NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Thursday, January 27, 2022
John Day gears up for Main Street facelift
Expansion of Kam
Wah Chung State
Historic Site could
draw 20,000-plus
tourists a year
By BENNETT HALL
Blue Mountain Eagle
JOHN DAY — City offi-
cials are working with down-
town business owners on
ideas for making John Day’s
Main Street a more inviting
place to be.
Of course, projects like
this take money, and the city
is working on a two-pronged
approach to financing.
Up to $200,000 in
competitive grant funding
is available this year from
Oregon’s Main Street revital-
ization program, and owners
of businesses and properties
within the Main Street revi-
talization area are being
encouraged to collaborate on
an application for that money.
In addition, the city has
a $1 million grant to make
infrastructure improvements
in support of the planned
expansion of the Kam Wah
Chung State Historic Site on
Canton Street, and some of
that money could be used for
Main Street improvements.
Ideas for Main Street
improvements were kicked
around in a meeting on Jan.
Richard Hanners/Blue Mountain Eagle, File
Len’s Drug received a $200,000 state grant in 2019 to help the business expand west into the
area on Main Street that was then occupied by the Corner Cup.
12 at the John Day Fire Hall.
Among the suggestions
were new signs, exterior
lighting, facade improve-
ments, awnings, better street
lighting and murals.
The Oregon Main Street
grant program shut down
temporarily during the
pandemic but has been
restarted. Communities
participating in the Oregon
Main Street Network, such
as John Day, can apply for
grants of up to $200,000 for
revitalization projects.
The last grant John Day
got went toward the remod-
eling and expansion of Len’s
Drug at the intersection of
Main Street and Canyon
Boulevard in 2019. Prior to
that, the city obtained a grant
to help with renovation of the
Weaver Building at 131 W.
Main St.
The consensus at the Jan.
12 meeting was that, this time
around, the grant application
should go toward improve-
Forecast for Pendleton Area
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TODAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
Freezing fog this
morning
Freezing fog in the
morning
Freezing fog in the
morning
Cloudy, a few
showers; chilly
A little rain; windy
in the a.m.
35° 23°
36° 23°
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
36° 23°
41° 27°
43° 35°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
37° 27°
37° 25°
36° 22°
45° 30°
39° 36°
OREGON FORECAST
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
51/31
37/25
35/20
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
32/22
Lewiston
47/29
36/27
Astoria
53/34
Pullman
Yakima 33/21
48/29
41/26
Portland
Hermiston
47/32
The Dalles 37/27
Salem
Corvallis
46/28
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
35/25
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
46/30
52/30
45/26
Ontario
34/19
Caldwell
Burns
34°
31°
44°
29°
67° (2003) -31° (1957)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
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Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
46/25
0.00"
0.89"
0.97"
0.89"
0.49"
0.97"
WINDS (in mph)
37/22
36/14
0.00"
1.47"
1.30"
1.47"
0.78"
1.30"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 35/18
49/27
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
35/23
39/29
30°
27°
43°
29°
67° (1934) -18° (1957)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
45/27
Aberdeen
32/20
29/19
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
48/33
Today
Medford
59/28
Fri.
NE 4-8
N 4-8
Boardman
Pendleton
ENE 3-6
N 6-12
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
51/20
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2022
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
7:22 a.m.
4:54 p.m.
3:01 a.m.
12:09 p.m.
New
First
Full
Last
Jan 31
Feb 8
Feb 16
Feb 23
ments at multiple businesses
and the Main Street corridor
as a whole.
“One business gets
$200,000 or whatever, that
just doesn’t seem fair to
me,” said Janet Hill, owner
of the Floor Store and Java
Jungle. “I really would like
to see it kind of be distributed
through downtown.”
Sherrie Rininger, owner
of Etc., agreed.
“The past two grants have
gone to individual projects,”
she said, “and I really think
this one needs to be spread
around.”
City Councilor Heather
Rookstool said she’d like
to see better streetlights to
improve downtown safety
since the city shut down its
police department.
“Lighting needs to be a
priority,” she said.
Dow ntow n busi ness
owners with ideas about
the Main Street revitaliza-
tion grant were encouraged
to contact 1188 Brewing Co.
owner Shannon Adair, who
also serves on the city coun-
cil and is taking the lead on
the grant application.
“The availability of these
funds is really exciting,”
she said. “Because we got
Main Street funds before, I
think we have a really good
chance.”
The application deadline
is in March.
City Manager Nick Green
said whether the Main Street
grant application is success-
ful or not, the city plans to
use some of the $1 million
in state funding it received
to make infrastr ucture
improvements in support of
the Kam Wah Chung expan-
sion to enhance downtown.
Prior to the COVID-19
pandemic, the Kam Wah
Chung State Historic Site
attracted around 10,000
visitors a year to John Day.
But now the Oregon Parks
and Recreation Department
is planning a major expan-
sion on the former Gleason
Park property, including a
multimillion-dollar inter-
pretive center, and visitor
numbers are expected to
double or even triple when
that happens.
“That’s what we’re plan-
ning for, but the reality is it’s
anybody’s guess,” Green said
in an interview.
City officials want to take
economic advantage of the
influx of tourists by making
it easy for foot traffic to move
back and forth between Kam
Wah Chung and the down-
town business district a few
blocks away. And once they
get to downtown, the city
wants to make the Main
Street corridor as inviting
as possible so visitors will
spread their tourism money
around.
A big chunk of the $1
million in state money for
infrastructure will go toward
sidewalk improvements on
Canton and Main streets
between Kam Wah Chung
and downtown, Green said,
but some of what’s left over
can go toward enhancing
downtown businesses.
“There’s definitely a
nexus,” Green said, “between
visitors coming to that site
and visitors coming to down-
town.”
Proposal seeks to quiet train
whistles within Baker City
“I’m a believer that people
put city council folks in charge
to make decisions on their
behalf, no different than what
BAKER CITY — The we see at the state level and or
newest member of the Baker at the US government level,”
City Council wants the city to Guyer said Jan. 24. “If there is
pursue a railroad quiet zone a reason for the voters to vote
within the city limits rather on everything that comes up
than ask voters to weigh in on in city council, then what’s the
purpose of city coun-
the issue.
Dean Guyer, who
cil?”
In a quiet zone
was appointed on
— a designation La
Dec. 14 to fill the
Grande and Pendle-
lone vacancy on the
ton each have, two
seven-member city
of 13 quiet zones in
council, asked his
Oregon — freight
colleagues during
their regular meeting
Guyer
trains are not required
on Tuesday, Jan. 25,
to sound their whis-
to move ahead with the quiet tles when approaching a street
zone plan proposed more than crossing.
two years ago by a group of
Train crews still trigger
residents.
their warning whistles at their
That group also has discretion — if, for instance,
offered to raise the estimated they saw a vehicle or pedes-
$150,000 needed to upgrade trian on or near the tracks.
five railroad crossings to make
In Baker City, where about
it harder for a vehicle to reach 24 freight trains roll through
the tracks while a train is each day and there are five
passing. Federal rules require crossings within the city
those improvements for a city limits, trains moving at 50
mph have to use their whistles
to qualify for a quiet zone.
By SAMANTHA
O’CONNER
Baker City Herald
almost constantly to comply
with the requirement that the
warning be sounded at least 15
seconds, and no more than 20
seconds, in advance of reach-
ing public crossings.
The city council most
recently discussed the quiet
zone issue in October 2021,
when it was still a six-mem-
ber group. During the Oct.
12 meeting, councilors dead-
locked twice on 3-3 votes.
Guyer, in his proposal,
writes that although city staff
could work on aspects of the
quiet zone project as part of
their normal work, money
raised by the citizens group
would be used “exclusively”
to pay for crossing improve-
ments.
The city also could sponsor
grant applications promoted
by the group.
Under Guyer’s proposal,
the council would direct the
city staff to make the quiet
zone a priority for 2022-
23, and to make the safety
improvements at crossings
“when sufficient external
funds are available.”
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 85° in Key West, Fla. Low -36° in Hibbing, Minn.
IN BRIEF
McGregor Co. expands
into Eastern Oregon
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
COLFAX, Wash. — The McGregor Co.
has acquired Inland Chemical Service in
Condon and Sherman County Farm Chem-
ical in Wasco.
Both Oregon companies were founded in
the early 1950s, according to a press release
from The McGregor Co.
Terms of the acquisition were not released.
“We are thrilled to be able to join forces
with both Inland Chemical and Sherman
County Farm Chemical,” Ian McGregor, pres-
ident of The McGregor Co., said in a press
release. “We are humbled to have the trust
of their teams and are committed to earning
the trust of the growers they serve. The addi-
tion of these teams will greatly expand our
reach into Central Oregon and we’re looking
forward to a long-term future there.”
“The McGregor Co. has been a supply
partner for some time and we have a great
deal of respect for their business. We think
they will be a great member of the commu-
nity,” said Bob Faria, Sherman County Farm
Chemical president.
“We’re excited to have the additional
resources and support that The McGregor Co.
will bring to our business. We look forward
to working together with a long-term family
business like ourselves,” said Lane Haldor-
son, Inland Chemical Service president.
The McGregor Co., with headquarters
in Colfax, Washington, has 40 retail agron-
omy locations across the Pacific Northwest.
McGregor provides crop inputs, application
equipment and services, risk management
and more.
— EO Media Group
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