OUR 114th Year
December 3, 2021
SEASIDESIGNAL.COM
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Seaside
sets goals
for hiring
new city
manager
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
City Manager Mark Winstanley will
retire next June. The search for a successor
will start with candidates from in-house.
“It has been the policy of the city of
Seaside to fi rst open a
candidate search to any
internal candidates who
may want to be consid-
ered for any open posi-
tion,” Mayor Jay Barber
said.
At last Monday’s City
Mark
Council meeting, he and
Winstanley
City Councilor Dana
Phillips provided an out-
line of steps in the search process.
“Councilor Phillips and I have been
charged with the council goal to begin
the process for identifying and hiring
See City manager, Page A5
Photos by Katherine Lacaze
Pacifi c Ridge Elementary School PE teacher Sara Fisher, dressed as a Thanksgiving turkey, gets students organized for the Turkey
Trot at the school.
Jog, WAlk OR run — it’s alL fun
at paCIfic rIDge elEMentarY
Turkey Trot emphasizes
fi tness, academic skills
City responds
to Necanicum
complaints,
mulls options
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
City Attorney Dan Van Thiel
responded to complaints of cars and RVs
parking overnight at a city-owned lot on
Necanicum Avenue between 10th and
11th avenues.
“The city will continue to address
these issues in any way that it can do so
and within the law and its means,” Van
Thiel wrote in a letter to nearby property
owners last week.
The issue of RVs abandoned or left
overnight — sometimes for weeks or
months at a time — came before the City
Council in April. Necanicum between
First and 12th, residents said, had become
a long-term parking area and a safety and
health hazard for residents.
By KATHERINE LACAZE
For Seaside Signal
T
ABOVE: Students run around the track at the Seaside School District campus on the
hill during the annual Turkey Trot, which was moved to during the school day this
year to enable all kids to participate. BELOW LEFT: PE teacher Sara Fisher dressed
for the holiday. BELOW RIGHT: Students Carlos Acuna and Shantelle Mendez run
during the Turkey Trot at Pacifi c Ridge Elementary School.
he Tuesday before Thanksgiving,
Pacifi c Ridge Elementary School
students gathered at the running
track for a schoolwide Turkey Trot
that motivated kids to jog or walk as
many laps as they could, while having
fun with their friends.
Kindergarten through second grade
students ran during the fi rst time slot,
with third through fi fth graders follow-
ing afterward to let the children space
out on the track.
The Turkey Trot has tradition-
ally been held at the former Gearhart
Elementary School after school. This
year, they changed it so all students
could participate, physical education
teacher Sara Fisher said.
“It’s a good idea for the students
and staff to get out and walk together
and enjoy exercising together in a safe
way outside,” she said.
Instead of making the race 1 mile,
they gave the students 15 minutes to
do as many laps around the track as
they want.
See Turkey Trot, Page A10
See Car park, Page A5
Duncan’s Crossing bridges the gap
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
With
money
from
donors and park funds, a
long-awaited Ridge Path
improvement in Gearhart
celebrated completion in
November with a bridge on
the path over the wetlands
between Eighth and 10th
Street.
After approval of a proc-
lamation from the City
Council in November, the
area is known as Duncan’s
Crossing. It is named for
John Duncan, a former city
councilor who envisioned
the walkway along the
Ridge Path, the city’s famed
north-south walkway just
west of the Neacoxie.
The former Native Amer-
ican trail runs between pri-
vately owned residential
properties within the blocks
between Cottage Ave-
nue and Neacoxie Creek,
extending from F Street
on the south to 10th Street
on the north. The fi rst 11
blocks were established by
the original plat of Gear-
hart Park, as laid out and
recorded by M.J. Kinney in
1890.
When he ran for City
Council in 2014, Duncan
listed as one of his top goals
to complete and extend the
portion of the Ridge Path
from Eighth Street to Gear-
hart Loop Road. Duncan
was a land surveyor and
engineer who envisioned
an extension to the Ridge
Path from Eighth through to
Gearhart Loop Road, with
a walkway crossing over
the wetland area that left
the trail impassable many
months of the year due to
heavy rainfall.
R.J. Marx
See Crossing, Page A8
Nicola Duncan and Sandy Duncan celebrate the opening of
Duncan’s Crossing on the Ridge Path, in memory of John Duncan.
Park district fi nds its
role in homeless services
Showers, meals
to be delivered
By R.J. MARX
Seaside Signal
In December, a 15-bed
low-barrier shelter opens
on S. Roosevelt Drive, a
combined project between
Helping Hands Reentry
Outreach Centers, the city,
Clatsop Community Action
and the Sunset Empire Park
and Recreation District.
Skyler Archibald, the
executive director of the
park district, said the goal
is to provide a solution for
the homeless population,
especially during the cold
and wet months.
“The district’s position
is that this is a good thing
for lots of diff erent rea-
sons,” he said at a board
meeting last week. “And
I’m really happy that they
found a great location for
it.”
Last winter, a warm-
ing center proposed at the
former Broadway Middle
School — now the Sunset
Recreation Center — was
rejected by the board.
“It
was
challeng-
ing because I think we
all wanted to support this
opportunity or support
this movement,” he said.
“Given the status of the
SRC and of the locker room
space, we weren’t really
comfortable with that as a
good fi t right now.”
With the approach of
another winter, a shel-
ter remained a priority.
Archibald said there are
over 500 homeless people
in the community, and pos-
sibly a “signifi cant amount
more.”
See Homeless, Page A5