The Columbia Press
1
Clatsop County’s Independent Weekly
www.thecolumbiapress.com
Vol. 5, Issue 6
February 5, 2021
Raising money to recharge Warrenton parks
By Cindy Yingst
The Columbia Press
When school and civic groups need to raise funds,
they may turn to bake sales.
Members of the Warrenton Parks Advisory Board,
a volunteer group appointed by the City Commis-
sion, set about a similar task recently when the may-
or asked them come up with ideas to raise funds for
parks.
“We don’t have a parks department,” Mayor Hen-
ry Balensifer said. “Public Works maintains and re-
pairs our parks. There’s no real dedicated funding
stream. So we wanted to figure ways to produce rev-
enue through or in our parks, which we could dedi-
cate to parks, while adding value to users.”
Finding a few funding sources is preferable to hav-
ing residents pay more taxes, city officials have de-
cided.
The parks board came up with more than a dozen
ways the city could bring in money to help maintain
city parks. While bake sales aren’t on the list, a yard
sale of excess equipment, such as old fencing, is.
“The parks board is really excited to get moving
forward,” board Chair Sara Long said. “We’re strug-
gling with maintenance.”
She presented the group’s ideas to the City Com-
mission last month.
Many of them have merit, Balensifer said. The City
Commission will schedule a joint meeting with the
parks board to discuss them in more detail and de-
50 ¢
New election
cycle begins
Seats open on
school, transit, fire
and port boards
Above: The kayak
dock at the east
end of Second
Street.
Left: Bert and
Debbie Little work
in the concession
stands at Robin-
son Community
Park during the
2018 Fourth of
July Car Show.
Cindy Yingst
The Columbia Press
See ‘Parks’ on Page 4
The Columbia Press
The country may have just settled
one election, but the next election
season opens Saturday for Clatsop
County.
That’s the first day candidates can
file a declaration of candidacy for any
of the open seats in the May 18 spe-
cial districts election.
Residents can run for dozens of
spots on local school boards, the col-
lege board, the port commission, and
fire and water districts.
Four of the seven seats on the War-
renton-Hammond School Board will
be open. Candidates can apply for
the four-year spots currently held by
Leonard Mossman, Neal Bond, Dar-
lene Warren or Dan Jackson.
The five-member Port of Astoria
will have three seats coming up for
election. They are the spots currently
See ‘Election’ on Page 3
More state funding will go toward alternative modes of transportation
Residents who don’t own a vehicle may find en-
couragement in a state funding shift toward bicy-
cling and walking.
The Oregon Transportation Commission, which
decides how to spend the state’s transportation
money, approved $255 million in nonhighway
funding at the end of last year. The money set aside
for bicycle, pedestrian and transit programs was a
record and an increase of nearly $100 million over
the previous four-year funding cycle.
The boost for nonhighway funding in the 2024-
2027 Statewide Transportation Improvement
Program is in line the state’s focus on increasing
investments in alternatives that improve multi-
modal mobility, enhance equity and address climate
change, three priorities in the agency’s most recent
strategic action plan.
Highlights of the funding include:
•$36 million for off-the-road pedestrian and bicycle
paths that connect communities.
•$55 million for Safe Routes to School infrastructure
projects to help children walk and bike safely to school,
and $4 million for complementary Safe Routes educa-
tion and encouragement programs.
See ‘Transportation’ on Page 6
More state transportation funding than ever before
will go toward bicycle and walking paths.
Courtesy Oregon Department of Transportation