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THE ASTORIAN • SATuRdAy, FEbRuARy 13, 2021
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
A sharper focus on policy
T
he Clatsop County Board
of Commissioners has
adopted a strategic plan to
guide policy priorities.
The plan focuses on five areas:
governance; infrastructure; eco-
nomic development; environmental
quality; and social services.
We hope this useful exercise
gives commissioners a sharper
focus.
In our political endorsements last
year, we observed that the county
commission had identified the most
important policy issues facing the
North Coast, but had often missed
opportunities to lead.
That pattern continues.
During the coronavirus pan-
demic, commissioners have not
performed sufficient oversight of
the county Public Health Depart-
ment’s response to local virus
cases, conducted a critical exam-
ination of workplace outbreaks, or
pressed for greater transparency so
people might better understand the
risk and spread of COVID-19.
Since November, the county
has reported more than 500 new
virus cases — about 66% of all the
cases recorded since March — and
six deaths linked to the virus, yet
county leaders have provided little
context to help people make sense
of the case count. Many of the pub-
lic health updates at county com-
mission meetings are perfunctory,
with few pointed questions from
commissioners.
Even more surprising, commis-
sioners have not raised any ques-
tions in public about the death
of a Warrenton man last year in
Hailey Hoffman/The Astorian
Dozens of health care workers got vaccinated against the coronavirus at the Astoria
Armory in December.
police custody. Alexander Jimenez,
34, who had mental health and
drug abuse issues, died in April
after an arrest for disorderly con-
duct and resisting arrest. Warren-
ton police used a Taser on Jimenez
during the arrest and sheriff’s dep-
uties and police wrestled him to
the ground in the sally port of the
county jail. His death was ruled
accidental — caused by the toxic
effects of methamphetamines, with
fatty liver disease and the applica-
tion of the Taser as other significant
conditions.
Commissioners oversee the
county jail and Clatsop Behav-
ioral Healthcare, the county’s men-
tal health contractor. They could
have asked about the use of force,
the medical clearance process at
hospitals before people arrested are
brought to the jail, booking proce-
dures at the jail and why a mobile
crisis response team was never
called.
The primary responsibility of
our commissioners is to make sure
the county manager we pay to run
the county on a day-to-day basis
and other administrators are doing
their jobs. But the county com-
mission also has the broadest geo-
graphic reach of any of our local
boards, a unique platform to ask
questions, set priorities and bring
experts and advocates together to
share ideas.
The new strategic plan is a help-
ful tool. In the coming year, we
would also like to see more empha-
sis on these issues:
• Mental health. The number of
crisis response calls has increased
as people try to cope during the
pandemic. Two people with mental
health and substance abuse issues
— Jimenez and Alaina Burns, a
31-year-old Astoria woman shot
after a home break-in near Sunset
Beach in December — have died
after interactions with police.
While progress has been made
over the past few years, significant
gaps in treatment remain.
• Homelessness. Hiring a home-
less services coordinator is a step in
the right direction, but our county
needs to be more aggressive in
addressing the housing, social
services and law enforcement
challenges.
• Child care. One of the region’s
largest child care providers scaled
back last winter, then restrictions
on in-person classes at schools
because of the virus intensified the
pressure on parents who need to
balance the demands of work and
family.
• Broadband. The social isola-
tion and school restrictions during
the pandemic are reminders of the
urgency to extend high-speed inter-
net access to rural communities.
• Transparency. The county
Public Health Department should
publicly disclose workplace out-
breaks of the coronavirus.
We do not place the burden on
county commissioners alone to
solve these problems. Everyone on
the North Coast with policymaking
ability has roles to play. But we do
believe they should help lead the
conversations.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Illusions
I
am responding to the recent article,
“Astoria to crack down on lawlessness
at park” (The Astorian, Feb. 4).
While the article itself was a reason-
able, albeit incomplete, report on the dis-
cussion held at the City Council meeting
of Feb. 1, it failed to note that the Asto-
ria Police Department is already working,
and has been for years, with all its avail-
able resources and within the legal con-
straints of Oregon and federal law to limit
this “bad behavior.”
There is simply nothing more that the
police can do to stop this behavior, other
than to push it to a different location,
where the cycle will repeat itself endlessly.
The fact that this City Council decision
was made near Groundhog Day is patheti-
cally ironic.
No one should have any illusion that
the police department can do any more
than it has been doing, and doing with
great restraint and sensitivity. The effort
and mandate endorsed by the City Council
is guaranteed to result in the failure of the
objective it is intended to accomplish.
What has been accomplished is that
several downtown business owners have
gotten City Council action and a headline
in this newspaper, neither of which con-
veys any meaningful substance.
BARRY PLOTKIN
Astoria
Rebuttal
A
letter titled “Black stain,” published
in the Feb. 4 edition of The Astorian,
cries out for rebuttal. The author appar-
ently possesses divine insight and wisdom,
or believes he does.
One sentence is utterly laughable, and
bears repeating: “Flying banners bear-
ing the name of an American traitor is an
affront to proper thinking Americans.”
In what Orwellian “reality” does the
author reside? Who determines what
thinking is “proper”? Is he the Minister of
Truth?
In this letter the arrogance, sancti-
mony and outright dishonesty of the left
is on full display. “Republican insurrec-
tionists” intended to “murder members of
Congress” and “hunted congresspersons to
assassinate”?
President Donald Trump encouraged
those in attendance at the White House
on Jan. 6 to “peacefully and patriotically”
march to the Capitol. In what bizarre fan-
tasy world are these the words of an
“American traitor”?
SCOTT AMES
Astoria
End chronic homelessness
I
’m writing in response to The Astorian’s
recent article (Feb. 4) about the “law-
lessness” in the Ninth Street park, dis-
cussed at the Feb. 1 Astoria City Council
meeting, and to address a theme I heard at
the meeting: the safety of our residents.
In reference to business owners who
feel threatened, councilors repeatedly
expressed the importance of keeping Asto-
ria’s residents safe. I agree with them. But
rather than view public safety as an issue
with business owners on one side and the
unsheltered on the other, I ask our leaders
to pursue solutions which provide safety
for all residents.
I ask them to resolve to end chronic
homelessness in Astoria. I keep hearing
that this problem is unsolvable, but that
simply isn’t true. Other municipalities
have ended veterans’ homelessness, and
gone on to end chronic homelessness.
If what we really mean is that address-
ing it would cost too much, we must con-
sider how much money we already spend.
We pay in the form of policing, jail, emer-
gency room visits and in loss of revenue
and quality of life for both business own-
ers and the unhoused.
Our current approach is actually a very
expensive way to deal with homelessness;
many studies show that providing housing
costs less than year-round shelter, or end-
lessly shuffling people between taxpay-
er-funded services.
This is a public health crisis, and we
need those in power to help resolve it. By
acting swiftly and humanely to protect
our most vulnerable residents, they could
address the needs and concerns of every-
one involved.
TERESA BARNES
Astoria
Valiant souls
I
wonder how many of us understand the
amount of work and stress our teach-
ers have been under during this pandemic?
These valiant souls have worked long hours
to ensure that our children have the best pos-
sible education under a difficult situation.
They had to completely redo the way
they teach, creating many more hours of
working time. We talk about how children
are missing out without in-class experi-
ences. So are the teachers, who miss the
intimate contacts they share with students.
Let us not forget to respect and appre-
ciate the dedication of these heroes, who
constantly give their all to our children. As
they are asked to return to in-class teach-
ing, many are concerned about the health
of the students, their own families and
themselves, and rightly so.
Can we as a community please be
empathetic and supportive of our teachers,
our community heroes?
DIANA McLOUGHLIN
Gearhart
Made me think
T
he Feb. 4 editorial in The Astorian,
“Rational immigration reform,” made
me think about the book by Andrew Yang,
where he discusses the coming and accel-
erating loss of employment here and
abroad due to worker displacement by arti-
ficial intelligence and robotics. How do
you factor in the need for immigrant labor
with Yang’s prediction, which is already
happening?
I think President Joe Biden’s approach
to immigration, by addressing the cause,
is far better than the Trump administra-
tion’s attempt to treat the immigration
symptoms with walls and deportation.
However, Biden’s approach — by help-
ing poor countries build their economies
— is futile if there is no additional effort
to bring down birth rates into sync with
job creation rates. Investing in economic
growth can lead to increased carbon diox-
ide production.
I wouldn’t consider the U.S. as a “low
population country,” except that it is not as
crowded as others. Our conversion rate of
farmland to development is alarming. We
should remember that we should be shar-
ing the land with other life forms, both
animal and plant. Our anthropocentric
egos make us think that we own it all, and
that having dominion means it’s valid to
inflict destruction upon nature.
DAVE FITCH
Astoria