SEASIDESIGNAL.COM • COMPLIMENTARY COPY
OUR 111th YEAR • May 12, 2017
Tsunami safety, park preservation among main issues
Residents and city clash
over Gearhart fire station
Urban
renewal
offers
possibilities
School district, city
could see benefits
By R.J. Marx
Seaside Signal
The city plans to move forward with the
creation of an urban renewal area encom-
passing land along South Holladay, Ave-
nue S from U.S. Highway 101 east and the
southern section of Highway 101.
Funds could be used for bridge safety,
traffic improvements, property acquisitions
or affordable housing, among other poten-
tial projects.
“What we’re planning is what the city
is going to look like out 20 years,” Mayor
Jay Barber said after a community forum
Wednesday, May 3. “I’m excited about the
potential to get good community impact
and then plan for those next years.”
Urban renewal is a financing program
authorized under state law and implement-
ed locally that allows for the use of prop-
erty tax revenues to grow the economy in
blighted areas.
These typically contain sections of a
city which are underdeveloped and not
See Renewal, Page 6A
BRENNA VISSER/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Katharine Murphy voices her concern over considering Gearhart Park as a location for a new fire station.
Rec District
looks to
possible
building plan
By Brenna Visser
Seaside Signal
T
ensions ran high as Gearhart debated
Thursday, May 4, whether or not a new
fire station should be built on the back
half of Gearhart Park.
Residents expressed their discontent with
the park even being considered as an option.
The park honors Lesley Miller, the Gearhart
legend who helped secure the land to be a
park from the county in 1947.
“This is really our only open space,” said
Joy Sigler, who has lived in Gearhart since
1997. “And once it’s gone, it’s gone. I appre-
ciate the amount of time and planning that
went into this, but we are talking about a nat-
ural event that possibly wouldn’t happen for
another 100 years — that’s 100 years without
that open space.”
But members of a firehouse committee
said the park site offered the best chance for
safety in a Cascadia Subduction Zone event.
“When I first heard the park as an option,
I thought no way,” Firehouse Committee
Co-chairman Jay Speakman said. “That’s
where I began with this issue.”
But Speakman said research led “us to
believe this is the best we have. There is no
perfect solution.”
Older facilities, school
relocation spurs talk
By R.J. Marx
R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Gearhart’s firehouse fails to meet modern standards or accommodate need-
ed equipment.
Limited choices
About 70 residents packed the fire station
to ask questions and raise concerns about the
See Gearhart, Page 7A
Seaside Fire levy, see
PAGE 4A
R.J. MARX/SEASIDE SIGNAL
Parkland along Pacific Way and North Marion is under consideration as a
location for a new firehouse in Gearhart.
Seaside Signal
Members of the Sunset Empire Park
and Recreation District Board of Directors
could be evaluating the addition of a new
building or buildings, Executive Director
Skyler Archibald said.
“A lot of this is in the really early stag-
es of developing,” Archibald said of a fa-
cility plan. “We really need more indoor
recreation space for our fitness participants
as well as youth programs. It may be feasi-
ble to acquire space in the area, and we’ve
talked about the potential of middle school
property which would be available, or con-
structing a new building on our campus
area.
The pool is roughly 40 years old; the
youth center 20 years old, “maybe a little
older,” Archibald said.
In September, the district embarks on a
$120,000 project to resurface, polish and
add underwater lighting to the main pool.
“We’re excited about it, but also realize the
cost and the impact to our regular swim-
mers,” Archibald said.
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US POSTAGE
See SEPRD, Page 6A
Spread the love: Students seek to sprinkle joy, kindness
By Katherine Lacaze
For Seaside Signal
Seaside High School’s Breaking
the Silence group is preparing to douse
Seaside with messages of positivity
when they take to the streets for a Hap-
piness Sprinkling on May 24.
They will be marching with dozens
of their fellow students and teachers,
as well as any community members
who care to join. By carrying signs
with positive messages, wearing yel-
low, handing out paper stars to pass-
ers-by along the way and playing up-
lifting music, they hope to spread joy
and kindness in the community.
Shirley Yates, the faculty adviser
for the Seaside group, said the students
want “a climate change, where people
are all treated equal and with honor.”
The idea for the Happiness Sprin-
kling was borrowed from the Ana-
cortes Center for Happiness, which
put on a similar demonstration in
Anacortes, Washington, in May 2012.
Since then, the Happiness Sprinkling
Project has spread, first nationwide
and now worldwide.
Breaking the silence
After a public incident of bullying
at the high school earlier this year, a
few students were moved to establish
a group that would take a stand against
not only bullying but all forms of vi-
olence, prejudice and abuse, and also
provide a positive voice in the school
and larger community.
“You can’t control the way you
are,” said junior Celeste Kerr, who ini-
tiated the movement along with Jas-
mine Hewitt, Faythe Koontz and Brit-
tany Case. “We shouldn’t be ridiculed
in a school that’s supposed to be safe.
If it is a safe, healthy environment, it’s
not going to include that kind of stuff
in our lives.”
KATHERINE LACAZE/FOR SEASIDE SIGNAL
Seaside High School members, who call themselves Silence Breakers, are orga-
nizing a Seaside version of a Happiness Sprinkling starting at 2 p.m. May 24.
Student Aaron Kiser described how
too often at school, one will be looking at
other individuals and see that “something
is happening or someone is crying.”
See Sprinklers, Page 7A