A6
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, MAY 8, 2021
Outreach: Now accepting applications for liaison
Continued from Page A1
Paul, who has worked at
the Astoria Warming Center
for the past several years, and
Shannon Turner, of Texas,
were hired in April as county-
wide homeless liaisons. The
positions grew out of the task
force and work under Clatsop
Community Action.
Viviana Matthews, the
executive director of Clat-
sop Community Action, said
the agency and committee
that oversees the positions
are accepting applications to
replace Turner, who resigned .
Matthews said Paul is
working with a case manager
at the agency until a second
homeless liaison is hired.
As of now, Paul is work-
ing Monday to Friday and
will soon have a cellphone so
she can be reached directly.
“She is being connected
with a lot of people from
Seaside because her knowl-
edge about houseless people
is mostly Astoria,” Matthews
said. “But she is getting to
know the population in Sea-
side, as well, and then move
on to Warrenton.
“Essentially, we want the
homeless liaison to be con-
nected to all the agencies, to
be connected with the police
departments from diff erent
cities and city councils in try-
ing to come up with hous-
ing options for our house-
less population — the ones
that are ready for it. A lot of
them are not ready for hous-
ing, but we are giving them
the option.”
Assistant County Man-
ager Monica Steele said the
county wants to work with
Clatsop Community Action
and the homeless liaisons to
gather more data to identify
The Astorian
Clatsop County has reported six new virus cases
over the past few days.
On Friday, the county reported three cases.
The cases include a male between 10 and 19 liv-
ing in the northern part of the county. The others
live in the southern part of the county and involve a
female between 10 and 19 and a woman in her 20s.
All three were recovering at home.
On Thursday, the county reported three cases.
The cases involve two females between 10 and
19 and a woman in her 40s living in the northern
part of the county.
All three were recovering at home.
The county has recorded 961 cases since the start
of the pandemic. According to the county, 24 were
hospitalized and eight have died.
Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
A recent vaccination event at the Astoria Armory off ered coronavirus vaccines and clothes,
new sleeping bags and wellness kits to the homeless.
‘ESSENTIALLY, WE WANT THE HOMELESS LIAISON
TO BE CONNECTED TO ALL THE AGENCIES, TO BE
CONNECTED WITH THE POLICE DEPARTMENTS
FROM DIFFERENT CITIES AND CITY COUNCILS
IN TRYING TO COME UP WITH HOUSING OPTIONS
FOR OUR HOUSELESS POPULATION — THE ONES
THAT ARE READY FOR IT. A LOT OF THEM ARE NOT
READY FOR HOUSING, BUT WE ARE GIVING THEM
THE OPTION.’
Viviana Matthews | executive director of Clatsop Community Action
the most immediate housing
needs.
“Like Viviana mentioned,
in some instances, some
of the people who are cur-
rently unhoused aren’t ready
to move into certain types
of housing situations, and
so trying to identify — just
beyond the fact that we need
more housing — what type
of housing that is, whether
that’s transitional, whether
that’s permanent supportive,
whether it’s emergency shel-
ter,” she said.
Steele said the county also
wants to explore options for
people who live in RVs but
don’t have appropriate places
to park.
College: Higher enrollment loss than most
Continued from Page A1
Overall, Breitmeyer told
the budget committee that
“we’re well positioned for
this year. The issue and the
main concern of all of us
moving forward is next year
and we certainly can’t sus-
tain those lower levels of
enrollment.”
Enrollment at the college
is down by around 37%, a
number Breitmeyer called
“very signifi cant ” at a bud-
get committee meeting this
week. The issue has emerged
as the primary discussion
point among a slate of chal-
lengers running for seats on
the college board.
Clatsop has seen a higher
loss in enrollment than most
other Oregon community
colleges, in part, adminis-
trators say, because of pan-
demic-related closures and
restrictions impacting stu-
dents who would normally be
enrolled in unique programs
at the college.
The biggest areas of
enrollment loss — from
sources like Tongue Point
Job Corps Center or the U.S.
Coast Guard — are also the
easiest to recover and are
expected to rebound on their
own as organization-specifi c
restrictions ease, said Jerad
Sorber, the college’s vice
president for student success,
in a presentation to the bud-
get committee.
He said the college should
focus on working with high
schools and community orga-
nizations to bring in new stu-
dents, as well as engage with
students who may have sat
out the last year because they
were not interested in online
classes.
The good news, Breit-
meyer noted, is that revenue
from tuition and fees did not
take a corresponding dip. The
places where enrollment did
drop are not necessarily pro-
grams that generate as much
tuition revenue.
This revenue is still down
by approximately 15% as of
April 10, representing a loss
of around $450,000, but the
shortfall was covered through
federal emergency funds the
college received.
Federal emergency funds
will continue to provide
a bit of a safety net, said
JoAnn Zahn, the college’s
vice president of fi nance and
operations.
The college is also
engaged in an evaluation of
programs and services. This
prioritization process is even
more important in light of
budget constraints and the
uncertainty about future state
funding and other revenue
sources, Zahn said.
The college made budget
reductions of $1.1 million
in anticipation of a shortfall
in state funding that never
ended up materializing.
However, it is still not clear
what the college can expect
to receive in the future.
College leaders say they
will probably not know how
Parking: ‘We need to look at it as a whole’
Continued from Page A2
More spots could come
with a new multilevel park-
ing garage on the site of the
convention center parking
lot. “The answer is we need
more spots,” Seaside’s Greg
Peterson said. “When we
do, we get a lot of structure
in the back here two, three,
four levels? I know that’s a
big price tag, but how do we
solve it?”
Two contractors esti-
mated that it would cost
around $25 million to $30
million for four fl oors of
parking, Frank said.
In one estimate, the plan
puts 160 spaces on each
fl oor, with an average of
$39,000 per parking space.
The second estimate puts
749 stalls in the lot at the
same price per space.
Resistance to paid
parking
Business owners were
resistant to paid parking.
“I think the business
model for the downtown
community is built in large
part around having free pub-
lic parking,” business owner
Wayne Poole said. “It’s scary
to me that we might really
County reports six
new virus cases
change our image, or Sea-
side, and the cost to employ-
ees and business owners.”
Lodging owner Ruth
Swenson said paid parking
could drive visitors away.
“Once you start throw-
ing, ‘you’re gonna pay to
park here,’ ‘you’re gonna
pay for this, you’re gonna
pay for that,’ yeah, you’re
gonna lose people,” she said.
“People want to stay where
they’re comfortable, where
they can aff ord to take their
kids to the arcade, or buy a
hot dog or ride the carousel
once. We need to look at it as
a whole.”
Ter Har said he did not
want Seaside to be a leader
in bringing paid parking to
the North Coast. Paid park-
ing could also have the unin-
tended consequence of push-
ing drivers into surrounding
areas where there is no fee.
“As a city and business com-
munity, we need to think
about our neighbors or our
local residents that have their
homes in the surrounding
areas, to try not to put a strain
on them to lose the parking
in front of them,” he said.
“We’re opposed to the
paid parking and the parking
lot,” Poole said. “You know,
we’ve worked so hard to get
people here. W e built our
downtown business commu-
nity around having free pub-
lic parking.”
The parking group’s next
step is to consider options
and consequences, Posalski
said. “We’re talking about
decentralized parking as
being the solution,” he said.
“It would be worth talking to
some people coming to town
and see if that would be a
solution.”
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much state support Clatsop
will receive until after the
college board adopts the bud-
get in June. For now, budget
reduction eff orts continue.
Craft3: ‘That’s kind of an
irreplaceable experience’
Continued from Page A1
“It’s one thing to walk
through the galleries and look
at pictures and look at little
small artifacts,” Jones said.
“But to actually be able to
go on a ship that was a work-
ing ship on the Columbia
River B ar and walk through
the space and see where the
crew ate, where they slept, to
see the bridge, see the engine
room — that’s kind of an
irreplaceable experience.”
The museum raised 40%
of the project cost privately
before applying for the Mur-
dock grant, Jones said. It still
has to raise $307,000 for
the rest of the work and has
applied for grants through the
National Park Service and
the state Cultural Resources
Economic Fund .
The lightship overhaul
was endorsed by the Cultural
Advocacy Coalition, which
is lobbying the state Legis-
lature for around $305,000
to help the museum, part of
a $9.5 million ask for 11 cul-
tural construction projects
around the state in the com-
ing two-year budget cycle.
Craft3
received
a
$234,000 grant from the
Murdock t rust to hire new
lending staff to assist under-
served entrepreneurs.
“The grant from M. J.
Murdock Charitable Trust
will support a new posi-
tion at Craft3 that helps our
commercial loan applicants
and customers navigate
resources within the com-
munity to improve the resil-
ience of their businesses,” a
spokesperson for the lender
said in a statement. “We
expect to announce a hire in
the next few months.”
The lender has spent the
p ast several years devel-
oping a new loan program
launching this year focused
on marginalized groups
less able to gather the cash
equity necessary for tradi-
tional fi nancing or access
new markets because of
systemic racism.
The Murdock grant
comes on the heels of a $10
million donation to Craft3
from MacKenzie Scott, a
philanthropist, author and
ex-wife of Amazon owner
Jeff Bezos.