DailyAstorian.com
146TH YEAR, NO. 200
ONE DOLLAR
MONDAY, APRIL 8, 2019
A WINDY DAY
AT THE DAILY A
TRACK MEET
Photos by Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
ABOVE: Runners cross the fi nish line after the 100 meter race at The Daily Astorian Invitational track meet in Seaside.
INSET: Jalen Maddox kicks up a cloud of dirt in the long jump for Warrenton. See story on A10.
Housing
Cormorants fi nd peace on the bridge
project at
Waldorf
gets a boost
Nonprofi t secures $2.8M
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
An affordable housing project in the
long-neglected former Waldorf Hotel has
landed key state funding.
Innovative Housing Inc., a Port-
land-based nonprofi t, secured $2.8 mil-
lion from Oregon Housing and Com-
munity Services, enough to round out
the project’s $6.7 million budget and
fully fund a basic renovation to create 40
affordable and workforce apartments in
the old hotel next to City Hall on Duane
Street.
Renovation work could begin this fall.
“It’s a good day!” said Julie Garver,
the housing development director for
Innovative Housing.
The nonprofi t’s progress was also
announced at the annual Jane Barnes
Revue at The Ruins at the Astor on Sat-
urday night . The crowd raised money for
extra work — details like the historic can-
opy entryway. Innovative Housing needs
around $200,000 for the entryway and
other enhancement work.
“We had a really great response from
people at the show,” Garver said. “That
was beyond exciting to see the commu-
nity response and I think that’s been one
of the great things about our whole two
years of working with everyone in Asto-
ria because folks have been so excited
and supportive of the project.”
Sarah Lu Heath, the executive director
of the Astoria Downtown Historic District
Association, said the funding announce-
ment is an exciting development in a long
effort to address workforce housing .
See Housing, Page A7
Katie Frankowicz/The Daily Astorian
James Lawonn with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife counts cormorants on the Astoria Bridge.
The birds are hazed
on East Sand Island
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
Danny Miller/The Daily Astorian
A lone cormorant takes fl ight under the
Astoria Bridge.
D ouble-crested cormorants nesting on the
Astoria Bridge could come with a high cost
to the state and more frequent maintenance
interruptions for motorists.
The birds, seasonal visitors to the North
Coast, have just begun to return to the estu-
ary for breeding and nesting. No one knows
how many will decide to settle on the bridge
this year, but it was clearly a popular spot
last year, as birds from the region’s largest
colony continued to be hazed off East Sand
I sland downriver.
The number of double-crested cormo-
rants nesting on the bridge jumped from a
See Cormorants, Page A7
Perseverance pays off for student
Benitez accepted
into health care
internship
By EDWARD
STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
I
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
Itsamar Benitez, who moved to Astoria from Puerto Rico, is
headed to Columbia University this summer for a health care
internship.
tsamar Benitez received
her fi rst exposure to life
as an occupational therapist
three years ago in Puerto
Rico, surrendering much
of her personal life to help
her mother recover from a
stroke.
She was the family’s
main caregiver after the
destruction of Hurricane
Maria, when her father, a
journeyman, was gone for
long stretches working on
the island’s electric grid.
After coming to Astoria
to put her educational aspi-
rations back on track, Beni-
tez, 18, has translated her
life experiences into a pres-
tigious summer health care
internship through the Rob-
ert Wood Johnson Founda-
tion at Columbia University
in New York City.
“I needed to be more
mature than most people
my age,” Benitez said of her
upbringing.
Benitez grew up in Toa
Alta, a suburb of San Juan,
Puerto Rico. She was an
avid athlete through most of
school until three years ago,
when her mother, at 43, suf-
fered a stroke. “I dropped
everything to take care of
her, because my dad works
most days,” she said.
In 2013, Benitez volun-
teered at a summer camp
in a school in San Juan for
people with disabilities,
mostly working in speech
and
physical
therapy .
See Benitez, Page A7