Something Nice (for once)

I promise not to make a habit of this but....

I got a nice piece of news to share thanks to Peter Roscoe and Ron Larson from Astoria Golf and Country Club. It seems Mark Keating Assistant Pro at the club has made the cut and is playing today at the Senior PGA Championship. According the his player profile:

Tied for 35th in the 2010 Senior PGA Professional National Championship. . .Previous other national appearance was in 1988 PGA Assistant Professional Championship, when he tied for 28th. . .Competed in the 1989 Australian Masters . . .Has recorded five holes-in-one, with one in a Nationwide Tour event. . .Prior to current position, served as PGA head professional at Shadow Hills Country Club in Junction City, Ore. . .Winner, 1991 Pacific Northwest PGA Championship, 1988 Pacific Northwest PGA Assistant Championship.

Good Luck Mark!

Fighting Jobs Is Expensive

That's what four of our county commissioners have learned after spending nearly $143,000 in attorney fees since January in their fight to kill Oregon LNG.

Some in this county would say that it's well worth it. Probably the same people who are convinced that we need to stop cutting down trees..oh wait! That's the four Clatsop County Commissioners too!

I suppose the next big thing will be making sure we stop building too...what? you say the planning commission is gone? Oh yeah...

Is anyone out there interested in dropping this "home rule" thing we've been doing? I'm thinking none of these commissioners could have won a countywide vote.

Let's Review

Judge Phil Nelson says the decision to throw out Oregon LNG's pipeline project is in LCDC's court and not his. The judge supports this view citing case law that makes it very clear that the Clatsop County Commissioners had a perfect right under state law to pull the decision to approve the project, reconsider it, and throw it out. It's up to LCDC or the State Legislature to rescue this project. That's a few hundred jobs.

The Clatsop County Commission has sent a letter that says very little and is less than supportive of the implementation of the Astoria District forest plan. That threatens a few hundred more jobs in the woods and at the mills including the newly retooled Hampton Mill in Warrrenton and the lumber export possibility for the Port of Astoria.

The Clatsop County Commission has dismissed the entire Planning Commission. The Planning Commissioners are refusing to leave other than the two whose terms were up in June. The County is depending on a local ordinance that may be mute in the case of a planning commission that also serves as the state mandated Citizen Involvement Committee..In short we have civil war between the County Commissioners and the Planning Commissioners. That's going to slow things down for anyone wanting to start a business here (That is if there is anyone out there who would even consider it at this point)



Now that's an awful lot to accomplish in less than five months. God help us.

Decoupling The Forest

Three of our Clatsop County Commissioners seem vitally interested in setting parts of the Clatsop State Forest aside to be forever spared the loggers chain saw. On April 26th the Wild Salmon Center and the Sierra Club held a join organizational meeting at Clatsop Community college to organize local forces with the goal of "decoupling", as they put it, the connection between timber and Clatsop County. My sources say that this meeting was devoted to a plan that would ween timber dependent schools districts, fire departments, county government capital projects...etc from timber dollars. In concert with that effort this group has assigned members to target specific areas of the forest to preserve from cutting entirely. Commissioners Lee and Birkby attended that meeting and Commissioner Hutuala came and went I suppose to prevent a quorum being present.

It is curious that at the public hearing on the following May 11th where the commission took all that testimony from 50 speakers neither Birby, nor Lee , or Hutuala for that matter, admitted to any exparte contacts. One would think attending a meeting aimed at limiting logging would qualify.

To be fair, I would expect commissioners to make an effort to listen to all sides. If that was the case here then fine. Not declaring the contact is troubling. Not discussing what they heard and how it might affect the decision they were about to make suggests it was secretive.

My source tells me that comments made at the hearing by Commissioners Lee and Birkby echoed those made by representatives of the Wild Salmon Center and Sierra Club at that meeting. That is just plain damning evidence by itself.

The difference between a commissioner attending a meeting elsewhere and the county commission meeting is a matter of the record. Minutes of commission meetings are kept and the audio from those meetings is posted on line for anyone to hear. This is the point that Commissioner Patricia Roberts has attempted to make several times in asking her fellow commissioners to publicly discuss these matters in open session so that there is a record. It is not that the commissioners should not be free to gather information as they will.

The idea that Clatsop County should divorce itself from dependence on the forest defies logic and removes a vital revenue source that could only be replaced by such high taxes, or such impoverished services that few could live here, much less thrive.

Ban The Animal Circus

Next week the Clatsop County Commissioners will hold a work session that could lead to an outright ban on animal circus performances in the county. Last year the previous commission passed the buck to the Fair Board which resulted in a rather weak rule that did not prevent one of these circus operations from putting on shows here.

These are often referred to as a "Shrine Circus" sponsored by the Shriner's to support their hospital system for children. Once upon a time this was appropriate. You would have to go back to the 50's and 60's to find that time though. A circus did not exist then that did not feature exotic animals and movies like "The Greatest Show On Earth" were blockbuster films of the day.

By today's standards those kind of circus shows are outdated and a little sad. I think so. While it's highly unusual for me to find myself on the same side with PETA and those who generally espouse an entirely liberal and way overboard agenda, in this case I agree that these animal exhibitions need to be banned.

I disagree with those who say this doesn't mean a ban on the circus all together. Ban supporters try to make the point that shows like Cirque Du Soleil can be classed as "non" animal circuses. Just because "circus" is in the name doesn't make it one. It is an art form that is difficult to classify but it's definitely not a circus.

There isn't a single example of a traditional circus that has not been cited multiple times for either filthy conditions or outright acts of cruelty to the exotic animals they display. Not one.

The City Of Redmond banned animal circuses years ago without a single legal issue coming up as a result. The ordinance language is available to the County to model a new ordinance here so it shouldn't take much valuable time from other matters.

Would this be a case of the County Commission telling the Fair Board what to do? I think it takes a burden off the Fair Board in dealing with a controversial issue best addressed by the County.

Smooth Sailing?

Nobody in Astoria's east end has slept for the last two nights and it's spreading west. The Oregon Department of Transportation has a huge crew laying new surface on Highway 30. They are working all night long from 7pm until 7am. The sound of heavy trucks and the safety required beep-beep-beep of vehicles backing up combined with the sounds of gouging and scraping out the old road bed to prepare it for the new is constant and really kicks into high gear just as most people are turning in for the night.

It is understandable that ODOT is attempting to minimize the impacts on traffic (particularly on the Bicentennial weekend) during the day but this plan not only has a major and very noisy project operating through residential neighborhoods all night long, but they are working so long that they interfere with the morning drive.

To those who shrug and say "well at least we'll have a nice new road when it's all through" I say: Is it impossible to find a time during the day to do this? Reader boards indicate the project will continue through what will be a very busy weekend and upset more than my repose.

The Bicentennial committee was not aware of this in spite of going through some incredible logistical planning for every aspect of the celebration.

While the new road is appreciated it might have been nice to have a little more communication going on before this project got underway. I suppose ODOT planners just decided to hold their nose and dive in. I hope the state and federal officials who will be here Saturday are impressed.

Seven Years and Counting

It was the same year that the Astoria City Council made it a goal to buy the Astoria trolley from the San Antonio Museum of Art. It was 2005 when Mayor Van Dusen brought the idea of building some kind of chinese park to the table. At the time the council was stinging from a much criticized city park project at 9th and Astor that consisted of a series of concrete chucks the designer called a "rain fountain. It was supposed to flow whenever it rained but since nobody ever spent much time in rain there it is impossible to report whether or not it actually worked. The city paid $90,000 for the fountain idea. At the goal setting session for fiscal year 2006-07 the Mayor suggested that it would be appropriate to replace the ninth street fiasco, as it was popularly named at the time, with a tribute to the chinese workers who manned the canneries and did all the heavy lifting. 9th and Astor would be the perfect place, according to the Mayor, because it marks the location of the old chinese neighborhood.

Now fast forward to 2011.

The offending fountain is long gone but the chinese park has yet to appear. The Mayor had promised it would not be built with taxpayer money and instead would be built by donations and grants. A new face on the city council, Arlene LaMear has suggested that what has since become the "Garden of Surging Waves" should not be built on the 9th and Astor spot at all. Instead it should go to help the city deal with a much more visible eyesore of it's own making. The Safeway/American legion block. Mayor Van Dusen formed a committee to explore the idea. The committee members were charged with determining whether or not the Chinese inspired garden would fit in with the block somehow. MulvanneyG2 was hired to conceptualize three different designs for the block showing the chinese garden in various spots.

The Garden committee met at city hall Tuesday morning to see the proposed designs and launched into a discussion about the entire block not just whether or not the "Garden of Surging Waves" would fit in.
Planning Commission President Zetty McKay said she was having trouble with the idea that the block seemed to be going to open space when the city has a deficit amount of property for residential development. There was some discussion about whether or not parking should be allowed.

The Sunday Market was discussed with some committee members concerned that there might not be enough space for both trees and booths for the event that runs a total of twenty days out of the year.
In the end the committee voted on their preferences among the three plans with the Mulvannyg2 design team offering their opinions on what they preferred and pushing those concepts a little harder than one might expect. The woman who designed the Garden of Surging Waves insisted that the footprint of the garden should not be any bigger than the one currently designed for the much smaller space at 9th and Astor since she said the artwork had already been purchased.

One advantage to placing the Garden of Surging Waves on the old safeway lot might be the fact that the block was recently included in the Urban Renewal District which may help with funding it's upkeep, keeping in mind that the Mayor promised in 2005 that no taxpayer dollars would be used in the garden construction.

Fundraising for the Garden Of Surging Waves continues with the Port of Portland sponsoring an event in June aimed at Oregon businesses that do business in China.

Random Sampling

Today we offer a sampling of comments on the Clatsop County Commission:




I appreciated the "people" that showed up for this bocc meeting, unfortunately it seems the elected people minus Commissioner Roberts did not hear them, only patronized them. Face it folks, this club of four just doesn't get it, and they had no idea of the millions of dollars sitting in that room, and the hardworking people that were going to get up in 3 hours to go to work in the woods. Lee's comment "This is democracy and he appreciated all the comments except the irresponsible rhetoric" just made me sick. The embarressment they have already caused us, let alone the dollars they are costing us now and in future is not something that we can tolerate for 4 years.

....And this observation

How long till forest harvesting will cease to exist under these so called advocates. They do not speak for me and do not represent the masses. The Port of Astoria better watch out because once they lock up the forests your deep draft port will cease to exist. (Public and Private) They are loose cannons with unknown sources of black powder. Who is funding their socialist maneuvers??? Anyone willing to make a guess??? They cannot keep doing what they are doing without this backing. Shorebank?? Marc??Gov funds??

...And this letter from concerned fishermen

Lower Columbia Alliance
for Sustainable Fisheries
Bernie Bjork
P.O. Box 1204
Astoria, OR 97103
May 14, 2011
Subject: Support For Clatsop State Forest Plan.


Dear Mr. Weeks;


This letter is written in support of the Oregon Department of Forestry's Clatsop State
Forest plan.
My name is Bernie Bjork, and I am the grassroots coordinator of the Lower Columbia Alliance for Sustainable Fisheries. We are a coalition of over 100 like minded entities formed back in 2003 to work in our common interest of keeping as much ocean open to fishing as possible. We are made up of mostly commercial and sport fishing family run businesses and businesses that cater to the industry. In the past our stance has been supported by the Port Districts of Astoria, and Ilwaco and Chinook Washington, and the cities of Astoria and Warrenton, and also the Clatsop County Commission.


Our reason for supporting the plan is that we feel that the Oregon Department of Forestry has done a fine job of managing our state forests. We feel that there is no reason for our Clatsop County Commission to weigh in on this subject. This is due to the simple fact that, besides Commissioner Roberts, they personally know nothing about the subject.


Over the last 11 years the members of our Alliance have had to endure one lawsuit, and one closed to fishing area after another, and more and more fishermen leaving the industry, for really no good reason. We see similar environmental entities lining up to do to the logging industry, what they have done to our local fishing industry. Our Alliance feels that the environmental community needs to step back, take a breath, and truly try to comprehend what their paid minions have done, and what more they are capable of doing. Locking up all of our natural resources, from business that create sustainable family wage jobs, is truly not the answer.


Thank you for allowing our Alliance to weigh in on this very important subject.


Truly;


Bernie Bjork

Forest Plan Politics

There are quite a few government entities around here who depend on the dollars that come out of the Clatsop State Forest through timber sales. The County is first in line for those dollars. Several years ago after a hard fought battle the County Commission developed policies to ensure that these dollars would end up in capital improvement projects and not in backfilling programs that lose State grant funding. While the operation of County government is not dependent on timber revenues at present because of these wise policies we must recognize that we have new players on the commission who have already begun taking things apart. In the upcoming fiscal year they are planning to double the amount of donations to non-profit organizations. They have accepted an increase in their own monthly stipends and approved a whopping increase for the stipend paid to the District Attorney going from 13,500 to 21,500. The County budget for 2011-12 is around $55 million with the general fund portion around $19 million. The Commission is on track to increase your property tax bill again this year by 3.5%. Not because they necessarily need the money but because the law says they can do it. So they do. That's been going on for years.

For many years the Clatsop State Forest was managed primarily for timber production. This meant that when timber was cut it was replaced, which is the responsible thing to do, but the forest began to look like a tree farm instead of a naturally occurring forest. You can see the result with stands of trees planted close together and all about the same height. Clear cuts really aren't a bad thing. Wildlife needs meadow as well as forest. Timber companies are required to leave woody debris in streams these days for salmon habitat. A few years ago, under pressure to deliver some diversity ODF came up with a forest plan that was to encourage varied tree heights to more closely resemble a forest instead of a tree farm. The argument began about things like identifying the highest priority use. Are we growing trees to provide lumber, or habitat? Should productivity outweigh species protections? To what degree can you accomplish protection and production?

The Oregon Department of Forestry has many masters to please.

With all these issues to deal with it becomes important to hear all the voices. Have productive, meaningful discussions. Unfortunately the political machine in Clatsop County has become more important than debate and reasonable problem solving. Read the emails that follow and then ask yourself why it's necessary to focus on one person in this discussion to be singled out and targeted in this fashion.

If, as Commissioner Hutala says, the "People" have taken back their government does that mean just certain people or all the people?




----- Original Message -----
From: Laurie Caplan
To: Astoria Neighbors
Sent: Sunday, May 08, 2011 9:31 AM
Subject: [astoria-neighbors] ALERT: Key Clatsop State Forest Decision Wednesday-- Clatsop
It's important for Clatsop County Commissioners to know the public wants smart, strategic forestry plans. Commissioner Patricia Roberts is once again backing short-sighted, short-term profits at the expense of long-term, sustainable development. Our forests are key to salmon habitat and environmental harmony.


I hear that advocates for clear-cutting will be out in force. Please attend this important meeting.


Clatsop County Commissioners
Weds, May 11 at 6 pm
Judge Guy Boyington Bldg - 857 Commercial, Astoria - -enter on 9th.


Please forward this email.
Laurie
From: Bob Van Dyk

It's important for Clatsop County Commissioners to know the public
wants smart, strategic forestry plans. Commissioner Patricia Roberts
is once again backing short-sighted, short-term profits at the expense
of long-term, sustainable development. Our forests are key to salmon
habitat and environmental harmony.

I hear that advocates for clear-cutting will be out in force. Please
attend this important meeting.

Clatsop County Commissioners
Weds, May 11 at 6 pm
Judge Guy Boyington Bldg - 857 Commercial, Astoria - -enter on 9th.

Please forward this email.
Laurie
From: Bob Van Dyk