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IN TOKELAND!
149TH YEAR, NO. 4
DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, JULY 8, 2021
$1.50
State seeks
county’s
help on
homeless
camps
Abandoned vehicles,
trash on forestland
By NICOLE BALES
The Astorian
Photos by Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
Todd Fox moves around the yard of City Lumber. The local hardware store has experienced numerous shortages throughout the past year.
Global pandemic causes
supply chain disruptions
Some businesses living
shipment to shipment
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
W
ith mask mandates lifted,
people’s lower faces have
reappeared. Toilet paper is
usually in stock in North Coast gro-
cery stores and local coronavirus case
numbers have dropped signifi cantly.
But the pandemic is still exerting its
infl uence in other ways .
Across businesses, it’s been hard
to keep some items in stock because
of supply chain disruptions and labor
issues tied to the pandemic, but also
because companies elsewhere are
shifting how they do business or have
run through their back stock.
The Pet Works on 14th Street saw
brisk business during the height of the
pandemic last year. Now, however,
they’re having trouble sourcing pet
travel crates as factories in southern
China weathered a recent heat wave
that required production to temporar-
ily shut down and there is less ship-
ping container space amid an increased
demand for goods.
“Most everything you see (in the
store) probably has some component
that comes out of China,” said Nick
Thompson, the manager at The Pet
Works. “China can only produce so
much stuff .”
He thinks also about how wholesal-
ers still had plenty of product stocked
at warehouses ahead of pandemic
peaks last year.
Even as factories shut down and tra-
ditional supply chains faltered, stores
like The Pet Works could still get what
they needed. Now, that source has
The state Department of Forestry
is asking Clatsop C ounty for help in
addressing abandoned vehicles and trash
left behind from homeless camps on
forestland.
During a county Board of Commis-
sioners work session Tuesday, the depart-
ment’s Astoria District presented the chal-
lenges and costs associated with cleaning
up and removing vehicles, RVs and trash.
Since 2019, the state has spent more
than $50,000 on cleanup costs. So far
this year, nearly $10,000 has been spent
cleaning up two sites.
Ty Williams, the district operations
coordinator for the Astoria District,
said the department started budgeting
for cleanup costs in the past two budget
cycles. He said the increasing costs are
becoming unsustainable.
“Not only is this illegal practice
unsightly, but it brings with it a possibil-
ity of contamination to soils and streams,”
Williams said. “There’s also a risk to our
employees or the recreating public from
dirty needles and other contaminants.
During certain times of the year, there is
also a fi re risk from this behavior.
“This problem is not unique to just
ODF. Many of our fellow forestland
owners, as well as communities around
See Camps, Page A6
City scraps
scooter plans
Lumber prices have skyrocketed across the country due to supply chain issues.
run dry and wholesalers and retailers
alike are more often living shipment to
shipment.
Thompson said they’ve had to
diversify the brands they carry and
then call around to their diff erent ven-
dors to see what’s coming in. Fortu-
nately, the market for new crates is
not huge right now — especially as
prices have started to creep up — and
the store planned ahead for its busy
season.
Still, Thompson added, “It’s just
a matter of us playing the shell game
and fi guring out who has what in that
week — if anyone has anything that
week.”
Across the street, Gimre’s Shoes
has seen major delays in shoe ship-
ments. Customers may not be able to
fi nd the brand, style or size they want
and it might be a long time before
owner Pete Gimre is able to get it in
for them.
He’s been told this situation could
continue into next year.
It is not a unique problem right
now, though, he said. Across busi-
nesses, he’s heard some version of the
same story.
‘It’s been a challenging year’
City Lumber has seen shortages
in products throughout its hardware
store and lumberyard, said owner Jeff
Newenhof.
The pandemic was a major reason,
but not the only one.
“There are all sorts of reasons,
excuses — hurricanes in the Gulf
Coast, ice storms in Texas, chemi-
cal plant explosions in the Midwest
A unanimous vote
by the City Council
By KATIE FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
Electric scooter company Bird won’t
be building a nest in Astoria.
The City Council decided not to pro-
ceed with a possible pilot program for the
pay-to-ride vehicles in a unanimous vote
at a meeting Tuesday night.
Bird needed permission to use city
rights of way to stage scooters downtown
and had proposed launching an initial test
run of around 75 scooters in Astoria.
A company representative touted the
scooters as a low-cost option for com-
muters and tourists, but city councilors
were worried about safety risks and other
problems that could arise, especially
during the busy summer months.
See Supply chain, Page A6
See Scooters, Page A6
Professor biking to give back A modifi ed Astoria Regatta returns
Rojas-Galván begins
monthlong fundraiser
By GRIFFIN REILLY
The Astorian
Somewhere in Oregon, a bandit
is on the loose.
Fernando Rojas-Galván, a
Spanish instructor at Clatsop Com-
munity College, is set to ride 1,600
miles around Oregon in July to
raise money for student textbooks,
a journey he’s labeling the “Bandit
Biking for Books.”
Sponsored by the c ollege f oun-
dation, his goal is to raise $150,000
upon returning to Astoria at the end
of the month. The goal represents
enough money to provide at least
one textbook to each student each
term of the upcoming school year.
Rojas-Galván took the fi rst
strides of his trip in Seaside on
Monday .
His motivation ? The belief his
trip can showcase the power and
importance of an often-overlooked
route to higher education — one
that he almost neglected .
“Though I had always consid-
ered community college a sec-
ond option, it was the only option
I could truly aff ord. But looking
See Professor, Page A6
Festival was
canceled in May
By ALYSSA EVANS
The Astorian
Mitch Eckhardt
Mara Dowaliby, the 2019 Astoria
Regatta queen, passes her crown on
to Annalyse Steele, the 2020 queen.
The Astoria Regatta will be
held as an “abbreviated festival” in
August.
The festival was canceled in
2020 because of concerns about
the coronavirus pandemic. In May,
organizers announced this year’s
festival would also be canceled,
but they reconsidered the decision.
“Just a few weeks earlier, the
Astoria Regatta Board of Directors
had canceled the historic event for
the second year in a row,” Melissa
Grothe, a Lewis and Clark Elemen-
tary School teacher and president
of the Astoria Regatta Association,
said in a statement. “However, as
COVID-19 infections have fallen
and pandemic restrictions have
lifted, the board reconsidered its
earlier decision.”
The Aug. 14 festival will
include a memorial service and
a boat parade. The memorial ser-
vice will begin at 11 a.m. at the
Seamen’s Memorial at Maritime
Memorial Park. The program will
recognize the region’s maritime
history. It will also honor mem-
bers of the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S.
Navy, commercial fi shermen, river
and bar pilots and others who work
in maritime industries.
See Regatta, Page A6