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THE ASTORIAN • TuESdAy, July 19, 2022
OPINION
editor@dailyastorian.com
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GUEST COLUMN
Oregon gains new state agency
Y
ou probably didn’t notice what
happened in state government
overnight between June 30 and
July 1.
Gov. Kate Brown gained a state
agency under her direct control. Emer-
gency management went from a long-
time office housed within the state Mil-
itary Department to
becoming the inde-
pendent Depart-
ment of Emergency
Management.
“It really elevates
emergency manage-
ment as a core function
DICK
of government,” Andrew
HUGHES
Phelps, the department’s
director, told me. “Our
mission didn’t change. Our job of pre-
paring for, mitigating against, responding
to and recovering from disasters really
stayed the same.”
The evolution from Office of Emer-
gency Management to a department
will affect Oregonians. But mostly it
will occur behind the scenes, including
strengthening training, expanding staff-
ing and modernizing the role of emer-
gency management.
“Emergencies and disasters, they’re
not natural. We sometimes hear them
called natural disasters, but that’s not
accurate. Emergencies and disasters
are the results of hazards that impact or
intersect with where we build and how
we build. …
“Wildfires become disasters when
they burn into that wildland-urban inter-
face and we haven’t done enough to
reduce the risk. We haven’t done enough
to create defensible space or build with
more fire-resistant materials,” Phelps
said.
“My hope is having us as a Cabi-
net-level department – a department
that’s at a peer level with other state
agencies – it allows us to be more inten-
tional on that risk-reduction aspect of our
work as emergency managers and influ-
ence those conversations about how we
build and where we build. What invest-
ments we as a state choose to make or
choose not to make. Those all play such
a huge role in whether or not a hazard is
The state has a new Department of Emergency Management.
‘HISTORICAlly, OuR MORE
MARGINAlIZEd COMMuNITIES, uNdERSERVEd
COMMuNITIES, FARE MuCH WORSE AFTER A
dISASTER. ANd THOSE dIVIdES THAT EXIST
ON A BluE-SKy dAy IN OuR COMMuNITy
ARE FuRTHER EXACERBATEd WHEN WE
HAVE AN EMERGENCy OR dISASTER.’
Andrew Phelps | Department of Emergency Management’s director
simply a hazard or a hazard that leads to
a disaster.”
Emergency management has been a
complicated, and often convoluted, sys-
tem in Oregon. It involves cities, coun-
ties, tribes, nonprofits, businesses, state
agencies and the federal government.
Tensions and difficulties, which vexed
local officials and legislators alike,
were reflected in state audit reports and
the state’s response to the COVID-19
pandemic.
“Sometimes good people, wanting
to do the right thing, end up doing the
wrong thing, because structures get in the
way and there are overlapping authorities
and people don’t actually know who is in
charge,” state Rep. Paul Evans, D-Mon-
mouth, said at a legislative hearing in
February 2021 on House Bill 2927.
“And quite frankly, agencies trying to
continue (their) main mission, sometimes
find themselves actually not either being
successful at the day-to-day stuff and not
being successful at supporting the emer-
gency mission.”
Evans, who chaired the House emer-
gency management committee, was the
driving force behind the bipartisan HB
2927. It shifted the Office of Emergency
Management to a department this year
and the Office of the State Fire Marshal
to a department next year from under
Oregon State Police, as well as mak-
ing other changes to clarify roles. The
product of discussions since 2017, the
78-page bill passed the House with unan-
imous support and the Senate with four
“no” votes.
Oregon is a lovely state. But virtually
every square inch has a complex hazard
profile, which could include potential for
fires, windstorms, excessive heat, ice or
snowstorms, landslides, volcanic erup-
tions, dam collapses, earthquakes, tsuna-
mis, chemical spills, pipeline ruptures or
other events.
It’s a misconception that emergency
management runs disaster response.
Who’s in charge will vary but is guided
by emergency plans. If the governor
declares an emergency, it is Phelps’ job
to marshal state resources and ensure that
agencies provide the needed assistance.
He also is the point person for federal
disaster response.
Much of emergency management’s
work is with communities and agen-
cies in building collaboration and getting
ahead of potential emergencies.
“We think of ourselves in emergency
management at the state level as kind of
the conductors of the orchestra. We don’t
play all the instruments,” Phelps said.
“But we make sure that everyone has
their instruments, that they know how
to play them. That they’ve got the same
piece of music. That they’re stopping and
starting at the same time, playing at the
same volume and tempo and in the same
concert hall.”
That should mean Oregon commu-
nities, whether Portland or Pendleton,
Astoria or Ashland, are treated more
equitably in emergency preparation and
management.
“We know that here in Oregon and
really across the nation, disasters don’t
impact everyone the same. Different
communities have different capacity to
withstand shock and stresses of a bad
day,” Phelps said.
“Historically, our more marginalized
communities, underserved communities,
fare much worse after a disaster. And
those divides that exist on a blue-sky
day in our community are further exac-
erbated when we have an emergency or
disaster.”
dick Hughes has been covering the
Oregon political scene since 1976.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Long overdue
F
irst, I want to thank Laurie Caplan
for her letter to the editor (July 5).
It opened my eyes! For some reason, I
understood that the community spaces
described by Mayor Bruce Jones and oth-
ers would be in addition to our much-
needed remodeled library.
Second, is the bond on the Novem-
ber ballot to remodel the Astoria Library,
or is it to create a community center, with
limited access to books? This needs to be
made clear.
I, too, am a browser. I browse for books
in a library, or used book store. I’ve done
this since I was a child, studying the books
to choose just the right one(s).
I visited the Astoria Library last week.
There were no other patrons at the desk, so
I spoke with the staff about the proposed
remodel, and my concerns. One of the
women walked me over to the plans and
answered my questions.
I was so pleasantly surprised! Not only
will I be able to freely browse the stacks,
but there will be more natural light, a ramp
and elevator to meet the Americans with
Disabilities Act standards and more chil-
dren’s space, in addition to expanded com-
munity areas.
Our Astoria Library is long overdue for
a remodel. Go to the library, look at the
plans, talk with the staff, and then decide
how you will cast your vote in November.
MARCIA FENSKE
Astoria
Trick you
M
y wife and I raised four kids and
a dog in unincorporated Astoria.
Today, we want to turn our future retire-
ment home into a short-term rental while
we finish our careers.
When we lived in Astoria, our backyard
served as a target range for guns, a graz-
ing area for many loud roosters, a camp-
ground for overnight birthday parties, it
held Fourth of July parties with fireworks,
along with many more activities.
Our landscaping was maintained on a
“when I had time” schedule. We stored a
boat in the driveway, a broken down car
(twice), and we rode four-wheelers. In all
that time, our neighbors never called the
cops on us; our property simply allows for
that kind of activity.
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Contrast that to today. The property is
professionally landscaped and maintained
every two weeks. It has zero broken down
cars in the driveway, no boats, roosters,
dogs, kids, etc. Everything that was con-
sidered “good enough” has been upgraded
to perfection for potential guests.
In short, there are never going to be
to other letter writers should address
the issue at hand and should refer to
the headline and date the letter was
published. Discourse should be civil.
Send via email to editor@dailyasto-
rian.com, online at bit.ly/astorianlet-
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Editor, P.O. Box 210, Astoria, OR.,
97103.
guests who can outdo my family with
noise, cars, activity, water usage, etc., plus
my house looks better than ever. Turning
my house into a short-term rental has actu-
ally greatly increased the comfort of my
neighbors.
Don’t let the not-in-my-back-yard peo-
ple (NIMBYs) trick you. They want their
private beaches, in their rich neighbor-
hoods, to remain exclusive to all. If the
NIMBYs succeeded, you handed them the
keys to our beaches. Beaches are for the
public, not the rich!
CHRIS DeLONG
Snohomish, Washington
Sums it all up
udos to Charles Dice, Jeff Davis and
Clare Hasler-Lewis for fighting vaca-
tion rentals in residential county zoning.
Seaside has destroyed residential zon-
ing with them, leaving us with only motel
zones.
“Neighborhoods are for families, not
vacation rental businesses,” to quote Dice,
which sums it all up. I wish our city had
had these ethics when they instead chose
to decimate our living areas.
SANDY REA
Seaside
K