A4 • Friday, August 20, 2021 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com
SignalViewpoints
Building resiliency so the small ones can survive
and I took them to present before the emer-
gency preparedness subcommittee of the
state Legislature.
GUEST COLUMN
DOUG DOUGHERTY
Partnerships
I
n 1992, I became the principal of Cannon
Beach Elementary School. During that
fi rst year, I discovered something that
would come to change my career. I found a
picture of the school in a closet.
The surrounding houses and even the
bridge next to the school were destroyed
and swept upstream over a quarter of a mile.
What had happened? And why hadn’t I heard
about it? I learned that an Alaskan earth-
quake in 1964 had generated a distant tsu-
nami that caused extensive damage along the
Oregon coastline.
Soon after fi nding the picture, I read sci-
entists had recently found evidence of an
even more destructive seismic area just 70
miles off our coast called the Cascadia sub-
duction zone.
With this information in mind, I created
an evacuation route for our students to cross
the bridge next to the school and hike up a
steep hill. And with that, Cannon Beach Ele-
mentary School was among the fi rst schools
in the U.S. to conduct tsunami evacuation
drills.
Reconnaissance
Even so, the need to move the school was
evident. As superintendent in 1998, I began
discussions with the state’s Department of
Geology and Mineral Industries to commis-
sion principal researchers George Priest, Rob
Witter, Chris Goldfi nger and Joseph Zhang
to conduct the fi rst science-based Cascadia
tsunami inundation study. They anticipated
the study would take about two months, cost
$30,000, and go back 10,000 years.
After two weeks on the ground, I was
informed that the initial fi ndings were
revealing inundation levels well over
twice the assumed height. Our two-month
study received additional funding from the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin-
istration and morphed into seven years,
undergoing international peer review and
publishing.
Our study confi rmed that I needed to
move all of our schools to much higher
ground. Our study also became the reason
for the earthquake and tsunami evacuation
signs and maps along the West Coast.
No one can accurately predict when an
earthquake is going to occur, but from Gold-
fi nger’s recurrence interval research, if we
have not experienced a Cascadia earthquake
by 2060 (just 39 years from now), we will
have exceeded 85% of the known Cascadia
intervals over the past 10,000 years. We are
defi nitely overdue.
Because of our fi ndings, it was recom-
mended that we build a new campus on sta-
ble soils above 80 feet in elevation.
The only property that could meet these
specifi cations was privately owned by inter-
national timber company Weyerhaeuser.
After many discussions, Weyerhaeuser
allowed me to conduct extensive geotechni-
cal tests on over 1,000 acres of timberland.
Once the reconnaissance was complete, it
was clear that only one 80 acre parcel could
meet the Department of Geology and Min-
The Astorian
Students, community members and voters in support of the Seaside schools bond measure
march around downtown reminding voters to turn in their ballots in 2016.
eral Industries recommendations. I met with
Weyerhaeuser corporate executives who set
the price for the 80 acres at $4 million —
and they made it clear they would not lower
the price. We had no option but to include
the amount requested by Weyerhaeuser in
the bond.
The most vulnerable school district
Meanwhile, seismic engineers evalu-
ated each of Seaside School District’s four
schools within the tsunami inundation zone,
all less than 15 feet in elevation, and dis-
covered each school would experience cat-
astrophic collapse in a Cascadia earthquake.
These schools averaged over 65 years of age
and had outlived their useful lives.
The Cascadia subduction zone only pro-
duces 8 and 9 magnitude earthquakes that
last a devastating 3 to 5 minutes — and then
only 10 minutes later the tsunami hits the
shoreline. Typical wave heights from Casca-
dia tsunamis are 20 feet to 65 feet but can be
as high as 100 feet.
Even if students could escape the build-
ing, they would be trapped since none of the
bridges to safety were designed to withstand
Cascadia earthquakes.
Because of this, the Department of Geol-
ogy and Mineral Industries listed Seaside
School District as the most vulnerable school
district in Oregon.
2013 bond
With our tsunami study, reconnaissance
maps, architectural drawings, transporta-
tion studies, enthusiastic key communica-
tors and a Portland-based survey showing
strong support for a $128 million bond in
hand, the board approved seeking a bond to
relocate all of our schools to high ground.
Despite extensive community outreach and
having passed fi ve consecutive local option
levies, not owning the land and the $128 mil-
lion price tag caused the bond to fail, 40% to
60%.
The Cascadia time clock was ticking
and I felt increasing pressure to try a sec-
ond attempt at a bond. I leveraged state and
national media to bring attention to our sit-
uation and put pressure on Weyerhaeuser to
reduce its price.
Oregon Public Broadcasting included my
research eff orts as a major part in their doc-
umentary “Unprepared.” I was also inter-
viewed by multiple national television pro-
grams, including PBS NewsHour and CBS
Sunday Morning.
My work was a major theme in Kathryn
Schulz’s article in The New Yorker, “The
Really Big One” that won her a Pulitzer
Prize and her follow up article “The Really
Small Ones” that focused on our 2016 bond
eff ort.
It made a diff erence. In fact, after exten-
sive negotiations and several non-disclosure
agreements, Weyerhaeuser ended up donat-
ing the entire 80 acres of property for the
new campus site.
New bond price tag
It was clear from post-election surveys
that the new bond price should be under
$100 million.
They also recommended remodeling
rather than replacing the 1975 elementary
school that is at 70 feet elevation, using the
current turf fi elds for competitions, and cut-
ting the performing arts building.
The board used the survey feedback to
reduce the cost of the new bond from $128
million to $99 million. With these reduc-
tions, the cost was cut from $2.16 per $1,000
to $1.35 per $1,000 or by 37%.
As part of our campaign strategy, I cre-
ated a bond campaign committee of about
40 community members that met weekly for
several months at the Seaside Coff ee House,
working on website information, three
focused mailers and learning to give presen-
tations at neighborhood gatherings.
I personally held over 50 community
meetings, ranging from civic groups to city
councils to neighborhood homes.
In addition to our adult bond campaign
committee members, I also trained high
school students. They had grown up learn-
ing about Cascadia and experiencing tsu-
nami drills. We used their experiences to cre-
ate a presentation they could scale. They
spoke at the state Associated Student Body
conference, assemblies at other high schools
Despite the clear scientifi c evidence of
need, I would not have been able to pass
this bond without the connections and part-
nerships I made through statewide commit-
tees. Through leading the Coalition of Ore-
gon School Administrators, I learned Oregon
lacked state funding for seismic projects.
This led to the creation of the seismic reha-
bilitation grant program.
As the advisor to the state Board of Edu-
cation, I gained insight into state and federal
politics. As governor appointed state com-
missioner on the Oregon Earthquake Com-
mission, I represented all school districts,
community colleges and universities. This
allowed me to continue developing strong
partnerships with the Department of Geology
and Mineral Industries, Department of Land
Conservation and Development, the Oregon
Department of Transportation and the Offi ce
of Emergency Management. I don’t believe I
could have passed the bond without them.
Getting personal
Once a school board votes to put forward
a bond measure, Oregon election law pro-
hibits school employees from advocating for
the bond, but this one was diff erent. I had to
throw everything I had into relocating the
schools.
No one else better understood the
research, the rationale, the conditions, or
the opportunities of the new location — so
I decided to retire and lead the campaign
myself.
The board of directors understood the
importance of the relocation bond and
approved my retirement, naming me super-
intendent emeritus so I could continue to
lead the bond eff ort and assist with the fi nal
design and construction phases.
The strategists told us to raise $20,000 for
the campaign, so after we set up the politi-
cal action committee, I personally donated
$10,000 to match all other donations. This
raised the necessary campaign funding.
Because of the work of hundreds of com-
munity members, the 2016 bond passed
overwhelmingly 65% to 34%.
Following the passage of the bond, I
wrote and received a $4 million seismic
rehabilitation grant to retrofi t the elemen-
tary school. The new secondary building was
constructed to resilience Level 4 immedi-
ate occupancy standards and will serve as the
long-term emergency evacuation shelter for
our area. There is no other structure on the
Oregon Coast that is Level 4.
I loved serving the communities of Can-
non Beach, Gearhart and Seaside as their
superintendent for 18 years, however I felt
that my greatest legacy would be this eff ort
to move our schools to a much safer loca-
tion. I could not be more proud of our com-
munity for making a truly historic decision
that will impact the lives of children and
families for generations to come.
Douglas C. Dougherty, Ph.D., is superin-
tendent emeritus of the Seaside School Dis-
trict. This was part of a larger presenta-
tion at the state Coalition of Oregon School
Administrators conference, held June 23 to
June 26, in Seaside.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
A gift for future
generations?
I’m sitting here on the
bay by the old Seaside High
School, wondering what the
proposed plan is for the prop-
erty. As it sits, empty, run-down
and sad-looking, I have memo-
ries of running my heart out on
the track, endless soccer prac-
tices and science trips along the
estuary.
Now, just north a piece of land
sits quietly, gifted back to the
Clatsop-Nehalem Confederated
tribes. I wonder, as my kids play
in the water in the melty, setting
sun — if the property would ever
be considered by the “owner” for
donation to the tribes.
I notice several cars line the
small parking area facing west, as
the day ends and the birds make
noise along the shore.
The people in those
cars appear to all be native —
hanging out talking, just
relaxing in the sun’s rays. It
seems like an obvious thing to
gift the area nearby back to
those who struggle to main-
tain their culture, their sense of
place in a vastly diff erent world
from the one not so long ago,
where their ancestors dotted these
shores.
In a world fi lled with deep
uncertainty about the future,
Megan Lucas
View from the area west of the former Seaside High School.
wouldn’t it be incredible to see
some hope in the form of land
being given back?
I think so. If the owner of the
property reads this, maybe con-
sider the impact it would have for
generations — of all people. The
message, the positive action to
make right what has been wrong
for so many generations for so
many generations is to make a
reparation.
Megan Lucas
Nehalem
CIRCULATION
MANAGER
Shannon Arlint
ADVERTISING
SALES MANAGER
Sarah Silver-
Tecza
PUBLISHER
EDITOR
Kari Borgen
R.J. Marx
A systems approach
to homelessness
I’ve heard it said that home-
lessness is such a diffi cult com-
plex problem to solve. That sen-
timent can be used to justify
throwing up our collective hands
in frustration… or it can be a ral-
lying cry to empower us to action.
I vote for empowerment. My wife,
Nelle Moff ett, and I have spent
the last few years collecting, sort-
ing, weeding, and archiving infor-
PRODUCTION
MANAGER
CONTRIBUTING
WRITERS
John D. Bruijn
Skyler Archibald
Joshua Heineman
Katherine Lacaze
Esther Moberg
SYSTEMS
MANAGER
Carl Earl
mation from across the United
States (and beyond) on the topic
of solutions to homelessness …
strategies that work, strategies that
don’t work, and strategies still
being tested.
To me it just makes sense to
learn from cities and counties that
have actually driven homeless-
ness to functional zero. And many
jurisdictions have accomplished
that goal. How? In a nutshell,
success is built on a framework
called a systems approach. This
approach has recently been show-
cased by the National League of
Cities.
What is a systems approach?
The National Alliance to End
Homelessness says “communi-
ties should take a coordinated
approach, moving from a collec-
tion of individual programs to a
community-wide response that is
strategic and data driven. Com-
munities that have adopted this
approach use data about the needs
of those experiencing homeless-
ness to inform how they allo-
cate resources, services, and
programs.”
To be clear, this is not about
agencies meeting monthly and
sharing ideas. Instead, this
approach involves tools such as a
coordinated entry system, a shared
data system, jointly solving issues,
and more. A full description and
examples of the systems approach
can be found via https://Friend-
sOfTheUnsheltered.org/systems.
Please use your power of con-
vening and your resources to coor-
dinate all governmental and social
services agencies to work together
based on an integrated systems
approach. Working together we
can solve homelessness as many
cities across the country are prov-
ing. Let’s stop talking and get in
real, eff ective action.
Rick Bowers
Astoria
Seaside Signal
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