The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current, August 09, 2018, Image 1

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    BEACH. SET. SPIKE.
COAST WEEKEND // INSIDE
DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, AUGUST 9, 2018
146TH YEAR, NO. 29
Visitor volume dips
on the Oregon Coast
Tourism spending
at an all-time high
ONE DOLLAR
County
sells land
for data
center
Project in Warrenton
could bring 76 jobs
By BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
t the height of summer, it is easy to
believe every Oregonian has found
their way to the Oregon Coast.
But while figures from the 2018 Oregon
Travel Impact report show tourism spending
has increased, the number of visitors staying
in hotels and rentals dipped slightly on the
Oregon Coast, dropping about 1.3 percent
between 2016 and 2017. The decline on the
North Coast was 1.7 percent.
The pattern contrasts with the state over-
all, where visitor volume increased by 2.2
percent, according to the study by Dean
Runyan Associates.
Flattening visitor volume should not be
seen as an issue for the tourism industry, said
Leon Aliski, the company’s project manager.
Total destination spending grew 2.2 percent
to nearly $2 billion on the Oregon Coast
in 2017. On the North Coast alone, visi-
tor spending on accommodations increased
from $190 million to $197 million in one
year.
Many local lodging operators have yet to
feel any impacts from fewer visitors, with
many reporting 2017 as an exceptional year.
So how does spending continue to grow
when the number of people booking rooms
is stagnant?
Aliski said it indicates higher room rates
and more expensive transportation costs. In
the last year, room rates increased by 4.4
percent.
Clatsop County on Wednesday agreed to
a $1.2 million sale of 67 acres in the North
Coast Business Park in Warrenton for a new
data center and technology incubator.
The project at the corner of Ensign Lane
and 19th Street could provide 76 local jobs
with an average wage of $75,000. Mark Cox,
of Agile Design, also believes it will attract
other tech-related companies and help train
local students for an emerging industry.
Data centers have been rapidly expanding
in the Pacific Northwest because of an abun-
dance of cheap water and power, along with
incentives such as enterprise zones, which
provide a three- to five-year property tax
break on new projects. Cox’s site is part of
the Clatsop Enterprise Zone.
Clatsop County also makes sense because
of the quality of life, faster commute times
and the region’s proximity to the undersea
backbone of the global internet, Cox said.
“A lot of people are not aware that about
70 percent of all fiber-optic cable connections
that come in on the western continental U.S. is
actually within 100 miles of this site,” he said.
His project also falls within the county’s
goals for the business park to support year-
round employment with a focus on the tech-
nology sector, Cox said.
A
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Tony Street, far right, and Mike Parks perform for tourists walking along
the Prom in Seaside.
“If they are spending more
because a room costs more
and gas costs more, and
maybe they are spending
more on restaurants,
then you can have more
spending without actually
having more people there.”
See TOURISM, Page 7A
See LAND, Page 5A
Leon Aliski
Dean Runyan Associates
Below: Paul and Rosalie Lankow, tourists from Hillsboro, enjoy the cool weather in
Seaside as people set up for the annual volleyball tournament on the beach.
Vandals hit
Astoria alley
Racial slur painted
on a wall downtown
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
Vandals spray-painted a racial slur, sex-
ually explicit symbols and other offensive
messages on the walls of the 13th Street
Alley in downtown Astoria.
The alley, which merchants hope to one
day permanently decorate with murals and
lighting, was one of several places scarred
with graffiti. Employees also discovered
scrawls of green paint on City Hall, the Elks
Lodge and the Astoria Library on Wednes-
day morning.
The alley was the hardest hit, however.
Public works staff covered the most explicit
damage and volunteers organized by the
Astoria Downtown Historic District Associ-
ation plan to paint over the rest of the graf-
fiti today.
See GRAFFITI, Page 7A
Tapales crowned as the
Astoria Regatta queen
Coronation opened
Regatta festivities
By HANNAH SIEVERT
The Daily Astorian
Catherine Tapales of Warrenton High
School was crowned the 2018 Astoria
Regatta queen on Wednesday night at the
Liberty Theatre.
“I’m still in shock,” she said in the hall-
way following the coronation. “I can’t
believe it happened.”
Tapales was chosen queen by a panel
of judges after the four Regatta princesses
answered on-the-spot questions and deliv-
ered speeches. The Regatta Court has spent
most of the year giving the speeches, all of
which touch on Astoria heritage, to groups
in the community.
Tapales described the work and lives of
Coast Guard crew, tugboat pilots, bar pilots
and fishermen to the crowd at the theater
without a hitch.
Tapales will succeed the 2017 Regatta
queen, Megan Postlewait. In her farewell
speech, Postlewait thanked the commu-
nity and the Regatta for giving her confi-
dence and helping her grow. She will attend
Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York,
in the fall to major in computer engineering.
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
See QUEEN, Page 7A
Astoria Regatta Princess Danielle Morinville embraces Catherine
Tapales after Tapales was named the 2018 Regatta queen.