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.