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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, AUGUST 3, 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
Astoria’s waterfront bridges key to our future
C
hances are good that Astoria’s
waterfront is not where you
think it is. Nineteenth century
engravings show a heavily forested hill-
side rising steeply just behind our tiny
old settlement.
As with many waterside communities
— San Francisco is another good exam-
ple — the flat portion of modern Astoria
is largely artificial, and more obviously
so right along the Columbia, where the
river swirls along underneath a series of
wooden bridges and other structures.
Why the history lesson? In few other
places is the past more closely linked to
a successful present and future. In this
case we’re not speaking of the sym-
bolic importance to our economy of a
rich legacy of tribal civilization and col-
orful settlement, but to the actual physi-
cal infrastructure that is a key bequest of
Astoria’s industrial heritage.
As we’ve been reporting for months,
Astoria faces an increasingly fraught
near-term emergency over replac-
ing six waterfront bridges between
the base of downtown and piers that
extend even farther over the Columbia.
A tidy amount of the city’s economic
and recreational life depends on these
bridges and associated assets — every-
thing from freight delivery trucks to
the Astoria Riverfront Trolley and the
Riverwalk.
Although deferred maintenance on
essential bridges and highways poses a
profound challenge nationwide, Astoria
The Daily Astorian
The Astoria Riverfront Trolley and Riverwalk also partly depend on the waterfront bridges.
is comparatively fortunate in getting
much of the bridge-replacement money
from the state of Oregon — in part a tes-
tament to the effective efforts of state
Sen. Betsy Johnson, along with Astoria’s
increasingly positive reputation as an
innovative and successful destination.
Unluckily, however, construction bids
ranged from $10 million to $10.9 mil-
lion, or about $2.2 million more than the
state has thus far authorized.
This is no small amount for a place
of Astoria’s size and threatens a con-
struction schedule that was calculated to
avoid the worst impacts on local busi-
nesses, residents and visitors.
While construction remains pending,
local businesses face an increasing pros-
pect of having to alter operations more
than they already have to comply with
a 6,000-pound load limit on the decay-
ing bridges. That’s not much, especially
when dealing with appliance deliveries
to Sears or even things like beverages
for riverside restaurants.
The temptation is to push the limits,
believing that bridges that have borne
up under such weights for decades are
likely to continue to do so for a while
longer. This, as any transportation engi-
neer will aver, is dangerous thinking.
There are too many examples around
the U.S. and the world of bridges that
worked just fine up until the moment
they no longer did, sending hapless
users into the water.
If the weight limits aren’t observed,
the state is likely to close the bridges
to everything but pedestrian traffic. If
that happens, all of a sudden there will
be a resurgence in hiring notices for
manual laborers to slog deliveries on
hand trucks and carts from jury-rigged
unloading areas to over-water busi-
nesses. Good luck filling those slots in
the current job market, particularly with
undocumented immigrants having been
made persona non grata.
What can be done? Obviously for one
thing, it will behoove us in the future
not to overlook such vital links between
Astoria’s land and water.
In the short term, it appears likely
the city will have to undertake up to
$131,000 in repairs to see the struc-
tures through until major work can com-
mence. We should coordinate this effort
with the state in hopes that some of this
expenditure can be applied toward the
full-scale replacement, perhaps at least
by salvaging repair materials. We must
also work with state lawmakers and
other potential funding sources to come
up with the additional reconstruction
funds, or else find acceptable ways to
shave expenses from the project. Such
specialized work does not lend itself to
bargain hunting at a time when contrac-
tors are busy, but there may be smart
ways to achieve more for less.
Bridge replacement will be disrup-
tive, but will probably pale in compari-
son to what the city experienced during
combined sewer overflow work earlier
this decade. The good news is that all
this basic maintenance — unloved and
largely invisible once complete — puts
Astoria in good stead to enjoy continu-
ing vitality well into the 21st century.
LETTERS WELCOME
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Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103.
GUEST COLUMN
New county lodging tax increase is a kick in the teeth
ast week, without any discussion or
consideration of the largest employment
sector, Clatsop County commissioners
voted for a countywide tax increase on lodging.
The additional 1 percent lodging tax, when
added to the 9.5 percent tax already in place in
unincorporated areas of the county, results in a
whopping tax rate increase of 10.5 percent.
Local lodging operators were stunned by
this vote and the county’s
backwards approach, as
not a single outreach effort
was made by the county in
advance.
Before moving forward,
local lodging operators asked
STEPHEN
that our industry taxes be
MALKOWSKI discussed fairly and openly
under the principles for which
they were established — tourism promotion.
It is highly uncommon for a local govern-
ment jurisdiction to increase an industry-spe-
cific tax without holding proactive discussions
with those impacted by the decision first.
Weeks ago, the Oregon Restaurant &
Lodging Association submitted a letter to the
county in support of a renewed commitment to
county/lodging industry conversations.
The letter was sent offering assistance
in coordinating meetings as a first order of
L
business before any lodging tax increases were
considered.
Clatsop County lodging operators were
highly engaged in this issue and were in
opposition to any increase without these crucial
industry conversations.
Here are some statements from staff at the
two commission readings:
• “this is not a tax on the hotels, this is not a
tax on this industry”
• “the burden is not on the hotel/motel”
• “the 1 percent tax has nothing to do with
the bottom line” … “it is not affecting their
bottom line”
• “we fall well within the guidelines of other
counties that do this”
• “this county doesn’t really need a lot of
promotion”
• “this is a great way to help fund a local
facility without a burden to our local citizens.”
These statements could not be further from
the truth, as evidenced in this region’s dismal
tourism performance compared with the rest of
the state.
The 2018 Oregon Travel Impacts report
breaks down overnight visitor volume within
Oregon’s tourism regions. The latest report
highlights overnight visitor changes from
2015-2017, which is the latest data available.
The regional breakdown for this period is
Oregon + 6.3 percent, Portland +10.1 percent,
Willamette Valley + 2.9 percent, Central
Oregon + 7.8 percent, Mt. Hood/Gorge
+15.3 percent, Eastern Oregon + 6.5 percent,
Southern Oregon + 6.0 percent and the Central
Coast +10.5 percent.
In contrast, the North Coast suffered a 2.9
percent decline.
Clatsop County local economies rely upon
the strength of the tourism sector and the full
utilization of marketing dollars to trigger visi-
tor spending.
Every lodging dollar represents three tour-
ism dollars into our economy. These three dol-
lars are then spent on coffee shops, restaurants,
art galleries, et cetera. Conversely, for every
lodging dollar that is not spent, three more are
also not spent in coffee shops, restaurants and
art galleries.
Given this latest data, lodging operators felt
it irresponsible to increase the lodging tax until
the current investments in lodging tax revenues
were fully evaluated. A full analysis of current
lodging tax revenue investments was recom-
mended by the association given the results
highlighted above.
Lodging requested that the county ensure
it is leveraging tourism promotional dollars to
their maximum benefit before increasing taxes
further.
The county completely ignored any
requests for these meetings, or to slow the
process down for further review. Instead, they
recommended the vote move forward without
any industry outreach or discussion.
The tax increase passed without input to
learn what impact this tax would have on the
lodging business owners, and, therefore, the
collateral impact on all employees/jobs in this,
the largest employment sector in our county.
Whether one agrees or disagrees with
the benefits of tourism, the true issue is the
dynamics of how this all went down as an
example of countywide leadership failure on
all levels.
The final kick in the teeth is that this tax
increase was passed for the purpose of funding
a jail ballot measure that has yet to be voted on
by you, the voter.
It is irresponsible governance examples
like these that keep any worthwhile business
from considering Clatsop County as a place to
invest, expand or relocate.
Meanwhile, regional leadership will
continue to wonder why storefronts remain
empty, unaffordable housing escalates, and no
family-wage jobs come into our area.
Stephen Malkowski is the owner of Arch
Cape Inn and Retreat and a former Clatsop
County planning commissioner.