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127TH YEAR ❘ ISSUE NO. 95
❘ NOVEMBER 29, 2017 ❘ $1.00
SERVING WESTERN LANE COUNTY SINCE 1890
FLORENCE, OREGON
Rocking around the Christmas Tree
Florence enters season of merriment with Holiday Festival in Historic Old Town and Port of Siuslaw
S TORY AND P HOTOS
B Y M ARK B RENNAN
Siuslaw News
People welcomed Santa Claus to Old Town Florence with the annual Holiday Festival, featuring a tree lighting, Christmas songs and hayrides down Bay Street.
T
he winter holiday season
officially kicked off
locally on Nov. 25 with a
series of Christmas related
events sponsored by Florence
Area Chamber of Commerce
and the City of Florence.
Historic Old Town was the focus of
the Holiday Festival, which took place
during “Small Business Saturday,”
when people were encouraged to “shop
small” at local businesses. Merchants
along Bay Street reported brisk busi-
ness during the day and well into the
evening.
Santa and Mrs. Claus arrived at the
Gazebo Park around 3:30 p.m. by way
of a fire engine provided by Siuslaw
Valley Fire and Rescue. More than 100
youngsters and their parents were on
hand to greet the jolly couple. Youths
OPB raises
millions in
new capital
Money will be used primarily
for loans made to customers
and local businesses
O
regon Pacific Bank (OPB) announced it
has raised $13.58 million dollars
through a private stock offering cam-
paign.
B Y M ARK B RENNAN
Oregon Pacific
Siuslaw News
Bancorp, the holding
company for OPB,
issued 2,508,750 new shares of common stock
and an existing shareholder sold 500,000 in a
secondary offering. All stocks were bought at a
purchase price of $4.60 per share.
OPB CEO Ron Green, whose office is at the
Florence location, said the funds will be lever-
aged to help provide local businesses with more
than $130 million in new loans.
“The additional capital will allow us to build
on our success and make significant investments
in the communities we serve,” he said. “Our rep-
utation as a local, community-based bank has
been solidified in Florence, Coos Bay and
Roseburg for many years. We remain committed
to supporting these communities.”
Oregon Pacific Bancorp intends to dedicate all
of the net proceeds raised to OPB as capital. This
influx of capital will, among other things, allow
customers to apply for a larger loan for their
business or personal needs.
The additional capital will also allow OPB to
add to and improve the bank’s business technolo-
gy platform, increasing the variety and sophisti-
cation of online services available to business
clients.
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waited patiently in line to take a pic-
ture and chat with Santa throughout the
event.
As Florence Mayor Joe Henry pre-
dicted, the rain subsided just before
Santa's arrival.
Tractor-pulled hayrides were offered
from Old Town to the parking lot of the
Port of Siuslaw.
The festivities continued once dark
settled in. At 5:30 p.m., Henry lit the
official city Christmas tree to cheers
and “ahhhhs” from the jovial crowd.
This is the first holiday for the perma-
nent 22-foot living grand fir at the
Siuslaw River Bridge Interpretive
Center on Bay Street.
Florence Public Works installed
more lights this year than in the past.
In addition, the Port of Siuslaw
Marina featured the Light Your Boat
Float. A number of boats were fes-
tooned for the occasion, and a U.S.
Coast Guard Station Siuslaw River
motor lifeboat was lit and docked for
residents to view and explore.
According to the Florence Area
Chamber of Commerce, the trophy
went to Peter and An'ya of the So...fea.
Festive events took place through-
out the weekend, and will continue all
month. Look for more information in
the Siuslaw News.
WE GOT HERE
COASTAL LIVING IN
JEOPARDY ?
P ART III
Florence is still reeling from the 2008 recession,
which contributes to current rental crisis
B Y J ARED A NDERSON
Siuslaw News
F
lorence’s current rental
crisis began in earnest in
the mid-2000s, though
nobody seemed to notice. In fact,
it was celebrated. This was the
era of housing as quick invest-
ment.
House flipping was the buzz
phrase, with cable TV chock full
of shows extolling the opportu-
nities from the practice. The
Learning Channel had “Flip This
House,” while A&E had “Flip
That House,” among others.
Previous crashes in the stock
market, from the dot-com bubble
crash to the attack on the World
Trade Center in 2001, scared off
many people from the stock mar-
ket exchanges.
Housing, on the other hand,
was always a safe bet. Real
estate hadn’t seen a devastating
crash in decades.
“You could buy a home in
Florence for $120,000,” Coastal
Property Management co-owner
Barry Nivilinszky said. “They
were selling for $180,000. For
investment purposes, the value
would increase by 15 percent
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THIS WEEK ’ S
within a year. So, people were
buying on the premise of letting
it grow and reselling. And so, all
of these homes were bought at
top dollar.”
Nivilinszky started his busi-
ness in 2004, right in the middle
of that boom. He’s seen the rise,
fall and rise again of the rental
industry in Florence. Now he’s
anticipating another fall.
“We’re in the next housing
bubble,” he said. “But the bubble
is not working for us today.”
A housing bubble is a run-up
in housing prices fueled
by demands, speculation and
exuberance,
according
to
Investopedia. It usually starts
with an increase in demand in
the face of limited supply, made
worse when speculators enter the
market, further driving demand.
Why the bubble is not working
for Florence is a complicated
story, and many financial experts
believe it’s a global problem.
One-bedroom homes in Australia
are selling for $3 million while
dilapidated houses in California
run for $600,000 or more.
As the prices go up, the working
poor struggle to find affordable
housing, with some workers in
Florence
resorting
to living in
their cars.
Every
city has
d i ff e r e n t
situations
that led to this moment, but for
Florence the seeds were planted
in the late 1990s.
“Best Place to Retire”
After the decline in the lumber
and fishing industries, the town
had slowly moved from a rough
coastal town to a tourist destina-
tion, led by the hard work of
developers, business owners and
retirees. The city had found its
footing, but it needed a stronger
direction to truly thrive. It had
tourism, but what else could the
community be?
“I think the most important
thing is to have choices and
diversity in anything you’re
doing, because the more diverse
you are, just like in a financial
portfolio, the stronger your foun-
dation is,” Florence City
Manager Erin Reynolds said.
For the past three years,
Reynolds, along with city staff
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and the Florence City Council,
has been working on finding
solutions for the housing
crisis.
In 2015, she co-wrote a report
on the history of Florence’s eco-
nomic development efforts.
In the 1990s, the city looked
to diversify its offerings beyond
tourism.
“We strived to reinvent our
economic development mission
with the creation of the ‘The
Greater Florence Strategic Plan
for
Community
Economic
Development,’” Reynolds wrote
in her report. “The plan began
the establishment of retirees as
a strong economic develop-
ment community, asserting,
‘The Retirement Industry is per-
haps the primary source of
economic development growth
and stability in Florence.’”
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