CoAsT WeEkEnD: 2019 FiShErPoEtS GaThErInG
146TH YEAR, NO. 168
DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2019
ONE DOLLAR
‘EVERY BOAT IS A
DIFFERENT STORY’
Ailing
Pier 2
faces
closure
State ties
recommendation
to dock repairs
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Luke Whittaker/Chinook Observer
A sailboat sank unexpectedly overnight in the Ilwaco marina in January. It wasn’t considered abandoned or derelict, but likely sprung a
leak. It was the fi rst boat to sink in the marina since the Lihue II in 2017.
Derelict and abandoned vessels plague local ports
By LUKE WHITTAKER
Chinook Observer
L
ONG BEACH, Wash. — Some
result from Coast Guard rescues,
others arrive mysteriously in the
night.
Derelict and abandoned vessels plague
local marinas, posing considerable envi-
ronmental threats while soaking up port
resources.
The exact number remains murky, but
several boats fall somewhere on the spec-
trum, according to Ilwaco Port Manager
Guy Glenn Jr.
“It’s just a question of what exactly
abandoned means,” he said.
“There’s boats where people are pay-
ing their bills but maybe not necessarily
using very much. There are people who
use their boat but don’t pay their bills.
Then there’s people that don’t do either.”
Once a boat is determined to be in
danger of sinking, it can be designated as
derelict. M ore than a dozen boats in var-
ious stages of deterioration and fi nancial
delinquency rest in the Ilwaco boatyard.
“Boats that are in danger of sinking or
the condition is uncertain, those are ones
that need to hauled out or dealt with,”
Glenn said.
Luke Whittaker/Chinook Observer
Ilwaco Port Manager Guy Glenn Jr. considers dealing with derelict and abandoned vessels
as part of the job. ‘Every boat is a diff erent story,’ he said.
“Then there are boats that aren’t in as
bad of shape but they’re still considered
derelict because owners are not respond-
ing to take care of them or pay.”
It’s an ongoing concern for port staff
that irresponsible boat owners will arrive
unexpectedly or late at night, tie up, and
walk away.
See Boat, Page A7
‘IT GETS TIED UP AT OUR DOCK AND WE HAVE TO RELY ON THE BOAT OWNER TO
DEAL WITH IT RESPONSIBLY FROM THERE AND SOMETIMES THEY’RE NOT RE-
SPONSIBLE AND THE BOAT IS IN BAD SHAPE, THEN WE HAVE TO DEAL WITH IT.’
The east side of the Port of
Astoria’s Pier 2, where sea-
food is loaded onto refrigerated
trucks, is in danger of closure.
The state recommended in
November that a 3-ton weight
limit be imposed, and the east
side of Pier 2 be closed, by April
if repairs are not made.
“If the repairs cannot be com-
pleted within this time frame the
bridge should be closed until
repairs to address these main-
tenance recommendations have
been completed,” Bruce John-
son, the state bridge engineer,
wrote to the Port in Novem-
ber. “It is ultimately the Port’s
responsibility to repair the bridge
or have the structure closed.”
The state’s recommenda-
tion did not become public until
raised at a Port Commission
meeting Tuesday by Commis-
sioner Bill Hunsinger.
“I felt this information should
have been (brought) to the com-
mission,” he said. “This infor-
mation came out Nov. (30). So
here we are in February, and the
commission doesn’t know any-
thing about it.”
The state’s guidance on Pier
2 came shortly after the Port
closed the East Mooring Basin
c auseway at the foot of 36th
Street in November following a
state inspection that found much
of the bridge rotting.
Hunsinger has repeatedly
criticized Jim Knight, the Port’s
executive director, for not shar-
ing enough information with the
Port Commission and public.
At a recent meeting, for
example, he revealed how the
Port lost a $1.5 million state
infrastructure grant to repair part
of the badly deteriorated docks
on the west side of Pier 2, where
fi shermen offl oad their catch to
processors leasing space in the
agency’s warehouse.
The dock on the east side of
Pier 2 is nearly 940 feet long,
with 115 spans held up by timber
pile-and-post structures called
bents. The state had last recom-
mended weight restrictions, and
a possible closure, on the east
side of Pier 2 in 2016 unless the
Port made emergency repairs
to nearly 50 urgent and critical
bents. The Port posted the 3-ton
weight limit, made some repairs
under the dock, and sometime in
2017 removed the weight limit
signs.
Guy Glenn Jr., Ilwaco port manager
See Pier, Page A7
Group to discuss drop-in center for the homeless
Social services
and a safe place
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
There is a new push to
open a daytime drop-in
center for the homeless in
Astoria.
A group, headed by inter-
faith ministers Nelle Moffett
and Rick Bowers, plans to
present the seeds of an idea at
a Lower Columbia Diversity
Committee meeting Sunday
afternoon.
The group is informal,
made up in large part by peo-
ple who have been participat-
DROP-IN CENTER
The Lower Columbia Diversity Committee will meet from
2 to 4 p.m. Sunday in Columbia Hall, Room 219 at Clatsop
Community College.
ing in the city’s homelessness
task force meetings, but who
“wanted to see what action
we could take,” Moffett said.
As sketched out in a
draft proposal, the drop-in
center would offer a one-
stop shop to connect peo-
ple to social services, as
well as provide a safe place
for people to socialize,
rest and access amenities
like showers, restrooms
and storage lockers.
Moffett and Bowers, who
are board members for the
Astoria Warming Center, an
emergency shelter , modeled
the concept on a similar facil-
ity in Portland.
“We are at the beginning
stages of defi ning the con-
cept of what we want to cre-
ate and vetting the concept
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
See Center, Page A7
Advocates for the homeless will discuss the creation of a drop-
in center in Astoria.