4A • July 8, 2016 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com
SignalViewpoints
Is there such a thing as a
typical Seaside resident?
T
his industry employs the most people in the city of
Seaside:
(a) Education and health services
(b) Retail trade
(c) Manufacturing
(d) Accommodation and food services
If you said (d), you’re right. About 41.8 percent of workers
in Seaside are in the hotel and food businesses. Retail trade was
a distant second, with 14.1 percent.
One of the fi rst things I noticed when I became the editor of
both the Signal and the Gazette was how fi ercely competitive
the cities in the South County are — with each other. Living in
Gearhart complicates matters. I’ve often thought if Gearhart,
Seaside and Cannon Beach all got together we could sure give
Astoria a run for its money.
There seem to be more divisions in Clatsop County than the
European Union and I’ve
met plenty of Seasiders
who are quite happy to SEEN FROM SEASIDE
never stray south of Ave-
nue U or north of the Ne- R.J. MARX
canicum Bridge. But what
does being a Seasider re-
ally mean?
Fourth of July fi re-
works, surfi ng at the Cove and griping about Hood to Coast
come to mind.
But Shawna Sykes, workforce analyst of the Oregon Em-
ployment Department Research Division has a more scientifi c
approach. Working for the employment department, her mission
is to support businesses and promote employment.
Sykes reinforces what we already know, and shatters what
we think we know. Sykes unleashed a PowerPoint demonstra-
tion at a Seaside Downtown Development Association’s June
breakfast. She put it all out there in numbers and graphs, city by
city, county by county and throughout the state. Using “Jeopar-
dy!” format, she ingeniously force-fed a half hour of dry labor
and population data to an audience pleasantly distracted by Pig
’N Pancake French toast and blintzes.
Categories were “Employment and unemployment,” “indus-
try facts and trends” and “demographics.” Responses revealed
data about who’s working, who’s not, in what fi elds, education,
income, age and housing.
The Clatsop County labor force has actually decreased since
2006, by 450 jobs — an 8.8 percent drop. Yet the unemploy-
ment rate is the same as the state’s 4.5 percent, below the na-
tional average of 4.7 percent.
The county’s unemployment rate is 11th lowest in the state,
tied with Tillamook County. Corvallis, home to Oregon State
University, at 3.3 percent, is the lowest; Grant County, at 8.8
percent, is the highest.
There were 3,551 total jobs in Seaside in 2014.
Top median household income goes to Gearhart, $50,179;
status seekers may be surprised to hear Astoria’s median in-
come is higher than that of Cannon Beach, $45,104 to $41,037.
Seaside falls behind at $41,037, but still beats Warrenton’s
$38,693.
Highest percent of residents 25 years and older by educa-
tional attainment is led by Cannon Beach. More than 13 percent
of its residents hold graduate or professional degrees. Another
26 percent are college grads. Seaside’s 11.2 percent with grad-
uate or professional degrees is the same rate as the state overall.
Of Seaside residents, 22.4 percent have some high school, 30.9
percent possess a high-school degree or equivalent and 24.9
percent hold bachelor degrees.
Gearhart’s residents are 51.7 married couples, slightly above
the Clatsop County average of 51.1 percent. About 47.6 percent
of Seaside residents are wed.
Which Clatsop County city has the youngest median age?
Warrenton wins by more than a decade, with a median age of
32.1. The average Seaside resident is 44.2 years old, Gearhart,
45.2 and Cannon Beach, 52.4 years not-so-young.
Manufacturing, public administration and fi nance and insur-
ance have the lowest housing turnover rates; accommodation
and food service are among the highest.
More females are employed in Seaside than males, 58.6 per-
cent to 41.4 percent.
The city’s housing crunch and employment needs are easily
R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Shawna Sykes analyzes data at a recent breakfast.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Median age by area in Clatsop County.
seen by the numbers: an aging, affl uent population of mostly
second homeowners who occupy the housing stock and drive
the demand for labor.
Sixty percent of the city’s housing units are vacant — yet the
city is unable to build for those who are here.
The state percentage of total housing units is that are vacant
is 10 percent. Yet Clatsop County has a 27 percent vacancy rate.
Cannon Beach stands at 60 percent vacant, Gearhart, 58 percent
and Seaside 37 percent. About two-thirds of the county’s hous-
ing is used for seasonal, recreational or occasional use.
Only 10.8 percent of homes are available for rental.
I’m trying to fi gure out what this all means.
In a June Wall Street Journal piece, a headline reads: “In
era of big data, storytelling matters more than ever.” It was ad-
dressed to the advertising industry, but it could impact all of us
as we translate the mountains of data before us.
What are our own stories, and how do the dots connect? How
do our habits, our occupations and our education shape not only
ourselves, but those around us?
Would the profi le of an average Seaside resident be a 44-year-
old female with a high-school degree working in the hospitality
industry looking for an affordable rental?
For more data or to fi nd employment in Clatsop County,
visit workforceoregon.gov. The workforce center is located at
450 Marine Drive in Astoria; 503-325-4821.
How timber revenues are worth fi ghting for
H
ere’s my best effort to explain a com-
plex set of circumstances to better in-
form public opinion and discussion.
Things got more complicated in March
when the Linn County Board of Commis-
sioners fi led a class action breach of contract
lawsuit against the state of Oregon and the
state Forestry Department. Why does this
matter? Because it’s about money. A lot of
money, and it’s money that pays for our
public services.
Timber revenue from forest trust lands
counties, including the “big gorilla” of Clat-
sop County, is what provides timber revenue
to the counties and specifi c taxing districts
within these counties.
Why does this matter to you? Because
all these governmental entities need ade-
quate and stable income to provide public
services like fi re protection, public health,
county roads, public education, health district
services, law enforcement, recreation, and
others.
I want to linger a bit in the legal weeds,
because you’ll be seeing even more letters to
the editors of local newspapers as time goes
on. You’ve already heard the phrase, “Cut
more trees, cut more trees, cut more trees!”
repeated as a mantra in the 2014 county com-
PUBLISHER
EDITOR
Steve Forrester
R.J. Marx
GUEST COLUMN
LIANNE THOMPSON
missioner election in Clatsop County.
Is cutting more trees the answer to our
need for adequate and reliable revenue for
our public agencies? Let’s talk.
The trust agreement between the 15 Forest
Trust Land counties and the state of Oregon
has been found twice before by the courts to
be a contractual agreement.
The gist of the current lawsuit is that the
defi nition of “greatest permanent value”
has been changed unilaterally by the State
as it has drawn up its administrative rules to
govern forest practices.
“Greatest permanent value” used to mean
mainly that the maximum timber revenue
should be realized from timber sales on the
trust land forests. Recreation and watershed
protection have always been a part of the
“greatest permanent value” consideration, but
their role was secondary.
The next legal issue is whether or not
the 15 Forest Trust Land counties and
those relevant taxing districts constitute
members of a class for a class-action
lawsuit.
Why should you even want to bother
understanding all this? Because we’re in the
midst of a community conversation that will
determine our economic, ecological, and
cultural landscape. Elected and appointed
policy makers do the best we can in this
democratic republic to make and implement
good public policy. We can’t do it alone.
Members of the broader community
help us determine what that is. Of course
the courts play a role. But lawsuits are blunt
instruments of public policy. A better way is
to have profound and signifi cant public pol-
icy discussions about these issues so that we
form ourselves into a connected, inclusive,
and thoughtful community.
We need an economy that supports
public services and provides good jobs.
We need a beautiful world with air we can
breathe, water we can drink, and healthy
means of producing food, goods, and
services. The answer for how we do that
requires all of us thinking, speaking, and
acting together.
Lianne Thompson is Clatsop County
Commissioner, District 5.
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Brandy Stewart
Reminiscences
from the America
I grew up in
n a Friday in May, I had a visit from my
niece Judy Wharton (Betty’s daughter) and
her husband Mike up from Cottonwood,
California to take advantage of the clam tides
during their regular vacation time. I went with
them for
lunch to the
Circle Creek
Trailer
SCENE & HEARD
Camp south CLAIRE LOVELL
of town
where they
are during
their stay.
Arriving later was Bob Nystrom, Judy’s cousin and
Jimmy and Sandi Ober, her brother and sister-in-
law from Rio Dell, California. We enjoyed their
company in the sunshine outside their mobile home.
When my friend Judy Parish brought me home
from shopping last week, she ran her hand through
low hanging camellia leaves and unearthed a copy
of The Daily Astorian that had been thrown into the
bush. It was dated Feb. 17. Nothing new there really,
but the situation is better now. They put my paper on
the front porch where I can more easily reach it. The
positive result of this discovery is that I had an extra
crossword puzzle. Yay!
The picture in the last Signal of people on the
beach on a warm day is a modifi ed scene of my grow-
ing up. It showed about 20 to 25 people and of course
that was just a small part. In my beach going days,
the sand was crowded with blankets and there were
hundreds of sun worshipers trying to get a tan. When
we were kids, we always thought that if you stayed in
the water long enough, it would warm up (ha!) or one
would become acclimated and endure. Somehow that
never happened. We’d get wet for a few minutes and
then go back to the sand to warm up. Wading was not
so traumatic — sometimes I wonder that all the kids
were allowed to go, unsupervised. As an adult, I took
my kids to the beach but we didn’t go in the water.
I was truly heartened one day when in watching
“The Five” I saw a baseball audience (was it Cleve-
land?) where everyone sang the National Anthem.
The soloist had pitched it low and people joined in
happily, a past common occurrence, which I have
always advocated. It was wonderful! The America I
grew up in.
The memorial ad in The Daily Astorian for the
June 21, 1942, shelling of Ft. Stevens brought back
many memories. I was in my third month of bed rest
for rheumatic fever at my sister Blanche’s house on
5th and Jackson streets. My fi ancé, who later became
my husband, was on duty in the radio shack when
the shells began coming in — 17 of them. I heard the
sound but didn’t realize what it was. I’ve forgotten
the time, although it seems like it was evening. The
paper said Saturday and Sunday, the 18th and 19th,
there would be a Pacifi c Rim Peace Memorial from
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Battery Russell. When my friend
Judy and I arrived about 2 p.m. on Sunday, they were
packing up to decamp.
O
Laugh Line
A little boy asked his mother, “How was I born?”
And she answered, “The stork brought you.” Then
he asked, “How were you born?” She told him, “The
stork brought me.”
Finally he asked his grandmother, “Gramma,
how were you born?” And she answered, “The stork
brought me.”
Evidently the questions were a show and tell
assignment for school because next day the teacher
asked him how his family came to be and he said,
“There hasn’t been a natural birth in my family for
three generations!”
Q: Why do some people not like Sunday school
teachers?
A: They tend to be Babylon.
LETTERS
Angry about the anger
Today’s world really seems like it is going to hell
in a hand-basket. Why is there so much hate and an-
ger spewed out of the politician on the GOP side?
That hate and anger only begets more hate and anger.
It is a vicious circle.
Isn’t life hard enough in the world, without mak-
ing more people hate more people? Really. His mind
must be warped by all his money and privilege. He is
so used to getting his own way that it is beyond him
to believe he might not be in charge of everything.
That he will lose to a woman, of all things. He thinks
so little of the opposite sex that it is driving him cra-
zier than he already is.
The problem with all this craziness is he is taking
his followers with him. They have lost hope in their
own lives, and are turning to him to fi nd themselves
because they are lost. Only those who are lost would
follow this guy. I feel sorry for them, as they cannot
think for themselves and need someone to tell them
what to do. How sad is that? These people are follow-
ing a reality star, for God’s sake.
I’m sure God has nothing to do with this, as he
likes to presume. He is a complete fake. There is
nothing religious in his plans for this country. He
will take us right into war and destruction. The rich
will get richer, and the poor will get poorer. The only
thing to trickle-down is something we won’t want to
be under.
Seaside Signal
Letter policy
The Seaside Signal
is published every
other week by
EO Media Group,
1555 N. Roosevelt,
Seaside, OR 97138.
503-738-5561
seasidesignal.com
The Seaside Signal welcomes letters to the
editor. The deadline is noon Monday prior to
publication. Letters must be 400 words or less
and must be signed by the author and include a
phone number for verifi cation. We also request
that submissions be limited to one letter per
month. Send to 1555 N. Roosevelt Drive,
Seaside, OR 97138, drop them off at 1555 N.
Roosevelt Drive or fax to 503-738-9285.
Or email rmarx@seasidesignal.com
See Letters, Page 5A
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