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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, AUGUST 14, 2018
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
JIM VAN NOSTRAND
Editor
Founded in 1873
JEREMY FELDMAN
Circulation Manager
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Business Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN
Production Manager
CARL EARL
Systems Manager
OUR VIEW
Astoria needs clearer waterfront vision
Developers willing to invest money in our
city shouldn’t have to guess what we want
mall towns define themselves in many ways. Design is one of them. Some
towns muster the gumption to insist on architectural design that responds to the
neighborhood for which a building is proposed. Other towns roll over and let
anything happen.
When towns give developers carte
to respond to its setting, and that company
blanche, they quickly become a monot-
followed through.
onous version of national franchises you
There are many ways of describ-
may observe in many other cities.
ing architecture. Lack of personality in a
That choice lies at the heart of
building is what generated the communi-
what Astoria’s Historic Landmarks
ty’s judgment on the proposed hotel.
Commission and Design Review
Good, innovative design is not neces-
Committee accomplished on June 25.
sarily expensive. The essential ingredi-
They denied an application for the pro-
ent is corporate imagination and corpo-
posed Fairfield Inn and Suites on the
rate will.
waterfront at Second Street.
If you look at franchises in towns that
really push developers — such as Carmel,
The two panels said “no” for differ-
California, and Port
ing reasons, including
The
community’s
Townsend, Washington
its size and appearance.
But the essence of the
voice is anything — you see how the likes
of McDonald’s and
project’s shortcomings
but
clear.
So
we
Costco are capable of
was nicely expressed by
Loretta Maxwell, owner have standards. committing the resources
imagination.
of the Grandview Bed
What are they? to show
Astoria is a singular
and Breakfast, who said:
place — because of its
“This building could be
history, its culture and its physical setting.
anywhere.” Online, critics referred to the
Our leaders would be fools to demean that
hotel as a “box.”
richness with architecture that is mediocre
Astoria has a recent history of push-
to bad. Astoria deserves better than what
ing national brands to do better. When
the two panels were given.
a Holiday Inn Express was proposed
near the Astoria Bridge, the Uniontown
‘A nebulous vision’
Historic District Association — led by
The problem going forward is that the
the late Rae Goforth — insisted that the
community’s voice is anything but clear.
hotel respond to its surroundings. And the
So we have standards. What are they?
project’s developer did. The same pro-
A hotel is an outright allowed use in
cess played out with Kentucky Fried
the area in which Hollander Hospitality
Chicken. The city also leaned on Safeway
wanted to build. The company has
S
Carleton Hart Architecture
Hollander Hospitality has appealed the city’s rejection of a proposed four-story hotel
on the Astoria waterfront.
appealed the rejection, saying the Design
Review Committee “turned otherwise
objective standards into subjective stan-
dards in violation of the express language”
of the city’s development code.
“The nature of the process is if we want
more information, we need to go through
an appeal,” said Sam Mullen, vice presi-
dent for Hollander Hospitality.
Mullen is right, in that developers will-
ing to invest money in our city shouldn’t
have to guess what we want. Many com-
munity members were vocal in their crit-
icisms of the company’s plans, but that’s
not the same as rules in writing.
The timing of this is instructive, as
the city has just commenced what is
expected to be 10 months of discussions
about the Urban Core, the final piece of
the Riverfront Vision Plan that will guide
future development along the Columbia
River from Second Street to 16th Street.
The hotel is part of Bridge Vista, a section
of the riverfront plan adopted in 2015 that
covers Uniontown.
If we don’t want ugly hotels that block
the public’s view of the river, we should
find nonsubjective ways to codify that.
Elizabeth Menetrey, who served on
the city’s Riverfront Vision Plan commit-
tee, allowed that the hotel is allowed under
city code. However, it was in opposition to
an overall city goal of maintaining sweep-
ing, open vistas along the water’s edge in
that area, she said.
For the Urban Core, the city has an
opportunity to “make a nebulous vision
firm,” she said.
“I think here you have a chance to be a
little conservative in what we allow.”
WHERE TO WRITE
• U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici
(D): 439 Cannon House Office
Building, Washington, D.C., 20515.
Phone: 202- 225-0855. Fax 202-225-
9497. District office: 12725 SW Mil-
likan Way, Suite 220, Beaverton, OR
97005. Phone: 503-469-6010. Fax
503-326-5066. Web: bonamici.house.
gov/
• U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D): 313
Hart Senate Office Building, Wash-
ington, D.C. 20510. Phone: 202-224-
3753. Web: www.merkley.senate.gov
• U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D): 221
Dirksen Senate Office Building,
Washington, D.C., 20510. Phone:
202-224-5244. Web: www.wyden.
senate.gov
• State Rep. Brad Witt (D): State
Capitol, 900 Court Street N.E., H-373,
Salem, OR 97301. Phone: 503-986-
1431. Web: www.leg.state.or.us/witt/
Email: rep.bradwitt@state.or.us
• State Rep. Deborah Boone (D):
900 Court St. N.E., H-481, Salem,
OR 97301. Phone: 503-986-1432.
Email: rep.deborah boone@state.
or.us District office: P.O. Box 928,
Cannon Beach, OR 97110. Phone:
503-986-1432. Web: www.leg.state.
or.us/ boone/
• State Sen. Betsy Johnson (D):
State Capitol, 900 Court St. N.E.,
S-314, Salem, OR 97301. Telephone:
503-986-1716. Email: sen.betsy
johnson@state.or.us Web: www.bet-
syjohnson.com District Office: P.O.
Box R, Scappoose, OR 97056. Phone:
503-543-4046. Fax: 503-543-5296.
Astoria office phone: 503-338-1280.
• Port of Astoria: Executive
Director, 10 Pier 1 Suite 308, Asto-
ria, OR 97103. Phone: 503-741-3300.
Email: admin@portofastoria.com
• Clatsop County Board of Com-
missioners: c/o County Manager,
800 Exchange St., Suite 410, Astoria,
OR 97103. Phone: 503-325-1000.
WRITER’S NOTEBOOK
Buehler’s real task is his party’s rebirth
The state GOP was
Oregon’s progressive
party for most of the
20th century.
Candidate can become the voice of
a new Oregon Republican Party
W
e may not like them, but political parties are central
to our national dynamic. At their best, the parties
evolve to something that more clearly represents our
aspirations. At their worst, they ossify and become irrelevant
to our real needs.
Ever since Oregon’s last Republican governor, Victor
Atiyeh — one of the state’s best postwar
chief executives — the Oregon GOP has
languished in a religion-based miasma, in
which abortion and homosexuality have been
litmus tests.
Now state Republicans have nominated
a credible candidate for governor, Knute
STEVE
Buehler. So this is a moment of promise, for
FORRESTER the GOP and for our state’s political well-be-
ing. That is because the state’s Democratic
party has become a Portland-centric value system that often
is blind to the rest of the state. Because statewide Democratic
candidates can roll up big majorities in Multnomah County,
the party easily becomes smug and predictable, while being
the captive and servant of the public employee unions.
It could be said that President Donald Trump complicates
any attempt by the Oregon GOP to redefine itself. But Oregon
history contains at least two scenarios that are relevant to the
task in front of Buehler.
It is hard to imagine today, but prior to the mid-1950s,
Oregon Democrats were the minority party –— without a U.S.
Randy L. Rasmussen/The Oregonian
Republican gubernatorial candidate Knute Buehler gath-
ered with supporters in Wilsonville during the May prima-
ry. Buehler, a doctor and state representative from Bend,
will face Gov. Kate Brown in November.
senator since 1921 or a state legislative majority since 1878.
That changed because of a liberal braintrust whose marquee
name was Richard L. Neuberger — a state legislator and also
one of America’s most prolific magazine writers and liberal
voices.
When Neuberger won an Oregon House seat in Multnomah
County in 1941, he became one of 24 Democratic represen-
tatives, outnumbered by 39 Republicans. Elected to the state
Senate in 1949, Neuberger was one of 10 Democrats, outnum-
bered by 20 Republicans.
In 1952, Neuberger wrote: “No aisle divides the two parties,
for the nine Democrats are heavily outnumbered by the 21
Republicans.”
One of Neuberger’s contemporaries whom I interviewed for
biographical research said the Oregon Democratic party of the
1940s was “inarticulate.” And it was Neuberger who gave the
party a voice. By 1959, Democrats had majorities in both the
state House and Senate.
The second useful truth for Buehler is that for much of the
20th century, Republicans were Oregon’s progressive party. Mark
Hatfield, while a state representative, authored a Civil Rights
Act in 1953. Statewide land use planning was authored by two
Republican farmers — Stafford Hansell of Eastern Oregon and
Hector MacPherson of the Willamette Valley. They were aided
and abetted by a Republican governor, Tom McCall.
Political parties change their faces over the years. While
today’s Oregon Republican Party has been stymied by reli-
gion-based barriers for more than a decade, it’s essential for
today’s Republicans to realize that their party was once the
engine of progress in this state. So it’s Buehler’s moment. Like
Neuberger some 60 years ago, Buehler can become the voice of a
new Oregon Republican Party — laying out values that appeal to
a broad swath of Oregonians, beyond the ideologically pure.
Steve Forrester, the former editor and publisher of The Daily
Astorian, is the president and CEO of EO Media Group.