VOL. 42, ISSUE 20
WWW.CANNONBEACHGAZETTE.COM
OCTOBER 5, 2018
Cannon Beach City Council New contract
candidates talk the issues
to redirect city’s
By Brenna Visser
lodging tax funds
Cannon Beach Gazette
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Affordable housing, distribution
of lodging tax revenue and tsunami
preparedness are issues on the minds
of the three candidates vying for two
open seats on the Cannon Beach City
Council.
City Councilor Mike Benefield is
running in November against Greg
Swedenborg, a hotelier and the Can-
non Beach Chamber of Commerce
board president, and Robin Risley, a
real estate agent and planning com-
missioner.
The new council will be faced
with navigating some specific proj-
ects — such as developing the 55-
acre parcel of land known as South
Wind, rehabilitating an aging water
and wastewater system and address-
ing a deteriorating City Hall — as
Greg Swedenborg
Robin Risley
well as the evergreen task of man-
aging a tourism industry that brings
both benefits and challenges.
Since being appointed to the City
Council five years ago, many of the
same issues that inspired Benefield to
serve remain. One is to preserve the
community character that attracted
Lodging tax dollars diverted to pay for
Visitor Information Center funding, reserve
By Brenna Visser
Cannon Beach Gazette
Mike Benefield
him to Cannon Beach.
“I flew out to the coast, and drove
through every town,” he said. “When
I got to Cannon Beach, I loved it be-
cause it had the appearance of a vil-
lage. But now it’s becoming a resort.”
See Candidates, Page 6A
Fewer dollars will be going to-
ward tourism promotion as a part of
a new contract signed Tuesday night
by the Chamber of Commerce and
City Council.
In the past, the city diverted 70
percent of the revenue generated
from the 1 percent lodging tax en-
acted in 2015 to the chamber to pro-
mote tourism during the offseason.
But this year, the city has decid-
ed to cap promotion at $300,000 —
about $86,000 under what the city
projected to bring in from this tax.
The city plans to use the difference
to pay for 50 percent of the expens-
es at the Visitor Information Center
and to start a reserve fund.
The change comes amid debate
within the community about how
tourism-restricted dollars should be
used, and whether the city should
invest more in promotion.
See Tourism, Page 5A
BRENNA VISSER/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
Crafts donated to the Cannon Beach Library Fall Festival raised funds for library
programs.
Fall festival raises funds for Cannon Beach Library
By Brenna Visser
D
Cannon Beach Gazette
PAID
PERMIT NO. 97
ASTORIA, OR
PRSRT STD
US POSTAGE
ozens of visitors milled about Cannon
Beach Library on Saturday, perusing
local art, crafts and baked goods at
the Cannon Beach Library Fall Festival.
In its third year, the event is a fundrais-
er expected to raise about $4,000. More
than 39 merchants and five hotels donat-
ed items and room night stays for a silent
auction.
One visitor, Gloria Pittsley of Wash-
ington state, said she has been coming
to Cannon Beach for years and always
loves to stop by the library for their fund-
raisers.
“We love coming to this library every
year, because it’s Cannon Beach,” Pitts-
ley said. “My family would all move
here if we could afford it.”
Lara Foster helps people ‘move bodies better’
A weight loss
journey for
former athlete
By Brenna Visser
Cannon Beach Gazette
Lara Foster likes to help
people move their bodies better.
It’s a passion that began for
the Cannon Beach local as a
three-sport athlete at Seaside
High School, and now has led
to opening her own personal
training studio.
But where it really began to
blossom was about five years
after graduation, when she
was working as a sports re-
porter for the Seaside Signal.
After high school, Foster
attended the University of
Utah, where she abandoned
her life of athletics and fo-
cused on her mass communi-
cations degree. But between
the stress of college and the
lack of structure sports once
provided her, she began to
cope by picking up some un-
healthy eating habits, she said.
“I think it was kind of like
a ‘big fish in a small pond’
situation,” Foster said. “I was
good at sports. But the Uni-
versity of Utah had 30,000
students. I looked at the soft-
ball team, and everyone was
the best of the best. I felt dis-
couraged.”
By the time she started
covering the same sports she
once played, Foster weighed
about 300 pounds.
See Foster, Page 5A
BRENNA VISSER
Lara Foster, former Seaside athlete and Cannon Beach local, opened her own personal
training studio in September.