeback bsentee landlords are the bane Restoration Inc., a local nonprofit, of small towns. When they took ownership of the derelict Liberty lack pride in the city, it shows Theatre. The building was owned by in their buildings. Sometimes these a Los Angeles man who was a lawyer property owners are slumlords. But not and accountant. Recognizing the impor- always. They also can be large corpora- tance of taking the building’s ownership tions whose strategies no longer include local, the Astoria City Council made a large buildings on main streets. $1.3 million grant to assist the purchase The latter describes the and begin the theater’s empty J.C. Penney building restoration. on Astoria’s Commercial When you see improve- ‘Repurposing ment Street. In a move that only in Astoria’s built envi- the J.C. makes sense in the higher ronment, it is often because stratosphere of finance, the an owner who lives here is Penney company abandoned the investing in the town. That building will Astoria store, even though is what’s happened with the it was highly and consis- be a new and derelict Flavel properties. tently profitable over a long And this upward momen- significant period. tum will be repeated with chapter in The decision to close the Waldorf Hotel, if its the store — announced would-be developer gains Astoria’s early last year — was an financing. rebirth.’ earthquake. A small town’s comeback News that Sean begins when it gains new Fitzpatrick has purchased blood. That happened in the J.C. Penney property is significant 2010 when Sean Fitzpatrick and Anne for at least two reasons. First of all, it Carpenter moved here. They began pur- takes the building away from an absen- chasing Astoria apartment properties in tee landlord and puts it in local hands. 2003. Fitzpatrick and Carpenter have Secondly, Fitzpatrick’s collaboration contributed to many aspects of Astoria’s with chef Chris Holen of Baked Alaska culture while maintaining a significant promises to make the building a new amount of its housing stock. draw on Commercial Street. Repurposing the J.C. Penney build- This pattern of redemption began ing will be a new and significant chapter some 18 years ago when Liberty in Astoria’s rebirth. A Brenna Visser/The Daily Astorian Jonathan Jessop works on a windmill structure during the Cannon Beach Sandcastle Contest last Saturday. Festivals define our region for the visitor W e have entered the season of the festival, bringing a bundle of arts and culture to our region. The Astoria Musical Festival opens today and runs through July 1, packing the town with musicians and concert- goers. It has become one of summer’s delights, as its events occupy the histori- cal Liberty Theatre, the Performing Arts Center and the acoustically resonant Grace Episcopal Church. The Cannon Beach Sandcastle Contest last weekend will be fol- lowed by the Astoria Scandinavian Midsummer Festival and the Cannon Beach Comedy Festival this weekend. The Water Music Festival on the Long Beach Peninsula appears in three install- ments, beginning in July and ending in December. And August features the Astoria Regatta and Washington State International Kite Festival. Some of these events — such as the Hood to Coast Run that finishes on Seaside’s beach just before Labor Day — test the carrying capacity of our com- munities. But many others are a com- fortable boost for our shops, restaurants and museums. For many visitors, these festivals define our region. Of course, that’s not everything we are. But it’s not a bad way to be described. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Trump’s foreign policy strategy is different shake my head whenever media pundits ridicule President Trump for doing for- eign relations wrong. Trump’s strategy is just profoundly different. His latest North Korea initiative is a good example. Presi- dent Trump acted like a 72-year-old father with Kim Jong Un as the 34-year-old errant son. Remember the letter President Trump sent to Kim Jong Un when he canceled their proposed meeting two weeks before it was to have been held? The letter followed clas- sic strategy of a father to a son, with the father having appreciation and optimism but strongly disapproving of unacceptable behavior by the son. That different strategy of one head of state to another resulted in Trump’s having a face-to-face meeting with North Korea. That’s something Washington establish- ment’s career politicians haven’t been able to do since the end of the Korean war 70 years ago. President Trump’s foreign relations strat- egy is also different regarding foreign trade. For many years, Washington’s career poli- ticians have allowed other countries to take jobs away from American workers. High foreign tariffs make it impossible for Amer- ican companies to manufacture many things for sale abroad. Yet Washington imposes few, if any, tariffs on goods made by for- eigners and sold here. That situation is very unfair to American workers. The Democratic Party’s opposition, high- lighted by Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, to correct unfair foreign trade imbalance is an astonishing development. Democrats have moved so far left that their party no longer advocates for working folks. I never expected that to happen. DON HASKELL Astoria cially when no laws were broken, smacks of antebellum South and Nazi concentration camps. There is a small comfort knowing that American World War II Japanese intern- ment camps kept families together. How did our beloved U.S. come to this? Why are we so afraid of … everything? RD SMITH Gearhart Don’t separate immigrant children from parents Good luck to this year’s high school graduates nly an un-human, inhumane, sick per- son would separate children from their healthy, caring parents. MONICA TAYLOR Astoria I I O Why are we so afraid of everything? ur government’s practice of separat- ing children from their parents at the border, then hiding those kids away, espe- O couldn’t be more proud of all the 2018 graduates. To those who know where you are going next, and/or what you want to do with your lives, and to those who don’t have a clue. I was a member of the second group when I graduated in 1969. I loved art and science, skiing and psychology. I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up. I know that some of the graduates are in this pickle, too. Let the pickle be your guide. Take classes in subjects in which you know nothing. Think about going to community college for your basics — save money, and stay close to home. Write to people you would like to meet, or whom you would like to be your mentors. Get a summer job in sectors that interest you . You will get first- hand experience that will help you land a job later, when you finish your degree. If you are not going the academic route, think about a trade. The world will always need technicians in all sectors, and some of these degrees can be earned in two years. Travel the world. Keep in close touch with your family, wherever you find yourself. Good luck, and have fun, whatever you do. REP. DEBORAH BOONE Cannon Beach How will we look at this in the future? hy did we inter Japanese families here in the U.S. during World War II? How did good people stand by and let equally good families be subjected to such cruel treatment? Why was this permitted? These people were not a threat. What were we thinking? Fear? I have W wondered about this, about a very shameful chapter in our history. I know, we were pre- occupied. And the past is the past. Nothing we can do to change what happened then. In the last five weeks alone, over 1,000 families crossing the border from Mex- ico, many running from great dangers, have been torn apart, with the children whisked away to foster homes, or “somewhere else.” Our Sen. Jeff Merkley went to one of these “somewhere else” places, a vacant Walmart with the windows all blacked out, (no play yard here) for a tour. Did he, a U.S. senator on a fact-finding mission, get to see how many children were there? And under what conditions these chil- dren were being held? No. He was not only turned away without a tour, but they called the cops on him. You can see this on Face- book at bit.ly/2HhWDhy So I ask, what is going on in that build- ing? Where is the accountability? How can this be happening? How will we look back on this in the future, and say we stood by and did nothing? CAROL LUCAS Gearhart
