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About The Columbia press. (Astoria, Or.) 1949-current | View Entire Issue (April 24, 2020)
April 24, 2020 T he C olumbia P ress Mayor’s Senior Moments with Emma Edwards Freedom from isolation As with many of us these days, I have not ventured out much. So, after a few weeks, I decided to “take off” for a little drive. However, my car did not start after being neglected for so long. My grandson, Adam, has what I call a magic little black box that started my car with- in minutes of hooking it up to the battery. He said that I should drive the car around for 25 minutes to adequately charge the bat- tery. So I put my latex-free gloves on my two hands and my favorite pink mask on, locked my doors and left my home. It was fun just driving around with no place to go. I felt like a bird let out of its cage! That got me to thinking. Wouldn’t it be fun to have a machine we could hook up to ourselves and return to “normal” life! I mean before our current COVID-19 crisis moved upon us? In last week’s Columbia Press, Kelly Knudsen’s Off the Shelf column acted as that lit- tle machine in my life. Shame on me! I didn’t even know there was a drive- through window at the li- brary. Being an avid reader, as well as a writer, I should have known about that. Silly me, I had already or- dered a Debbie McComber book from Amazon when I could have borrowed it for free at my local library! Also in her column, I learned that April is National Poetry Month as well as this week be- ing National Library week. Kind of gave me a chuckle realizing maybe that was why my little sister (a poet who lives in Michigan and is 83 years old) sent me two poems a few days ago. She had read them to me on the phone and then I asked her to send them to me. I researched and learned that we needn’t worry about viruses or bacteria on a book’s surface. If we’re concerned, we can clean the cover with a microfiber cloth. We can use disinfectant wipes on plastic book covers. Maybe it’s time to use my library card with the amazing picture of the Iredale ship- wreck (showing more of it than one can see now)? In her Off the Shelf column, Kelly spoke of “the power of poetry more than ever during these unusual circumstanc- es we are living in, as poetry and inspiring language can help bring solace and needed strength.” I will send sister Elizabeth’s poem over to Cindy Yingst, publisher/editor of the pa- per, in case she has room for it sometime. I’m sure it will bless you as it did me. Special columns in The Columbia Press Every week: Senior Moments with Emma Edwards Week 1: History in the Making Week 2: Financial Focus with Adam Miller Week 3: Off the Shelf by Kelly Knudsen Week 4: Mayor’s Message by Henry Balensifer III 7 Message by Henry Balensifer III Disappointing news for many small businesses I’m not going to sugar coat it -- the federal Small Busi- ness Administration pro- grams had great intentions and were a rather large fail- ure in execution. They rushed the aid and, in doing so, provided ev- er-changing criteria and then didn’t means-test it – so, in the end, tons of true small businesses got left with shat- tered hopes of relief, while chains that exploited a loop- hole on the 500-employee threshold got millions. It’s not that chains are any less valuable as employers, but, unlike franchises that are owned by individuals who write their paychecks di- rectly, national chains hardly qualify as small businesses. As I write this, many Clat- sop County businesses were able to get SBA Economic In- jury Disaster Loan funds, but the Payroll Protection Pro- gram (PPP) as I’m aware of it did not get disbursed to very many local businesses. Stories in the news, in which big banks had priori- tized the largest SBA loans to the largest companies, leave everyone on the coast dis- couraged. It infuriates me to read sto- ries of well off entities like Harvard (whose current en- dowment is in the billions) getting PPP funding, but small businesses in Clatsop County getting a “we’re out of funds” message, or a crashed online portal that prevented access. I’ve registered my fury to our congressional delega- tion, and I hope everyone else has let their representa- tives know as well. Smaller community banks and credit unions seem to have a better batting average right now in serving their smaller, local customers. I apologize for those who grasped at the hope of getting funds but found they were unable to receive them. While I’m not responsible for the functionality or dis- bursement of the funds, I am trying to let people know of programs as soon as I’m aware of them to give what- ever fighting chance there is. Don’t stop trying. I think the most pointed frustration everyone has is with the state’s unemploy- ment system. If you’re self-employed, but ineligible for state unemploy- ment, you still are eligible for the $600 per week from the federal government -- re- gardless if you’re ineligible for state unemployment. In conversations with our con- gressional delegation asking why people cannot get it, the response has been they are waiting for the state of Ore- gon. It’s well known that the state’s capabilities and ac- tions related to unemploy- ment probably have been the biggest failure universally. CEDR has advised self-em- ployed individuals to keep applying for unemployment even if the state system says you’re ineligible. You still have rights to those funds whenever the state figures out how to in- clude federal disbursements to state-ineligible self-em- ployed individuals. It seems that about half of unemployed Warrenton res- idents eligible for both state and federal benefits are get- ting something, and the oth- er half haven’t seen a check yet. Keep fighting and applying. I can’t say when those funds will come, but they eventually will. I am working with Com- missioner Mark Baldwin on a resolution to more officially increase the heat on the state related to their unemploy- ment failures. This includes putting their unemployment staff on 24/7 shifts instead of cramming everyone into the 8-5 sched- ule. It’s a crisis of epic pro- portions and state agencies need to stop treating it as if it were a ramp up of business as usual. Keep in touch through my Mayor Henry Balensifer Face- book page; I try to remain as responsive as possible and issue updates as I have in- formation. My philosophy of communication is guided by three points: What do I know, who needs to know, and have I told them yet? This is why I don’t schedule regular up- dates -- a lot of info can be time sensitive and I want to ensure its gets out in a timely manner. Stay healthy and stay kind to each other. We all live to- gether and will continue to need each other as we emerge from this crisis.