ASTORIA TUNES UP FOR PLAYOFFS WITH WIN OVER VALLEY CATHOLIC
DailyAstorian.com // MONDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2018
146TH YEAR, NO. 81
SPORTS • 10A
ONE DOLLAR
HOMELESSNESS IN ASTORIA
‘We’ve reached a boiling point’
Gimre’s criticism
and a downtown
protest underscore
city’s challenge
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
Tensions over what Astoria should
do about homelessness have intensified
in the form of a protest, a viral Face-
book post and a misunderstanding.
Dot Olsen launched a small Occu-
py-style protest on Friday to speak out
against the City Council’s vote to pro-
hibit camping in the woods. “We sur-
render! Where do you want us to go?”
a sign at Heritage Square asked.
That same afternoon, Pete Gimre,
the owner of Gimre’s Shoe Store
downtown, posted an emotional reac-
tion on Facebook to homeless people
who soiled his storefront.
Meanwhile, the KOA campground
in Warrenton juggled a rash of calls
after people misinterpreted a state-
ment by social service agencies and
flooded the business with requests for
free campsites.
While unrelated, the three incidents
underscore the raw nerves behind pol-
icy debates in Astoria over homeless-
ness and the impatience of people on
all sides of the issue.
Gimre, whose family’s shoe store
is among the most iconic businesses
downtown, detailed on Facebook how
he was called from the “Dancing With
the Clatsop Stars” benefit at the Lib-
erty Theatre on Thursday night to deal
with people camping outside the 14th
Street store and drinking.
“I walk out of the performance to
contact the police. Again. Like I’ve
done several times in the past for the
same reason,” he wrote. “And just like
each time in the past we come to work
the next morning to witness what
needs to be cleaned up.
“This time it wasn’t s--- but piles of
piss and cig butts. I’ve had it. I and my
employees are sick of this crap.”
Police have received seven calls
from Gimre’s since the start of the
year. “Not a ton of calls,” Police Chief
Geoff Spalding noted.
Still, the chief added, he hears sim-
ilar concerns frequently and wonders
if some store owners have started to
accept the homeless as “the way it is”
and don’t call the police as often.
When Gimre called last week, the
officers who responded talked to five
homeless people and asked them to
move along.
See HOMELESS, Page 7A
HARVEST TIME ON THE NORTH COAST
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
Justin and Dan Bogh move cranberries in their farm’s flooded bog near Gearhart toward equipment that will move the crop into a truck for transport to a process-
ing facility across the Columbia River in Washington state.
ELECTION 2018
Price endorses Jones for mayor Wev, Roscoe differ on housing,
A former
development in election forum
candidate
weighs in
By KATIE
FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
Astoria City Councilor
Cindy Price says Bruce Jones
should be the city’s next mayor.
Cindy
Price
Bruce
Jones
In a letter to The Daily
Astorian, Price endorsed her
fellow city councilor, pointing
to Jones’ record of leadership.
“He knows how Astoria
fits within the economic and
social structure of our neigh-
bor cities, the county, the state,
the federal government,” she
wrote.
Price had been a candidate
for mayor herself, but with-
drew from the race in August,
citing family reasons.
See PRICE, Page 7A
Candidates
in District 3
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
Pamela Wev and Peter
Roscoe, the candidates for
Clatsop County commis-
sion District 3, offered differ-
ing perspectives on housing
and development at a debate
Friday.
The candidates took part
in an hourlong debate at the
Astoria Library moderated by
Chris Breitmeyer, president of
Clatsop Community College.
Wev, a land use planner who
once served in former Portland
Mayor Vera Katz’s adminis-
tration, and Roscoe, founder
of Fulio’s Pastaria and a for-
mer Astoria city councilor,
are vying for the seat that rep-
resents parts of Astoria, Miles
Crossing, Jeffers Garden,
See DEBATE, Page 5A
Former Seaside public works director takes to the rails
Wallace is a
trolley volunteer
By REBECCA HERREN
The Daily Astorian
F
rom public works to trolley
storyteller, Neal Wallace is
enjoying his retirement.
“I am the perfect kind of
busy,” he said.
Wallace, who joined the
all-volunteer Astoria River-
front Trolley team in August,
has lived in Seaside for 25
years. Before retiring in 2015,
he was the city’s public works
director.
He arrived in Seaside
during the spring break quake
in 1993 and went to work as
a surveyor for the planning
firm HLB, then in Manza-
nita. A little more than a year
into his job, HLB opened an
office in Gearhart, where Wal-
lace remained for the next five
years.
In 1998, Wallace was hired
to do land surveys, engineer-
ing and project management
for the city.
“I didn’t have anyone to
supervise and only one person
to answer to,” he said. “It was
perfect.”
Five years in, the pub-
lic works director position
became open, and after a dis-
cussion with his wife, Lisa, he
decided to “throw his hat into
the ring.” The rest is history.
Before retiring, Wallace
finished his commitment to
the food bank board and felt
fortunate to have helped with
the new building’s comple-
tion. He then took time to refo-
cus and redirect his interests.
“After a while I had enough
of that,” he said. “There’s only
so much inner focus I could
do.”
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
See WALLACE, Page 7A
Neal Wallace waits for passengers to board the trolley.