A4 • Friday, May 27, 2022 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com
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Riding coast to coast to address housing need
SEEN FROM SEASIDE
R.J. MARX
R
iders from around the nation gath-
ered in Seaside Saturday for the
kick-off of a cross-country cycling
journey. The event, sponsored by the Atlanta,
Georgia, based Fuller Center, aims to raise
money and awareness for the Fuller Cen-
ter for Housing’s aim to build and improve
housing for those in need.
Riders, who will stay overnight at
churches, expect to arrive in Portland,
Maine on July 31 — 10 weeks from their
departure.
Accompanied by a van, cyclists can take
breaks or get transport, depending on road
conditions or if they have an issue with their
bike or anything like that, Becky Mitchell,
the group’s photographer and social media
intern said. “They’re riding almost every
single mile as much as they can,” she said.
“That’s the goal, ultimately, to be able to do
as much as they’re able.”
The riders, from around the country, gath-
ered May 20 at the Our Lady of Victory
Church in Seaside.
Their fi rst stop was Astoria, before head-
ing onto the open road on Monday for a
60-mile trek into Washington.
Along their journey they will work with
local builders or communities to pitch in for
construction or repairs. “We call them ‘build
days,’” Mitchell said.
Neil Mullikin, the group leader, has made
the cross-country ride before, from east to
west, solo. This will be his fi rst trip eastward.
“Not only are we going to have some gor-
geous destinations — East Glacier, Niagara
Falls,” he said. “We’re also going to see fam-
ilies and have the opportunity to serve fam-
ilies. It always starts off about the ride for
most people, and it ends up being about the
people that we meet.”
R.J. Marx
Bicyclists prepared for their cross-country trip, leaving from Our Lady of Victory Church in Seaside.
‘IT ALWAYS STARTS OFF ABOUT THE RIDE FOR MOST PEOPLE,
AND IT ENDS UP BEING ABOUT THE PEOPLE THAT WE MEET.’
Neil Mullikin, the group leader
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Step forward
While I am disappointed with the
outcome of the fi re station bond mea-
sure, I am encouraged by the large num-
ber of residents who voted no, and yet
expressed strong admiration and gratitude
for our volunteer fi remen and women and
acknowledged the obvious need to replace
our present 60-year-old structure. I appeal
to this specifi c group of residents to step
forward and lead the project to achieve the
replacement of our outdated facility.
I agree with Teddy Roosevelt who
famously said that “it is not the critic who
counts, but rather the doer of deeds.” I want
to acknowledge and thank those many res-
idents who have devoted countless hours
with the goal of meeting a critical need of
our community which scores of city leaders
have been promoting since 2006. The cost
of delay has been enormous.
Gary Gillam
Gearhart
Support rainforest
conservation plan
I’ve lived on the North Coast for 33 years.
As the owner of NW Women’s Surf Camps
and Retreats, I have the pleasure of teach-
ing people to catch their fi rst wave along the
Oregon Coast, looking from the ocean onto
the beauty of our beaches and forests.
As a business owner, I understand that
it is the health and beauty of the forests,
rivers, estuaries, ocean, and wildlife that
draws people here to spend their income
and time in our restaurants, retail shops,
hotels and on the water. That’s why I sup-
port a strong conservation plan for the Til-
lamook Rainforest.
The Tillamook Rainforest stretches
across more than 500,000 acres of state
public forest lands between the North
Coast and Portland. It supports wildlife,
sequesters carbon, fi lters water for 500,000
Oregonians, and provides recreation like
hiking, mountain biking, summer swim-
ming, mushroom gathering, hunting, and
fi shing. These activities, the cool moist
air, and the sense of beauty people experi-
OP-ED
ence beneath the forest canopy are not just
unique experiences for many, but a unique
economic asset.
The Western Oregon State Forests Habi-
tat Conservation Plan would protect habitat
for 17 threatened and endangered species
on the North Coast like the coho salmon,
marbled murrelet, and slender salaman-
der. The plan would also provide assur-
ances for timber production outside dedi-
cated conservation areas. This plan is fair
and balanced.
We have the opportunity to weigh in on
a Tillamook conservation plan by June 1,
and I encourage you to do so today at for-
estlegacy.org.
Lexie Hallahan
Seaside
Slow down
Sorry to see the Gearhart fi rehouse
bond fail. That’s not my issue, however.
I live on an arterial street that 4,000
to 5,000 cars and trucks a day use. That
may be an exaggeration, but not by much.
I can promise you that speeding is alive
and well on that street. No one is slowing
down at all. To watch the driving habits of
those drivers one would think that gaso-
line was free.
Most drivers are monkey-see, mon-
key do, behind the wheel. There are a few
“pace cars” who observe the posted 30
mph speed limit, but if the leader of the
pack is running 45 mph, you can bet the
rest will follow. There are no sidewalks
here, and there is no routine police pres-
ence on this street, as there are no shoul-
ders where an offi cer might pull a speeder
over. Doing this would create another traf-
fi c hazard.
The only viable solution to this qual-
ity of life issue is to post radar signs every
quarter mile facing north and south for
the entire length of the road. Instead, the
County added a lift of fresh asphalt and
new striping, a facelift it could be called,
rendering the “WahannaBahn” into alter-
nate U.S. Highway 101. Go fi gure. Life is
cheap here on the fogline.
Gary Durheim
Seaside
PUBLIC MEETINGS
Contact local agencies for latest meeting
information and attendance guidelines.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1
Seaside Improvement Commission, 6 p.m., 989
Broadway.
MONDAY, JUNE 6
Seaside Housing Task Force, 6 p.m., 989 Broad-
way.
TUESDAY, JUNE 7
Gearhart City Council, 7 p.m., www.cityofgear-
hart.com.
Seaside Community Center Commission,
10 a.m., Bob Chisholm Community Center, 1225
Avenue A.
THURSDAY, JUNE 2
Seaside Library Board, 4:30 p.m, 1131 Broadway.
Seaside Parks Advisory Committee, 6 p.m., 989
Broadway.
Seaside Planning Commission, 6 p.m., 989
Broadway.
CIRCULATION
MANAGER
Shannon Arlint
ADVERTISING
SALES MANAGER
Sarah Silver-
Tecza
PUBLISHER
EDITOR
Kari Borgen
R.J. Marx
PRODUCTION
MANAGER
CONTRIBUTING
WRITERS
John D. Bruijn
Skyler Archibald
Joshua Heineman
Katherine Lacaze
Esther Moberg
SYSTEMS
MANAGER
Carl Earl
CONTRIBUTING
PHOTOGRAPHER
Jeff TerHar
Wake-up call in Gearhart
unanimous approval the city manager signed
a land-swap agreement with a developer
GUEST COLUMN
while hiding the city’s negotiations position
JACK
from public view.
ZIMMERMAN
As a result, the city gave away millions of
potential profi ts to a developer, a portion of
those profi ts could have been part of the land
ast Tuesday Gearhart City Hall was
swap and used to build the fi rehouse rather
handed a stinging defeat at the polls.
than our community’s tax dollars. Does
After more than six years of prepara-
the city think the average Gearharters is so
tion for the largest municipal project our little fi nancially secure that they should be prohib-
ited from sharing a portion of this transferred
town has ever conceived, voters said “no.”
wealth?
We said “no” in spite of a highly-orga-
The city decided to create its own Face-
nized promotional campaign by the city, a
campaign that included a generously-funded book discussion page about the fi re proj-
political action committee, ample media sup- ect, and invited the community to partici-
pate, a promising idea, except the councilor
port, a blizzard of letters and endorsements,
who runs the page decided it was his own
and an online propaganda blitz. We saw all
this, and still said “no” in numbers that were personal group, and deleted, censored, and
blocked views or citizens he disagreed with,
loud, clear, and overwhelming.
while allowing these citizens, representing
Was this a surprise? No, anybody who
the vast majority of Gear-
knows and understands
hart, to be jeered at, taunted,
Gearhart knew this would
THOSE
called “Nazis,” and told to
happen. It happened because
get out of town. City hall’s
those leading this town
LEADING THIS
endorsement of this group
are no longer in sync with
and its content remains
the Gearhart community,
TOWN ARE
prominent on its website.
our silent majority, and its
NO LONGER
After rejecting the High-
needs, wants, and values.
lands
location as too far from
They no longer represent
IN SYNC WITH
central Gearhart, too isolated
their electorate on this issue.
THE GEARHART after a tsunami, too close to
Let’s review.
the Hertig station, and with
Despite the fact that the
COMMUNITY.
too long response times,
community soundly rejected
city hall promised a series
city hall’s preferred loca-
of town halls, on the record, featuring panels
tion for the new fi re station, Lesley Miller
of experts, that would explain to everybody’s
Park, proponents continued to speak out
satisfaction why these reasons for rejection
in favor of that location, including a cur-
suddenly no longer apply. However, town
rent city councilor and a member of the cit-
halls never materialized, and instead we were
izen fi rehouse committee. They believe that
invited to drink coff ee with the mayor, and
if the park were “still in play” that our prob-
enjoy barbecue at fi re station open houses.
lems would fi nally be solved. How wrong
Here, off the record, we were lectured,
they are.
scolded, and patronized, with words that were
Despite a survey in which the Pacifi c
heavy on emotion but light on logic.
Way station received over 360 votes as the
We attended and spoke up at city coun-
No. 1 preferred location, the only location
cil meetings, to no avail. These examples
in the survey that survived scrutiny, the city
are just a few of many that indicate that city
scrapped it and disregarded the now major-
hall does not represent the majority of Gear-
ity of Gearharters who prefer it, and who
believe it could be easily funded with a com- harters anymore. They show a lack of trust
in our judgement, our values, our intelli-
bination of grants, donations and a modest
gence, and our expertise. They believe that
bond levy.
they know better than us, and deserve to dic-
Despite the fact that long ago Gearhart,
tate to us what we should be willing to pay
in defense of its visual beauty, prohibited
the use of large political banners, our current for, what we should not be willing to risk
in our lives, and what the best future is for
mayor and two councilors decided that the
Gearhart and its values. They know better
ends justify the means, and defi ed the ordi-
nance by erecting the largest political banner than the overwhelming majority of us, their
Gearhart had ever seen, right at the center of electorate.
We disagree, and in response to their dis-
town. I think that sign alone, and the hubris
regard, we handed them this defeat. Will
that made it, was enough to convince most
city hall wake up? No less than a profound
Gearharters to vote “no.”
Despite Gearhart’s tradition of respect for transformation is needed, for the sake of the
its hard-working families, with city council’s future of Gearhart.
L
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