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THE ASTORIAN • THuRSdAy, AuguST 29, 2019
OPINION
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
DERRICK DePLEDGE
Editor
Founded in 1873
JEREMY FELDMAN
Circulation Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN
Production Manager
CARL EARL
Systems Manager
OUR VIEW
Take off the mask
he first tell was the photo.
When Responsible
Growth Astoria created a
Facebook page in July to protest a
new Grocery Outlet, they posted
a photo of traffic gridlock that
could have been taken in Anytown,
U.S.A. Knowing Astoria, if a res-
ident or business was that fired up
about a project, they could have
gone down to Marine Drive on any
afternoon and snapped a photo of
traffic congestion with their iPhone.
The second tell was the
anonymity.
Responsible Growth Astoria
refused polite requests to disclose
who is organizing their campaign.
They claim they don’t want to be
harassed by the city or the Tex-
as-based developer.
We are First Amendment purists
and see value in anonymous politi-
cal speech.
But there is no shame in Astoria,
or anywhere else, really, for being
against Grocery Outlet. No one will
shun you if they find out you don’t
want a national discount grocery
chain at one of the few real traffic
bottlenecks in town.
After reporter Katie Franko-
wicz started digging, she found
Facebook pages for a Responsi-
ble Growth Lake Stevens and a
T
A photo of traffic gridlock posted on the Responsible Growth Astoria Facebook page in July.
Responsible Growth Palmdale.
While the states and targets are dif-
ferent — a new Costco in Lake
Stevens; a commercial and residen-
tial project with a Sprouts Farmers
Market in Palmdale — the email
addresses, the messaging and the
calls to action are nearly identical.
The attorney for Responsible
Growth Astoria, Karl Anuta, is also
the attorney for Livable Lake Ste-
vens, which changed its name the
day after our story on the similari-
ties between the groups.
Anuta also represented Protect
Pacific Northwest, another shad-
owy group, which challenged a
Grocery Outlet in Seaside earlier
this year.
Digging some more, ties
emerged — through Andrew
Grundman, a Sacramento, Cali-
fornia, attorney — between Pro-
tect Pacific Northwest and sev-
eral groups in California that have
fought grocery projects. They all
have nebulous, green-friendly
names — Protect CEQA, Sustain-
able Mammoth Lakes, Sustainable
Truckee — and seem only to speak
through their attorney.
Is it possible local residents and
businesses in Astoria quietly got
together to oppose Grocery Out-
let and reached out to profession-
als who do these kind of legal and
public relations campaigns for a
living? Yes.
Is it possible a grocery competi-
tor, a labor union, or a deep-pock-
eted investor is behind all of these
groups in Oregon, Washington state
and California? Yes.
Responsible Growth Astoria
makes a fair point that they should
be judged on their argument, not
who is organizing their campaign.
Others who object to a Grocery
Outlet near Mill Pond have ques-
tioned all the attention the group
has received. “Who really cares?”
one asked.
We care.
We care for the same reasons
we reported that Andrew Miller,
the CEO of Stimson Lumber Co.,
provided seed money for #Timbe-
rUnity, or that the Service Employ-
ees International Union and other
labor interests helped finance state
Rep. Tiffiny Mitchell’s campaign
last year. The information provides
context and background to public
policy and political debates.
Knowing who is behind Respon-
sible Growth Astoria would not
invalidate their argument, it would
inform it.
Cyndi Mudge, a veteran local
organizer and volunteer, put it best
in a post on Facebook: “Astorians
should not be used as useful fools
for outsiders.”
Responsible Growth Astoria
should take off the mask.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Tsunami exposure
he Oregon Legislature recently
repealed a state law that prevented the
building of new critical facilities within
the tsunami inundation zone (“Legislature
repeals tsunami zone building law,” The
Astorian, June 24).
In the case of Seaside schools, the state
also requested the city of Seaside to rede-
velop vacated school sites to lower usages
so that fewer people would have tsunami
exposure. This request has been ignored
by the city; the Seaside School District
wants to get a maximum return when it
sells this property.
The city, per the recent county housing
study, wants workforce housing. Per the
city plan, workforce housing should be in
R-3 zones, which allow 20 dwelling units
per acre. The 11-acre high school site
would allow 220 units that would house
about 300 children (150 school age, 150
younger).
So, we moved the 500 high school stu-
dents out of the site so they wouldn’t
be exposed seven hours a day, and we
replaced them at the same site with 150
young children who are exposed 24 hours
a day, and the other 150 school-age chil-
dren, who will now be exposed 17 hours
a day.
It costs taxpayers $125,000 a student
to create a new, expensive hillside schools
project that could potentially make area
children 65% more vulnerable to the tsu-
nami threat. The state Legislature is only
now starting to recognize how poorly its
past tsunami safety programs solve real
problems.
We need to temper people’s emotional
impulses by electing better local leader-
ship who can rationally analyze and for-
mulate realistic disaster preparation.
JOHN DUNZER
Seaside
T
A place for art
egarding the sale and new plans for
the “Old State Hotel” across the
street from Vintage Hardware: The former
owner, Bernie Bjork, has been using the
spaces on the second floor as nice art stu-
dios for quite a while. The July 12 front-
page article didn’t mention that good use,
and I’m happy to say that I’m still there,
as are other creative folks (“Church group
purchases downtown building for hous-
ing,” The Astorian, July 12).
The new ownership has assured us that
the changes will happen sometime later,
and I feel I have time to make new plans,
but also a little more time to do more
artwork there. I like the building, and
believe it should be possible to be ren-
ovated for nice alternative housing. My
R
thanks to Mr. Bjork.
MIKE TUELL
Long Beach, Washington
Fair contract
s state representative for House Dis-
trict 32, and an Astoria community
member, I stand in support of Columbia
Memorial Hospital’s nurses in their fight
for a fair contract.
While I respect the position of CMH
and their leadership regarding some of the
obstacles they face in providing health
care in a smaller market, the voices of our
nurses deserve to be heard and respected
as they speak out about the workplace
issues that have a significant bearing on
the health outcomes of our community.
As a designated critical access hospital
that receives enhanced public resources
and financial supports, combined with a
variable — yet sustainable measure of
A
profitability — CMH should be looking
heavily into reinvesting those resources
fairly to ensure that our hospital’s work-
force is treated with dignity.
The nurses’ asks are rational and just:
To staff the hospital at a rate that allows
adequate and safe patient care; to bring
forth stable and predictable scheduling
practices; and to help meaningfully fund
recruitment, retention and training ini-
tiatives to help address our vital need
for increased access to qualified care
providers.
As nurses who are on the forefront
each day providing compassionate,
high-quality care to patients across the
greater Clatsop County area, these nurses’
steadfast efforts to strengthen hospital
standards and reinforce safe working con-
ditions are imperative to the well-being
and overall health of our region moving
forward.
I am proud to support all CMH nurses,
and encourage the community to stand
with them.
TIFFINY MITCHELL
Astoria
Ladder out of poverty
onna Munro is right about the ladder
out of poverty a renters’ tax credit
would provide (“Renters’ tax credits” The
Astorian, Aug. 24). The child tax credit
and the earned income tax credit are two
proven examples, bringing more people
out of poverty than any program other
than Social Security.
Currently, there is a bill in Congress
to make these two programs even more
effective, the Working Families Tax
Relief Act of 2019, HR 3157. By asking
those who represent us to help pass this
legislation, we can help millions of strug-
gling Americans climb out of poverty.
WILLIE DICKERSON
Snohomish, Washington
D