June 23, 2017 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com • 5A
November election spurs candidate to redouble efforts
I
cried on Election Night last fall.
Reeling from the affront to our
Democracy, I was disappointed
to see the Republican message go
on the attack, calling the millions
of voices that rose up “crybabies.”
It was so sexist, so banal, so over
— assuming and uninformed. Yes,
I cried, but I also committed to
stay active, stay informed, and stay
involved.
On Jan. 9, I was one of over
3 million people, the so-called
“crybabies,” that marched against
misogyny and in support of human
rights, flexing the abused muscles
GUEST COLUMN
A.J. WAHL
of our democracy. I saw the faces of
women who have marched before,
and through decades of setbacks
and insults, they have seen progress.
One woman, in her 70s, wearing
a suffragette outfit and a calm,
determined smile, will live forever
in my memory. She reminded me of
my grandmother, who wrote letters
to her elected officials while on her
lunch break as an elementary teacher.
These women, and so many women
before, have improved the world for
me and the girls following in our
footsteps.
Now it is my responsibility
to lead. I’ve put my legal career,
business career, and political career
on hold in order to raise my two
daughters. Along with my husband,
we live in a town of about 6,000
people on the coast of Oregon. Given
the state of our country, I can’t be
completely on hold any longer. I
watch my daughters sleep and play
in the innocence of youth, and I
feel a duty to protect them. To serve
them. To lead them.
I mobilized. I called my local
Democratic Party, and I ran for local
school board. I announced my candi-
dacy with my two-year old daughter
on my shoulders. As she played with
my hair and slapped me on the head,
I declared to a room of new faces
that I was dedicated to my commu-
nity, ready to get involved, and I
asked for their vote. It was terrifying,
but invigorating. I am now a part of
something much larger than myself,
and together with the millions of em-
powered men and women across the
country, we can correct this course.
I just lost my election, but I didn’t
cry. My opponent was a mother and
business owner in the community.
We had six candidates running for
four positions on the local school
board, and of those candidates, four
of them were women. Compared to
the special election two years ago,
voter participation increased 12
percent. I may have lost this race, but
I’m not done. And I’m not the only
one. Yesterday, we marched. Today,
we run. Crybabies? Ha. Just watch
what happens next.
LETTERS
Vacation rental owners
sustain Gearhart
The City of Gearhart was
historically advertised as a
“Destination Resort City.”
Its residents (full-timers) has
always been fewer than its
number of property owners
(part-timers). In the Gearhart
Comprehensive Plan of Goals
and Policies of 1994 and
the draft revision of 2016,
both full time residents and
property owners are consis-
tently mentioned in the same
sentence conveying the intent
of “equality” in city matters.
In Jeanne Mark’s letter posted
on May 26 (Seaside Signal),
she refers to David Townsend
repeatedly throughout her
letter as “not a resident” of
Gearhart inferring that he
is of a lower status because
of that. The Clatsop County
property tax record for the
fiscal year 2016 shows Mr.
Townsend paid property
taxes of $11,830.11 of which
$1,760.53 went directly to
the city of Gearhart. Ms.
Mark paid a total property tax
debt for the same period of
$4,066.53 of which $605.19
went directly to Gearhart.
Thus, Mr. Townsend, as only
a “property owner” paid near-
ly three times more money
directly to Gearhart than full
time resident Ms. Mark. The
“property owners” are the
goose who lays the golden
egg for the full-time residents
of Gearhart.
In my immediate neigh-
borhood in Gearhart, there
are 22 homes, of which six
are occupied by full time
residents, the remaining are
second homes to those who
reside in other cities, states
and countries at least part of
the time. This ratio exceeds
3.5 times more part time
households paying for full
time city “services.” Services
they enjoy only occasionally.
This additional contribution
of funds going directly to
Gearhart has allowed all full-
time city employees to enjoy
a “Cadillac health coverage
plan” (the term used by City
Manager Chad Sweet). It also
includes, paid health cover-
age for each of their family
members. Many of these em-
ployees are not residents of
Gearhart and don’t contribute
through property tax channels
to their income lifestyle. It’s
easy to see that our “lifestyle
cost” as residents and our city
employees have part time
resident property owners to
thank.
Without part time,
property owners dollars, the
extravagant spending by our
city would fall directly back
on full time residents. These
extra tax dollars, and now
short-term rental license fees
required from some of these
people, has created an insu-
lating financial cushion for
Gearhart to work with.
So where has this extra
money gone besides City
salaries and benefits? Records
show that we had a savings
as a city a decade ago when
we had less bias against
factions with different views
(Ms. Mark’s letter is a recent
example). Gearhart doesn’t
publish a timely treasurer’s
report, either on its web
site or on its blog. We have
incurred exorbitant legal
costs and no city in Oregon
has higher name familiarity
with the Land Use Board of
Appeals than Gearhart. A
costly distinction. How could
this have happened without
strong, local bias geared
against genuine local conflict
resolution?
Gearhart has just held
an emergency meeting to
instill a tax to fix our roads,
implying we don’t have
the money saved for these
expenses. Now is the time for
more fiscal responsibility and
restraint, shed bias and work
toward restoring the harmony
Gearhart used to have.
Harold T. Gable, DMD
Gearhart
Time for reality check
Seaside is considering
forming another urban
renewal area. The area would
consist of approximately 25
percent of the city of Seaside
and would include property
located generally east of
the Necanicum River in the
central portion of the city.
Urban renewal is not a new
tax it just rearranges property
tax revenues so that a kitty
is formed over time to allow
projects to be funded which
will encourage the elimina-
tion of “blight” and increase
the speed and intensity of
development. The kitty will
not come from some “angel
in the sky.” It will come from
reducing and redirecting
the level of school instruc-
tion funds and public safety
funding that we are now
receiving.
At a recent public
meeting, the city identified
potential projects within the
new redevelopment area. The
city stated that the projects
that are the most important
are those that provide utilities
and roads in support of the
consolidated school project.
City consultants were on
hand to explain that this is not
a bond and that the process
is incremental and it takes a
number of years to build up
kitty funds before projects
can be funded. But the con-
solidated schools project is on
a three to four year construc-
tion schedule. There is no
possible way to successfully
open the new schools without
having the roads and utilities
built to support this opening.
This redeveloped financing
is completely unsuitable for
providing the necessary infra-
structure in a timely manner
for opening the schools in
three to four years.
The city also identified
that redevelopment financing
would support the seismic
improvements of our bridges
in this area, which would
allow residents, and visitors
to escape to safety should a
Cascadia event occur. These
improvements are required
now and not 20 to 30 years
down the road when and if
the kitty is big enough.
The most important piece
of infrastructure in this new
redevelopment area is High-
way 101. Improvement of
the highway is funded by the
state of Oregon. Many of us,
including Oregon Department
of Transportation, certainly
NORTH COAST DOOR CO.
remember that the citizens of
Seaside turned down ODOT’s
plan for $50 million worth of
roadway changes. Business
development and redevelop-
ment along Highway 101 is
the key to making redevel-
opment financing perform in
this area. The state is unlikely
to propose another highway
improvement plan after it was
forced to waste $5 million of
your tax money on the last
one. Also, population growth
of Seaside is zero and much
of local and regional business
development is relocating to
Warrenton. Without popula-
tion and business growth and
highway improvement, there
will be nothing to make a re-
development project success-
ful in this area.
But near term financing
is absolutely necessary for
school infrastructure and
bridge improvements. In my
opinion, the key to solving
this problem is in the hands
of the school district. They
have been presented with an
alternative plan for our school
project that saves you $50
million, meets all of the kid’s
schooling and safety require-
ments and eliminates the need
for additional millions of this
road and utility improvement
that you the taxpayers are
now being required to spend
over and above the $100
million school bond.
I hope they have the guts
to remake their plan to one
that achieves success for the
kids while living with reality.
John Dunzer
Seaside
Support city’s stand
One hundred years ago,
Gearhart Park rejected its role
as a short-term destination
resort and declared itself
the city of Gearhart, a true
community of permanent and
seasonal homeowners and
long-term renters.
This month, that strate-
gy for reducing STRs and
increasing the availability of
permanent housing received
approval from the Oregon
Land Use Board of Appeals.
For the first time in this state,
and perhaps in the nation, a
city’s stand against destruc-
tion of its community through
profit-taking exploitation of
its single-family dwellings
was successfully defended at
the state level.
While this was a great vic-
tory for the city of Gearhart,
it wasn’t the final battle. Even
though the city’s law, care-
fully crafted by the planning
commission and city council
with tons of public input over
a three-year period, is already
working with resounding suc-
cess, a new threat looms on
the horizon in the form of a
petition to repeal and replace
that law.
Sponsored by California
political strategist David
Townsend, and circulated by
Gearhart residents Sarah Ne-
beker and Joy Sigler, the pe-
tition contains window-dress-
ing details (registration fee,
telephone contacts, safety
inspections, etc.) that make
it appear similar to the city
ordinance — though, unlike
the city ordinance, with no
penalties for violations.
Permitted occupation is
vastly increased, and the
septic requirements of the
city ordinance are eliminated;
vacation rentals will be free
to pollute the community’s
groundwater and make a mu-
nicipal sewer inevitable.
Its core provision, how-
ever, undermines the main
thing that the city’s ordi-
nance achieves: the repeal
and replace petition permits
unlimited short-term rentals,
regardless of sale of property,
thus providing boundless
opportunities for Vacasa,
Airbnb, and other speculators
already hungrily circling our
community, eager to trans-
form it back into the destina-
tion resort it had been before
1918.
But the petitioners need a
required number of signatures
in order to put this initia-
tive on the ballot. If you’ve
already signed it by mistake,
you’re entitled to ask them
to remove your name. If you
haven’t signed, they’ll be
knocking on your door, and
when they do, they won’t
show you the details; instead,
they’ll ask for your signa-
tures, whether you’re for it or
against it, “just to make sure
the people get to vote.”
At that point, ask your-
selves, “Should the destruc-
tion of the Gearhart commu-
nity as we know it become
a ballot measure, just so the
people get to vote on it?”
Bill Berg
Kent Smith
Gearhart
All we are asking for is a
vote. The question is, does
the ordinance restricting
short-term rentals in Gear-
hart, that was pushed through
by the city council, represent
the wishes of the majority
of Gearhart residents, or a
minority of residents exerting
their personal agenda?
The ordinance represents
dramatic and far-reaching
impact on personal property
rights and value, and deserves
to be voted on by the people
of Gearhart, not just decided
on by a city council.
Rental properties have
been an integral part of
Gearhart for generations; they
are crucial to the economy
and health of this commu-
nity. They provide jobs, tax
revenue and support local
businesses that could not
survive without them.
We recognize that there
are issues with overcrowding,
loud parties and septic, but
these should be handled on
an individual basis, not by
passing broad brush, onerous
legislation that eventually
eliminates these rentals by
disallowing their rental status
after a sale.
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