NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Thursday, May 19, 2022
Walla Walla awards $1.6M contract for First Avenue Plaza
By EMRY DINMAN
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
WALLA WALLA — A
Walla Walla construction
company has the job to build
a permanent First Avenue
Plaza gathering area in Walla
Walla, to be called Walawala
Plaza, which roughly trans-
lates to “many little waters.”
The Walla Walla City
Council recently voted to
approve a nearly $1.6 million
bid from Walla Walla-based
Nelson Construction, which
has done extensive work for
the city in the past, includ-
ing on the Rose Street Bridge
near City Hall.
Though original esti-
mates called for construction
to begin in early 2022 and
wrap up as early as mid-sum-
mer, work on the project is
now slated to begin in Octo-
ber and fi nish by April 2023,
said Deputy City Manager
Elizabeth Chamberlain
during the council meeting
May 11.
Designs for the perma-
nent pedestrian plaza were
approved in December and
include a curving pathway
that winds between seating
areas and mobile landscap-
ing features. It is meant to
provide an adaptable gath-
ering space for residents and
tourists in Walla Walla.
Two overhanging instal-
lations of metal bars are
PBS Engineering and Environmental/Contributed Photo
PBS Engineering and Environmental recently showed these concepts of Walawala Plaza to
the Walla Walla City Council.
intended to provide shade,
while landscaping and
designs inlaid into the
walkways will highlight
the arrowleaf balsamroot,
a plant of significance to
Forecast for Pendleton Area
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TODAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
Clouds and sun;
winds subsiding
Cool with clouds
and sun
A t-shower in spots
in the p.m.
Sunshine and
patchy clouds
Pleasant with
clouds and sun
58° 41°
65° 42°
64° 45°
70° 45°
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
68° 44°
69° 49°
75° 54°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
74° 49°
77° 52°
OREGON FORECAST
78° 58°
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
58/43
52/36
62/36
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
58/42
Lewiston
58/41
66/46
Astoria
56/44
Pullman
Yakima 64/42
58/37
59/44
Portland
Hermiston
60/43
The Dalles 64/45
Salem
Corvallis
57/37
Yesterday
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Records
La Grande
50/35
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
59/38
51/32
48/33
Ontario
60/40
Caldwell
Burns
66°
53°
77°
47°
95° (2008) 33° (1966)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
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Normal month to date
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Last year to date
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Albany
58/38
Trace
0.86"
0.46"
4.75"
1.99"
4.01"
WINDS (in mph)
58/39
50/28
Trace
1.51"
0.80"
7.13"
3.81"
6.14"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 45/32
59/40
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
58/41
62/45
63°
49°
73°
47°
94° (2006) 28° (1905)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
58/38
Aberdeen
55/38
59/43
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
58/43
Today
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
62/38
Fri.
WSW 8-16
W 12-25
W 4-8
NW 4-8
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
55/26
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2022
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
5:20 a.m.
8:24 p.m.
12:08 a.m.
8:19 a.m.
Last
New
First
Full
May 22
May 30
June 7
June 14
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 108° in Sweetwater, Texas Low 20° in Bodie State Park, Calif.
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
the area’s native peoples.
Water features will signify
Mill Creek and the “‘many
small waters’ in the valley,”
according to a staff report.
The concept design also
includes plans to change
street paving where Main
Street abuts the plaza in a
way that calms traffic by
encouraging vehicles to slow
in that area.
The project will be paid
for from four sources. Fund-
ing from the Biden admin-
istration’s American Rescue
Plan Act COVID-19-relief
fund will pay for the major-
ity of the project, with $1.25
million allocated toward the
construction of Walawala
Plaza.
City stormwater, waste-
water and water funding
sources will be tapped to
cover the nearly $350,000
remaining costs, as the
city will be upgrading
some water utilities during
construction.
The $1.596 million price
tag was nearly $300,000
higher than previously esti-
mated, which will be back-
filled with unused funds
from other projects origi-
nally slated to be paid for
with federal COVID-re-
lief funds. In total, the city
would need to pull in another
$400,000 for this project,
said City Manager Nabiel
Shawa during Wednesday’s
meeting.
To cover that additional
cost, Shawa said he and city
staff recommend pulling
those funds from the city’s
low-income utility assis-
tance program.
When the city of Walla
Walla previously decided
how to allocate nearly $10
million in ARPA funding,
the City Council approved a
long list of uses for the funds.
But since those initial allo-
cations, some projects are
no longer moving forward,
while some funds have
already been reallocated to
backfi ll costs for the police
and fi re departments, Shawa
said.
One project that no longer
needs funding is the city’s
low-income utility assis-
tance program, he contin-
ued, noting that the city had
allocated other funds to the
Blue Mountain Action Coun-
cil to serve that purpose and
would continue to seek addi-
tional funding in the future.
However, more impor-
tantly, the city’s low-income
utility assistance program
isn’t seeing much use,
Shawa told council members
Wednesday.
“We see no need for that
at this point in time and don’t
foresee it either,” Shawa
said.
He added that additional
funding was available in the
future for such programs if
a future emergency caused
a surge in need.
Vet making fi fth trip walking across
America makes a stop in John Day
By JUSTIN DAVIS
Blue Mountain Eagle
JOHN DAY — Thirty-
four-year-old Afghanistan
veteran Jake Sansing has
walked across America four
times. Now taking his fi fth
trip across the country, Sans-
ing said this will be his last.
“This time I will wind
up collecting all the states
except Hawaii,” Sansing
told the Eagle on Thursday,
May 12, during a stopover in
John Day.
He got to town by walking
along the shoulder of High-
way 26, pushing a small cart
with his personal belongings
and a sign that reads “Jake
walks America.”
The idea to walk across
the countr y started in
September 2013 following
Sansing’s separation from
the Army and subsequent
homelessness.
“I started walking in
between towns to look for
work. I realized walking was
helping my (post-traumatic
stress disorder), so I decided
to walk across America just
to see what it would do for
me.”
Sansing said he got
addicted to walking during
his fi rst cross-country trek
and started walking for vari-
ous charities, with support-
ers donating a certain
amount of money per mile.
The first charity Sansing
walked for was Shot at Life, a
group that provides vaccines
for children in developing
countries.
After Shot at Life, Sans-
ing walked for the Wounded
Warrior Project and St.
“I’M READY TO
SETTLE DOWN
AND MOVE ON
TO SOMETHING
ELSE.”
— Jake Sansing, Afghanistan
veteran
Jude’s Children’s Hospital.
Sansing estimates he raised
around $20,000 for each of
the charities he’s walked for
over the years.
“That just kind of gave me
a sense of purpose,” he said.
“I woke up every day like it
was my job. I wasn’t getting
paid for it, but it was making
a diff erence. I was just walk-
ing, that’s all I had to do.”
Sansing doesn’t have a
full account of how many
miles he’s walked in his fi ve
trips across America.
“I calculated 10,000 miles
the fi rst three years I did it,
which is why that’s in the
title of my book,” he said.
These days Sansing
promotes the book, titled
“Walking America: A 10,000
Mile Guide to Self Healing,”
during his travels across
the country. When Sansing
travels, he ships his books
around 100 miles ahead of
him, which he describes as
a four- or fi ve-day walk. He
then picks up the shipment
of books and either sells
them in town or signs them
and ships them to anybody
who has placed an order on
his website during his trav-
els from one city to the next.
The fi nal stop for Sansing
is going to be back in Oregon.
Wanting to settle “some-
where between Newport and
Sweet Home,” Sansing said
he plans on opening a camp-
ground for homeless veter-
ans with the money from his
book sales.
“Oregon has been my
favorite state,” he said.
“That’s why I want to settle
here and why I want the
campground here.”
Sansing said he doesn’t
think he’ll get the itch to
walk across America again
after his fi fth trip concludes.
“I’m ready to settle down
and move on to something
else,” he said.
IN BRIEF
Seattle man killed
in freeway crash
near Durkee
DURKEE — A Seattle
man died in a single-vehicle
crash on Interstate 84 near
Durkee on Sunday afternoon,
May 15.
According to Oregon
State Police, Jerry Linear, 63,
was driving westbound in a
Chevrolet Impala at about
4:18 p.m. when he failed to
negotiate a curve and drove
off the freeway. The car
rolled onto its top, and Linear
died at the scene, according
to OSP.
The shoulder of the free-
way was closed for about
three hours.
— EO Media Group
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