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About Seaside signal. (Seaside, Or.) 1905-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 30, 2019)
A6 • Friday, August 30, 2019 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com SignalViewpoints An insider’s tour of convention center SEEN FROM SEASIDE R.J. MARX A s the clock winds down, the $15 million Seaside Civic and Conven- tion Center expansion and renova- tion project will come to a close after 15 months. A public reopening of the building is scheduled for Sept. 5. In early August, Convention Center Gen- eral Manager Russ Vandenberg led a tour through the center as it wound down its fi nal phases. At the concession center, a fryer has been added for food service. A sliding over- hanging door will close the area from view when it is closed. Restrooms have been expanded with added stalls and moved from the east cor- ner closer to the center of the lobby. Two restrooms remain in place in the west corner. Flexibility is a key to the renovation, Vandenberg said, with movable walls and dividers to enable adaptable use, includ- ing lobby check-in areas and registration booths. “The client can decide on that,” he said. The 6,500-square-foot Necanicum Room overlooks the Necanicum River and the expanded sidewalk area, with new over- head LED lighting and carpet tiles. The power now comes from the fl oor rather than the ceiling. Before everything had to be dropped down. “Now everything is a cleaner application for the trade shows,” Vandenberg said. The new fl oor covers all public spaces, with the exception of the 10,500-square- foot Pacifi c Room, which has a concrete fl oor. The Pacifi c Room fl oor received a complete sanding, charcoal staining and lacquered fi nish, Vandenberg said. In the larger Pacifi c Room, ceiling mounted projectors can display on drop- down screens. The project added about 50 Wi-Fi rout- ers, along with additional outlets and wiring throughout the building. A kitchen area at the southwest corner of the fi rst fl oor enables greater ease of access for serving meals. Upstairs, the Sand Dollar rooms received an update and remodeling. “They weren’t used a lot, because they weren’t sound- proof,” he said. “Now, these walls are soundproof.” Russ Vandenberg, general manager of the Seaside Civic and Convention Center, leads an August tour. SOFFIT, SIDEWALKS, OUTDOOR LIGHTING REMAIN Construction worker in the main lobby. Work is expected to be completed at the end of the month. “This is a zero-sum changeover,” Vanden- berg said. Work on the convention center’s $15 million expansion and renovation project began early last summer. Vandenberg said he anticipates one additional change order of about $36,000 for a new sidewalk on the east side of the building and bollard lighting fi xtures to illuminate the river path. Vandenberg ex- pects a contingency balance of $115,000 at the project’s conclusion. That does not include an additional art budget of $150,000 that will be used to hire an art curator and artwork, which will happen in about a six-month period after construction is completed. New lighting in the Necanicum Room. Upstairs areas offer room for overfl ow seating and pre-function location for events like high school graduation or the Miss Oregon Scholarship Pageant, he said. The corner “Sunset Room” offers views and breakout space for clients. A former freight elevator has seen upgrades to also accommodate public use. In upstairs hallways, acoustic panels pro- vide better sound “so noise doesn’t bounce off the walls.” The upstairs Riverside Room can be confi gured into three rooms, with a capac- ity of 250 people. An elevator runs to the downstairs kitchen. Overall, there are 13 separate breakout rooms, he said. The new Sunrise Room also offers meet- ing space upstairs. New storage areas upstairs eliminate the need for workers to bring everything from fl oor to fl oor. The public is invited to the Sept. 5 reopening, from 4 to 6 p.m., with a presen- tation and guided tours. “I’m really proud of this project,” Van- denberg said, the tour ending where it became, at the northwest entrance. A gastronomic tour of Portland: coffee, schnitzel, anchovies and more VIEW FROM THE PORCH EVE MARX W e don’t get into Portland very often but when we are there, we eat. While our friends on the coast tend to head into Portland to shop, see specialty doc- tors, visit grandkids, hit the airport, as gastrophiles, my husband and I expe- rience Portland entirely through our mouths. Our son and daughter in law, who are also very food oriented, enjoy indulging us in our habits. We drove in to Portland the day after the much feared and anticipated white nationalists rally. All over the news we learned the city was braced for the event; thankfully nothing ter- rible happened. I was pretty annoyed by news coverage describing anyone who went to the rally as either “Far Right or Far Left.” Ordinary people peacefully protesting white national- ism were labeled as extremists. And, for the record, if you’re not anti-Fas- cist doesn’t that make you pro-Fas- cist? We discussed this on the patio of Wayfi nder Beer as Mr. Sax and I split a Black Lodge sandwich. This sand- wich is smoked prime rib, beer cheese, grilled peppers and onion on a French roll. My daughter-in-law had a beau- tiful salad Nicoise made of yellowfi n tuna, green beans, egg, tomato, Yukon gold potatoes, olives, and anchovies over a bed of arugula. My son, always a hearty eater, had a chicken schnitzel sandwich on ciabatta bread. We all had beers. It was pretty great. We wandered around the Southeast Second Avenue neighborhood for a short while before ducking in to Never Coffee on Southeast Belmont. First we made a pit stop to their home to PUBLISHER EDITOR Kari Borgen R.J. Marx Delivery of a metal soffi t panels will delay exterior work 30 days at the Seaside Civic and Convention Center, the center’s gener- al manager Russ Vandenberg told mem- bers of the Seaside City Council Aug. 26. Eve Marx Half a “Godfather” sandwich from The Baker’s Mark in Portland. let the old dog out to pee and to bring the young dog with us. We brought the min-pin to the coffee shop, which meant we sat outdoors. My daugh- ter-in-law got a signature latte. I stuck to an Americano. The drinks menu at Never Coffee is very intriguing with offerings like the Holy Grail, a bev- erage infused with turmeric, ginger, and orange blossom water topped with local cherrywood smoked honey, tell- icherry pepper, and Jacobsen sea salt. I was tempted to try the Rich Kid, which is a concoction of rose water, saffron and cardamom, as well as the Hug, a heady combination of spicy cacao, smoked chilis, and cinnamon. My son only drinks black, unsweet- ened ice coffee straight up. After a visit to the Burnside Skate Park where we watched amazing stunts, a few hours later we waited outside for a table for close to an hour at Ken’s Artisan Pizza on South- east 28th. The hour passed quickly as I couldn’t get enough people watch- ing. The people in Portland are for the most part quite attractive. The pies are worth the wait (they take no reserva- tions) as they are thin-crust, wood- PRODUCTION MANAGER CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Jeremy Feldman John D. Bruijn ADVERTISING SALES MANAGER SYSTEMS MANAGER Sarah Silver- Tecza Carl Earl Skyler Archibald Darren Gooch Joshua Heineman Rain Jordan Katherine Lacaze Eve Marx Cara Mico Esther Moberg Mayor Jay Barber and city councilors unan- imously approved the change orders. “There were some doubts on this panel that you can’t hold to that budget — but you did,” Barber said. “That is an amazing accomplishment for you and the construc- tion company, O’Brien, and all the people that worked on this project.” “We’re on budget, with a little delay of time,” Vandenberg said. “I think we’re mov- ing along very nicely.” LETTERS TO THE EDITOR fi red, blister-crusted marvels. We started with an appetizer of four exqui- site baby meatballs and then shared three different pies. There were no leftovers. The next morning our son had some working conference calls to make, so our daughter in law escorted us to one of her favorite coffee shops in their Hawthorne neighborhood, Oui Presse. They make a dreamy coffeecake that has real coffee in it. The shop also has a great selection of newspapers and magazines and the French Presse cof- fee is excellent. We took a breather from eating and drove to Mt. Tabor Park where in the company of the younger dog, we took a brief if challenging walk. Our house in Seaside is a one-level affair and it’s been awhile since I have climbed a lot of stairs. The idea of more food made me feel a little sick but we pushed on to meet up with our son who had fi n- ished his work call and was ready for his lunch break. Our fi nal dining destination was The Baker’s Mark on Southeast 12th and Division. If you haven’t been, this is an awesome place. Our son recom- mended the Godfather, a monster sub- marine-style sandwich made of Genoa salami, prosciutto, capicola, ham, mortadella and provolone which was dressed with mayo, mustard, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, Italian dress- ing, and pepper salad, i.e. “the works.” Mr. Sax and I split it and despite my complete lack of hunger, I ate every bite. For the past week I’ve been doing double duty on my sit ups and try- ing to walk a lot. I still can’t close my snuggest pants. A trip to Portland is a treat but I’m glad I don’t eat like that very often. Meanwhile, I’m going to try to duplicate that salad nicoise if I can fi nd arugula at the Seaside Farm- er’s Market. CIRCULATION MANAGER The schedule delay will not change plans for the open house scheduled Sept. 5. Beach safety policies in Seaside need changing I intend to dismiss my suit against the city (see “Seaside drowning suit,” A-1). The suit was my way of fulfi lling an obligation I felt to Conner. The last act I could do for him, defend his character and try to ensure this did not happen to anyone else. I fi led this suit hoping to change the policies of the city of Seaside. How- ever, for my own well-be- ing, I am not continuing this effort. Instead I will describe the circumstances and trust the residents of Seaside to appropriately change the city’s policies. I appreciate the efforts of the hospital staff, the support of the funeral home and the compassion shown by everyone I met at Seaside, after my son died. I am grateful life- guards were able to rescue my nephew and recover my son’s body. However, this tragedy could have been avoided. I know that if warning fl ags were on that beach, the boys would not have gone into the water. My son drown directly in front of the lifeguard tower at the foot of Broad- way. Just the day before two people were rescued in that same vicinity. We later learned this dan- gerous area was created by spring storms, which carved a 100-foot wide hole, with an abrupt drop- off, in the ocean fl oor. My nephew described fi ght- ing against ocean currents that pulled him underwa- ter. While media reports stated warning fl ags were at the water’s edge, fl ags were placed there only after my son died. Given the public restrooms and manned lifeguard tower, this appears to be a desig- nated swimming area. City policies should be imple- mented that warn visitors of dangerous ocean con- ditions, especially at this location. The morning after my son died, Jon Rahl, as spokesman for Seaside, made a statement to the media. He disclosed both boys’ name, age, home city and reason for vis- iting Seaside. He stated they were transported to Providence Seaside Hos- pital, where my son died and that my nephew was released from the Port- land hospital where he had been fl own. Through court fi lings Seaside stated mak- ing these disclosures were part of Mr. Rahl’s job. The City Council should rethink having its spokes- man disclose this private information. It is hurt- ful that family and friends learned of my son’s death on the news. The environmental con- ditions causing my son’s death may never happen again. But if they do, I hope you will ensure the public is properly warned so that no other family suf- fers a similar tragedy. L. Nicole Moore Tulsa, Oklahoma Seaside Signal Letter policy Subscriptions The Seaside Signal is published every other week by EO Media Group, 1555 N. Roosevelt, Seaside, OR 97138. 503-738-5561 seasidesignal.com Copyright © 2019 Seaside Signal. Nothing can be reprinted or copied without consent of the owners. 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 Annually: $40.50 in county • $58.00 in and out of county • e-Edition: only $30.00 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Seaside Signal, P.O. Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103. Postage Paid at Seaside, OR, 97138 and at additional mailing offi ces. Copyright © 2019 by the Seaside Signal. No portion of this newspaper may be reproduced without written permission. All rights reserved.