SEASIDESIGNAL.COM
OUR 112th YEAR • June 8, 2018
Center
breaks
ground in
Seaside
» SAFETY EVENT DRAWS A CROWD «
Shovels hit the dirt as
renovation officially
begins
By R.J. Marx
Seaside Signal
Back in 1970, no one was sure if the
$300,000 construction bond for the Seaside
Civic and Convention Center would ever
pay off.
“It was very controversial back in the
day to invest that kind of money,” Mayor
Jay Barber said. “People wondered, ‘Who’s
going to come to Seaside?’”
With the formation of a convention cen-
ter committee, the building opened its doors
the next fall and has entertained thousands
of guests. Over the years, there have been
two upgrades, in 1986 and 1991.
Without upgrades, the convention cen-
ter would be unable to compete with other
venues throughout the state and Northwest
region, general manager Russ Vandenberg
told city councilors last summer.
See Launch, Page 6A
EVE MARX
Ricky Rutkowski, 3½, loves his firefighter gear and spending time with his grandmother at the Seaside firehouse.
Heineman
tapped as
new director
of tourism
Poised to start in July
SEASIDE SAFETY FAIR
Child car seat inspections,
free smoke alarm program
By R.J. Marx
Seaside Signal
K
ids and their families received an inside look
at fire safety and prevention on Saturday, June
2, at the Seaside Safety Fair. They also found
volunteers ready to inspect child car seats,
provide information on free smoke alarm in-
stallation and offer a wide net of safety services.
“North Coast Safe Kids is a group of agencies
throughout Clatsop County that protect the safety of
kids and families,” Division Chief Chris Dugan said
at the fair. “What we have here is a number of private
and public agencies that promote public safety.”
This was the 15th year of the event, he added.
Volunteers and staff from the Masonic Temple,
Medix, Pacific Power, LifeFlight, the Red Cross
and the Seaside Fire Department participated in the
event, which ran from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Broad-
way firehouse.
EVE MARX
Water rescue equipment on display at the Seaside Safety Fair.
By R.J. Marx
Seaside Signal
Seaside chose Joshua Heineman as di-
rector of tourism and marketing May 25.
The position is
charged
with
leading and di-
recting the city’s
tourism promo-
tion and manage-
ment. Jon Rahl,
former director,
was named assis-
tant city manager
in April.
“We’re ex-
R.J. MARX
tremely
excit-
ed about Josh- Josh Heineman was
ua joining our named Seaside’s
team,” said Rus- director of tourism
sell Vandenberg, marketing among four
general manager candidates.
for the Seaside
Convention Center and Visitors Bureau, in
a statement.
Vandenberg praised Heineman’s “level
of energy, motivation and commitment to
community and collaboration that we felt
was a perfect fit for both the city and our
marketing efforts.”
PAID
PERMIT NO. 97
ASTORIA, OR
PRSRT STD
US POSTAGE
See Heineman, Page 6A
Rising star of Seaside’s interior design scene
Interior designer
and architect makes
her mark
By Eve Marx
For Seaside Signal
EVE MARX
Amanda Laird provides a tour of a home
she recently renovated.
She was only in third grade when
Amanda Laird knew what she wanted
to do when she grew up.
“Design was what intrigued me,”
she said. “It stuck with me like noth-
ing else.”
Amanda Michelle Laird is a born-
and-bred Seasider. She grew up in Sun-
set Hills and graduated from Seaside
High School with the Class of 2005.
She graduated from the University of
Oregon with a degree in architecture.
While still a student, she bought and
renovated a house in Eugene, which
was her first major project.
Returning to the coast in 2011,
Laird was first was employed by To-
lavana Architects in Cannon Beach
where she was hired to work on the
Mo’s renovation. It was a rough time
for architects and instead of hiring,
most firms were laying off. Undaunt-
ed, she next found work as a designer
for Sesame & Lilies.
“I did kitchens, staging, we did a
house in Cannon Beach,” Laird said.
In 2014 Laird began doing her own
thing. Her first company, which is still
going strong, became Brass & Ink, a
luxury tags and label business. She also
started two other businesses, Amanda
Laird Design and Pacific Lux Homes.
“Brass & Ink was my focus,: Laird
said. “I threw myself into building
that business.” An opportunity arose
to purchase and renovate an antique
home in Seaside on Ninth Street.
Although she started out with a
contracting partner, Laird soon de-
termined she’d be doing a lot of the
work herself.
“I laid tile. I caulked. I did all the
interior painting,” she said. She was
no stranger to physical work having
done so much of it on the Eugene
house.
HGTV flew out in 2010 to film her
working on the Eugene house, Laird
said. She got the idea to purchase and
renovate a house because she had
her college costs covered by scholar-
ships. “Obama was offering that first
time homeowner tax credit,” she said.
“I missed the deadline by three days,
so I wasn’t able to take advantage.”
Undaunted, she got her father
to co-sign a loan; not long after she
caught the attention of producers for
a DIY Network show called “Ren-
ovation Realities,” an HGTV sister
network, who gave her $3,000 which
she used to pay for a wood floor. The
production company filmed an ep-
isode of her working on the kitchen.
See Laird, Page 7A
