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About Seaside signal. (Seaside, Or.) 1905-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 25, 2015)
6A • December 24, 2015 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com Students’ challenge to communities: Become prepared Student body leaders seeking new school facilities By Katherine Lacaze Seaside Signal What they don’t know can hurt them, was the mes- sage Seaside High School’s student leaders conveyed to the Seaside City Council Monday night. Leaders of the Asso- ciated Student Body are concerned about how un- prepared students and the community are for a cata- strophic Cascadia subduc- tion zone event. They or- ganized Don’t Catch This Wave to spread awareness about the issue and raise funds to help move the school district’s at-risk campuses out of the inun- dation zone. “We decided we want- ed to stand up and work to make a change for our- selves, our peers and the students that sit below us in class and are too young to realize that their lives are in jeopardy every single day when they’re at school,” treasurer Jesse Trott told City Council members. She and co-presidents Taylor Barnes and Whitney Westerholm shared a ver- sion of a presentation the of¿ cers prepared for Sea- side High School and other schools across the state. “Our project is all about tsunami preparedness, spe- ci¿ cally focusing on the earthquake and tsunami that are supposed to hit our coastline from the very southern tip of Canada to the very northern tip of Cal- ifornia,” Trott said. The hope is to raise funds to relocate Gearhart Elementary School, Seaside High School and Broadway Middle School, which all sit in the inundation zone. Seaside Heights Elemen- tary School also could be remodeled and expanded in the process to house all the elementary students, but nothing is decided. “Relocating our schools is de¿ nitely our top priori- ty,” Westerholm said. Although it may be lofty, she added, “it’s our goal this year, and even if we don’t reach it, we want to keep this program going.” A safe place to be High school students must walk about 1.6 miles to get to an evacuation site and cross bridges in the process. Broadway Middle School students have about 1 mile to walk. Gearhart Elementary students only have a quarter mile, but their route goes west to a site with an elevation of 46 feet at its highest point — likely not high enough. “What these kids don’t know, and a lot of our high schoolers don’t know, is that they are evacuating to somewhere that isn’t going to keep them safe,” said Westerholm, who has a younger brother at Gear- hart Elementary. “That just breaks my heart, to be hon- est — that we could have had a safe place for these kids to be, and there isn’t.” When the tsunami will hit is uncertain, but there will be hundreds of students at risk when it does, and that is Westerholm’s main motivation for helping to spearhead the project, she said. Whether it is the cur- rent students or possibly their future children, “the PUBLIC MEETINGS Monday, Dec. 14 Seaside City Council Meet- ing, 7 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway. Senior Commission, 10 a.m., the Bob Chisholm Center, 1225 Avenue A. Tuesday, Dec. 15 Seaside Library Board, 4:30 p.m., 1131 Broadway. Union Health District, 8 a.m., Providence Hospital, Educa- tion Room B. Seaside Planning Commis- sion, 7 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway. Seaside School District, 6 p.m., 1801 S. Franklin St. Wednesday, Jan. 6 Seaside Planning Commis- sion, work session, 7 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway. Wednesday, Dec. 16 Seaside Tourism Advisory Commission, 3 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway. Thursday, Dec. 17 Seaside Transportation Ad- visory Commission, 6 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway. Seaside Improvement Com- mission, 7 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway. Thursday, Jan. 7 Seaside Parks Advisory Committee, 7 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway. Thursday, Jan. 14 Seaside Convention Center, 5 p.m., at the Convention Center. Seaside Tree Board, 4 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway. Seaside School District, 6 p.m., 1801 S. Franklin St. Tuesday, Jan. 26 Seaside Community and Seaside High School Associated Student Body offi cers Whitney Westerholm, Taylor Barnes and Jesse Trott gave a presentation on their tsunami awareness and fundraising campaign, Don’t Catch This Wave, at the Seaside City Council meeting Dec. 14. fact of the matter is, it will be a group of 400 kids” that are impacted, she added. The three at-risk schools are not built to withstand an earthquake, which will be the death of many students. For instance, Barnes said, the high school, built in the 1950s, will likely collapse on those who are unable to get out. “They will essentially be trapped in the school,” he added. Superintendent Doug Dougherty said they do not qualify for “any seismic retro- ¿ tting money no can they ac- cess those funds to help move the schools,” because they are in the inundation zone. The 24-minute presenta- tion is accompanied by a si- lent video of approximately the same length that shows the high school students walking quickly to their evacuation site “in the best circumstances,” Barnes said. ‘Relocating our schools is defi nitely our top priority.’ — Whitney Westerholm, Associated Student Body co-president That means no earth- quake damage, no debili- tated or injured students, no devastated bridges. Howev- er, according to the students, research shows the commu- nity would have only about 15 minutes from the start of an earthquake before a tsu- nami — likely of a 8.7 to 9.2 magnitude — hits. “That’s not very much time,” Barnes said. In the presentation, the students discussed the tsu- nami that hit Japan in 2011. It is predicted the event on the 3aci¿ c 1orthwest will be similar, Barnes said. The water will move swift- ly, faster than a human can outrun, and rise to about 80 to 100 feet in elevation. Fundraising for relocation Besides footage and photos from the Japan event, the presentation also included a clip from Oregon Public Broadcast- ing’s recent documentary, “Unprepared.” In the doc- umentary, Dougherty talk- ed about the 2013 bond measure the school district sponsored to acquire funds to relocate the schools. The price tag was $128 million, and the measure failed. Dougherty has said the dis- trict will sponsor a similar bond measure in 2016. The students’ fundrais- ing campaign is primari- ly for contributing to that effort, but they also hope Council unanimously approves audit Audit from Page 1A The ¿ rm rendered an unmodi¿ ed opinion. Everything was accurate and complete, Proulx said, adding, “It was a very well-run audit this year.” The Seaside City Council vot- ed unanimously to accept the audit, which state law requires to be per- formed annually, The report is online at the Secretary of State website. Revenue boost Also at the meeting, the city unan- imously adopted three resolutions adopting and appropriating supple- mental budget increases. The city’s revenue for ¿ scal year 2014-15, par- ticularly from tourism, was higher ‘These are just housekeeping resolutions we’re going through.’ Mark Winstanley city manager than anticipated, City Manager Mark Winstanley said, The ¿ rst resolution made changes totaling about $400,000 to the budget for sewer plant replacement, capital improvement and maintenance, sys- tems development for parks, the Sea- side Municipal Airport and economic development. Because the combined increase was more than 10 percent, the council held a public hearing on the resolution. 1o one commented. The second resolution adopted approved a decrease of $100,000 to sewer resources and increases total- ing about $41,500 to funds for com- munity development, the state tax street fund and parks construction. The third resolution affected the Sea- side Road District Budget. The begin- ning fund balance was increased from about $797,000 to nearly $896,000. “We’re making adjustments to our beginning fund balances so they coin- cide with what the audit has for ending fund balances for last year,” Winstan- ley said. “These are just housekeeping resolutions we’re going through.” Wednesday, Jan. 21 Monday, Jan. 19 Tuesday, Jan. 5 KATHERINE LACAZE/SEASIDE SIGNAL to put some money to- ward radio communication equipment, natural disaster preparedness kits, pre-as- sembled food and supply kits, advertising about tsu- nami evacuation routes and immediate disaster relief. The student body of¿ - cers are in the process of sending letters to Fortune 500 companies, politicians and celebrities, asking for funds. The main goal, though, is to reach out to other students and schools. In the past couple weeks, they gave their Don’t Catch This Wave presentation at Gresham and Scappoose high schools. Greshman High School will dedicate its annual Unity Week to raise funds for the Seaside project. Westerholm said they will go back to Gresh- am in a couple weeks to present during the kick-off assembly for Unity Week. The Seaside students also are handing out blue ribbons and asking peo- ple to tie them in a visi- ble place to show support and bring awareness to the cause. Additionally, they plan to hold a walk-a-thon, similar to Relay For Life, in the spring. Students will ¿ nd people to sponsor them to run or walk 1.6 miles, the same distance of their evac- uation route. City Councilor Dana Phillips said she was im- pressed by what the Associ- ated Student Body of¿ cers are doing “on behalf of the safety of the students.” Councilor Jay Barber agreed. “What we’re seeing here is that our young people re- ally are leading the way for us to wake up to the reality that we live in,” he said. Seaside Airport Advisory Committee, 6 p.m., City Hall, 989 Broadway. Dining on the North Coast Enjoy trivia night at the Seaside Public Library On Wednesday, Jan. 13, at 6 p.m. the Seaside Public Library will host its monthly Team Trivia Tournament. Teams can consist of one person or have as many as six peo- ple. Trivia nights are in- formal, fun, competitions where teams battle to see who has the greatest knowledge of all matters trivial. General questions will be asked by our triv- ia host and the winners are the team which, at the rectly answered the most questions. Prizes will be awarded, but the main prize is knowing you have the smartest trivia team in Clatsop County. Seaside Public Library is located at 1131 Broad- way, across from the Youth Center and Swim- ming Pool. For more in- formation on this event or other library activities call 503-738-6742 or vis- it www.seasidelibrary.org and facebook.com/sea- sidepubliclibrary. pow ered b y Grea t res ta ura nts in: G EAR H AR T | S EAS ID E | C AN N ON BEAC H Excellence in family dining found from a family that has been serving the North Coast for the past 52 years M A Z AT L A N M E X IC A N R E S T A U R A N T Great Great Great Homemade Clam Breakfast, lunch and pasta, ★ ★ ★ steaks & Chowder, but that’s dinner not all... menu,too! seafood! Salads! Pho n e 5 03 -73 8-96 78 Seaside • 323 Broadway • 738-7234 (Open 7 Days) Cannon Beach • 223 S. Hemlock 436-2851 (7am-3pm Daily) Astoria • 146 W. Bond • 325-3144 14 4 5 S. Ro o sevelt D rive • Sea sid e WANNA KNOW WHERE THE LOCALS GO? • Breakfast • Lunch • Dinner m u s ic firs t • Lighter appetite menu • Junior Something for Everyone menu BEST BREAKFAST IN TOWN! Fish ‘n Chips • Burgers • Seafood & Steak Friday & Saturday - Prime Rib Lounge Open Daily 9-Midnight All Oregon Lottery products available 1104 S Holladay • 503-738-9701 • Open Daily at 8am NATIONALLY FAMOUS CLAM CHOWDER • FRESH OREGON SEAFOOD R E ST A U R A N T S CANNON BEACH 503-436-1111 O cean Fron t at T olovan a Park w w w .m osch ow der.com
