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THE ASTORIAN • THuRSdAy, July 22, 2021
Katie Frankowicz/The Astorian
Astoria contractor Tim Kennedy begins one of his regular swimming sessions in the Columbia River.
Repeal: Tides that wash in and out can be extremely swift
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As Kennedy swims east, crawling
steadily against the river chop to his turn-
around point at the Columbia House Condo-
miniums, he is parallel to the Astoria River-
walk. The paved, 6.4-mile trail is a city park
and, for much of his swim, Kennedy is tech-
nically adjacent to it.
But around 10 hours later, at a City Coun-
cil meeting, city leaders voted to repeal the
swimming and wading prohibitions.
The rule was nearly impossible to
enforce. It was drafted long before the cre-
ation of the Riverwalk and no longer applies
to modern-day Astoria, city councilors said.
While this doesn’t mean city leaders are rec-
ommending everyone take a dip in the river,
they don’t see the point in fining people for
it, either.
The rule has likely been a part of city
code since the early 1900s, along with other
“no swimming” rules like one that for-
bade nude bathing in the river during cer-
tain hours, according to City Attorney Blair
Henningsgaard.
He imagines the rule was drafted in
response to a particular problem at the time
— though it’s anyone’s guess what that
problem was exactly.
“Well,” Mayor Bruce Jones joked with
Kennedy as the City Council prepared to
repeal the rule, “we look forward to you
joining the ranks of law-abiding citizens.”
Clad in a black wetsuit, Kennedy swims
in the river around three times a week. He is
the only person Jones knows who does so
regularly.
It’s a practice Kennedy started last year
when the coronavirus pandemic shut down
the Astoria Aquatic Center for months. His
work as a contractor brought him to the
Astoria Warehousing site off Marine Drive
where Fort George Brewery was building
out its distribution, canning and production
operations, an easy access point if someone
wanted to take a quick dip in the Columbia.
Kennedy is an avid outdoorsman, not
deterred by cold or a bit of risk, a strong
swimmer and an experienced kayaker who
has tackled any number of challenging river
and ocean conditions.
He looked at the Columbia River and fig-
ured: Why not?
But some people onshore who spotted
him swimming were alarmed. He’s had the
fire department and the U.S. Coast Guard
check on him. In the past month, he’s also
had several conversations with Astoria
police officers who responded to calls about
a swimmer in distress. Kennedy started
wearing an emergency whistle as a precau-
tion to put them at ease.
Astorians don’t frequently see people
swimming in the water for exercise, Deputy
Police Chief Eric Halverson explained.
Police are more used to encountering
people who ended up in the river by accident
or because they were struggling with mental
health issues or suicidal thoughts.
The tides that wash in and out can be
extremely swift — and cold. A person with-
out experience in the water, and with the
Columbia River in particular, could quickly
find themselves in trouble, Halverson said.
“In all seriousness, swimming in the
Columbia River is not for the faint of heart,”
City Councilor Tom Brownson said as he
prepared to cast his vote in favor of repeal-
ing the rule.
“I’m OK with this but people do need to
be absolutely careful when they mess around
with the Columbia and being in it,” he said.
Kennedy hopes to introduce other sea-
soned swimmers to the experience, however.
When he tells others about his swims,
most people’s first question is about water
quality: Is it clean?
Kennedy times his swims with the high
tides that send an infusion of salty ocean
water upriver and that, he reasons, dilute any
river nastiness. He’ll swim when the wind is
whipping up a light chop, but not when there
are full rollers.
He’s figured out safe routes that avoid
maritime traffic and most of the old pilings
that lurk at various levels below and above
the water. He’s more likely to run into a log
than a sea lion, though he can hear the large
mammals bark and yip at each other when
he’s underwater.
He’s puzzled why he’s alone in the water.
Given the choice between the river and the
pool, he’d choose the river every time.
Term limits: ‘Getting younger, fresher ideas on the commission ... is always a good idea’
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“I don’t know why one would want to get
rid of institutional knowledge by the term
limits,” Stricklin said.
County Commissioner Pamela Wev said
she is “very much in favor of term limits,”
adding that they’re common for planning
commissions.
“We’re in a county where there is a lot
of growth and change taking place — and,
in fact, people often speak to me about their
wish to be on the Planning Commission.
And we have newcomers who have other
experiences, and we have people with a lot
of technical expertise, etc.,” she said. “And
so getting younger, fresher ideas on the com-
mission, I think, is always a good idea.”
Institutional knowledge, she said, is “use-
ful, and I think it’s very accessible” in the
county. “I can pick up the phone and ask
old-timers historical questions about all
kinds of things,” she said.
County Commissioner John Toyooka
said he believes that “institutional knowl-
edge is wonderful, but over time it’ll lead to
institutional inefficiency.” He said he’s for
term limits at all levels — county, state and
federal — for appointed positions.
Nadia Gardner, the chairwoman of the
Planning Commission, said she’s generally
a “big fan” of term limits for organizations
like nonprofit boards.
But the Planning Commission’s case is
different, she said: Every time an incum-
bent’s term is up, the board has the option to
replace that person at the end of the incum-
bent’s term. “So it’s not like they just keep
going forever without opportunity for fresh
blood,” she said.
Because of the difficulties recruiting peo-
ple, especially from unincorporated areas,
the importance of institutional knowledge,
and the opportunity to remove planning
commissioners, Gardner said she opposes
the proposed term limits.
She suggested that if term limits come to
pass, planning commissioners whose terms
have expired could get reappointed after a
Hailey Hoffman/The Astorian
Clatsop County commissioners and planning commissioners are sparring over land use planning.
certain number of years.
Planning Commissioner John Orr appre-
ciates both “the need to encourage new
blood” and the need to maintain institutional
knowledge: “There’s just no replacing that,”
he said.
But, he added, Gardner has a strong point:
The commission’s ability to replace a plan-
ning commissioner allows for those times
when the board has lost confidence in that
person. “Wouldn’t that protect both inter-
ests?” Orr asked.
Mark Kujala, the chairman of the county
commission, said “I don’t feel too strongly
about term limits myself.”
County Manager Don Bohn reminded
the group that the draft of bylaw revisions
is “just a starting document, so all feedback
we have heard is important as we move for-
ward.” He added, “There’s a lot of openness
about what the final version looks like.”