A6
THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2022
Garlington: There have seldom been problems Job training: Much of the
Continued from Page A1
‘We will deal with it’
Cascadia
Behavioral
Healthcare, a Portland non-
profi t, provides mental
health and addiction treat-
ment, along with other ser-
vices such as walk-in cri-
sis centers and supportive
housing.
The nonprofi t, which has
more than 850 housing units,
has played an outsized role
in providing care and devel-
oping and managing aff ord-
able housing.
The Garlington Center
campus was the fi rst of its
kind for the nonprofi t, which
has historically focused
on smaller housing devel-
opments that serve peo-
ple with mental illness and
addictions.
The nonprofi t plans
to open a similar 71-unit
aff ordable housing complex
— Centennial Place Apart-
ments — in e ast Portland by
October. Households with
children who are homeless
or at risk of being homeless
will be prioritized.
Beth Epps, the chief com-
munity solutions offi cer at
Cascadia, said that while
there are units designated
for people who were home-
less or have serious mental
health challenges, it’s not
always obvious who those
tenants are once they move
in.
“The reality is, there’s
people who have serious
mental health challenges —
and that’s just not going to
go away — but if they have
a nice place to live and have
the supports, they’re not all
that recognizable anymore,”
Epps said. “And then you
realize mental health chal-
lenges fl ow in and out for
all of us. So, people in the
building who aren’t identi-
fi ed may be having serious
challenges, and we’re going
Nicole Bales/The Astorian
The Garlington Center in Portland off ers aff ordable apartments.
to try to help them and sup-
port them.
“I think it really destig-
matizes this notion that,
‘W e’re all going to know
who those people are,’
because we aren’t.”
Before the Garling-
ton Center campus was
built, Cascadia Behavioral
Healthcare heard opposi-
tion from neighbors about
parking and off ering men-
tal health support in the
neighborhood.
Some neighbors wanted
to see a grocery store on the
block instead.
However, the nonprofi t
said that since opening four
years ago , there have sel-
dom been problems . The
biggest fears in the neigh-
borhood around mental
health and homelessness
have not materialized .
Epps said becoming
an active part of the com-
munity makes a diff er-
ence, instead of “just sort
of putting something on the
community.”
Jim Hlava, Cascadia
Behavioral
Healthcare’s
vice president of housing,
started serving on the Eliot
Neighborhood Association
board more than 10 years
ago after the nonprofi t pur-
chased the property. While
he no longer serves on the
board, an employee at the
health center now represents
Cascadia .
A long with participating
on the board, Hlava said the
nonprofi t made eff orts to be
a good neighbor and demon-
strate responsiveness. He
has given his phone number
to neighbors and guarantees
a call back when questions
or concerns arise.
“It’s important to us to
maintain good connections
with people,” he said. “If
there is something that’s
going on that we can deal
with, we will deal with it.”
Allan Rudwick, the
co-chair of the Eliot Neigh-
borhood Association, lives
a block from the Garlington
Center campus.
Rudwick told The Asto-
rian he has not seen, heard or
experienced any issues with
the campus .
“It looks good and even
has a community meeting
space we could use,” he said
in an email.
Micro units
Edlen & Co. and Clat-
sop Behavioral Healthcare
have proposed micro units
at Heritage Square for peo-
ple in treatment. The agency,
Clatsop County’s mental
health and substance abuse
treatment provider, intends
to provide staff and support
services on-site.
Similarly to Garling-
ton Place, the mental health
component at Heritage
Square would involve units
targeted at people earn-
ing 30% of area median
income — $15,330 a year
using 2021 fi gures. The units
would reduce the income
average for all the housing
units, allowing Edlen & Co.
to off er a broader income
range for the workforce units
while remaining eligible for
the government help neces-
sary to fi nance the project.
Edlen & Co. and the city
have an exclusive negotiat-
ing agreement to collaborate
on details such as the income
mix, building confi gura-
tion, parking and ground-
fl oor uses like child care and
retail.
Since unveiling the con-
cept in January , the devel-
oper has modifi ed the out-
line to move all the housing
units into one building on
the eastern edge of the block
instead of having separate
buildings . The change would
allow a smaller parking lot at
11th and Exchange streets to
remain, helping to alleviate
some concerns about park-
ing raised by the Astoria
Senior Center, the American
Legion and others.
The public will have an
opportunity to review and
give feedback on the con-
cept during two open houses
scheduled from 4:30 p.m.
to 7:30 p.m. on March 14
and March 24 at the Astoria
Armory.
The City Council has
agreed to negotiate with
Edlen & Co., but has not
made a commitment on the
workforce housing project
at Heritage Square.
Forest accord: ‘This is truly a paradigm shift’
Continued from Page A1
prioritize non lethal control
of beavers and create a new
modeling system to avoid
and mitigate the eff ects of
landslides.
The legislation is expected
to set the stage for a federal
Habitat Conservation Plan
for the state’s private forests,
which would shield land-
owners from liability under
the Endangered Species Act
when harvesting trees.
“This is great news for
Oregon,” Bob Van Dyk, the
Oregon policy director for
the Wild Salmon Center, said
in a statement. “Our fi sheries,
our forests and our communi-
ties will all benefi t, not only
from the measures adopted
today, but also from the spirit
of compromise that made this
possible.”
Several forest products
companies and the Oregon
Small Woodlands Associa-
tion signed onto the Private
Forest Accord with the under-
standing that it would provide
more regulatory certainty and
reduce the likelihood of dis-
ruptive lawsuits and ballot
initiatives.
The agreement is costly
for the timber industry, not
only fi nancially, but also in
terms of its unity, since some
companies remain opposed
to the new regulations, said
Chris Edwards, president of
the Oregon Forest & Indus-
tries Council.
However, there is too
much at stake for the timber
industry to roll the dice and
move forward without the
deal, he said during a legisla-
tive hearing on SB 1501.
“This is truly a paradigm
shift and a moment in our
state’s history of which all
Oregonians should be proud,”
Edwards said in a statement
after the House vote. “This
demonstrates it is possible
to put diff erences aside and
work together on viable solu-
tions to tough problems.
“Today we leave the tim-
ber wars in the past and
embark on a new collab-
orative era of forestry that
ensures a future for sustain-
able active forest manage-
ment and wood products
manufacturing.”
Support for the deal is
not unanimous in the timber
industry — critics argue that
it complicates forest man-
agement, excludes excessive
amounts of land from logging
and was developed without
suffi cient transparency and
public input.
Many members of the
Oregon Farm Bureau who
own forestlands believe the
agreement is unworkable,
said Lauren Smith, the orga-
nization’s director of govern-
ment aff airs.
“With the new harvest
buff ers in place, some of our
members risk losing up to
50% of their harvestable tim-
ber and have stated they’re
likely to sell their wood-
lands to larger owners or sell
the minimum parcel sizes for
home sites,” she said.
State
Rep.
Suzanne
Weber, R-Tillamook, who
represents the North Coast,
voted against the bill.
Under the agreement,
small forestland owners are
subject to less rigorous log-
ging restrictions in recog-
nition of their tendency to
grow trees on a longer rota-
tion cycle.
Small woodlands owners
who choose to manage their
properties under the stan-
dards required for larger land-
owners would be eligible for
tax credits under a compan-
ion bill.
That legislation, Senate
Bill 1502, recently passed the
Senate and cleared the House
on Thursday .
money will boost spending
in existing programs with
proven track records
Continued from Page A1
The Senate passed it
23-3 on Tuesday .
Although Oregon’s eco-
nomic recovery from the
coronavirus pandemic has
resulted in more unfi lled
jobs than there are avail-
able workers, the plan will
focus on training eff orts in
three sectors that will gen-
erate more jobs in the next
decade. They are health
care — which has been
chronically short of work-
ers for almost a decade —
and construction and man-
ufacturing. Skilled workers
in those fi elds are retiring
faster than younger work-
ers can replace them.
According
to
a
fourth-quarter report by
the Oregon Employment
Department, construction
and manufacturing each
had at least 10,000 vacan-
cies — and health care
more than 25,000 jobs
— of more than 100,000
vacancies statewide at the
end of 2021.
“With the COVID cri-
sis easing, Oregonians are
looking for new job oppor-
tunities that require new
skills,” said Duncan Wyse,
president of the Oregon
Business Council, a spon-
sor of the Oregon Business
Plan conference where
the plan was previewed in
December . “This opens a
pathway to more reward-
ing, better-paid jobs, and it
makes Oregon more com-
petitive in the bargain.”
The plan combines $76
million from the tax-sup-
ported general fund with
$123 million in federal
funds from Oregon’s share
of the American Rescue
Plan Act, the $2 trillion
pandemic recovery plan
that President Joe Biden
signed last year.
Much of the money will
boost spending in exist-
ing programs with proven
track records. Some will
go toward new compet-
itive grants for innova-
tive education and training
opportunities.
Some money will go
toward direct benefi ts to
individuals to remove bar-
riers — such as housing,
child care and transpor-
tation — while they are
undergoing training.
“This initiative provides
the road map for Orego-
nians … to get access to
family-wage careers in
health care and beyond,”
said Patsy Richards, who
co-led the council task
force that helped draft the
plan.
Richards, who is Black,
is the director of Long-
Term CareWorks for
the RISE Partnership in
Portland.
“This historical bill will
change our workforce sys-
tem for the better and create
an equitable economy that
works for everyone!” said
Marin Areolla III, pres-
ident of Advanced Eco-
nomic Solutions in Salem
and the other co-chair of
the task force.
State Rep. Paul Holvey,
of Eugene, a retired car-
penters union representa-
tive, was the only Demo-
crat to vote against the bill
in the House. He expressed
concern that apprentice-
ships created by the plan
will fall under the Higher
Education Coordinating
Commission, rather than
the Bureau of Labor and
Industries, which over-
sees apprenticeships. He
also said that apprentices
require on-the-job training,
not just pre employment
education.
Kelly Kupcak, exec-
utive director of Oregon
Tradeswomen, said it was
a start.
“Together, we now have
an opportunity to collec-
tively build an inclusive,
just economy in Oregon
that works for everyone —
so that all workers can sup-
port themselves and their
families,” said Kupcak,
who also served on the task
force.
The Oregon Capi-
tal Bureau is a collabora-
tion between EO Media
Group and Pamplin Media
Group.
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Trail: The cleanup project began in October
Continued from Page A1
Amid all the coronavi-
rus restrictions, the trail was
closed at the end of June
2020 after the discovery of
drug paraphernalia, graf-
fi ti and damage to the U.S.
Coast Guard’s Aids to Nav-
igation boards. Hikers who
had fl outed “no trespassing”
signs had to be rescued.
There are two trails. One
goes down to the cove and
another continues on to
allow access to the Cape
Disappointment
Light-
house. These reopened in
October.
They can be accessed
either from just south of the
Lewis and Clark Interpretive
Center or from the center’s
main parking lot. The trail
has a dirt surface until just
above the Coast Guard sta-
tion, where it passes through
a lockable gate and transi-
tions into a well-paved but
steep road leading to the
lighthouse.
The cleanup project
began in October and Sara
Swanson confi rmed the
hours involved. Her hus-
band, Jon, is a 17-year Coast
Guard veteran, serving as an
electrician’s mate fi rst class
at Cape Disappointment.
“He has cleared brush,
trimmed trees, cleaned
debris from along the road-
way and mowed the grass,”
she said. “He has edged and
weed-whacked the tall grass
along both sides of the half-
mile road, making it safer
for pedestrians to move off
the roadway when vehicles
transit up and down from the
lighthouse.”
Jon Swanson donated a
picnic table and spent 14
hours sanding and stain-
ing it. “This gives visitors
a place to sit, rest and enjoy
the breathtaking views,”
Sara Swanson added.
He brought in gravel to
make the trail less muddy
and give visitors better trac-
tion, and repaired rotted
steps down to the cove with
found wood, she noted. Part
of a washed-out section,
which was inaccessible,
was diverted. Sara Swanson
and the boys helped getting
tools, moving the gravel and
with litter cleanup.
Iyall, the original poster
on Facebook, moved to the
Long Beach Peninsula two
years ago and enjoys the
oceanfront ambiance. She
wanted the Swansons to
receive some credit.
“I was so impressed
about their doings — espe-
cially since visiting that spot
for the fi rst time,” she said
later. “They are doing this
on their own time, and really
helped the walk down that
trail to watch the sunset.”
Her daughter, Keowah
Rodriguez-Iyall, a fresh-
man at Ilwaco High School,
snapped photographs of
the locale. “Because of this
wonderful family,” she said,
“I got to capture some beau-
tiful memories.”
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