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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2022 | theworldlink.com |

Coos Bay to host survey to find library site By JULIE AKINS For The World

The tension was palpable in the Coos Bay Council chambers on Tuesday when the elected body considered what to do next, now that the $20 million dollar library bond failed in May. That bond would have been used to build a new library at John Topits Park as well as a 9-1-1 center for police. They’ve not taken up next steps formally until now. The new library in the Empire would have been carved out of a roughly two acre portion of the park with special consideration for entering and exiting the parking area but concerns about detracting from the park’s other uses dogged the bond which failed by 60% voting against it. The old library located downtown is at a stage of disrepair including a leaking roof and rot. Council agreed the library is in need of total replacement. But since the failure of the levy, the city needs to figure out what residents would be in favor of and if it’s a new library, where it should go. They decided to hire a polling firm to assist them in getting a sense of what the public wants in order to decide what’s next. Councilor Lucinda DiNovo asked if it would make sense to ask if voters would like to keep the library where it is. She pointed out state law has changed allowing building in flood planes and tsunami inundation zones so long as buildings are built according to standards for those zones. “Why not just put it where it is now? It may cost more but everyone likes where it is now,” said

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After voters rejected a plan to build a new library at John Topits Park, the Coos Bay City Council is continuing to search for a home to build a library before the existing one can no longer be used. DiNovo who was countered by Councilor Carmen Matthews with concerns about flood insurance. “Flood insurance isn’t great,” he told the council saying that it wouldn’t make the community whole if it lost the library in a tsunami. “We’d lose our community investment downtown.” Councilor Stephanie Kilmer in bringing the dialogue back to a poll stated it needed to be done in such a way as to capture authentically the desire of voters. “We want a wide poll equally distributed so we have a large cross section throughout

the community.” She urged making sure Empire and Downtown are equally questioned. “ I thought Topits was a good idea, but that’s not how the vote turned out. So I think a poll is a good idea,” said Councilor Drew Farmer. Mayor Joe Benetti agreed, “We all have personal feelings about this. The vote didn’t go how we wanted, so we need to move forward and get some direction.” So council gave staff the green light to seek out a polling company which could handle a large sample size.

They also agreed the Library Steering Committee, council and members of the public should be involved in formulating questions for the survey. The other topic of discussion at Tuesday’s work session was the idea of creating a bike route through town with “sharrows” created on parts of the route to delineate that cars would be sharing the road with bikes by the use of painted signs on the roadway. The streets most likely to use sharrows would be wider streets with slower speeds.

In all there would be 26 sharrows created, ten advanced warning signs to increase biking options and safety from Mingus Park through town. The total cost would be $32,430 dollars. The council didn’t authorize the entire project but did give staff direction to hire a traffic engineer to put a plan together and bring it back to council. That cost would be roughly three thousand dollars. The mayor, referring to the proliferation of bike riding said, “This is part of a cultural change, and it’s important to take this first step.”

Flu-shot clinic honors the memory of Blake Crane By DAVID RUPKALVIS For The World

Few people understand the devastation the flu virus can have more than Becky Crane. In February 2020, Crane and her husband, Tony, lived a nightmare for any parent when their son, Blake, caught the flu. That’s fairly common in the United States, but their lives turned into a nightmare when the flu began to attack Blake’s body, eventually leading to his death just days later. Blake was 16 in February 2020 when he caught the flu. He was a student and an athlete and Marshfield High School, was in strong health and had everything to live for. But the flu took his life, leaving his grieving parents and two sisters to mourn his short life. While Becky and Tony were grieving and still are, they quickly decided to do something about it.

Working with Coos Bay School District and the Waterfall Clinic, the Cranes decided to turn their nightmare into hope for others. Since 2020, Waterfall Clinic has traveled to every campus within the Coos Bay School District to offer free flu shots for students and staff, all in memory of Blake Crane. “I knew Lance (Nelson), so I was able to send him a message, and he instantly said yes,” Becky said Thursday as the Waterfall portable bus sat outside Eastside and Millicoma schools. “We had our first event in 2020. He died in February, and we have our first one in October.” This year marked the third time the Waterfall bus went to every school in the district to offer free flu shots. At Marshfield High School, 39 people received the shot, 37 took part when the bus went to Sunset and Madison schools and

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David Rupkalvis/For The World

Eastside School Principal Kara Davidson holds her son Duke’s hand as Duke receives a flu shot during a free clinic for students and staff at Eastside and Millicoma schools.

North Bend votes to support mayor’s homeless proposal By DAVID RUPKALVIS For The World

The North Bend City Council voted unanimously last week to support an effort to bring state funding to local communities across the state to help deal with the increased costs from homelessness. The council voted to support an effort by the Oregon Mayor’s Association to ask the Legislature to appropriate $123 million annually to help the cities as all of Oregon struggles with an increase of homeless individuals. The funding would be paid out

on a per-capita basis, meaning the larger cities would get more funding than smaller cities. Under the proposal, even the smallest cities would receive a minimum of $50,000 every year. In Region 6, which runs from Reedsport to Brookings and includes all of Coos County, the cities would receive: Bandon - $138,800 Brookings - $272,360 Coos Bay - $640,200 Coquille - $160,720 Gold Beach - $95,000 Lakeside - $76,420

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Myrtle Point - $140,040 North Bend - $415,000 Port Orford - $50,000 Powers - $50,000. North Bend Mayor Jessica Engelke was one of 25 mayors chosen to participate in a task force that came up with the proposal to take to the Legislature. You as a council have done a lot to address homelessness. It isn’t done overnight. “It has a lot of things they’re asking for that can be brought back to the local communities,” North Bend City Administrator David Milliron told the council. “What you have

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before you is something that’s going before every city council in the entire state. It’s a letter from the Oregon Mayor’s Association.” The funding could be used for a variety of efforts including abatement, cleanup, shelter, environmental cleanup, food bank assistance, community resource officers and more. It could not be used to remove the homeless come communities unless the community has enough shelter beds to house all people who are on the streets. Milliron explained that rule is due to a court ruling that was recently confirmed by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

“With the most recent Sept. 28 court decision, they have taken the Boise case and taken it even further,” Milliron said. “There’s no real guidance in what’s being passed down. It’s important that the residents know that no matter who is sitting on this council after the election, they’re going to have to roll their sleeves up.” Milliron said the courts have ruled that cities cannot criminalize homeless. The rulings said people must have to sleep, go to the restroom and stay warm. “These are people in your Please see HOMELESS Page A2

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