A4
THE ASTORIAN • SATuRdAy, ApRIl 9, 2022
OPINION
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
publisher
Founded in 1873
DERRICK DePLEDGE
Editor
SHANNON ARLINT
Circulation Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN
production Manager
GUEST COLUMN
HERITAGE SQUARE
Astoria needs affordable housing
O
ur housing crisis is a perfect
storm. The pandemic exacerbated
an already growing challenge.
Other small cities have gone before us:
their workers have to live elsewhere,
homeless populations have increased,
young families can’t afford a home in
their hometown.
Astoria is at a tipping point: we can
become a city whose
residents are mostly
wealthy retirees and
remote workers work-
ing in close-by large cit-
ies; or, we can choose to
remain a city where peo-
ple of all incomes and
STUART
backgrounds can afford
EMMONS
to live. Our roots are as a
working-class town, let’s
work to keep what makes Astoria a won-
derful place to live.
Our challenge is across the housing
spectrum. A concurrence of factors that
impact housing affordability is taking
place right now. From lower-cost rental
apartments to higher-cost for-sale houses,
we are seeing alarming trends.
Some of the factors: We have lost
many existing low-cost housing rental
apartments due to lack of upkeep, con-
versions and much higher rents due to a
lack of supply. Short-term rentals are tak-
ing many housing units off the market.
People are buying second homes in Asto-
ria. Quality of life decisions by out-of-
town retired people, or people who can
work remotely, who can afford higher
house prices, are attracting people to live
in Astoria. Salaries from local jobs are
not keeping pace with housing prices.
We can do something about this trend
before it’s too late. But we need to act
quickly. We need to build several hun-
dred units of housing, affordable — 30%
of income — to working-class Astori-
ans in the next several years. We need to
look at ways to curb short-term rentals.
We need to encourage more higher-pay-
ing working-class jobs. The good news:
we are a small city. Unlike the larger cit-
ies near us, our challenges are within
reach of visible positive solutions if we
work together now.
One good thing about the Heri-
tage Square project is that it helped get
a much-needed community conver-
sation going about housing. I was the
architect on Heritage Square, and have
Lydia Ely/The Astorian
The empty pit at Heritage Square.
been a longtime advocate for affordable
housing.
Some participated more than others
in the Heritage Square process. Social
media became one of the primary places
for discourse, with much being construc-
tive dialogue. Unfortunately, some com-
ments devolved into unconstructive and
even hurtful words.
Like every affordable housing proj-
ect I’ve been involved with, there was
opposition. That’s normal. Some people
had valid well-thought-out points, and I
really appreciated the feedback. The pub-
lic plaza. Parking. Astoria Sunday Mar-
ket. Sadly, for our community, a small
group of people, primarily over 65 years
old, housing secure, financially secure,
took to social media and tore into the
project, spreading misinformation and
exposing a lack of compassion, with the
intent to kill the project.
Now, we see the end to a rare oppor-
tunity to build dozens of affordable apart-
ments that would have been available for
Astoria residents who are housing chal-
lenged. We can continue to point fin-
gers at our fellow community members,
and continue to get little done, or, we can
learn from this project and point our col-
lective fingers at our housing challenge.
And make real progress.
Working on affordable housing is
hard. On almost every housing proj-
ect I’ve worked on, there are a handful
of people who insult anyone associated
with the project, and come up with many
reasons why an affordable housing proj-
ect will be disastrous in a particular loca-
tion. Almost any location.
And then there’s the other side, the
human side, that keeps me positive and
focused. I visit projects I have worked
on sometimes, and talk with some of the
residents. One woman gave me a tearful
hug. Another mother and daughter who
had been housing challenged had turned
around their lives due to a project I was
the architect for. Housing changed every-
thing for the better.
During the Heritage Square design
process, many 20, 30 and 40-year-olds in
Astoria came up to me to tell me about
their housing challenges and thanked me
for working on affordable housing. They
are our future. I encourage them to get
louder next time.
We are at a fork in the road. We can
become a city where most housing is out
of reach for people who grew up here.
A city of wealthy retirees and wealthy
people who work remotely. Or, we can
become a city where almost everyone
can afford to live here.
Let’s work together. Let’s bring our
community together with purpose, clar-
ity and a positive mission to help keep
Astoria a town we can all be proud to
call home.
Stuart Emmons is an architect in Asto-
ria. He worked on Edlen & Co.’s proposal
at Heritage Square.
GUEST COLUMN
A place
for us
to gather
T
here has been renewed public focus on
the Heritage Square block downtown
since the Astoria City Council under-
took a deep look into developing the site for
affordable housing and a facility for Clatsop
Behavioral Healthcare.
However, it ultimately proved to be too
costly, controversial and even divisive to pur-
sue those goals at that location.
I agree with Mayor Bruce Jones that
there is an upside to considering the Heritage
Square site for addressing affordable hous-
ing, homelessness and men-
tal health care. The spirited
debate that arose over pro-
posals at Heritage Square
has significantly raised pub-
lic understanding about our
critical need for affordable
housing and our area’s need
ED
for adequate mental health
OVERBAY
care facilities.
Local housing costs con-
tinue to soar due to high demand and a min-
imal inventory of available, affordable hous-
ing. The problem will only worsen until
we take a comprehensive and aggressive
approach to find durable and equitable solu-
tions. We need to put our collective heads
together and hammer out some solutions here
in Astoria and throughout Clatsop County, for
these are undoubtedly countywide issues.
But there is another significant outcome
of the recent public discussion over Heri-
tage Square. That is just how enthusiastic
public support for an open square at that site
endures.
When Safeway relocated, the city
acquired the block, correctly understanding
how strategic and impactful different rede-
A rendering of the Garden of Surging Waves with a plaza at Heritage Square.
velopment outcomes could be at that critical
location. The city engaged a qualified con-
sulting firm to conduct extensive public out-
reach as to the optimal use of the block. The
precise outcome of that process was to focus
on it becoming an open public space, some-
thing glaringly missing in our downtown
landscape.
The Garden of Surging Waves was located
where it is specifically to dovetail with that
concept, that the public square would sit right
alongside it, in the center of our city for all to
enjoy. That arrangement makes perfect sense
for our downtown layout.
This is something our downtown has long
been missing. An open, accommodating pub-
lic square. I think it is high time we finally do
something about it.
The idea of a public square at that site
is right in line with the renewal efforts the
downtown has been undergoing for the past
25 years and is in perfect agreement with
Main Street strategies for revitalizing a down-
town. These strategies have been proven over
and again to be highly beneficial and strongly
endorsed by urban planning professionals.
We are a town of rich history, great heri-
tage, culture, food, arts, sports, local indus-
try, fine crafts and incredible natural beauty,
sitting handsomely here on this mighty river.
Yet, we still do not have a downtown pub-
lic square. An open public space made just
for people. Not meant for cars, not trucks, but
for people. A place for us to gather, visit and
experience public events of all stripes.
Our Astoria Sunday Market will thrive
in such an environment. Town gatherings,
music, festivals, public dedications, a place
for shoppers to meet up, or just a place to
go and have a sandwich or a cup of coffee.
A central people place, open to all, where
locals, visitors and the entire downtown scene
benefit.
When I think of all the appealing cit-
ies and towns I have visited, stateside and
abroad, I am hard-pressed to recall a city I
long to return to that does not have a public
square in its downtown core. Cultures world-
wide have long understood the great value in
centralized, open, public spaces.
The Heritage Square location is the only
place where just such a plaza can happen.
There is no other site remotely suitable for
such use. A square at that location is the
healthiest, most equitable and best use of that
location. An urban plaza there will raise all
boats.
I see this square as the natural outcome
of our community coming together for the
greater common good and finally creating
an open, shared public square of our own,
right in the heart of our beautiful downtown,
a space destined to become a landmark and
point of pride.
We are a gritty, resourceful, can-do lit-
tle river town full of creative people. Let’s
roll up our sleeves and finally make this hap-
pen. Let’s get this done. Then, our children,
grandchildren and their grandchildren will be
proud of us.
Ed Overbay, a woodworker, is the owner of
Overbay Houseworks.