A6
THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2022
Phillips chooses
not to run for
reelection in
Seaside
Montero seeks another term
By R.J. MARX
The Astorian
SEASIDE — City Councilor Dana Phillips,
who serves as the at-large councilor for Ward 3 and
Ward 4, will not run for another four-year term in
November .
“I truly love this community and feel good about
all that we as a council have brought to fruition
during my time on the council, but it is time for me
to step aside,” she said.
Phillips, a former president of the Seaside Cham-
ber of Commerce, has decades of volunteerism and
promoting education. She was elected to the City
C ouncil in 2010 and reelected in 2014 and 2018.
Samuel M. Condron, also known as Seamus
McVey, has announced his intention to run for Phil-
lips’ council seat . McVey facilitates a recovery
clinic working with people who are struggling with
addiction, mental illness and homelessness .
City Councilor Tita Montero intends to run for
reelection in Ward 2. She was elected in 2010 and
reelected in 2014 and 2018.
City Councilor Steve Wright, who represents
Ward 1, is running for mayor.
Wright, who serves as president of the board of the
Seaside Museum & Historical Society, was appointed
to the City Council in 2016 and elected in 2018 .
The fi ling deadline is Aug. 30 .
Surfsand Resort
The Surfsand Resort in Cannon Beach has a new owner.
Surfsand: Property has 95 rooms
Continued from Page A1
place in fall 2023 and winter
2024. No property closures
are scheduled, and we antic-
ipate minimal disruptions to
guests.”
The Vancouver, Wash-
ington, hospitality group
purchased the Cannery Pier
Hotel & Spa in Astoria in
2019 and runs the Best West-
off ered an incentive for the
management team to stay
for a year,” he said. “Hope-
fully, they will all stay and
build their career with our
company.”
The Surfsand property
has 95 rooms .
“The revenues and profi t
stream reported by the previ-
ous owners made the prop-
erty a competitive acquisi-
tion, and we’re thrilled to
add the Surfsand Resort to
our portfolio,” Takach said.
Vesta also announced that
Linh DePledge, the general
manager at Cannery Pier , has
been promoted to director of
brand and communications
for Vesta’s three coastal hotels.
She will be staying in her posi-
tion at the Cannery Pier until a
replacement is chosen.
PARENTS AND SUPPORT WORKERS
ARE ALLOWED TO ATTEND.
friends and I can trust peo-
ple there, it’s like I won’t be
alone for when I fi rst start
there,” he said.
Shelly Miller said she
thinks the program is going to
be a lifesaver in a community
where fi nding services can be
diffi cult.
“If this is just the begin-
ning — it’s just like my life
has changed. I can’t even
describe to you how much it
has changed our lives,” she
said. “My children are fi nally
included.”
Lindstrom said there
are still spots open for sci-
ence week, which runs from
9 a.m. to 2 p.m. from Aug. 24
through Aug. 26. Anyone in
the county aff ected by autism,
developmental disabilities or
other emotional and behav-
ioral challenges can attend a
barbecue behind the Warren-
ton Community Center from
6 to 8 p.m. on Aug. 31.
ern Agate Beach in Newport.
Both underwent multi mil-
lion-dollar renovations after
Vesta purchased them.
Takach said that they kept
every existing staff mem-
ber at Surfsand who wanted
to stay and plan to add three
more positions.
“We paid an incentive
bonus for the hourly staff to
continue for the summer and
Cannon Beach:
Candidates boast
plenty of experience Summer camp: ‘It has changed our lives’
Continued from Page A1
Continued from Page A1
get kind of an inside scoop
on what is aff ecting each
person that brings up a topic
and a reason why they’re
concerned.”
If she is reelected, Ris-
ley said she wants to spend
more time promoting the
arts and coming up with cre-
ative solutions to address
aff ordable and workforce
housing.
Risley has also served
as a planning commis-
sioner for the city and Clat-
sop County. She sat on the
city’s parks and commu-
nity services committee and
was appointed twice by the
governor to serve on the
state Parks and Recreation
Commission.
“I really enjoy public
service and Cannon Beach
is closest to my heart, of
course, so that’s why I’m
running,” Risley said.
Kerr has served two
terms on the city’s P lanning
C ommission and sits on the
board of the Clatsop County
Cultural Coalition and
Friends of Haystack Rock.
She is also part of the city’s
short-term rental task force.
Kerr spent over 20 years
as a public defender and
trial lawyer in Seattle before
moving to Cannon Beach.
Before her career in law,
she taught dance at Portland
State University and oper-
ated a modern dance com-
pany in Anchorage, Alaska.
Kerr still practices law
and has worked with non-
profi ts,
including
the
North Coast Land Conser-
vancy. She also has a met-
alsmithing studio where
she makes jewelry that she
sells through a couple of
galleries.
Kerr said she loves Can-
non Beach and the quality
of living in a small town,
but she is also concerned
about the direction the city
could easily take.
“I feel very strongly
about certain issues that I
know are going to arise in
the city over the coming
years,” she said. “And the
big thing is, I’m really will-
ing to do the work.”
Her priorities include
protecting the natural envi-
ronment and quality of
life and providing middle
and workforce housing for
families.
“I’d like to see it be a
community for a wider
diversity of people than just
wealthy people who are able
to aff ord luxury homes,”
Kerr said. “I think that if we
tightened up some of our
ordinances, we could make
sure that there’s some kind
of a way to ensure that some
of our land is used for mid-
dle housing and workforce
housing and not just going
for building huge mega
mansions.”
Hayes, who launched
Explorer Media Group
in 1998, has lived in the
city for 25 years, work-
ing closely with local busi-
nesses and publishing the
visitor guides for Seaside
and Cannon Beach.
He has served on the
founding board of Friends
of Haystack Rock and as
president of the Cannon
Beach Arts Association. He
also spent nearly a decade
on the board of the Oregon
Coast Visitors Association.
“Maybe more than any-
thing else, I feel like I’m
familiar with the challenges,
opportunities and solutions
for managing the impacts of
tourism,” Hayes said. “And
at this point, I’m just in a
position in my life where
I’m beginning to scale back
my business and I feel like
it’s a time that I can serve.
“I feel like I can bring
the balanced solutions to
improve livability for resi-
dents, steward our environ-
ment and maintain a thriv-
ing economy that supports
those things.”
Hayes said livability
issues, such as seasonal
overcrowding and park-
ing, need to be addressed.
He said there is also a need
for expanded trails and con-
necting the city by bike.
Housing solutions that
increase diversity, including
workforce housing, need to
be supported, he said.
Knop, a retired teacher, is
active as a volunteer in sev-
eral community groups.
Ostrander manages Sea
Breeze Court, a hotel owned
and operated by his wife’s
family.
He is a volunteer fi re-
fi ghter for the Cannon
Beach Rural Fire Protection
District and serves on the
board of the Cannon Beach
Chamber of Commerce.
Ostrander
describes
himself as an avid birder
and a steward for the envi-
ronment who has held
jobs for Texas and Florida
working with native plants
and habitat.
But it’s also a place where
campers can be themselves
without getting sent home,
practice boundaries and learn
how to self-regulate their
emotions.
“We’re going to show
them that it’s OK to have your
moment. It’s OK to be emo-
tional, and then come back
from it and move on to your
activity,” founder Brandi Lind-
strom said. “This is a safe
space to do that.”
This is the fi rst year Lind-
strom has put on the summer
camp, which is being funded
by a $150,000 grant from the
Oregon Association of Edu-
cation Service Districts.
A mother of two children
with autism, she also remem-
bers her son being sent home
from summer camp because
of behavioral problems .
“We were told he couldn’t
go to camp because he was
inappropriate for their set-
ting,” she said. “And so I
thought these kids deserve to
go to summer camp just as
much as the other kids.”
Parents and support work-
ers are allowed to attend.
The summer camp oper-
ates over diff erent weeks,
each with its own theme.
Luella Kruczek, one of the
campers, said she had lots of
fun both weeks, playing corn-
hole as well as making wind
chimes and pet rocks with
googly eyes.
This is much more than
just a summer camp, Lind-
strom said. She’s building a
community that wasn’t there
when she needed support
after her son was diagnosed.
“They say it takes a vil-
lage,” she said. “We’re build-
ing that village, within our
own county, of families who
experience autism and devel-
opmental disabilities so that
they can be supportive of
each other and build each
other up in those times.”
The parents have a book
club where they can share
their experiences and discuss
books concerning develop-
mental disabilities.
The camp has also created
peer support for the campers.
Max Miller, who has been
home-schooled, said he can’t
wait to go to high school after
making friends at camp who
will go to school with him.
When he had previously
attended school in person, he
said he was bullied.
“Now that I actually got