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149TH YEAR, NO. 16
DailyAstorian.com // THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 2021
$1.50
Police survey
shows concerns
about homeless
Community
outreach could
improve relations
By KATIE
FRANKOWICZ
The Astorian
Photos by Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
Bikes and boxes cover the back room of Bikes and Beyond.
Bike shops struggling
to meet high demand
As national demonstra-
tions and conversations
about the role of police
continue,
homelessness
emerged as a top concern
in a community survey sent
out by the Astoria Police
Department .
Police Chief Geoff Spal-
ding hoped the survey,
sent out in June, would
help the department bet-
ter understand the com-
munity’s needs and what it
desired from police, as well
as reveal perceptions of the
department and its offi cers.
He was not surprised
that issues around home-
lessness became a domi-
nant theme . Calls related
to the homeless often place
a strain on police response
and can tie up already lim-
ited resources, particularly
when the calls also involve
drug and alcohol abuse or
mental health challenges .
In July alone, Asto-
ria police responded to 80
calls related to homeless-
ness. The department’s
usual monthly average hov-
ers around 40 calls, Spald-
ing told the City Council
at a work session Monday
night to discuss the survey
results.
Homelessness
is
an increasingly visible
dilemma for many cities
across the country. Asto-
ria is no diff erent. In recent
years, city leaders have con-
sidered and discussed illegal
camping, the lack of aff ord-
able housing, scant mental
health and addiction treat-
ment resources and how
these all impact a growing
homeless population.
See Homelessness, Page A6
By ETHAN MYERS
The Astorian
I
van Gonzalez gestured to a
brand new mountain bike he
was assembling.
“This thing right here will be
gone by what, Friday?” he said to
Scott Lee, the owner of Bikes and
Beyond .
“He builds this bike today, it
will be gone tomorrow,” Lee said .
When the coronavirus pan-
demic arrived last year and lock-
downs were put into place, bike
shops were hit with an instant
wave of demand.
A year-and-a-half later, many
shops on the North Coast and
across the country are still strug-
gling to keep up. On top of high
demand , supply chain issues have
prevented retailers from being
able to satisfy customers .
“I have been in the business
for 30 years and I have never seen
anything like it,” Lee said.
Lee said he would often spend
time late at night searching for
bikes online for his Astoria shop .
Thanks to good connections, he
was able to acquire a fair amount
of bikes, but they would sell
almost instantly.
“We sold every bike we had
and every bike we could get our
Historic Gimre’s
changes hands
Iconic store will
stay in the family
By ETHAN MYERS
The Astorian
Bikes and Beyond owner Scott Lee checks on a bike in the back of the shop.
hands on,” he said.
Lee said he receives calls from
all over the country and gets peo-
ple driving down from other states
in order to get their hands on a
specifi c bike. When he isn’t able
to supply a customer with the bike
they are looking for, he encour-
ages them to call around and hope
to get lucky.
National sales
The Oregonian reported last
week that national bikes sales
from May 2020 to April grew 57%
and that March bike sales were the
highest ever recorded, accord-
ing to Dirk Sorenson of The NPD
Group.
While demand has varied over
the past year, Lee said it never
fully died off like it typically does
in the wintertime.
“It came early in spring and it’s
really never let up,” Lee said. “It
smoothed out a bit in the summer
See Bike shops, Page A2
After 37 years of owner-
ship, Pete Gimre is retiring
and selling historic Gim-
re’s Shoes downtown. His
buyer has a familiar name
and face — his brother, Jon .
The store, opened in
Astoria in 1892 by Pete
and Jon’s grandfather, Sven
Gimre, is one of the North
Coast’s signature retailers.
The business was even-
tually passed on to their
father, who then passed
it along to them in 1984.
They opened another loca-
tion in Hillsboro the fol-
lowing year.
About six years ago,
Pete Gimre said he got tired
of the traveling between
locations, so he and his
brother agreed to split
responsibilities. Jon Gimre
would run the store in Hill-
sboro, as well as two New
Balance stores they oper-
ated, and Pete Gimre would
run the Astoria location on
14th Street.
Pete Gimre offi cially
retired on Sunday.
Due to the extensive
family history within the
company, he considered it
common sense to pass it
along to his brother.
“We always had a desire
to keep everything in the
family and my fi rst thought
was for it to go to my
brother,” he said. “It really
didn’t go beyond that.”
See Gimre’s Shoes, Page A6
Driven by delta variant, coronavirus cases surge
‘THE MORE
CONTAGIOUS
DELTA VARIANT
HAS CHANGED
EVERYTHING.’
By GARY WARNER,
GRIFFIN REILLY
and BRYCE DOLE
Oregon Capital Bureau,
The Astorian and East Oregonian
The stronger, more contagious
delta variant of the coronavirus
is driving infections and sickness
across Oregon, state statistics show.
The Oregon Health Authority
reported 1,575 new virus cases on
Tuesday, including 19 in Clatsop
County, which has recorded dozens
of new cases over the past several
weeks.
Margo Lalich, the county’s
interim public health director, told
county commissioners at a work
session Tuesday of a handful of
local outbreaks but did not provide
any details.
Columbia Memorial Hospital in
Astoria has experienced an increase
in virus patients and requests for
virus testing.
“CMH has seen an increase in
COVID-19 patients in the last few
weeks, both in our inpatient and out-
patient departments,” Nancee Long,
Gov. Kate Brown
Ben Lonergan/East Oregonian
Thousands of fans packed the Whisky Music Fest in Pendleton in July to hear country music star Toby Keith.
a hospital spokeswoman, said in
an email. “Over the past week, we
have had between four and six inpa-
tients, depending on the day. There
is also an infl ux of people coming
into an emergency room or urgent
care asking for COVID testing.
“We have confi rmed positives
in both vaccinated and unvacci-
nated individuals. The vast majority
of patients who are very sick with
COVID and are requiring hospital-
ization are unvaccinated.”
The hospital strongly encour-
aged people to get vaccinated to pro-
tect themselves and others from the
virus. The hospital also urged peo-
ple who are not showing signs of
the virus but believe they have been
exposed to remain home and quar-
antine. People seeking testing, the
hospital said, should fi rst contact the
county Public Health Department.
“Coming to the hospital only
puts you at risk for more exposure,”
Long said. “If you have a high fever,
shortness of breath, or uncontrolled
coughing, please reach out to your
provider fi rst. If you don’t have a
primary provider, please use the
urgent cares at either CMH, Urgent
Care Northwest, or Providence Sea-
side for assistance.
“We must keep our emergency
rooms available for those who are
extremely ill or injured.”
Gov. Kate Brown announced
Wednesday that the state would
issue a new rule requiring personnel
in health care settings to show proof
of vaccination or undergo weekly
testing for COVID-19. The rule
See Virus, Page A3