Trucker Blues: Drivers deal with snowy roads, restrictions. Story, 8A
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Semitruck drivers fuel their vehicles in the driving snow Monday at the Arrowhead Travel Plaza in Mission.
E O
AST
143rd Year, No. 84
REGONIAN
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2019
$1.50
WINNER OF THE 2018 ONPA GENERAL EXCELLENCE AWARD
Snow
days and
closed
freeways
LODGE GETS NEW LIFE
Repurposed Elks
lodge sets spring
opening date
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
In rechristening the Pend-
leton Elks Lodge as just
“The Lodge,” the new own-
ers of the 14 S.E. Court Ave.
building are removing many
of the references to the for-
mer tenants.
The changing of the guard
might be epitomized at the
facility’s second-fl oor audi-
torium, where the removal of
a mounted elk head has left a
small hole in the wall.
The Lodge owners are
focused on making the audi-
torium one of the fi rst parts
of the facility to reopen in the
spring.
The Lodge recently took
to social media to announce
that Portland band The Get
Ahead would be perform-
ing at the “Grand Opening
Party” on April 5.
A concert isn’t the only
move The Lodge has made
toward opening: the facility
recently obtained business
and liquor licenses.
It’s a relatively quick turn-
around for a building that
was acquired in late 2018
after nearly two years of
disuse.
Portland
electrician
Lance Leonnig announced
that he had purchased the
building in January and
has since brought in Brian
Storm shuts down
I-82 for 8 hours,
cancels schools
By PHIL WRIGHT
and JADE MCDOWELL
East Oregonian
Hermiston residents try-
ing to get home from the
Tri-Cities had a harrow-
ing experience on Saturday
after white-out conditions
and a multi-vehicle pile-up
stranded hundreds of driv-
ers on Interstate 82.
Mackenzie Colgan left
work at about 2:45 p.m.
and didn’t get home until
11:30 p.m.
“Longest trip home from
the Tri-Cities ever,” she said.
“It was terrifying.”
Washington
State
Department of Transporta-
tion closed Interstate 82 at
about 2:30 p.m., but Colgan
said there were no signs up
to warn her when she got
on the freeway in Kenne-
wick and started following
a semitrailer crawling its
way through the snowstorm.
About 15 minutes later, the
semi hit its brakes and she
swerved into the shoulder to
avoid it.
“Once we stopped we
didn’t move again until
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Lance Leonnig, of Gresham, works on reinstalling a cut-in box in the electrical system on stage in the audito-
rium at The Lodge on Saturday in Pendleton. Leonnig and his other business partners are working to open
the venue, formerly the Elks lodge, for a show in April. Below, Brian Baird, of Pendleton, stains a trim board.
“WE NEED MORE
DANCING
(IN PENDLETON).
PEOPLE NEED
TO DANCE MORE.”
Adam Mack,
one of the new owners of The Lodge
See Lodge, Page A8
See Snow, Page A8
New home construction in Oregon not keeping up with demand
By PARIS ACHEN
Oregon Capital Bureau
Salem resident Paula
Pena often slips cash into
her father’s wallet when he’s
not looking. The money is to
help pay rent on a duplex in
Northeast Salem.
After fi ve years with-
out an increase, her par-
ents’ rent went from $500 to
$975 over 18 months when a
new owner bought the prop-
erty. Pena said her parents,
retired and living on a fi xed
income, couldn’t afford the
new rent.
Her parents are one
example of hundreds of
thousands of Oregon house-
holds that are affected by
Oregon’s high cost of hous-
ing. The same trend has
unfolded nationwide largely
due to a shortage of new
housing, said state econo-
mist Josh Lehner.
In Oregon and nation-
wide, construction of new
homes has failed to keep up
with demand.
Oregon needs about
150,000 more homes to meet
residents’ needs, according
to a recent report by Up for
Growth, a national coalition
that promotes higher hous-
ing density close to work-
places, stores and transit.
The discrepancy between
supply and demand means
rents and house prices are
higher, people pay a higher
percentage of their income
toward housing, more peo-
ple are homeless and more
people are at risk of becom-
ing homeless.
“The average apartment
is signifi cantly more expen-
sive as a percentage of peo-
ple’s income,” said Mike
Kingsella, who leads Up for
Growth. “You have to make
a lot more money to afford it.
It means purchasing a fi rst-
time home is much more out
See Housing, Page A2
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