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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 19, 2000)
Citizens tell council “Keep bikes off the sidewalks” Bikes, skateboards and rol- lerblades don’t belong on downtown sidewalks, about fif teen people told the Vernonia City Council at a public hearing Jan. 10. Two people, including Mayor Art Parrow who pro posed the change, supported repealing the section of the or dinance that includes the ban because of the danger to bike riders from increased traffic on Bridge Street. Many of those who testified spoke about the hazards of mixing sometimes careless bike riders with the poor eye sight, poor hearing and brittle bones of older people. All agreed that Bridge Street, which is also Oregon Hwy. 47, has heavy truck traffic that isn’t going to go away. They pointed out that the bridge crossing Rock Creek for the linear trail extension from Anderson Park is a good be ginning for a bicycle route, but it isn’t paved from the bridge to the schools or to Lake Vernon ia. Speakers urged completion of the trail for a safe bike route. Ken Bateman, who handles the city’s insurance, said the safety consultant for the city’s insurance company recom mended keeping bikes off side walks in downtown areas, with the main concern being tod dlers and seniors. Consensus of those at the hearing seemed to be to ban bicycles, skateboards and rollerblades from sidewalks on Bridge Street between Rose Ave. and Adams Ave., and to install signs directing bike rid ers to Maple Street. Included in the message from many who opposed allow ing bikes on downtown side walks was a plea to speed up implementation of the “wheels” park that will be developed on City-owned property across Rock Creek from Hawkins Park. There were also two letters supporting the ban, and peti tions with 127 signatures. INSIDE: Thanks to FEMA & OEM.........pg. 4 Health Notes., pg. 7 Tri-City Fire Station getting close to opening......pg. 8 Artists invited to display theme of “time”........pg. 16 BULK RATE U S . Postage Paid Permit No. 37 Vernonia, OR 97064 Voi. 15, No 2 “ Voice of the Upper Nehalem River Valley” FREE January 19, 2000 Utilities reach agreement; no PGE sale to WOEC Portland General Electric, Columbia River PUD, Clatska nie PUD and West Oregon Electric Cooperative, Inc., an nounced Tuesday that they have reached agreement re garding the transfer of PGE’s service territory in Columbia County. Under the memorandum of understanding, CRPUD would receive all PGE territory in Co lumbia City, St. Helens, Scap poose, the Scappoose Drain age Improvement Company area, and an area of Multno mah County on the county line — totaling more than 6500 cus- tomers. Clatskanie PUD would receive PGE’s Rainier territory, with about 850 customers. The parties will draw up de finitive agreements during the next several weeks and seek approval from the Oregon Pub lic Utility Commission. The par ties will work towards transfer of the property by spring. The PUDs would purchase the territory and its distribution system for about $10 million. In a separate transaction, PGE would make an approximately $2 million payment into a trust which will provide benefits to West Oregon customers. The Rakish... Photo by Judy Hill Snow adorned this rusting old rake with a plush, new white coat. BOC may look at linear trail, but no date has been set By Noni Andersen At their Jan. 12 meeting, the Columbia County Board of Commissioners talked about coming to Vernonia and look ing at the project that would ex tend the linear trail from Ander son Park to Vernonia Lake— and that’s all they did. No date has been set for this big excur sion, however. Commissioner Rita Bern- hard said she “thought they had set a tentative date” but, on checking the tape recording of the meeting, found that noth ing had been done in the way of scheduling, tentative or oth erwise. Bernhard, at least, was available last Friday. The other two commissioners, Chair Jack Peterson and Commissioner Tony Hyde were out of town. This week, Bernhard is on va cation. In the meantime, the project is still waiting, regardless of an updated agreement signed by Peterson, Hyde and Commis sioner Joel Yarbor in Septem ber, 1998 (prior to Bernhard’s election). The updated agreement, also signed by ODOT officials, covers an enhancement pro ject “to grade and resurface a section of abandoned Burling ton Northern Railroad right-of- way from the southern city limits of the City of Vernonia to Lake Vernonia Park and con- Please see page 2 amount ultimately received by West Oregon is dependent upon several factors agreed upon between West Oregon and PGE. The overall value of the transaction to PGE and its customers is equivalent to the transaction formerly proposed between West Oregon and PGE. “As a member-owned orga nization our primary goal in these negotiations has always been to provide benefits to our members," said Russell Green, West Oregon General Manag er, “This agreement meets that goal.” PGE President Peggy Fow ler said, “We have been look ing for the best way to deliver benefits to our Columbia Coun ty customers. We believed the proposal with West Oregon ac complished that. In the recent elections, those customers told us they had another prefer ence. We have worked hard to reach a settlement that is good for them, is good for PGE, and is fair to West Oregon and the PUDs.” CRPUD General Manager Fergus Pilon was happy with the agreement. “We are pleased that all parties worked together to reach this agree ment, and we look forward to delivering the benefits of public power to these new cus tomers.” BPA power outages affect WOEC area The wind storm Jan. 16 had great potential for creating hav oc with falling trees and power outages throughout the north west. Sure enough, all WOEC members lost power Sunday afternoon, when two BPA trans mission lines went down. Pow er was restored for most mem bers around 6:00 p.m. By Mon day morning, about 50 mem bers were still without power.
