Friday, August 13, 2021 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com • A3
Prom: ‘The Prom is the playground for everyone’
Continued from Page A1
anniversary of the Seaside
Promenade. “For instance,
you likely won’t fi nd a bath-
ing beauty parade today. In
Seaside in 1921, they had
prohibition. Now we’ve got
microbrews and pinot noir.”
David Reid, the exec-
utive director of the Asto-
ria-Warrenton Area Cham-
ber of Commerce, enacted
the role of Mayor E.N.
Hurd, the mayor who ush-
ered in Seaside’s greatest
milestone. Just as politicians
fl ocked to Seaside in 1921,
the Saturday centennial
anniversary hosted Johnson,
state Rep. Suzanne Weber,
Mayor Jay Barber and city
councilors, Cannon Beach
Mayor Sam Steidel, Gear-
hart Mayor Paulina Cock-
rum and others.
“It’s such an important
day, even the rain decided
to show up,” Joshua Heine-
man, director of tourism
marketing for the Seaside
Visitors Bureau, said. “I love
that.”
The Prom is 14 feet wide
and 1.5 miles long, and 24
blocks along the beach from
Avenue U to 12th Avenue.
The 1921 dedication drew
a crowd estimated between
25,000 to 40,000 people.
In years to come, the Prom
would become Seaside’s
premier visitor destination.
“The Prom is really what
has bonded the commu-
nity together,” Brian Owen,
CEO of the Seaside Cham-
ber of Commerce, said to
the crowd Saturday at the
Turnaround. “It’s what’s
given us a purpose for peo-
ple to come here to become
friends and to become fam-
ily. And hopefully to take a
piece of us back with them.
I look at everybody seated.
And these are all individuals
who have not only invested
in business, but invested
in the community with
relationships.”
Saturday
morning
kicked off with an anniver-
MESSAGE
FROM U.S.
REP. BONAMICI
Congresswoman Su-
zanne Bonamici sent this
message to the city on
the 100th anniversary of
the Prom. It was read by
her fi eld representative,
Ali Mayeda.
Jeff TerHar
David Reid, executive director of the Astoria-Warrenton Area Chamber of Commerce, portrays Seaside Mayor E.N. Hurd, who
ushered in the Promenade in 1921.
R.J. Marx
Steve Wright of the Seaside Museum & Historical Society holds
a plaque commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Prom.
Jeff TerHar
Museum board president Steve Wright and Mayor Jay Barber
bury the time capsule.
Jeff TerHar
Miss North Coast Caitlin Hillman and Miss North Coast
Outstanding Teen Emmy Huber.
sary parade featuring Sea-
side Fire and Rescue, fol-
lowed by Miss Oregon 2021
Abigail Hayes, Miss North
Coast Caitlin Hillman and
Miss North Coast Outstand-
ing Teen Emmy Huber,
among others. The parade
headed down Broadway,
featuring the Royal Rosar-
ians — the Portland-based
volunteer community ser-
vice group that played a big
role in the Prom’s dedication
100 years ago.
The Rosarians, dressed in
their traditional straw hats
and white uniforms, planted
a ceremonial rose at the cor-
ner of Broadway and South
Holladay. “Our hopes are
that that rose will be grow-
ing and blossoming just
as this community of Sea-
side has since its founding,”
Rosarian Prime Minister
Korrie Hoeckendorf said.
Johnson recalled “Vic-
tor the Lobster,” a 25-pound
lobster rescued from a
supermarket tank that was
to live comfortably at the
Seaside Aquarium. Vic-
tor’s untimely demise after
a “lobster-napping” drew
international attention.
“Dear friends, congrat-
ulations to Seaside on
the centennial of the
Promenade. It’s an honor
to be the congressional
representative for the
beautiful north Oregon
Coast.
“Oregonians treasure our
rugged coastline and
scenic beaches. And it’s
no surprise that visitors
have been coming here
for decades to enjoy
the historic promenade
that crowns Seaside and
transformed this city into
the beloved destina-
tion we know today,
strolling on the Prom in
the sunshine, watching
storms from the Prom
and winter, enjoying the
soaring birds and singing
winds.
“These are the moments
that millions remember
when they reminisce
about their time on
the Oregon Coast. All
my best wishes to the
Seaside community for
a very happy, successful
centennial.”
City Council members
prepared a time capsule to
be opened in 2121, while
museum board president
and City Councilor Steve
Wright’s
granddaughter
broke a ceremonial bottle to
usher in the next 100 years.
“The Prom is the play-
ground for everyone,” John-
son said. “You don’t have
to pay an annual fee or any
special pass. You just show
up and enjoy.”
Survey: Cost to perform land improvements, fi rehouse will be about $10.5M
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This was the second sur-
vey conducted by the city to
help determine a fi rehouse site.
A 2019 survey pinpointed the
High Point site on North Marion
as preferable to Gearhart Park
or the fi rehouse on Pacifi c Way.
The new survey period was
from June 25 to Aug. 1 — just
over a month.
By comparison, the 2019 sur-
vey was open for three months
and received signifi cantly more
responses, with 947 people
participating.
The new survey came as
plans for a fi rehouse on North
Marion Avenue hit a wall. The
project faced high costs and
opposition from the nearby Pali-
sades Homeowners Association.
The city is working with
planners to bring the 30-acre
Cottages at Gearhart subdivi-
sion off Highlands Lane into
the city’s urban growth bound-
ary. The cost to perform land
improvements and build the
fi rehouse on the Highlands Lane
site will be about $10.5 million.
At last week’s City Coun-
cil meeting, City Administra-
tor Chad Sweet said he was
pleased by a recent geotechni-
cal report. “This could aff ect the
type of foundation that we use
in this building, and they antici-
pate that this will actually not be
a foundation as expensive as the
one we were looking at, previ-
ously, so there’s likely going to
be a cost savings for that.”
Sweet also said conversa-
tions with the state Department
of Geology and Mineral Indus-
tries indicated the Highlands
Lane site was outside the extra-
large tsunami zone. “That’s kind
of a big deal,” he said.
Survey
results
on bond
fi nancing
to pay for
a new fi re
station on
Highlands
Lane.
City of
Gearhart
Limit: ‘Today is a diff erent time. People want peace and quiet at least once a week’
Continued from Page A1
“It’s too bad we have got-
ten to the point where we
have to enforce work eth-
ics that should be obvious,”
Wilson and Jeanne Mark
wrote in a letter to the City
Council. “It’s too bad we
cannot get all builders to do
the right thing.”
The proposal spurred
a backlash as contractors,
landscapers and develop-
ers turned out in-person
and online at the council
meeting to register dismay
at another constraint to an
already volatile work envi-
ronment, with labor short-
ages, supply delays and
unpredictable weather.
Sometimes contractors
have no choice but to work
on weekends, Andrew Sil-
vis, of AMJ Insulation
LLC, said. “A few weeks or
month delay can drastically
aff ect our schedule as well,
so everything rolls downhill
and slows down the entire
project,” he said. “If you
need your project done and
we have to push you back
a week, that’s going to hurt
everyone you know.”
The building process has
been disrupted like never
before, contractor Wes-
ley Houck said. “Supply
chains are a mess, mate-
rial shortages are almost in
every trade and timelines
are undeterminable at the
moment. ... I’m just trying
to put food on the table, like
the rest of us.”
City code allows con-
struction and landscape
work seven days a week
between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Landscaping is permitted
from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
An update to the code,
with limits to contrac-
tor hours, passed the City
Council unanimously in
2014, but fell short of limit-
ing weekend work.
According to the pro-
posed ordinance, in cases of
non-emergencies, the city
administrator may issue a
fi ve-day temporary permit.
The permit may be revoked
if complaints arise by work-
ing outside of the permit
parameters.
“As a commercial con-
tractor, we cannot tell you
how these changes would
dramatically aff ect our busi-
ness,” Ben and Tami Olson,
of Clean-Sweep Mainte-
nance, wrote city council-
ors. “In the summertime,
we ‘make hay when the
sun shines.’ We work lon-
ger hours to keep up with
demand. In wintertime, our
hours are less as the daylight
is less. By putting restric-
tions on hours or less work-
ing days, it would greatly
harm our ability to service
our customers.”
Developer
Robert
Morey, the co-owner of the
former Gearhart Elemen-
tary School, said he was
“strongly against a reduc-
tion of contractors in our
area.”
“Our feeling is we should
have hours six days a week,
longer days than 8 a.m. to
6 p.m,” Morey said. “The
noise is part of life. We need
to make accommodations
for our contractors.”
Arlene Cogen, a resi-
dent, said she was “com-
pletely
against”
limit-
ing hours for construction
workers. “Financially, this
would cripple our com-
munity,” she said. “This
makes completely no sense
whatsoever.”
City Councilor Kerry
Smith said the city has
a mandate to protect the
health and well-being of
residents.
He rejected the Saturday
and Sunday option, making
a motion for work restric-
tions on Sundays only.
“We have a right and
duty to our citizens,” Smith
said. “Even if they’ve had
their own home built in 28
days, seven days a week,
today is a diff erent time.
People want peace and quiet
at least once a week.”
City Councilor Brent
Warren and Councilor Reita
columbiamemorial.org/telehealth
Fackerell voted with Smith
on behalf of the ordinance.
City Councilor Dan Jesse
and Mayor Paulina Cock-
rum voted in opposition.
With staff revisions and
approval, the ordinance
could go into eff ect Nov. 1.