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About Cannon Beach gazette. (Cannon Beach, Or.) 1977-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 4, 2015)
6A • December 4, 2015 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com Chamber contract designed to pull in winter visitors Deal with Chamber of Commerce to fund off-season promotions By Dani Palmer Cannon Beach Gazette After months of discus- sion, the Cannon Beach City Council formally approved a contract with the Chamber of Commerce Tuesday allocat- ing room tax funds to off-sea- son tourist promotions. Under terms of the con- tract, the chamber will re- ceive quarterly payments equal to 70 percent of the 1 percent transient room tax increase approved in August. The other 30 percent of the 1 percent increase will go into the city’s general fund. The room tax increase went into effect on Oct. 1 and with the state’s 1 percent tax, brought Cannon Beach’s lodging tax to a total of 9 percent. Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Court Carrier said the money will be used to market the city during the time of year “hardly anyone is here.” The promotions program will in- clude advertising and a new job position geared toward bringing in more events and clientele during the months of September through May. “We’re delighted to be able to start working hard for this city,” Carrier said. “We’ve been waiting for it for awhile now, but we’re going to do our darnedest to make sure we do the very best for Cannon Beach. We want this to work out well for them.” The council’s decision was unanimous, but there was talk concerning the length of the contract. Coun- cilor George Vetter said he felt the period from October 2015 to June 2017 isn’t long enough. Despite being a small town, the chamber has 270 paid members, he noted, adding the city should “show them more con¿dence.” Carrier said chamber staff and board members have been waiting on the con- ‘We’re delighted to be able to start working hard for this city.’ Court Carrier, Chamber of Commerce executive director tract’s approval, to ensure they had the funds needed to complete tasks. He noted it will be “chal- lenging to make a mark” in the set time frame, but that staff are prepared to do their best. City Manager Brant Kucera said a short contract could be advantageous for both parties. He pointed to disagreements over Tilla- mook County’s 1 percent room tax increase revenue. “I think that shows you right there that a relation- ship can quickly, although not expected here ... de- volve into two parties ¿ght- ing over revenues,” he said. He added a year and a half is enough time for the chamber “to show us that they’re using this money in a fashion that was envi- sioned.” Councilor Mike Bene- ¿eld said the shorter time frame will give both parties either incentive to make the contract work with the increased funds involved, or a chance to walk away if the partnership doesn’t work out. “Who wants to be stuck in a longterm contract and not be happy with your partner? And that works both ways,” he said. The contract may be terminated by either party “for any reason” with a 90 day advance written warn- ing. Mayor Sam Steidel sug- gested doing an evaluation of the chamber’s perfor- mance at the end of the con- tract to determine whether or not to continue it. Carrier said the chamber begins planning in January. Tsunami awareness meeting focuses on hospitality to navigate around if the bridge near the hotel is down. Don West, general man- ager at the Cannery Pier hotel and owner of Asto- ria Crest Hotel, was con- cerned not only with what should be done directly after the earthquake and tsunami, “I’m thinking, we do a great job of getting every- body out of the inundation zone, then what?” West said. “They do have plans, so I need to ¿nd out more about it so that we know.” By Cynthia Washicko EO Media Group The emphasis was on communication at a meet- ing for hospitality business owners and employees on keeping visitors to Astoria informed about the dangers of a tsunami. The Nov. 2 meeting, host- ed by Karen Parmelee, Geo- Hazards Awareness Coordi- nator for the Oregon Of¿ce of Emergency Management, is part the OEM’s “Tsuna- mi Safe: Hospitality Begins with Safety” program, which launched in October. Jon Rahl, assistant general man- ager for the City of Seaside Visitors Bureau, and Plan- ning Director Kevin Cupples were among those in atten- dance. The program calls for training for management and staff, tsunami awareness ed- ucation for employees and the dissemination of tsuna- mi awareness information to guests in order to prepare workers and visitors for a Cascadia Subduction Zo\\ne earthquake and possible tsu- nami. So far around 30 hotels along the Oregon coast are participating in the program, Parmelee said. “The big thing really is, just open that dialogue. As there’s even more talk about Cascadia, the reality is more people are aware of it so our visitors to our coast are going to say, ‘Do you guys know what to do?’” Parmelee said. Preparing hotels The roughly 600-mile long Cascadia Subduction Zone runs from British Co- lumbia down to Northern California, and lies about 70 to 100 miles off the Oregon coast. The zone is capable of producing large-magni- tude earthquakes — possi- bly more than a magnitude 9.0 — and the shaking from those earthquakes could pro- duce a tsunami similar to the one that hit the coast of Japan in 2011. There is a 37 percent chance that a Casca- No reason to fear CYNTHIA WASHICKO/EO MEDIA GROUP Patrick Corcoran, a faculty member with Oregon State University dealing with Coastal Hazards, discusses some of the things hospitality business owners and employees can do in the event of an earthquake and tsunami. dia Subduction Zone earth- quake will occur in the next 50 years, according to the presentation. The presentation included advice for hospitality busi- ness owners and staff on how to communicate necessary information to their guests about what to do and where to go if an earthquake were to occur during their stay. Options to convey that information to guests in- cluded using avenues like printed key cards or Àiers in hotel lobbies and rooms with evacuation maps and other information. In Seaside, upward of 10 hotels have opted to use sleeves for key cards print- ed with information and graphics detailing what to do during and after an earth- quake, Rahl said. The city originally printed 52,000 of the sleeves, and has distrib- uted more than 30,000 of them to local hotels so far, he said. Confident employees Ensuring hospitality employees are con¿dent in H appy H olidays Great Gift Ideas their knowledge of how to respond to a natural disaster is key, said Patrick Corcor- an, a faculty member with Oregon State University who deals with Coastal Hazards. “It is de¿nitely about the con¿dence of the em- ployees, because if the em- ployees aren’t comfortable talking about it, that fear is going to eke out into the guests as well,” Parmelee said. Spence Barker, a chauf- feur with the Cannery Pier said that he and some other employees were heading to the hotel after the meet- ing to walk the path they would take if they needed to evacuate after an earth- quake. Barker added that he and his fellow employ- ees were trying to deter- mine how long it would take to get to high ground, and what they might have The point of making guests aware of the possible hazards of an earthquake and tsunami isn’t to scare them, Parmelee said, but to keep them prepared in case a disaster does strike. She added that, of the ho- tels who have implemented the practices of informing guests of the hazards, very few have reported losing guests as a result. The Cascadia Subduc- tion Zone earthquake and subsequent tsunami are just some of the possible natu- ral hazards facing Oregon, Parmelee said, and it’s im- portant to discuss the issue without making it a topic of fear. “If you’re in Flori- da you’ve got hurricanes instead of earthquakes, you’ve got sinkholes in- stead of landslides,” Par- melee said. “Really this is just facing one of our haz- ards that we have to plan for that we haven’t really tackled planning for be- cause the magnitude of it is really just becoming better understood.” More information on what do to in the event of a tsunami is availabel at ore- gontsunami.org. R OBER T C AIN LD , 45 Y ea rs o f E xp erien ce TW O L OCATION S S EAS IDE & HIL L S BORO 740 Ave H • S te 2 • S ea s id e 232 N E L in co ln • S te B • Hills b o ro Open W ed n es d a y a n d Frid a y • 9 -4:30 • 503-738 -7710 “W e’ve b een com m ercia l fis hing the P a cific Coa s t s ince 197 7 !” Live Local? Get 20% off any treatment at Elements Spa! 503-436-0366 | elementsbythesea.com P.S. Also enjoy a wave cleanse steam shower and saltwater pool access on us! *Please bring your North Coast ID. Madness from Page 1A “We’re not into Black Friday shopping, so this is just our speed,” she said. Lisa Regier, of Tigard, and her daughter, Corlyn, 15, also stopped by the store in search of a book the teen wanted. Visiting family in town, they attended last year’s shopping extrava- ganza and decided to return because it was “fun and more relaxed,” Lisa said. Business owners called it a good year. Wine Shack and Provi- sions 124 co-owner Steven Sinkler said they’d served roughly 30 mimosas and seen about 75 people by 11 a.m., when the stores normally open. “It’s been busier” than years past, he said. The Wine Shack and Provisions encouraged cus- tomers to stop in early with their best offer of the day, 20 percent off, running from 8 to 9:30 a.m. In the past, Sin- kler said, one patron had come annually for the sale on collectible, higher end wines. He offered 10 per- cent off the rest of the day. Lori Hill, of Portland, stocked up on jewelry with Pomeranian Jasmine, 6, in tow. She travels to Cannon Beach each year for the Thanksgiving holiday with her sister and brother-in-law owning a place in town. She said Mimosa Madness was “much nicer” than the typi- cal Black Friday experience. Dining on the North Coast L ive M u s ic • W in e Ta s tin g 2 7 1 N . H em lo ck St., C a n n o n Bea ch 5 0 3 .43 6 .15 3 9 • w w w .ca fesw eetb a sils.co m PIG ‘N PAN C AK E 223 S Hem lo ck 5 03 -4 3 6 -285 1 7AM - 3 PM D a ily • Den tu res fo r a ll a ges , New , Pa rtia ls a n d Cu s to m Den tu res • Den tu res fo r im p la n ts • Relin es & Rep a irs • Den tu re rep a irs d o n e s a m e d a y! • Pers o n a l s ervice a n d a tten tio n to d eta il S e a fo o d R e s ta ura n t M a rke t • S m o ke h o us e 2n d + S pruce , C a n n o n Be a ch • 5 03.436.9130 Madness ‘much nicer’ than typical Black Friday O P EN W ednesda y - S u nda y fo r L u nc h & Dinner FR EE C ON S ULTATION Always serving Fish & Chips and Clam Chowder DANI PALMER/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE Corlyn Regier, 15, of Tigard, left, checks out a book with her mother, Lisa Regier, at the Cannon Beach Book Company during Mimosa Madness. 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