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THE ASTORIAN • SATuRdAy, JuNE 18, 2022
OPINION
editor@dailyastorian.com
KARI BORGEN
Publisher
DERRICK DePLEDGE
Editor
Founded in 1873
SHANNON ARLINT
Circulation Manager
JOHN D. BRUIJN
Production Manager
BEHIND THE NEWS
‘I really hope that we’re able to keep that authenticity’
B
ack in 2009, the Astoria City Council voted
unanimously for the Riverfront Vision Plan, a
framework to guide land use along the Colum-
bia River.
The plan grew out of public fears about condo-
minium development. But it took until 2020 for the
City Council to fill in the four geographic sections,
even redoing one section — Bridge Vista — to draw
new height limits and other restrictions aimed at hotels.
Perceptions about development — and Astoria —
had shifted with time.
“With the Riverfront Vision Plan,
when that was completed, every-
one celebrated and said, ‘Look, the
hard work is done,’” said City Man-
ager Brett Estes, who was the com-
munity development director at the
time. “And, really, the hard work is the
implementation.”
DERRICK
Estes, who was promoted to city
DePLEDGE
manager in 2014, is stepping down
in July for a job as the North Coast
regional representative for the state Department of
Land Conservation and Development.
In an interview, Estes discussed his experience at
City Hall, the biggest policy challenges facing the city
and his advice for the next city manager.
Q: Your background is in urban planning, his-
toric preservation and landscape architecture. How
has your experience in Astoria shaped your views on
these subjects?
A: When I came to Astoria in 2007, I was essentially
the No. 2 at the Hillsboro planning department. It was
kind of thought, in Hillsboro, that ‘Brett is going to be
staying here and continuing to work his way up.’
But the reason why I left Hillsboro was I was really
wanting to get my hands dirty, was really wanting to
get involved in all aspects of the planning process ...
I look at it as, I was able to do that. I was able to
jump in and get my feet wet and my hands dirty.
At first, you have to understand the culture, you
have to understand the way things are done, the way to
approach people. But the thing is, it’s about developing
rapport with people and becoming a trusted person.
The one thing I’d say is that, regardless if you’re the
community development director or the city manager,
it’s trying your best to be able to develop rapport with
folks. And trying your best to be able to say, you may
not agree on certain aspects, but if you can be able to
acknowledge that, hey, I’m here to be able to provide
information, I think that’s the best thing.
That doesn’t always happen, because folks get pas-
sionate about things. But that’s the best way to be able
to work within a small community.
The first project I was thrown when I came here was
the Riverfront Vision Plan ... That was a really enlight-
ening project, and I think that right there really is what
got me kind of hooked and engaged on Astoria, was
working through that whole process.
It took longer than we thought. It took over two
years. But when it went to City Council, nobody spoke
in opposition to the Riverfront Vision Plan, because
everyone had to give. It had to go a little bit longer to
get to that point where everyone could agree, and then
sometimes agree to disagree, to be able to say we’re
comfortable bringing this whole thing forward.
Q: Looking back, what do you consider your
most important accomplishment?
A: I’m going to say, as the community development
director, the Riverfront Vision Plan was definitely that.
The fact that the federal government gave it as the
Walter B. Jones Memorial Award (by the National Oce-
anic and Atmospheric Administration). Blair (Hen-
ningsgaard), who was a city councilor then, and I were
able to go to D.C. to be able to accept that award.
Wearing my planning hat, that was a really cool
thing to be able to do that.
During the economic downturn — 2008 to 2010 —
we really were able to focus a lot on code enforcement.
There was very little development activity happening,
but working to develop the derelict building ordinance,
working on the Flavel properties, ultimately being able
to save the Flavel house (on 15th Street) — be a part of
that — and to be able to get the downtown properties
transitioned over into other ownership.
With being city manager, I’m going to say the
changes within the parks department. Issues with fund-
ing ... to be able to get the additional dollars brought
Lydia Ely/The Astorian
Brett Estes is the city manager in Astoria.
over through the transient lodging tax, to be able to
restructure the department after the parks master plan.
Pulling in my urban planning component, is saying,
we need to do a parks master plan, because we need to
know what is important to the citizens of Astoria, so we
know what to try and focus on, so we’re not just taking
stabs at things.
So developing that parks master plan really kind of
laid out a path of things that we really needed to try and
focus on first and foremost.
And I’m going to say, most recently, the partnership
that we’re moving into with Bumble to be able to pre-
serve the child care. Ultimately, they’re going to be able
to expand it. And, ultimately, it’s going to be a cost-sav-
ings measure for the city.
But we have a stake in the game in terms of provid-
ing them with the facilities.
Q: What would you have done differently?
A: With the Riverfront Vision Plan, when that was
completed, everyone celebrated and said, ‘Look, the
hard work is done.’
And, really, the hard work is the implementation.
Implementation took longer than probably — ideally
— I would have liked. Some of the factors are, OK, it’s
expensive, it’s time-consuming, to be able to do that.
But I think that the time it took, some folks kind of
forgot about maybe some of the different tenets, and
there were starting to be some changes of perspective
on things.
I go back to when we were developing the River-
front Vision Plan. I remember our consultants were ask-
ing the committee members, what do you think about
restrooms along the waterfront, and the committee said,
‘No, we’re not a tourist town.’
And now look — restrooms.
Just that delay, there started to be some changes in
perspectives. The Riverfront Vision Plan was still a
good document, because it was a base document, but
the thing is I think it was maybe more difficult to be
able to wrangle in all the code implementation.
We did it, though. It was just maybe a little bit of a
challenge.
Q: Housing and homelessness have been signif-
icant issues over the past several years. Why do
you think the city has been unable to make more
progress?
A: On the housing front, it’s something that we have
been working on during my tenure as city manager, and
I think the issue of livability — the decision-makers,
and also the citizens, struggle with how do we keep liv-
ability in place while adding more housing?
And, I think, many times there’s a fear of if we
change some codes to be able to allow some additional
housing, some new housing types, will that change the
character of the community?
That debate has prolonged part of the implementa-
tion of doing that.
I think that when the county did the county housing
study, I think that was actually a good step to be able
to start looking at things more holistically. There still
is a lot of work that needs to be done coming out of the
county housing study. But I think it more specifically
gave tasks, to be able to go and say, here’s some things
to be able to do.
And that’s what we’re doing right now, is going
and saying, OK, here’s some recommendations, com-
ing from a group of professionals, work that’s been
done at the county level, and doing some of the code
amendments.
The code amendments in itself are not going to solve
the problem.
Whenever the city starts talking about selling prop-
erty — you look at Heritage Square — for some other
use, it becomes controversial.
When I first came on as the interim city manager,
one of the City Council’s goals was to sell city prop-
erty. We had packed City Council meetings. The Her-
itage Square public meetings made me really think of
the packed City Council meetings when the city was
looking at trying to sell underutilized properties.
And ultimately the City Council backed down from
that because of the citizen outcry.
I think that’s always going to be a challenge.
I was not here when Coast Guard housing was built,
but the neighborhood fought it ... because it was going
to be new development in an existing neighborhood.
I think that also the issue of expanding the urban
growth boundary, or doing an urban growth boundary
swap, that’s something that we worked on when I first
came on here ... There’s some areas that are zoned res-
idential, that are never going to develop as residential,
and there’s some others that could be.
You look at the top of the hill around the Column,
where we would be looking at doing this. I think there’s
always some hesitancy about doing any development in
what’s perceived as the city’s urban forest.
Q: And homelessness?
A: There’s been the homelessness solutions task
force over the years, and I think that there’s been some
positives that have come out of that about getting the
people together to talk. That’s a positive.
However, I think that there are sometimes on the
City Council some differences of opinion in terms of
how to respond to the issue. But I think that I’ve seen
some changes in some of the positions of our council-
ors over the years as the problem became more acute.
Former (Police) Chief (Geoff) Spalding and I talked
about how there was so much more discussion about
trying to make sure there’s compassion for people with-
out homes. And then as some of the impacts became
greater, what we had was all of a sudden a voice which
we weren’t hearing as much of, which is, this is effect-
ing our ability to conduct business.
So we didn’t have that voice fully vocalized by our
community a few years ago. And we’ve really seen a
change ... The compassion hasn’t been thrown out the
door, but at the same time it’s, how far can things tip
before we are needing to be able to have some rules to
be able to address the impacts?
I think that it’s the change in the community voice
over the past year and a half which is now really ramp-
ing things up for us to be able to bring to City Council
some of these codes.
Q: What do you consider the biggest policy chal-
lenge facing the city?
A: Is it just one?
Homelessness. That’s definitely one. Affordable
housing. And in my opinion, it’s housing that’s afford-
able for people at all incomes.
We have the issue of people who are on very limited
resources not being able to find a place. But it’s also
people who are coming here for well-paying jobs who
aren’t having the ability to find a place to live.
That is going to continue to impact the ability of the
community to be able to attract folks.
And this now is going to tie into the third one, which
is authenticity.
Astoria is different than a lot of other towns up and
down the coast. I always like to differentiate to people,
Astoria is not a coastal town, we’re a river town ...
I really hope that we’re able to keep that authentic-
ity of people, of all incomes, of all types of people who
can work in town, and live here, can raise families here.
That we retain what has made Astoria so special
over the years.
Q: Any advice for the next city manager?
A: Get out there and get to know all the different
voices and all the different people in town.
Astoria is a very unique community, and its people
are what really, in my opinion, contribute to that.
derrick dePledge is editor of The Astorian.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Legal hero
C
latsop County is losing a genuine legal hero with the
retirement of Cindee Matyas.
All of the kind words about her were true (The Asto-
rian, June 14), but missing was an act of stunning politi-
cal courage by Matyas in 1993. She was the chief deputy
district attorney when her then-boss, Julie Leonhardt, dis-
graced her office and falsely accused two Astoria police
officers of misconduct, of which they were innocent.
Putting her career in jeopardy, Matyas stood in open
court (before then-Judge Tom Edison) and dismissed the
charges, with an apology from the many decent and honor-
able employees of the district attorney’s office.
I came to Astoria months later, when I was appointed to
replace Leonhardt, and Cindee bridged the gap by continu-
ing to serve as chief deputy.
Matyas proved that the rule of law is more important
than the rule of men — or woman (to slightly paraphrase
John Adams).
JOSHUA MARQUIS
Astoria
A bright young man
O
n June 11, I attended a Zoom meeting where Logan
Laity, the Democratic candidate for the state House
District 32 seat, explained his interest in this position.
He is a pleasant, energetic, bright young man. He
expresses himself very clearly. He believes in the right
to health care. He grew up in a mining town with toxic
water that is now a Superfund site for cleanup. He not only
wants safe drinking water, but also wants safe, inclusive
schools that accept students as they are without threats of
violence.
Logan’s first local advocacy was knocking on doors
to fund workforce housing development in Tillamook.
He stated that the rules for the sale of housing needs to
be adjusted, so that wealthier buyers are not buying these
low-cost homes and flipping them. He wants to see work-
force housing in this area.
He is very interested in being on an education commit-
tee, where he can use his fact-finding skills. Logan is a
small business owner and North Coast advocate.
Logan’s website is loganfororegon.com, where he posts
endorsements. I think this is the kind of intelligent young
man that you are looking for to represent your interests.
JEAN HOOGE
Astoria
Going to church
I
’m not sure if it’s a blessing or a curse, my uncanny
ability to see the white elephant, and the audacity to
shout about it from the mountain tops. But this one is
charging into the faces of us all.
Churches promote that their No. 1 existence and reason
for tax exemption is being a place of refuge for any and all
who may be in need. Yes, some churches have not even a
hitch to tie a horse. If those churches that do have a park-
ing lot, or more, take in a few people in need each, I know
that would be a huge dent in our homeless situation.
The few churches that are doing what they can to con-
tribute to our community should be marked for a tax credit
of some kind. Those churches that do have space, and do
not follow their own publicity, will forfeit their exemption
status. The income generated from that would be invested
into this program. That is a lot of added state revenue.
We are truly giving unto others not by our words, but
by our deeds. Accountability is the only way to right the
ship of democracy.
TROY HASKELL
Astoria