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Submitted By: clif@home-sellers.com – Click to email about this post

Response to Wheeler Candidate: Leverette, and Anderson Letters:

Some straight answers on Wheeler Politics and answers to specific points in publications like “Elephant in the Room”, “Being Aware Will Make for Wise Decisions” and “Notice of the Wheelers Candidate”. Forum.

My name is Clif Kemp, I am a current City Councilor, and up for re-election in the 2 year slot. I choose to recommend Deanne Ragnell and Karen Mathews for two of the 4 year council seats because I have watched them both work for the city benefit for several years.

The candidates I will be voting for have dedicated countless hours for the betterment of the City of Wheeler through public park and city hall landscape improvements, guiding our city maintenance staff in landscape techniques, organization of documents, volunteer coordination, downtown lighting and planter boxes, train station remodel, grant writing, project management, and more.

Both have volunteered many hours to improve our City. While on Council (2008-2015) Karen helped write many of the Ordinances we use today, Deanne wrote and received the grants (2019 & 2020) for money for our new Train Depot, and is currently working on a grant project to redesign and build new restrooms on the waterfront.

The other candidates have single event, and some longer-term city service, which I applaud them for. I was on Planning Commission prior to City Council and saw how that was managed under the leadership of Mike Anderson. Ask yourselves why he, as a private citizen, not running for office or serving the City in any official capacity is so desperately working to get “his people into office?” Going so far as to spend his own money and time on the effort. In August 2022, he held an “invitation only” townhall meeting at his house to “Guide the Future of Wheeler”. When excluded citizens asked if they could attend his meeting he stated it was by invitation only.

Several members of this group should take ownership of this quagmire the city finds itself in now. The Planning Commission made a sound data based decision weighing a poorly and incomplete land use proposal which they denied. It was appealed to City Council and Burden, Bell, King, and Stacks all took part in the Council’s overturning of a perfectly good Planning Commission decision, without any regard as to what the consequences might be. They simply did not follow the law. So along comes the 2020 election, and Bell and Stacks loose their bids for re-election. Now, after 2 years of the current council moving forward on multiple tasks to create new revenue for the city, bring excitement to the waterfront and downtown, work with Botts Marsh LLC on a solution to serve his and the city needs, improving the water district, improving the storm water safety, and fighting to save Wheeler from several litigations burdening staff, Council, Commission, and city funds they want to pull the brake on work and reverse the legally held (LUBA supported) decision.

We don’t need Levertte, a self proclaimed emissary for the developer; a person who has lived in Wheeler for two years and does not understand the laws. Lets move forward for the city, not individual egos. Leverette meets Ulbricht before public meetings. Ms. Leverette has publically stated she is Botts Marsh LLC representative. So a vote for those candidates will be a vote for suing the City of Wheeler it seems. Or would they just rubber stamp the incomplete application again?
Please Ask Yourself
Do you support The Citizens of Wheeler through the Vision Plan: a document enforced by ordinance and Comprehensive Plan?
Or
Do you support the out of town developer who refuses to provide the technical data needed for safe building and who refuses to follow the rules?

I’m asking for your vote, and for your vote for Karen and Deanne, this will put some new life on the council with people who will work on real issues and do the research needed to move us forward. It will provide new prospective, and a sense to get the correct job done for the city following the laws. We are too good a community and individuals not to get this done.

Submitted By: ben.killen.rosenberg@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

Opening this Thursday October 27, from 6-8pm. Pizza and beer at the opening! located at Clatsop Community College in the Art Department’s Royal Nebeker Gallery.
The Clatsop Community College Royal Nebeker Art Gallery will open its 2022/2023 exhibition season with a show celebrating our beautiful environs as well as the bustle and business of a seafaring community in The SHIP SHOW, curated by Ben Killen Rosenberg.
This exhibit will run from October 13, 2022 through January 26, 2023. Please join the art department for a reception with the artists on Thursday, October 27th at 6:00 p.m. The gallery reception and exhibit are free and open to the public.
This exhibit features artwork by the following artists: Lindsey Aarts, Mark Andres, the late James Weldon Brown, Sally Cleveland, Roger Dorband, Annie Eskelin, Kevin Farrell, Anna Fidler, Drea Frost, Friderike Heuer, Nick Knapton, Randy McClelland, the late Royal Nebeker, Henk Pander, Paul Polson, Ben Rosenberg, John Taylor, Kristin Shauck, Lucien Swerdloff, and Noel Thomas.
Ben Killen Rosenberg, Clatsop Community College’s Printmaking Instructor, who conceived of and curated the exhibit, explains his concept for this show:
“When visiting Astoria, I always stop to watch the ships traveling up the Columbia River. Large vessels bringing goods or carrying vacationers from places near and far away pass by– a visual delight for all who see them. Ships are mysterious and romantic; they speak to an earlier time and a slower pace of travel, as they pass through vast bodies of waters.
“Ships can also be ominous harbingers of cruelty and environmental damage. From news reports I’ve followed, I’ve learned of ships carrying illegal cargo or using slave labor changing the GPS locations to avoid being caught by the few authorities on the “look out. Out at sea, in stateless open waters, the environmental impacts and horrendous labor conditions are monitored by almost no one.
“This is a show about ships as we know them–cruise ships, tanker ships, container ships, offshore vessels and fishing ships–it’s a Ship Show, which sounds a lot like something we’ve all been saying the past couple of years. Enjoy!”
The CCC Royal Nebeker Gallery is dedicated to enriching the cultural life of the campus, the local community, and the North Coast region. Please join CCC in its mission to sustain and promote contemporary art and visual culture through professional exhibitions and programming. The CCC Royal Nebeker Gallery, located at 1799 Lexington Avenue in Astoria, is ADA accessible. The gallery hours are from 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and on weekends and holidays by appointment only. For more information, please contact Kristin Shauck by phone (503-338-2472) or e-mail kshauck@clatsopcc.edu. 
www.clatsopcc.edu/ccc-royal-nebeker-art-gallery-presents-the-ship-show/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ccc-royal-nebeker-art-gallery-presents-the-ship-show

Submitted By: proactivewheeler@gmail.com – Click to email about this post

Walt Porter is a retired dairy farmer from the Nehalem Valley, who moved to Wheeler seven years ago. He dived into community involvement on the Neahkahnie School District board, the Tillamook County Soil and Water Conservation District and Wheeler’s FY 2022-2023 budget committee.

Learning about Wheeler’s budget and financial challenges illustrated to Walt the work facing city council. He considers having been through the “school of hard knocks” as a farmer, running every aspect of the business, thorough preparation for being a councilor. But, ultimately, he points out, it’s relationships and collaboration that get any job done.

From working with the soil and water conservation district, he learned the basics of state and federal funding for water infrastructure. He emphasizes the efficiencies of maintaining systems versus the expense of rebuilding them. If elected to council, he would focus on optimizing funds, rather than postponing infrastructure investments.