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Saturday, April 9, 2022
East Oregonian
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Transit:
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to riders. Instead, all three
agencies rely on the State
Transportation Improve-
ment Fund — a payroll tax
funded program that helps
pay for local public transpor-
tation — and a series of state
and federal grants. While all
three expressed confi dence
they could absorb the costs
with their funding, Tovey
said he wants to continue
to track his budget once
pandemic relief money runs
out.
Besides rising fuel prices,
local public transporta-
tion agencies are facing
other economic challenges.
A worker-friendly labor
market means the agen-
cies are raising salaries to
compete for drivers. And
supply chain issues mean
acquiring new buses is a
much more diffi cult pros-
pect.
That’s especially a chal-
lenge for Morrow County
and Kayak. Morrow Coun-
ty’s bus service, The Loop,
operates as a dial-a-ride
that transports residents
th roughout the count y
and once-per-week trips
to Hermiston. Kayak runs
regional routes that connect
Pendleton with Hermiston,
La Grande and Walla Walla.
B ot h a ge n c ie s a r e
prepared to partner on a
fixed route that connects
Hermiston with the Port of
Morrow, but Tovey said its
start is contingent on adding
new buses to cover the route.
Imes said she’s hopeful the
route can start in 2023, but
it could take much longer if
they aren’t able to get buses
delivered in time.
Public transportation in
Umatilla and Morrow coun-
ties has grown considerably
during the past decade, but
Candidate:
Continued from Page A1
them to fi gure out a way to
coexist. The pair continued
to sleep near the restaurant
at nights, but were grate-
ful for the conversation and
didn’t give Great Pacifi c any
major issues before moving
on when the weather warmed
up.
“We showed them respect,
and then they showed us
respect,” he said.
He said addressing home-
lessness is a complex issue,
but he wants Pendleton to try
novel ideas rather than reat-
tempt strategies that haven’t
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
Podcaster Ryan Smith, left, listens to guest Kayla Henshaw
on March 30, 2022, for an edition of The Eastern Oregon
Connection.
Talk:
Continued from Page A1
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
Two riders board a Kayak Public Transit bus Monday, April 4, 2022, near Walmart in Pendle-
ton. The bus system anticipates an increase in riders as gas prices remain high.
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
A city of Pendleton Let’er Bus cruises up Southwest Dorion Avenue on Tuesday, April 5, 2022.
Pendleton fi nance director Linda Carter says she noticed more of her employees started rid-
ing on the city’s public transit instead of driving to work.
in many places, owning a
car remains necessary to
access jobs and import-
ant services. Regardless of
the price of gas, Imes said
public transportation is
important to the region.
“I know a lot of other
people that live in rural
Oregon, that live here because
they love the lifestyle,” she
said. “They don’t want to be
in the big cities. They want
to be out in the country, and
public transit should be avail-
able for all those people that
decide to live in rural areas.
They should have access to
the same medical care, the
same employment opportu-
nities, the same shopping …
and all those things that are
more accessible in highly
urban areas.”
been successful elsewhere.
Winning a seat on the
city council also will garner
Schulberg a seat on the Pend-
leton Development Commis-
sion, the body that oversees
the urban renewal district, the
downtown-focused district
that provides economic aid to
various businesses and orga-
nizations.
Schulberg said Great
Pacifi c is in the process of
trying to obtain grants and
loans from the commis-
sion. He hopes to have them
wrapped up before he takes
offi ce, but if not, he plans to
recuse himself of any discus-
sion involving the restaurant.
Should Schulberg be
sworn in as expected in Janu-
ary 2023, it will represent a
generational shift on the
council, a majority of which
are retirees. Schulberg, 30,
will join Councilors McKen-
non McDonald and Sally
Brandsen as members under
the age of 40.
Schulberg doesn’t expect
his age, or any of the other
councilor’s age, to aff ect the
way he governs. Instead, he
wants “forward thinking” to
defi ne his time on the coun-
cil.
“I’m interested in thought-
fully growing Pendleton,”
Schulberg said, “while
maintaining livability and
quality of life, and improv-
ing things for those who are
already here.”
Schulberg is the only
newcomer in the candidate
field. Incumbents McDon-
ald, Carole Innes, Linda
Neuman and Steve Campbell
When Smith had the idea
to start some sort of commu-
nity podcast, he reached out
to Hartley. Hartley had done
a sports podcast in the past,
so the inquiries originally
revolved around equipment
and setup.
But Hartley himself had
been considering starting
some sort of communi-
ty-minded project, maybe a
YouTube video or Instagram
post that would also act as a
promotional tool for his real
estate business.
With their interest
aligned, they decided to
partner up and The East-
ern Oregon Connection was
born.
The concept behind the
podcast is that people may
think they know their neigh-
bors, but when given the
chance for locals to unwind
over a couple of hours, they
may reveal interesting new
stories about themselves.
“It’s pretty rare even in
a small-town community
that you actually get to hear
someone’s story and their
thoughts on things for that
amount of time,” Hartley
said.
For their fi rst few guests,
Smith and Hartley targeted
recognizable names, includ-
ing Dean Fouquette, former
owner of Dean’s Pendleton
Athletic, and Debbie Kish-
paugh, the coach of Rhyth-
mic Mode, the vaunted
Pendleton High School
dance team. While the fi rst
spate of guests has been
heavy on Pendletonians,
the pair want to extend their
reach to interviews with
guests from the surround-
ing area, including Herm-
iston, Milton-Freewater and
La Grande. They’d also like
to focus on new business
owners in need of a little
extra publicity or people
behind worthy charitable
causes.
“We enjoy getting to
know people,” he said. ”At
the heart of things, it’s just
really a lot of fun, because
these are people that we
know fairly well, but we are
learning so much from each
person just by visiting with
them.”
Podcasts are becoming an
increasingly popular form of
media. According to an arti-
cle in Forbes, an estimated
100 million people listened
to a podcast monthly in
2020. However, there aren’t
too many podcasts focused
on Eastern Oregon, and
Smith and Hartley occa-
sionally had to educate
some of their guests on what
podcasts were and how they
could listen to them.
As of March 25, Smith
and Hartley said they had
more than 350 total plays on
their podcast episodes and
had an established audience
of 70 listeners. Given that
they’ve done little promo-
tion of the show as they
juggle The Eastern Oregon
Connection with their day
jobs and home lives, the pair
are hopeful it will continue
to grow.
is Hiring in Pendleton
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