A7
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2019
Homeless: Astoria Warming Center is in demand every night
ments that the task force
was overthinking the prob-
lem instead of focusing on
specifi c solutions.
At that meeting in May,
Spalding replied that home-
lessness is a complex prob-
lem. He understood the
frustration, he told Van
Nostran .
“But we need to truly
understand the problem
before we can come up
with solutions that are via-
ble,” he said.
Nearly eight months
after Van Nostran’s exit,
Tobey posed a similar ques-
tion Thursday: What has
been done?
“Action has to be taken,”
he said, adding, “We’ve got
to do more than just talk
about it.”
Continued from Page A1
organizations are defi nitely
an accomplishment.
‘A huge issue’
The task force’s roster
going into 2019 includes 21
members — representatives
of downtown businesses,
Columbia Memorial Hos-
pital, mental health ser-
vices, food banks, housing
programs, advocacy groups,
city and county govern-
ment, police and the s chool
d istrict.
Alan Evans, the exec-
utive director of Helping
Hands, is the only member
who has been homeless in
the past.
Under new Mayor Bruce
Jones, the task force plans
to continue meeting every
four to six weeks and hopes
to begin moving forward on
identifying programs, rec-
ommending policies and
establishing priorities.
“(Homelessness) is such
a huge issue and we need
to keep talking about it and
keep it on the front burner,”
said LaMear, who will con-
tinue as a member-at-large
on the task force. “I learn
something every single
meeting I come to.”
The city can’t create a
utopia where nobody is
homeless, said Annie Mar-
tin, president of the Asto-
ria
Warming
Center’s
board, but it’s important that
groups like the task force
exist and acknowledge the
needs in the community.
“(Homelessness)
is
something that can’t be
ignored,” she said. “Because
it’s not going away.”
More than a hundred
homeless people attended
the annual Project Home-
less Connect event in Sea-
side on Tuesday, a “one-stop
shop” for people in need of
services that brings together
dozens of nonprofi t, gov-
ernmental and faith-based
agencies under one roof.
The Astoria Warming
Center is in demand every
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
The cleanup of a homeless camp near Astoria took place in early November.
night it is open during the
winter months. Affordable
housing is still scarce.
Though numerous down-
town businesses support
social services and organiza-
tions like the w arming c en-
ter through food and dona-
tions, tensions still bubble
up around issues like loiter-
ing, panhandling or public
defecation and urination.
Astoria p olice say offi -
cers are now encountering
homeless people who seem
more confrontational and
aggressive, Spalding said
at a task force meeting on
Thursday.
“It’s not the group that’s
been here for a while,”
clarifi ed Kenny Hansen,
the police homeless liai-
son offi cer . “It’s more
the ones that are passing
through, that are new to the
community.”
Their behavior could
be a way of testing police,
commented one man from
the audience.
Or, countered Hansen,
“It could be a refl ection of
how they were treated in
the community they were
in last time.”
‘Action has
to be taken’
Todd Tobey, who owns
the McDonald’s on Marine
Drive, as well as six other
McDonald’s
restaurants
on the coast, says he and
his employees seem to be
dealing with a particularly
aggressive and diffi cult
subset of the homeless pop-
ulation more and more .
On
Thursday,
he
described issues he had
with people who panhan-
dle on the sidewalk in front
of the Astoria McDon-
ald’s and who are using
the restrooms inside as a
shower, alarming custom-
ers. Nearly every day, mul-
tiple times throughout the
day, people stand at the exit
for the drive-thru and hold
up cardboard signs asking
for help.
In past years, Tobey and
his managers felt comfort-
able talking to the home-
less and asking them to
move on if they were caus-
ing a problem . Most people
were polite, relatively easy
to deal with and talk to.
Many different types of
people are homeless for a
variety of reasons, Tobey
told the task force. He
understands and appreci-
ates the work the task force
is doing. It’s a tough sit-
uation, he said. He’s glad
there is a group taking the
time to try to address a
complex array of needs and
issues.
But Tobey no longer
feels he can ask his manag-
ers to go out and confront
people. It hasn’t been safe.
An employee recently had
a beer bottle fl ung at them.
He doesn’t want any-
one to get into trouble or be
arrested, but the presence
of panhandlers and frequent
homeless traffi c through
the restaurant is costing
him business. Now, he calls
the police to ask people to
move along. It’s not really
a solution, though.
He expressed a frustra-
tion that others, including
some task force members,
have voiced ever since the
group fi rst started meeting:
That the group was only
there to talk.
Last May, Bill Van Nos-
tran , the pastor of First Pres-
byterian Church , abruptly
resigned from the group
after he made heated com-
‘Storming, forming
and norming’
Tom Leiner, co-owner
of Pat’s Pantry downtown ,
replied that many groups go
through a “storming, form-
ing and norming” process.
For the p ast year, the home-
lessness task force has been
in a long brainstorming
session, he said. Now they
are beginning to identify
projects.
Some task force mem-
bers, and several people
who routinely attend the
meetings , still believe the
city should designate land
where people can camp
legally. Nearly all agree
that housing, or, at the very
least, emergency and tran-
sitional shelter, is key.
“Once you have some
kind of shelter, you can
work on the rest of your life
from there,” Martin said.
On Thursday, many task
force members, including
LaMear, emphasized their
desire to establish a day-
time drop-in center, some-
where people can go to
shower, wash their clothes,
eat a meal and access other
services.
In the next year or two,
Elaine Bruce, the exec-
utive director of Clatsop
Community Action, hopes
the task force could fi nd
a way to offer or recom-
mend ways to offer incen-
tives for private and non-
profi t developers to create
more affordable housing.
In addition to a drop-in
center, she and Leiner want
to explore ways to offer
more job skills training and
programs.
Former City Councilor
Cindy Price, who will con-
tinue to be a member of
the task force, believes the
group has a role to play in
recommending policies to
the City Council.
In recent meetings, more
items are being assigned to
subcommittees to explore
and fl esh out.
One subcommittee is
examining a possible fi ne
forgiveness program so
people without resources
can begin to address court
fi nes that have stacked up
over the years. These fi nes,
many of which stem from
small violations but com-
pound when a person fails
to show up in court and
explain their situation,
are big barriers for home-
less people who are trying
to improve their situation,
advocates say.
Another
subcommit-
tee was assigned Thursday
to explore a “homeward
bound” program. For peo-
ple who have good fam-
ily connections or commu-
nity support elsewhere but
are stuck in Astoria, this
program would fi nd a way
to reconnect them and pay
their way home.
The task force needs to
continue to meet and share
information so the people
involved have a better idea
of how to address home-
lessness , Jones said.
“We’re going to face the
homeless issues for years
and years to come,” he told
the group Thursday. “It’s not
something we’re going to
solve. It’s something we’re
going to keep working on,
whittling away at.”
Thank you for your support - Lower Columbia River Chief Petty Officers Association
The Lower Columbia River Chief Petty Officer Association (LCR CPOA) extends our members gratitude to
the entire North Coast. The community’s residents embraced the LCR CPOA chapter with donations that we
were able to distribute to families associated with Coast Guard units in southern Washington including Grays
Harbor, Cape Disappointment and Kennewick, and northern Oregon communities including Garibaldi, Portland
as well as right here in the Astoria/Warrenton/Seaside area.
The shutdown event and this community’s response has defined what Coast Guard City really means.
North Coast residents rallied behind the LCR CPOA chapter with its generous financial donations as well as
tremendous support for the “Be the Light Food Pantry” all in the name of assisting our Coasties during the
government shutdown. The LCR CPOA used your donations to provide immediate grants for recipients to pay
bills and gift card disbursement to USCG members that needed to make ends meet. With continuing resolution
signed for the next three weeks we are cautiously optimistic that things will return normal. Ever in the shadow
of stalled legislation, if the government remains unfunded the LCR CPOA chapter will continue to work to
provide Coast Guard members and other federal employees in need, grants and donations to assist them as we
continuing to serve the public.
The vision of the LCR CPOA is to continue to represent the richest traditions of service through assisting
active duty Coast Guard members in difficult situations, as well as integrating and interfacing with our North
Coast community through fund raising projects, donations to community organizations, continued support to
local schools, and funding our established scholarship at Clatsop Community College.
There are so many businesses and residents that we want to thank, and we will work towards that individually
in the near term. For the community we extend our deepest thank you from the LCR CPOA. Your support for
our group is appreciated.
My Most Sincere Thank You to our COMMUNITY!
Senior Chief Matthew Gerber
President Lower Columbia River Chief Petty Officer Association