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
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