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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JULY 5, 2018
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
Founded in 1873
JIM VAN NOSTRAND
Editor
JEREMY FELDMAN
Circulation Manager
DEBRA BLOOM
Business Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN
Production Manager
CARL EARL
Systems Manager
OUR VIEW
In defense of patriotism
T
his nation started with a bang. It
began with fighting words and
we celebrate its birth every year
with fireworks.
The Declaration of Independence, as
it was soon known, laid down a brave
vision for the United States. We were
unified by the guiding principle that
life, liberty and the pursuit of happi-
ness were the rights of all people under
God, and that a new country would be
formed first and foremost to protect
those rights.
We went to war for those ideals,
throwing off a monarchy that believed
it was the purveyor of God’s divine
will. We wrestled with how those rights
should be interpreted in law and in gov-
ernment. Our forefathers went to great
lengths to create a system that could be
sustained and secured, even as compet-
ing interests would try to take it away
or bend it to their will.
As we look back now — 242 years
into this democratic experiment — it’s
amazing to see how much has worked.
Our Constitution remains a garrison
against government overreach and our
checks and balances in the courts and
the Congress have kept tyranny at bay.
It has failed on other fronts, his-
torically, as we trampled or outright
ignored the rights of marginalized peo-
ple who stood in the way of those
in power. And every day it is threat-
ened by those who think the country
Patriotism ... is not merely waving a flag or
reciting a pledge. It requires earnest attention,
reflection and action. It requires good-faith debate
about how our ideals should be practiced, and at the
same time camaraderie in building a better country.
is theirs, singularly, rather than ours,
collectively.
But the reason it has worked as well
as it has is because of patriots who have
put the good of the country ahead of
themselves, even so far as laying down
their lives and personal freedoms to
protect it. They have shown with words
and actions why this country’s ideals
are worth defending.
That’s what patriotism does. It
believes in the greater good of what the
country stands for, and not merely the
symbols that come along with it.
Nationalism, its dark cousin,
demands homage to those symbols
without respect for their underlying
foundation — and it harbors suspicion
and spite against those who understand
those symbols differently.
Patriotism’s power comes from a
love of country and its people and ide-
als, while nationalism’s power comes
from a fear and hatred of the outside
world.
Patriotism accepts past mistakes
in hopes of building a better future.
Nationalism ignores flaws, both past
and present.
Patriotism inspires service to the
country. Nationalism demands for alle-
giance to it.
Patriotism is more difficult. It is
not merely waving a flag or recit-
ing a pledge. It requires earnest atten-
tion, reflection and action. It requires
good-faith debate about how our ide-
als should be practiced, and at the same
time camaraderie in building a better
country. It doesn’t allow minor differ-
ences to separate the greater unity and
progress.
And true patriotism should always
be on guard for the creep of national-
ism, so the two will still be distinguish-
able in years to come.
GUEST COLUMN
Hopeful, troubling
developments on
homelessness front
T
he Daily Astorian has published three
timely and thought-provoking housing
articles recently.
The first (and most hopeful of the three)
describes a pronouncement by the Bornstein
Seafood Company that a) it will raise its
minimum wage to $12 per hour, and b) the
company has purchased an apartment building
close to its processing plant, with the intent of
making rooms available for
employees.
On its face, this encour-
aging, It appears to be an
advantage for fish processing
workers, as well as a positive
development toward stem-
BILL VAN ming the tide of homeless
NOSTRAN people who have jobs on the
North Coast. Not only is $12
per hour well ahead of both state and federally
required minimums, but housing — within
walking distance to work — could be a fan-
tastic employee benefit. But, before blithely
congratulating Bornstein, such proposals
should be judged on results and not intentions.
The Federal Labor Standards Act pre-
scribes an hourly minimum pay rate of just
$7.25 (it has not been improved since 2009).
Gov. Kate Brown signed into law a tiered
plan in 2016 that has moved the Oregon min-
imum wage steadily upward (from $9.25 to
$10.75) for Clatsop County. Bornstein’s wage
proposal, though a step in the right direction,
is still 20 percent below what politicians
and labor unions are lobbying for. Activists
support minimum standards which enable
full-time workers to afford basic necessities
— $15 per hour has become synonymous
with a living wage.
Federal guidelines set 30 percent of
personal income as the definition of what
affordable housing costs (or should). At $12
per hour, monthly rent of just $625 is the
limit of what could be reasonably regarded
as affordable, no matter how convenient the
newly purchased apartment building might be.
Many Bornstein employees work part-
time. Even if a worker gets 40 hours, much of
their workforce is employed only seasonally.
So, I wonder how many affordable units there
will be, as well as how many seafood employ-
ees may be eligible for a lengthy lease?
If any are eligible and rooms can be priced
affordably, but 63 percent of Americans are a
$500 financial surprise away from crisis, how
does a seasonal worker afford first and last
months’ rent and a damage deposit?
Rising rents a problem
The second article is far more troubling
for those of us who are interested in ending
the heartbreak and reversing this trend toward
homelessness.
“Six months past the expiration of deed
restrictions reserving one-fifth the units at
the Emerald Heights Apartments for fixed or
low-income tenants,” complex owner Edita
Smith has announced plans to make “major
renovations” to 60 (of 300) units for the
purpose of raising rents “closer to what the
Astoria rentals’ market will bear.”
Previously regarded as affordable, the
Emerald Heights Apartments are now home
to a number of individuals and families
who may not be able to afford to live in the
complex at the new monthly market rates.
And if, indeed, Emerald Heights is among
Astoria’s most affordable apartment houses
(and vacancy rates among the other affordable
rentals in the area are at or near zero avail-
ability), then where are 60 displaced Emerald
Heights tenants to turn?
Entrepreneurs are entitled to a return on
their investment. Landlords take risks on
market price fluctuations and vacancies.
They may not be directly responsible for the
insurmountable gap between tenants’ incomes
and expenses.
But rising rents are a growing problem for
workers. Their pensions are under assault and
their bosses fail to pay living wages. They are
pushed beyond their limits.
Each one of us bears the societal costs
of inaction, of rapid incarceration, and of
vagrants living below the Riverwalk, loitering
under business awnings and wandering North
Coast streets. Our municipalities also bear
the community costs (on tight budgets) for
frequent misuse/abuse of our parks and store-
fronts, compromises to first-responder times
and attentions, and overuse of emergency
rooms and services.
The unanticipated consequences of so
many going without food, housing, prescrip-
tions and insurances are borne by all. And I
suspect these costs are far greater than any
Illustration by Noel Thomas
boarding house, soup kitchen, or day center
we could design or imagine.
Structural solutions
The third article, validates that there exist
a number of abandoned properties and/or
derelict buildings throughout Clatsop County.
Warrenton City Manager Linda Engbretson is
just the latest municipal executive or elected
official to lament — despite the recent and
welcome North Coast growth — that some
unoccupied, no longer used or usable buildings
remain as “a blight on the appearance and
livability of our community.”
This is noteworthy because, within discus-
sions about homelessness solutions convened
by/for the city of Astoria, the comment has
been made, repeatedly, that: “Clatsop County
lacks sufficient (affordable or available)
commercial square footage and any or many
(vacant or buildable) parcels of land.”
Now, I have not lived here very long, and
admittedly know very little about what pro-
posals have been considered (and previously
rejected) regarding foreclosed, idle, neglected
and unoccupied properties in town.
However, I am familiar with some struc-
tural solutions which mitigate homelessness.
Examples include building an intergenera-
tional support facility on a vacant lot where a
school once stood, contractors donating money
for a day center where a showroom once
stood, and neighbors making a rooming house
(for a number of clean and sober, homeless
people — with jobs) where a hotel once stood.
Bill Van Nostran is pastor of First Presby-
terian Church — “The Yellow Church” on the
corner of 11th Street and Grand Avenue.