A6
THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 2019
Squabble: City staff accused of fast-tracking Johnson: Forecasted
application to build 16,000-square-foot store an increase in voter
registration among
nonaffi liated voters
Continued from Page A1
Astoria residents — includ-
ing Planning Commissioner
Daryl Moore, Commissioner
Cindy Price and Sarah Lu
Heath, the executive direc-
tor of the Astoria Down-
town Historic District Asso-
ciation — asked the Astoria
group for more information
about who they are without
success.
Responsible
Growth
Astoria has accused city
staff of fast-tracking Gro-
cery
Outlet’s
applica-
tion to build a one-story,
16,000-square-foot store on
property between 21st Street
and 23rd Street off Marine
Drive.
The discount grocery , an
outright permitted use for
the property, would be next
door to the Mill Pond neigh-
borhood and a new Astoria
Co+op store set to open later
this year.
The city went through the
required public notifi cations
to alert people to the Grocery
Outlet project and Thurs-
day’s public hearing in front
of the Design Review Com-
mittee. Letters from people
expressing their concerns
about the new store — along
with Grocery Outlet’s appli-
cation and a staff report rec-
ommending approval of the
project — were included in
a packet staff prepared ahead
of Thursday’s hearing.
Responsible
Growth
Astoria lists traffi c, pollu-
tion and impacts to other
small businesses among its
concerns. The group has
posted information from the
staff report and encouraged
people to attend the public
hearing.
Unlike other advocacy
groups on the North Coast,
such as Indivisible North
Coast or Friends of the Asto-
ria Waterfront, Responsible
Growth Astoria has declined
to identify a spokesperson.
When The Astorian asked
to interview one of the orga-
nizers last week and talk in
more detail about the group’s
concerns, a reporter was told
the people best poised to
talk about the group were on
vacation.
A response from Respon-
sible Growth Astoria via
Facebook
Messenger
expressed the hope that the
group’s concerns about Gro-
cery Outlet would be the
focus of any reporting, not
the identity of the group.
In response to further
questions from The Astorian
on Tuesday, a man named
“Ken J.,” who said he man-
ages the Responsible Growth
Astoria Facebook page, said
the Astoria and Lake Stevens
groups are not linked.
Perhaps when the Asto-
ria page was started “they
looked for examples and
borrowed from other sources
on Facebook with similar
issues — perhaps too liber-
ally from the looks of it,” the
man wrote in an email.
Others have also tried to
identify the organizers.
“Please identify your-
selves so we don’t assume
you are a professional PR
company hired to sow dis-
content over the proposed
use,” Moore wrote in a com-
ment on one of Responsible
Growth Astoria’s posts this
week. “Astoria doesn’t need
outside agencies stirring up
controversy. We are capable
of that on our own.”
Moore said in an inter-
view that he does not have
any trouble with someone
objecting to a business like
Grocery Outlet. But he has
observed the rapid expan-
sion of Grocery Outlet
across the country, as well
as the organized opposition
that usually follows. Though
there are concerns in the
community about the proj-
ect , he doubts a local per-
son is behind Responsible
Growth Astoria.
Moore has interacted
with a number of local, orga-
nized groups during his time
on the Planning Commis-
sion. The people show up to
meetings, state their names
and addresses and give tes-
timony or present petitions,
he said.
“They’re happy to put
Continued from Page A1
Johnson, a skeptic of
the bill, was temporar-
ily removed from her post
on the Joint Committee on
Ways and Means just before
a key vote . The senator said
she would have voted “no”
had she been able .
While deferring to
experts on the science of cli-
mate change, Johnson said
her main issue was with
how the money from the tax
generated from carbon off-
sets would have been spent.
House Bill 3063 would
have ended nonmedi-
cal exemptions for school
vaccination requirements.
Democrats killed the bill,
along with another dealing
with enhanced gun laws,
to end the fi rst walkout by
Senate Republicans. A sec-
ond walkout was triggered
by cap and trade.
Opposition to t he vacci-
nation bill brought together
a unique coalition, from
members of the Russian
Orthodox Church to liberal
Democrats concerned with
choice, Johnson said.
“Up to that point, I had
never seen a group organize
so organically, so quickly,”
she said. “And by organi-
cally, I mean they weren’t
urged to action by some out-
side third-party actors. They
contacted each other and
came to the Capitol with
passionate pleas to oppose
that bill.”
Johnson forecasted a rise
in voter registration among
nonaffi liated voters, who
already make up around
40 percent of the electorate
statewide.
“My guess is that people
at the national level, as well
as at the state level, have
had partisan politics up to
here, and they are interested
in seeing the state move
forward with an Oregon
agenda,” she said.
Planners: Will take part in a
series of interviews this week
Continued from Page A1
Facebook
their name on something
they believe in and I fully
support that,” he said. “But
when an anonymous person
tells me what’s best for my
town, I generally don’t take
that well.”
Moore’s Facebook com-
ments were later removed
and he can no longer com-
ment on Responsible Growth
Astoria’s posts.
Later,
Responsible
Growth Astoria wrote in a
different post, “Thank you
for your support in helping
us grow this page and in giv-
ing a voice to hundreds who
live here who simply do not
like the direction our com-
munity and growth is going.”
“And for the online trolls
and bullies out there trying
to goad us into publicly list-
ing everyone who supports
the page and who has con-
cerns about this project,” the
post continues, “we respect
privacy and aren’t about to
create a list of people for you
or the c ity or the developer
to harass simply for speak-
ing out.”
City Council approved an
increase to the job’s sal-
ary range at the recom-
mendation of a recruitment
agency the city hired to
fi nd applicants.
Several issues have
complicated the search,
Estes said. How much
money the city could offer
was one matter, but he
noted the city is also try-
ing to hire at a time when
the economy is strong and
planners with the necessary
experience are scarce.
Other candidates might
have a spouse or partner
who struggles to fi nd suit-
able employment on the
North Coast.
Placido and Spencer will
participate in a series of
interviews with department
staff, an interview commit-
tee and Estes this week.
“I would like to be able
to have a direction and be
moving forward before the
end of the week and initiate
background checks before
the end of the week or the
beginning of next week,”
Estes said.
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