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About Seaside signal. (Seaside, Or.) 1905-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 23, 2020)
OUR 113th Year October 23, 2020 SEASIDESIGNAL.COM $1.00 City sounds alarm on homelessness By R.J. MARX Seaside Signal Lana Santos, 9, creates a poster for the fundraiser during a Pacifi c Ridge Elementary School PTO meeting at Broadway Park on Oct. 6. PTO steps up at Pacific Ridge By KATHERINE LACAZE For Seaside Signal The Pacifi c Ridge Elementary PTO raised nearly $7,000 to help pur- chase Chromebooks for students during the orga- nization’s fi rst fundraiser since the PTOs from Gearhart Elementary School and The Heights Elementary School merged . The fundraiser involved one of the com- munity’s longstanding traditions: selling school discount cards fi lled with special offers from local businesses. The PTO had the cards printed in March. Normally, the stu- dents sell them via their various social circles or by going door-to-door. “The kids really like to be involved,” said Amber Clyde, who serves as co-president alongside Nina Biasi. “They love to raise money for their fi eld trips and their out- door school and their assemblies.” The fundraiser was halted with the start of the coronavirus pan- demic and subsequent closure of on-campus learning. Even this fall, the PTO realized the kids wouldn’t be able to sell the cards through their normal means while fol- lowing guidelines for social distancing. Instead, the organiza- tion’s leadership and vol- unteers took to the park- ing lot of the former Broadway Middle School on Oct. 9 to give commu- nity members the oppor- tunity to drive by and pick up a discount card, along with cookie dough for $5. Students stood on the side of U.S. Highway 101, cheering at passing cars and holding up hand- made sides advertising the sale. The PTO ran out of cookie dough during the event and made a signif- icant dent in the discount cards, which are being sold for $10 this year. In the past, both Gearhart and Seaside sold their own discount cards for $5. The cards this year merge the businesses and special offers typi- cally featured from year to year. “We’re just trying to get them out so we can support the businesses that are on the cards,” Biasi said. Even though the cards were put together in March, the businesses are under contract to honor their offer. However, the PTO has no way of enforcing that. “It’s kind of out of our control,” Biasi said, add- ing it even happens in non-COVID years that businesses will renege on their offer, particularly if they change ownership. Community members who didn’t get a chance to purchase a discount card during the fundraiser can do so at the Seaside School District offi ce, the Seaside Chamber of Commerce and busi- nesses in town. To form the PTO for the new Pacifi c Ridge Elementary School, the Gearhart PTO was dis- solved and the group changed the name of the Seaside Heights PTO. They started the process of merging at the begin- ning of the year and made it offi cial over the sum- mer by combining their monies and fi ling as a 501(c)(3) under the new name. “We’ve been able to work together to plan which events we want to keep,” Biasi said. At the beginning of the merger , they sent out a survey to teachers and families to get a sense of which were the most beloved traditions of each organization. “It was important to us to see what they liked as our fundraisers or fun event,” Clyde said. About 90 people responded. The top two answers were the bingo night at the Heights and the family fun fair at Gearhart. The Pacifi c See PTO, Page A7 Seaside Mayor Jay Bar- ber sounded an alarm about chronic homeless- ness, with people living on the wooded fringes of the city and increasing num- bers of people setting up camps in local forests and woods. “In not all of these cases but in many of these there is evidence of drug usage and concerns about the possibility of prostitution being conducted,” Barber said at last Monday’s City Council meeting. Many of those who are homeless have mental health problems, substance abuse addictions and may have fallen on diffi cult economic times, he said. While organizations like Helping Hands and others proactively address the homeless situation, most of the homeless peo- ple encountered in Sea- side don’t want to become involved in these pro- grams, either because of addictions or other life- style issues, Barber said. Police Chief Dave Ham agreed there has been an increase in homelessness in Seaside. “Many factors contrib- ute to this, but what we see from our police contacts is that many of the people we See Homelessness, Page A6 No parking zone proposed on parts of Sunset Boulevard By R.J. MARX Seaside Signal In a move aimed to protect dog-walkers, bicyclists and pedestri- ans, the Seaside Trans- portation Advisory Com- mission recommended a parking reduction on the west side of Sunset Boulevard. “When vehicles are parked along the curb, it reduces the drive lane to less than 8 feet in width,” Public Works Direc- tor Dale McDowell said. “Vehicles are forced to drive into the oncom- ing lane to go around the parked cars. You come around the corner and all of a sudden you are on top of somebody.” He said homeowners have been notified of the proposed change between 3000 Sunset Blvd and 3182 Sunset Blvd. “We wanted to get as much input as we pos- sibly could,” McDowell said. “We’re looking to get as much input as we can before we take any parking aware anyplace.” The proposed change came before the City Council last Monday night. A significant amount of curb line along the See Parking, Page A6 SEASIDE SCHOOL DISTRICT Distance learning extended as virus cases persist By KATHERINE LACAZE For Seaside Signal Katherine Lacaze The PTO raised more than $7,000 and will continue to sell discount cards around Seaside. Seaside schools will not be shifting to a hybrid model with on-campus instruc- tion by Oct. 26 because of the number of coronavirus cases in Clatsop County. Students will con- tinue with Comprehensive Distance Learning until the county’s number of COVID-19 cases decline and meet state health requirements for in-person learning. “It is our highest priority to be able to bring students back in school, but when it is safe to do so,” Super- intendent Susan Penrod said during Tuesday’s Sea- side School District board meeting. She made a recommen- dation to the board of direc- tors to extend Compre- hensive Distance Learning See Classes, Page A6 Halloween Happenin’s brings old favorites, new events R.J. MARX Seaside Signal Health restrictions as a result of the coronavi- rus pandemic have lim- ited Halloween activities everywhere, but the Seaside Downtown Development Association is making sure no one is feeling deprived, with a full schedule of activ- ities both new and tradi- tional throughout the Hal- loween weekend. For organizers of the association’s annual Hal- loween Happenin’s, this year is the opportunity to celebrate a carnival. “The most promi- nent change is the carni- val aspect,” Dawn Fuji- wara-Pavlik, a member of the association board and Halloween committee, said. “In the past, businesses would host different activi- ties in their businesses. This year, we will spread out can- opies out at Quatat Park. Participating businesses will host their own activity.” Activities include bean bag tosses, sand dollar painting and a tic-tac-toe game, among others. “This set-up allows us to social distance and keep the storefronts less congested,” Fujiwara-Pavlik said. Donations will be accepted in lieu of any fees. The fi rst “Witches Pad- dle” event takes place at Quatat Park on Nov. 1 at 2 p.m., with visitors invited to dress like a witch or war- lock, bring their favorite fl oatable device and fl oat the Necanicum River. “We are encouraging participants to dress up as witches or warlocks and bring their stand-up board or kayak or anything that fl oats to paddle out from the launch at Quatat Park,” Fujiwara-Pavlik said. “The Halloween com- mittee has done a fantas- tic job adhering to all the guidelines for events for our COVID restrictions,” executive director Laurie Mespelt added. Events kick off next Sat- urday on Halloween with the pet parade at Quatat Park. Registration starts at 10 a.m. Donations of pet food or other pet goods to benefi t Angels for Sara Courtesy Tiff any Boothe/Seaside Aquarium See Halloween, Page A7 Participant in a previous Halloween pet parade.