Pool Support

I find it frustrating to hear the city complain about how the Aquatic Center is not paying for it's own costs. I clearly remember one of things the city told the citizens when we voted for the bond measure to have it built. They said they did not expect the Aquatic Center to pay it's own way and that it would always need public funds but it would be a vital service to the community as a replacement for the pool at Tapiola Park. For years, the pool was poorly manages. Every time the kids were out of school for in-service days or holidays, you'd think the pool would be available for open swim or have activities scheduled. But no, the hours were very un-user friendly. Pool management at that time successfully trained most of the people that if the pool hours weren't convenient, too bad. Go do something else. I'm glad an outside consultant was brought in to "Save the Pool" and revamp the schedule to make it more accessible to the community at large. After all, that's why the pool exists. As a citizen of Astoria, I have no problem with my tax money going to support the pool, even though I don't use it myself. I don't expect it to be self-supporting although I DO expect it to be managed well. It is a vital service to our community and should remain so. But I will have a problem if the city decides at some point to close the pool because they don't want to support it with tax dollars. That isn't how it was sold to us in the first place.











Where Do We Go From Here?

Now that the election is over it is time to ask,"Where do we go from here?" Do we continue with our partisan bickering, each side trying to grandstand the other for a total win scenario, or, do we honestly try to address the pressing issue at hand, the financial crisis and its underlying causes? I don't think most Americans realize the precariousness of the situation. Percentage wise, our country has the highest debt load and the lowest revenues we have seen in 60 years. Our jobs are continually being shipped overseas and there is nothing here to replace them. Our entitlement program costs have skyrocketed and we simply do the not have the resources to sustain them. We are fighting a two-front war, the need to reduce expenditures and increase revenues. Our strategies need to focus on job creation and debt reduction. The big question is how to go about it. Of course we need to look at the trade imbalance with China. Americans simply cannot continue to be the world's target market for cheap out-of-country produced goods. While I do not favor trade embargos generally, something must be done to provide jobs for the home-front. Exactly how, I honestly don't have the expertise to say. However, I am certain there are experts who can and most likely are proposing workable solutions to our dilemmas. The hardest part will be to decide upon a workable strategy and then actually implement it. It will require putting aside partisan and inner-party differences in order to come up with an effective long-term solution. The new senators and representatives traveling to Washington D. C. in January have been given a mandate by the American people: rescue this sinking ship before it is too late. All hands on deck, this crisis requires working across and within party lines. It is time for them to roll up their sleeves and get to work with as much good will and co-operation as possible. SOS...SOS...SOS...Will they hear us?

Kathy Sanders


Seaport Airlines is a firstclass outfit.

In 1995, when Horizon Air was flying out of Astoria, we averaged about 700 passengers a month. If you don't believe it, it can be found on the Port's website. Horizon did not leave because of low passenger numbers, they left because they discontinued the type of aircraft they were flying as it was too small for their market. We have plenty of people in the area from Long Beach, Naselle, Astoria and Seaside who can keep a 9 passenger airplane reasonably busy. If you are flying out of PDX, you add up the cost of gas, time, traffic and parking fees, it makes sense flying on Seaport. I have flown with Seaport many times and will continue to do so because it is so easy compared to driving. Many people in the area don't even know who Seaport Air is or what kind of schedule they have. Lets give Seaport Air some more time and publicity and I know we can make this service sustainable. 

Chris Holm



Air Service Spin

Tom: The Port's interesting spin on air service is confusing.  Most citizens expected the air service to fold once the funds run out.  Outspoken people were told that the 3 million would allow them to prove this was viable and self supporting.  When a business has all gain and no loss from a sugar daddy they have no reason to keep costs low for the duration. 

I contemplated flying to Portland and back on a trip but the execessive extra luggage cost exceeded the high fee of $69 one way price.  I also would have waited in Portland for 5 hours on a Sunday for a return flight due to restricted flight numbers on weekends.

Will Newport survive when funds run out?  Is the proposed drop in flight fees($50) (Backed by $40,000 11 month fund) politically motivated by the Astoria celebration taking place in 2011?  Who cooked up this proposal?  We know who the delivery person is but other facts need to be answered.

Time to put this air service to rest without anymore waste of tax funds.  The 1 hr 35 minute drive to PDX is short compared to most cities, parking is convenient and comparable to a one way flight with no waiting for hours and hours for connections.  Larry



A Majority Needed for Change
While watching the PBS’s Newshour a few weeks ago, Mark Shields, a Democrat political commentator, made an observation about how politics in Washington D.C work. He said it is the job of the majority party to create and pass the legislation, while the job of the minority party is only to provide a quorum.

I had to chew on that a while and realized he was absolutely right. After all the posturing and “reaching across the aisle” statements have been made, it all comes down to one thing---who has enough votes to get the legislation passed.

We saw just how brutal and corrupt the process of getting votes can become during the vote on Obama’s health care. The curtain got drawn back enough for the public to see the tarnished process of buying votes through the “Louisiana Purchase” and the “Cornhusker Kickback”. Realistically, there will always be some sort of horse trading going on in politics, but this looked and smelled like outright bribery.

We need change not just on the national level, but on the local level as well. When voters elect a public official based on whether or not they like them they are missing the mark as to what they have elected this person to do.

We elect people to the state legislature to go to Salem to vote on our behalf. That is their primary job. They are elected to keep the state budget under control and to keep the state legislative process in check, providing only laws and regulations that are truly needed. We must examine a legislator’s voting record to see if they are keeping us headed in the direction we need to go.

If we mindlessly vote for personalities and not legislative performance we will reap the consequences of our actions. It is conceivable we may elect a Republican Governor and then hamstring him with an uncooperative Democratic legislature so that no real change is possible.
We are in a financial crisis and we desperately need elected officials at both the national and state level to make the hard choices that need to be made.

It is time to give Republican candidates a chance to reduce debt and provide a manageable budget, both nationally and state-wide.
-Kathy Sanders