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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 29, 2019)
NATIONAL CAT DAY CHECK OUT FELINES FROM AROUND THE REGION • INSIDE 147TH YEAR, NO. 52 DailyAstorian.com // TuEsdAY, OcTObER 29, 2019 $1.50 Cannabis businesses can struggle with banking Financial gray area Nicole bales/The Astorian A sign welcomes visitors to Cove Beach, a small community south of Arch Cape that is experiencing an extended water moratorium. Cove Beach property owners call moratorium into question Some doubt water shortage By NICOLE BALES The Astorian roperty owners in Cove Beach are raising con- cerns about the lack of transparency and over- sight of the Falcon Cove Beach Water District. The water district voted for a six-month mora- torium last December after reporting water produc- tion had been at record low levels for the past several years during the late summer months. The moratorium was extended for another six months in June so the board could continue to look at long-term options to protect the water supply. The water district may vote to extend the moratotium again in December. As long as the moratorium is in effect, property owners have to come up with another means of get- P ting their water to obtain a development permit from Clatsop County, said Gail Henrikson, the county’s director of land use planning. Each home is required to document a water source that will provide 250 gallons a day. The county accepts several types of alternate water supply systems, including rain catchment. But the alternatives can increase building costs, leaving some property owners in limbo as they are unclear how long the moratorium will be in place. Several property owners are not convinced there is an emergency that warrants a moratorium. Data examined Guido Paparoni and his wife, Margaret Rozendaal, bought a parcel in Cove Beach in 2017. They want to build a home and move to the coast when they retire. See Cove Beach, Page A6 Hailey Hoffman/The Astorian Residents of Cove Beach are upset by the lack of transparency of the Falcon Cove Beach Water District. ing credit union is attract- ing hundreds of millions By JEFF MAPES of dollars a year in depos- Oregon Public its by serving more than Broadcasting 500 cannabis businesses. A welter of startups hawk David Alport’s retail products designed to allow cannabis shop is neat as customers backdoor ways a pin. The glass counters to use their credit cards to at north Portland’s Bridge buy marijuana. And a bur- City Collective gleam, geoning network of pri- and the products are care- vate financiers offer loans fully positioned. The only to cannabis businesses. unusual note is a decid- “It’s starting to nor- edly not-so-sleek ATM malize a little,” said Beau given a prominent place of Whitney, a Portland-based economist and industry honor near the entrance. “It gets used a lot,” consultant, “because peo- Alport said, “being an all- ple are seeing opportuni- ties in this space to fill the cash business.” Because marijuana void.” At the same time, operates in a gray area — legal in Oregon and many almost everybody in the other states but illegal business seems to have under federal law — can- stories about scam art- nabis businesses have long ists, predatory lenders struggled to get banking and promised financial services. That solutions that means they don’t pan out. In short, the can’t sim- ‘IF WE ply accept the business side HAD TO credit cards of the industry can be as sur- used by con- PAY OUR real as some sumers for TAXES. WE of its most everything fancily named from the hum- WOULD hallucino - blest food cart gens. Here are to a gigan- DRIVE three snap- tic online DOWN TO shots illustrat- retailer. Open- ing the ups ing a check- SALEM ing account and downs of or getting a the financial WITH business loan world of legal STACKS marijuana. can also be a challenge. FULL OF Gift card As the went to pot legal cannabis BILLS.’ The trou- business in the ble apparently David Alport | United States owner of Bridge started last grows from City Collective in April 20 — $10 billion in north Portland aka 4/20, the sales now to day many peo- an estimated ple celebrate $30 billion by 2025, pressure is building cannabis culture by light- to bring the industry into ing up at 4:20 p.m. Sales were surging, and Linx, a the financial mainstream. The U.S. House last California-based startup month passed legislation providing “gift cards” for that would make it clear to cannabis retailers, began banks and other financial running into trouble pay- institutions that they can ing its merchants. Janice Grossman, who serve the marijuana indus- try without running afoul owns Oregon’s Green of federal law. The mea- Rush shop in Eugene, was sure is now in the Senate, one of them. “It’s like living in the where it faces uncertain wild, Wild West,” fumed prospects. At the same time, a jer- Grossman, who said Linx ry-built financial infra- now owes her $60,000. Grossman is not alone. structure is springing up around the cannabis Two other retailers — industry. See Cannabis, Page A3 In Oregon, a pathbreak- The big picture Hanour sustained by her artwork By LUCY KLEINER The Astorian L ight pours in through the windows, filtering over the piles of art supplies stacked in shelves, spilling off desks and heaping in baskets on the floor. Sketches scatter the room — on thin papers that nearly cover the floor, on thick canvases propped against an easel, on the cab- inets and walls. The chaos is intriguing, though relatively common for an art studio. What makes this studio unique, however, is the mas- sive painting that dominates the center of the space. At 8 feet tall and 6 feet wide, local artist Meghann Hanour’s most recent cre- ation, “Sister,” towers over her, even after accounting for her heeled black boots and thick ballerina bun that add an extra 5 inches to her frame. Three women are painted on the canvas, each dawning detailed attire from the biblical age and holding a thin gold strand that weaves among them. The painting will soon be on display at Astoria’s Imo- gen Gallery, where a number of Hanour’s works are pre- sented and sold. “What I love about images is that they use no sound,” Hanour said. “ I love that they speak, but they’re really not saying a word.” “Sister,” Hanour explains, speaks of shame and hope. “The woman on the right, she symbolizes this trans- fer of brightness,” she said, “and she’s transferring this brightness to that middle woman. And then the woman Lucy Kleiner/The Astorian See Hanour, Page A5 Meghann Hanour is a local artist who tells stories through paintings.