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THE ASTORIAN • SATuRdAy, JANuARy 29, 2022
Bridge: Tools such as fencing and netting have proven to be good deterrents
Continued from Page A1
Clatsop
Behavioral
Healthcare, the county’s
mental health and substance
abuse treatment contractor,
said in a statement that the
agency supports “the imple-
mentation of deterrence
measures to help prevent
future loss of life by way of
the bridge.
“Tools such as fencing
and netting have proven
to be highly successful in
deterring and preventing tall
bridges from being used to
take one’s life,” the state-
ment said, “and we would
enthusiastically encourage
ODOT to consider these
measures with regards to the
Megler.”
There have been sev-
eral suicides off the Astoria
Bridge in the past couple of
decades, but the state does
not keep an official count,
Don Hamilton, a Depart-
ment of Transportation pub-
lic information officer, said.
“We really don’t know,” he
said.
The
deaths
have
prompted difficult discus-
sions among county lead-
ers, social services agencies
and law enforcement about
mental health and substance
abuse treatment on the North
Coast.
While Neikes was in
the county jail, he had two
meetings, including one on
Jan. 11, with Clatsop Behav-
ioral Healthcare counselors,
according to Sheriff Matt
Phillips.
“He never indicated to
anyone that he was suicidal,
at least not to us,” Phillips
said. “So that was just a flat
shock.”
On Jan. 12, Neikes had
a virtual hearing in Circuit
Court with Judge Cindee
Matyas. Neikes had been
jailed 10 days earlier for
two misdemeanors — crim-
inal mischief in the second
degree and criminal tres-
pass in the second degree
— and had two probation
violations.
His attorney, Kristopher
Kaino, noted at the hear-
ing that cases like Neikes’,
where substance abuse and
mental health issues inter-
act, seem to be rising.
“We see more and more
of these types of cases, and
Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian
Fencing, shown here at Vista Bridge in Portland, can help
deter suicides.
they become somewhat frus-
trating to try to help folks
with, because I’m not sure
what the best avenue is,” the
attorney said.
In an interview, Kaino
said that when he started
criminal defense work in
the 1990s, he might have
seen half a dozen men-
tal health-related cases a
year. “I’ve got three or four
a month now with mental
health issues, minimum,” he
said.
With few exceptions,
people held in custody in
Oregon have a statutory
right to be brought to trial
within 60 days unless they
waive that right. But getting
an in-depth psychological
evaluation to see what ser-
vices a person needs often
takes longer.
Kaino said that people in
custody for nuisance-type
offenses, such as those that
Neikes committed, often
don’t want to wait if they
can get out earlier, even if
staying in jail would lead to
a psychological evaluation
that may help them, “which
I get,” he said at the hearing.
Kaino and Neikes’ pro-
bation officer, Barry Hazel,
told Matyas that they
weren’t sure where Neikes
was going to live after his
release.
Neikes said, “I’m worried
about how I’m going to — if
I don’t have a phone or any-
thing — I’m worried about
how I’m going to get a job
and just manage all this at
the same time. And I’m not
sure really what I’m going to
do right now.”
Matyas dismissed the
trespass charge and ordered
that Neikes be put on 18
months of supervised pro-
bation. She also ordered that
he get assessed for poten-
tial placement in a specialty
court — either the drug
court or mental health treat-
ment court.
“I’ll want to see you,
every week, and check in to
see how you’re doing,” the
judge told him.
She urged Neikes to
stay connected with people
— from the probation offi-
cer to services such as Clat-
sop Behavioral Healthcare’s
Rapid Access Center.
“And I don’t want you
to lose hope, OK?” Matyas
told him.
“OK,” Neikes said.
As the hearing ended,
Matyas told him, “Look for-
ward to seeing you in the
future.”
“All right,” Neikes said.
“Thank you.”
Before he was released
from jail, Neikes asked
for, and took, his afternoon
medications, Phillips said.
Neikes also asked for bus
tokens; he needed to check
in with his probation officer
in Warrenton.
Neikes was laying plans
to move into Clatsop Behav-
ioral Healthcare’s sober liv-
ing house in Warrenton,
Phillips said.
“Those are all good signs
that he was forward-thinking
and looking to the future,”
Phillips said.
Neikes left the jail at
2:05 p.m. About 15 minutes
later, he was seen walking
up the Astoria Bridge.
“James, he was a good
kid. Nice kid. Very nice
kid,” Kaino said. “I was sick
when I heard he did what he
did.”
Outbreak: ‘Everything is
running as normal at the hospital’
Continued from Page A1
Lydia Ely/The Astorian
A ‘Senior Lives Matter’ banner hangs in the window of the Astoria Senior Center.
Heritage Square: ‘It’s terrible when you don’t have options’
Continued from Page A1
the City Council, the county
Board of Commissioners
and social services agencies
such as Clatsop Community
Action, but it has also pro-
voked some strong reaction
in opposition.
Astoria’s homeless pop-
ulation has grown over the
years and has become more
visible downtown. The city
has received frequent com-
plaints about uncomfortable
interactions, feces, urine and
trash left in public places
and people smoking, drink-
ing and harassing passersby.
Dialogue on social media
and letters to the editor of
The Astorian have revealed
some unease about provid-
ing more support downtown
for people who are home-
less or experiencing mental
health issues.
Some have tied the
increased visibility of home-
less people downtown to
outreach like LiFEBoat Ser-
vices, a daytime drop-in cen-
ter on Commercial Street,
and the Astoria Warming
Center at the First United
Methodist Church at 11th
and Franklin Avenue.
The Merwyn Apartments,
an affordable and workforce
housing project that opened
next to City Hall on Duane
Street last year, has also
been a source of complaints
in the neighborhood.
‘Stop the
encroachment’
Since the city decided to
move forward with Edlen
& Co.’s proposal at Heri-
tage Square, banners reading
“Stop the encroachment”
and “Senior Lives Matter”
have been posted across
the windows of the Astoria
Senior Center.
The senior center faces
the parking lot where the
four-story building housing
Clatsop Behavioral Health-
care’s clients would be built.
Larry Miller, the senior
center’s executive direc-
tor, said that while he is not
against the supportive hous-
ing, he does not think Her-
itage Square is the right
place.
In a letter to senior center
members about the project,
he expressed concerns about
the loss of parking and high-
lighted examples of negative
interactions some seniors
have had with homeless
people in the neighborhood.
City Councilor Tom Hil-
ton and Walt Postlewait, a
developer and the senior
vice president for nonprofit
lender Craft3, have also
questioned whether Heri-
tage Square is the right spot
for supportive housing.
Postlewait was one of
six stakeholders on a panel
appointed by Jones that rec-
ommended the city move
forward with Edlen & Co.’s
proposal. He was the only
panelist to oppose the men-
tal health component.
“You build out the down-
town core to help deliver
economic stimulus that feeds
on itself,” Postlewait said.
“You want to attract outside
dollars into the downtown
core that spends money and
supports the businesses that
employ the citizens of Asto-
ria and Clatsop County.”
Postlewait said any hous-
ing at Heritage Square
should serve people who
earn enough to spend money
at downtown businesses.
He thinks Astoria is com-
ing to a crossroads.
One path, he said, would
continue the momentum
over the past decade toward
becoming a destination, with
the expansion of businesses
and new hotels and shops.
The other is adding
more social services in the
downtown core, which he
believes would only invite
more homeless people.
“The word is out in that
community that Astoria is a
good place to come because
we’re lenient and compli-
ant with their presence. And
I’m concerned,” Postlewait
said. “I think that crossroads
is coming where we have to
decide what is more import-
ant for the long run, because
the two do not coincide
together.
“If a different strategy is
not embraced, I think in two
years the shine will be off of
Astoria and we’ll be seen as
kind of that ‘grungy former
fishing and lumber town of
the ’80s,’ and our shine as
a destination location will
have faded.”
‘An opportunity to
address the issue’
While the mental health
component at Heritage
Square will not fix home-
lessness in Astoria or the
county, Baker said it would
help.
“What
I’ve
found
throughout my career is
that when humans feel like
they’re connected to com-
munity and that they have
something to lose, they
don’t hang out and con-
gregate on the sidewalks,”
she said. “I think that doing
nothing — like say we put
no housing in — we’re still
going to have a massive
homelessness problem, and
we’re still going to have
people who are congregat-
ing in the Garden of Surg-
ing Waves and all of that.
“This actually gives
the city an opportunity to
address the issue.”
Baker has been reach-
ing out to people individ-
ually and on social media
and offering to discuss the
project.
In recent years, Clat-
sop Behavioral Healthcare
has pursued more housing
options in the hopes of pro-
viding more effective men-
tal health and substance
abuse treatment.
“If you could see the
faces of our case manag-
ers and the frustration, and
really the pain of trying
to help support somebody
when they don’t have a safe
place to sleep at night — it’s
terrible,” Baker said. “It’s a
burnout for staff. It’s ter-
rible when you don’t have
options for people.”
Housing has become
critical to the agency’s
mission.
“From my perspective,
I can’t possibly do this job
— I cannot do this job —
unless we have adequate
housing for our clients,”
Baker said. “And this is the
best opportunity that I’ve
seen since I’ve been in this
job to actually be able to
address that need.”
“OHSU (Oregon Health
& Science University) data
scientists report that the first
few days of February will
be the peak of the surge of
this particular variant, and
hospital beds will be chal-
lenging to find in Region
1. Please continue to prac-
tice safety, mask in public
and curtail social activities
not to overwhelm your local
hospitals.”
Nancee Long, the hospi-
tal’s director of communi-
cations, said, “Everything
is running as normal at the
hospital.”
“We do have a big-
ger mass of people that are
out, but those positions are
being filled, and nothing
has been short-staffed,” she
said. “And sometimes peo-
ple are working more shifts
than normal, and every-
body’s kind of watching out
for each other.”
The Oregon National
Guard recently sent five ser-
vice members to Columbia
Memorial to work in non-
clinical jobs, such as laun-
dry and housekeeping.
Columbia Memorial, a
critical access hospital with
25 beds, is among the North
Coast’s largest employers.
Over the summer, during
a surge of virus cases linked
to the delta variant, the
health authority reported
10 virus cases linked to the
hospital.
Last winter, the health
authority disclosed 14 virus
cases tied to the hospital.
The Oregon Health
Authority,
meanwhile,
reported 71 new corona-
virus cases for Clatsop
County on Thursday and 46
new cases on Wednesday.
Since the pandemic
began, the county had
recorded
3,939
virus
cases and 37 deaths as of
Thursday.
Lodging: Top floor has been used
for short-term lodging before
Continued from Page A1
entrepreneurs, small busi-
nesses and artists, and mak-
ing it accessible for the pub-
lic again.
“Possible cross polli-
nations and collaborative
efforts amongst the people
that use the building are a
core strength of the Y today.
Maintaining the top floor as
temporary lodging gives us
the opportunity to make this
space available to everyone
in the building, adding to
these collaborative possibil-
ities of the current tenants.”
He said Gathered Bake-
shop & Market has plans
to host workshops in cake
decorating, and Astoria
Design Studio would like
to organize screen printing
workshops.
Weber also plans to
use the space for an art-
ist-in-residence while art-
ists use the studio in the ren-
ovated gym.
When the space is not
being used by artists and
people attending work-
shops, Weber plans to
rent the rooms as vacation
rentals.
He said using the top
floor as short-term lodg-
ing is fitting since that is
what it was used for when
the YMCA was originally
built.
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