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THE ASTORIAN • SATuRdAy, JANuARy 15, 2022
OPINION
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
DERRICK DePLEDGE
Editor
Founded in 1873
SHANNON ARLINT
Circulation Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN
Production Manager
CARL EARL
Systems Manager
OUR VIEW
After retrospection, a roadmap
T
he end of a year brings ret-
rospection. That involves
the blessings of 2021 as
well as the pains and struggles.
The coronavirus pandemic dom-
inated life on the North Coast.
The summer surge of the virus,
driven by the delta variant, led to
the highest numbers of cases, hos-
pitalizations and deaths in Clatsop
County so far.
As Erick Bengel reported in
The Astorian in late December, the
summer surge revealed the fragil-
ity of the system that cares for the
elderly. His report also illustrated
the gaps in virus data shared by
the county and the lack of aggres-
sive oversight by the county Board
of Commissioners, which makes
it difficult for the public to see a
full picture of the pandemic’s local
impact.
For being on the front line of
the pandemic, our county Pub-
lic Health Department and our
region’s private health care pro-
fessionals deserve gratitude, espe-
cially as they face a new wave of
infections from the omicron vari-
ant. The many volunteers who help
with vaccination clinics and phone
banks are also essential to the
county achieving among the high-
est vaccination rates in the state.
Looking back, beyond COVID-
19, many positive things happened:
• The opening of the Mer-
wyn Apartments showed a cre-
ative approach to affordable hous-
ing and revived a historic building
near City Hall that was once nearly
demolished.
• The Astoria Nordic Heri-
tage Park broke ground off Marine
Drive downtown near the river-
front, a project that will celebrate
the city’s Scandinavian heritage.
• The North Coast Land Conser-
vancy took ownership of the Rain-
forest Reserve, an iconic coastal
rainforest above Arch Cape and
Oswald West State Park.
• A new warming center in
Seaside reflected the urgency
in South County’s response to
homelessness.
Moving forward into 2022, we
Hailey Hoffman/The Astorian
The North Coast Land Conservancy’s purchase of the Rainforest Reserve above Arch Cape and Oswald West State Park was one of the
highlights of 2021.
recognize it is hard to keep focus
on the pressing issues facing the
North Coast in the shadow of an
unpredictable pandemic.
But many of these issues were
identified as priorities before
COVID-19, so policymakers have
a roadmap.
• Homelessness: Astoria should
pursue a year-round homeless shel-
ter. The idea has been discussed
by the city’s homelessness solu-
tions task force for the past few
years, but federal court rulings and
a new state law make it difficult
to enforce restrictions on public
camping unless there are adequate
shelter beds.
• Housing: Several housing
projects on the North Coast have
the potential to bring hundreds of
new apartments into the market.
We believe we need even more
units so more workers, particularly
in the service sector, can afford to
live here.
The county and cities should
lower the regulatory barriers for
apartments and other multifamily
housing and raise the barriers for
vacation rentals and second homes.
• Child care: The lack of child
care cripples the potential for job
growth. The county and cities have
to reach out to the private sector
to find both short and long-term
options to expand the number of
slots.
The collaboration between the
city and a new nonprofit on the
future of the city’s Sprouts Learn-
ing Center in Astoria has promise.
But the slow pace of action at the
government level countywide over
the past few years is distressing.
• Mental health: Too many cri-
sis response calls to police involve
a small number of people going
through mental health or drug- and
alcohol-fueled breakdowns.
Clatsop Behavioral Healthcare,
the county’s mental health and sub-
stance-abuse treatment contrac-
tor, and other social services agen-
cies should collaborate with law
enforcement to shift a portion of
crisis response calls away from
police.
• Economic development:
Everyone should be encouraged
that the Port of Astoria and the city
are completing a waterfront master
plan in Uniontown and the county
is seeking development bids for
the North Coast Business Park in
Warrenton.
Even small-scale data, manu-
facturing, assembly and industrial
projects have the potential to cre-
ate living wage jobs and reduce our
reliance on tourism. Our region’s
economic security depends on
diversification.
The pandemic presents signifi-
cant challenges to our government
and business leaders, but COVID-
19 should not be used as an excuse
for inaction.
Our hope is for measurable
progress on these issues in the
coming months.
GUEST COLUMN
Heritage Square project is critical
I
n 2010, a portion of the block now
known as Heritage Square collapsed,
leaving an unsightly pit. That pit is still
there going on 12 years. In those years, our
lack of affordable and workforce housing
and our homelessness problems have grown
exponentially.
We have an opportunity to help remedy
that through at least one of the proposals
being presented at the City Council meeting
at 7 p.m. on Tuesday. This
project is critical for several
reasons, humanitarian as
well as economic.
be another committee of talking heads that
didn’t accomplish anything. We wanted to
identify solutions and bring them to fruition.
We developed partnerships within the
task force that have proven invaluable, but
much of our work has remained unseen
by the general public. One goal of the task
force has been to increase the inventory of
affordable housing, including to those who
are living on our streets.
Support the project
Workforce housing
Astoria has a desperate
need for workforce hous-
ARLINE
ing. The provision of more
LaMEAR
affordable and workforce
housing has been a goal of
the City Council for many years now.
Local businesses, including Columbia
Memorial Hospital, breweries, local retail-
ers and restaurants, canneries, state and
county employers and more, all lament the
lack of affordable and workforce housing.
Their employees simply can’t afford to live
in Astoria.
If you own a house, you know that the
value of your property has risen astronomi-
cally during the past few years. I don’t know
about most of you, but I couldn’t afford to
buy my house in Astoria today. Rents are
just as problematic. The rule of thumb used
to be that you should pay no more than one-
third of your monthly income for hous-
Lydia Ely/The Astorian
Astoria hopes to redevelop Heritage Square.
ing. With rents of $800 a month and up,
many members of our working population
are paying over 50% of their income for
monthly rent.
Homelessness
As most of you know, Clatsop County
has the highest rate of homelessness of any
county in the state, with a rate of 17.4 home-
less people per 1,000 in population. That’s
deplorable.
In 2017, when I was mayor of Astoria, I
appointed a task force to work on the chal-
lenges of homelessness in our city. There
were representatives from our downtown
businesses, health providers, social ser-
vices and mental health organizations, law
enforcement agencies, city and county gov-
ernment entities, etc.
We soon changed our name from the
homelessness task force to the homeless-
ness solutions task force. We didn’t want to
This project has the real potential to
change the trajectory of Astoria but, to do
so, the City Council needs our support to
make it happen.
I encourage the City Council to vote
“yes” on all the amendments approved
by the Planning Commission. Multifam-
ily housing must be an allowed use, and
we need to recognize that parking right in
front of our intended destinations should not
come at the expense of providing housing
for our workforce, our artists, young adults
and those who need a little stability to join
the workforce.
This development will address the urgent
needs of our downtown businesses in need
of workers, individuals and families who
cannot afford to buy or rent in our city any-
more, and those who are forced to live on
the streets because they don’t have adequate
resources or services.
Be part of the solution and lend your sup-
port to this much-needed development.
Arline LaMear, a retired librarian, is a
former mayor of Astoria.