REGION
Saturday, December 31, 2016
East Oregonian
OUR NEW NEIGHBORS
Page 3A
HERMISTON
Downtown Association manager New bus system
starts Tuesday
wowed by history, hospitality
East Oregonian
By GEORGE PLAVEN
East Oregonian
From the colorful hills
to the friendly faces, Molly
Turner said she hit the
jackpot when she moved to
Pendleton earlier this year.
“Pendleton is so nice,”
said Turner, 22, who arrived
in September. “The people
here are so great. I can’t get
over it.”
As program manager for
the Pendleton Downtown
Association, it is Turner’s
job to engage with residents
and find ways to promote the
city’s downtown area. That
includes new community
events, such as the Old
Fashioned Holiday Stroll,
which Turner envisioned and
launched Dec. 10.
The stroll was successful
in its first year — Turner
said 939 people responded
on Facebook alone, and
downtown business reported
increases in sales and traffic.
For example, MaySon’s Old
Fashioned General Store
saw a 70 percent increase
in customers compared to
the same day a year ago,
according to Turner.
Looking ahead, Turner
said the Downtown Associ-
ation may also consider an
art walk to showcase local
artists, and is working with
several other organizations
to redevelop the Webb’s
Cold Storage Property on
South Main.
The goal, Turner said, is
to get people excited about
visiting downtown. What she
needs now is input and ideas
about what the community
really wants to see.
“I’m trying very hard to
be cognizant of getting feed-
back from people who have
been here a lot longer than I
have,” Turner said.
Turner is a native Orego-
nian but hails from the Willa-
mette Valley, having grown
up in Corvallis. She gradu-
ated from the Clark Honors
College at the University
of Oregon last spring, with
a double major in anthro-
pology and Spanish, and a
minor in planning, public
policy and management.
Hermiston’s new bus
system is ready to pick
up its first passengers on
Tuesday.
The HART — short for
Hermiston Area Regional
Transit — will run around
the city from 9 a.m. to
4 p.m. Monday through
Friday. It is free and open to
anyone.
The route has 33 stops
and is scheduled to stop at
each four times during the
day. Stops include the Staf-
ford Hansell Government
Building, Good Shepherd
Medical Center, Wal-Mart,
Safeway and downtown.
Passengers can also connect
to the Hermiston Hopper,
which runs between Herm-
iston, Pendleton, Umatilla,
Stanfield and Irrigon.
The full schedule can
be found on the city of
Hermiston’s website at
hermiston.or.us.
The system is run by
Kayak Public Transit in
partnership with the city of
Staff photo by George Plaven
Molly Turner moved to Pendleton in September, and is the program manager for the
Pendleton Downtown Association.
“I think I have the best job in the world. I really love
Pendleton. I would like to stay here for a while.”
— Molly Turner, program manager for the Pendleton Downtown Association
“The more I learned about
Pendleton, the more fun it
seemed.”
The nonprofit Downtown
Association hired Turner to
manage the organization,
and she arrived in town Sept.
1. Her first week of work
coincided with the annual
Pendleton Round-Up, giving
her an immediate crash
course in the city’s Old West
culture and lifestyle.
“It was really exciting,”
she said. “It was a really
great introduction to the
history of Pendleton.”
Turner already has her
sights on staying. Though
RARE placements run for
just 11 months, Turner said
she is working with the
Downtown
Association’s
board of directors to draft
a new contract that would
During her senior year,
Turner wrote her thesis on
rural food systems, which is
how she came into contact
with
Titus
Tomlinson.
Tomlinson is the coordinator
for Resource Assistance
for Rural Environments,
or RARE, an AmeriCorps
program
administered
through the university’s
Community Service Center.
Turner was won over by
the program, which places
graduate-level participants
in communities across the
state to help with things like
food security, natural hazard
planning, land use planning
and economic development.
Pendleton was Turner’s top
choice from the beginning.
“I heard great things
about
Pendleton
and
Eastern Oregon,” she said.
keep her on board after her
AmeriCorps term ends next
July.
“I think I have the best
job in the world,” she said.
“I really love Pendleton. I
would like to stay here for a
while.”
Turner said she has been
amazed by Pendleton’s
vibrant art and music scene,
and
warm
hospitality.
Strangers smile and say hello
to her on the street, which
she said has made her feel
welcome in her new home.
“I’m really excited to be
here,” she said. “I feel very
fortunate for having ended
up where I am, doing what
I am.”
———
Contact George Plaven
at gplaven@eastoregonian.
com or 541-966-0825.
HERMISTON
HERMISTON
Pedro named
state chamber
executive of
the year
Two injured in three-car crash
East Oregonian
Greater Hermiston Area
Chamber of Commerce
director Debbie Pedro
has been named the 2016
Chamber Executive of the
Year by the Oregon State
Chamber of Commerce.
Pedro was honored at
a conference in October,
according to a news release
from the state chamber.
She was recognized for her
leadership in helping the
chamber consistently meet
or exceed its membership
goals and for keeping
“members well served and
staff performing at peak
levels.”
Pedro has served as
the Hermiston chamber’s
director for 10 years and
worked for the chamber
for an additional six years
before that. In 2014 she
served as the board chair
for the state chamber of
commerce.
The
Oregon
State
Chamber of Commerce
provides support and assis-
tance to local chambers and
represents their interests to
the state government.
SUBMIT
COMMUNITY NEWS
Submit information to:
community@eastorego-
nian.com or drop off to
the attention of Tam-
my Malgesini at 333 E.
Main St., Hermiston or
Renee Struthers at 211
S.E. Byers Ave., Pendle-
ton. Call 541-564-4539
or 541-966-0818 with
questions.
By JAYATI
RAMAKRISHNAN
East Oregonian
Three cars collided at
the intersection of West
Orchard Avenue and South
First Street in Hermiston
shortly before 3 p.m.
Friday, injuring two people
and causing major damage
to two of the vehicles.
The driver and a
passenger in a Honda Civic
were taken to Good Shep-
herd Hospital complaining
of neck pain.
According to Hermiston
police, the black Honda
Civic was northbound
on South First Street at
Orchard Avenue and the
driver thought the inter-
section was a four-way
stop. The driver entered
the intersection and failed
to yield to the silver Chevy
Malibu traveling west
on Orchard Avenue. The
Honda collided with the
Malibu, and then a maroon
Kia Sorento traveling south
on First Street. The Malibu
was pushed several yards
in front of the other two,
while the Civic and Sorento
came to rest nose-to-nose.
All vehicles were towed
Staff photo by Jayati Ramakrishnan
A Honda Civic and a Kia Sorento were two of the
three cars involved in a collision at West Orchard
Avenue and South First Street in Hermiston Friday
afternoon. The driver and a passenger in the civic
were taken to Good Shepherd Hospital, complaining
of neck pain.
from the scene. Police did
not release the names of
the people involved in the
accident.
“I was coming at the
green light from that
way, when another car
pushed me to the right,”
said Cecilia Nuevo, who
was driving the Malibu.
Nuevo’s car had damage,
including a crumpled hood
and one headlight smashed.
The Civic was severely
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dented on its passenger side,
and all the airbags inside
the car were deployed. The
Sorento appeared to have
less external damage.
Several
emergency
vehicles were at the scene,
including three Hermiston
police vehicles, one ambu-
lance and one fire engine.
———
Contact
Jayati
at
jramakrishnan@eastorego-
nian.com
Hermiston. It will be paid
for by a combination of city
general fund dollars and
grants.
The HART will not
replace the senior and
disabled taxi ticket program
that the city also runs.
Assistant city manager
Mark Morgan said the city
views the schedule and route
as a “starting point.” The
public transit committee
will meet with Kayak
Public Transit quarterly to
make adjustments based on
customer feedback.
“Frankly, public transit
is expensive, and this new
service represents a major
commitment of additional
annual funding toward
public transit by the city
council,” Morgan said in
a news release. “So please
understand that we view
these operating hours as a
starting point for a public
transit system that we hope
will grow in to a long-term
sustainable service for the
community well in to the
future.”
PENDLETON
New councilors ready to
expand economy, housing
and infrastructure in 2017
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Although they’ve yet
to be sworn in, the three
newcomers to the Pend-
leton City Council are
already unified in what they
want to achieve in 2017.
And presumably 2018
and 2019 as well.
The council is set to
adopt four goals for the
2017-2019 biennium at
its Tuesday meeting, and
mayor-elect John Turner
and councilors-elect Scott
Fairley and Dale Primmer
want to spend the rest of the
year focusing on them.
After he was elected
in May, Turner and a
committee drafted a list of
12 goals and solicited them
to the public, eventually
prioritizing a top four.
Those four goals are
“providing a stable source
of funding for infrastruc-
ture,” “expanding the
economy,”
“developing
quality commercial, indus-
trial, and residential prop-
erties,” and “more housing
for all levels of income.”
According to Turner,
those goals are inextricably
linked and will require
continued focus from the
council.
While these are long-
term goals, Turner said the
council can make progress
toward them by taking a
hard look at the budget and
determining how the city’s
money is being used to
meet the goals.
The 2017-2018 budget
will be considered and
adopted in the spring.
Fairley echoed Turner’s
comments, saying that
many of the points made
in his campaign align with
the goals the council is set
to adopt.
Fairley said it was
important that the council
stick to these goals because
it would help the city stay
accountable to what the
public wanted to see.
Primmer said it’s clear
that the general fund, the
city’s only discretionary
fund, is limited, with much
of it going to public safety
services like the fire depart-
ment and police.
The need to grow the
general fund is chicken-
and-the-egg scenario.
In order to grow the
general fund to put more
money toward those goals,
the city would need to
grow the tax base, which
would require things like
“expanding the economy”
and “more housing for all
levels of income.”
Before they can attempt
to achieve any of the goals,
the new members of the
council will have to be
sworn in first.
Turner, Fairley and
Primmer will all be sworn
in Tuesday, as well as coun-
cilors Becky Marks and
Paul Chalmers, who won
new terms.
The council has a light
agenda that is centered
around old city hall, which
was heavily damaged in a
fire last year.
Because the damage
hasn’t been significantly
repaired for more than a
year, old city hall is subject
to the city’s nuisance ordi-
nance, which could mean
hundreds to thousands
of dollars in fines for
the family that owns the
historic building.
The council staved off
those penalties and gave
the family an extension in
October with the expecta-
tion that the building would
have a new roof by the first
of the year.
With the roof incom-
plete, the council will
consider whether to provide
another extension or begin
fining the family.
The council will meet
at 7 p.m. at the council
chambers in city hall, 500
S.W. Dorion Ave.
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