Sean Davis for Astoria

Seven and a half months.

That’s how long I’ve been working toward becoming Astoria’s next mayor. I decided to announce early because I didn’t want to spend a few months before an election telling people what I would do. I wanted Astorians to have time to watch what I actually do.

I wanted to meet the people doing the work, study the issues, ask questions, build relationships, and understand how this city operates before asking you to trust me to help lead it. This week was a pretty good example of that. I started by meeting with Brian Medford, owner of the Rusty Cup downtown. Brian was a delight to talk with, and he came prepared. He had a list of questions about the city, small business, and what the next mayor can do to help.

Brian is meeting with all the mayoral candidates, and I think that’s fantastic. I encourage other business owners, neighborhood leaders, organizations, and residents to do the same thing. Reach out to me. I’ll make the time. I love talking about Astoria, but more importantly, I want to hear what matters to you.

Friday morning, I met with John Roberts, Astoria’s Community Development Director, to talk about permitting, development, and infrastructure. I keep hearing candidates and residents say that Astoria’s permitting system needs to be fixed. So instead of simply repeating that, I went to the person running the department.

When I read the City Council Work Plan, I discovered that Astoria had already conducted a Development Review Audit and that work to improve the process is already underway. That matters. It’s easy during a campaign to say, “I’m going to fix permitting.” It sounds good. But before promising to fix something, I think you ought to know what has already been done, what is actually causing the delays, and what authority the mayor and City Council really have to improve it.

John told me he has a good staff of eleven people. He also explained that some permitting problems arise when work is performed or planned that wasn’t included in the original information provided to the city. I had gone into the meeting thinking Astoria might benefit from some kind of permitting liaison who could help property owners navigate the process.

Then John told me they essentially already do that. Good. That’s why you ask questions before announcing solutions. My job isn’t to walk into City Hall pretending I know more than the people doing these jobs every day. My job is to learn what is working, find out what isn’t, bring the right people together, and help remove the obstacles that are keeping them from succeeding.

After meeting with John, I sat down with Daryle Moore, who spent years serving on Astoria’s Planning Commission. He is also talking with the other candidates before deciding whom he supports. Again, I encourage that. Ask us questions. Challenge us. Find out who has done their homework. Find out what kind of mayor we would actually be once the campaign signs come down.

Friday night, I took my family to Civil for their six-course dinner. I love supporting local businesses, and I also happen to love great food, so this wasn’t exactly the most painful campaign research I’ve ever conducted. Civil knocked it out of the park. Brett is an incredible chef. Before every course, he explains what you’re about to eat and where it came from. Melissa moves from table to table talking with guests and making everyone feel welcome. If you’ve never gone to one of their special dinners, it’s an experience worth having.

Monday morning, I joined a Zoom meeting of the Association of Oregon Counties Veterans and Public Safety Committee. Clatsop County Commissioner Lianne Thompson appointed me to the committee. I’m one of only a handful of participants who are not county commissioners from Oregon’s 36 counties, and the committee told me they appreciate having the perspective of a combat veteran and Purple Heart recipient in the room.

We talked about some very real issues affecting Oregon veterans, including property-tax relief and funding for Veterans Service Officers (VSOs), the people who help veterans and their families navigate benefits they have earned.

Tuesday started where many Tuesdays start for me: Veterans Coffee at American Legion Post 12. And there was some good news. Dan, who has experienced homelessness, is moving toward a job and more permanent housing. Even better, he recently helped another homeless combat veteran navigate his Housing and Urban Development–Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) benefits. That veteran should soon be renting a home.That is veterans helping veterans. Next week I’m cooking breakfast for the crew. We’re starting a monthly veterans breakfast downstairs at the Legion. This may prove conclusively whether veterans will eat anything if you provide enough coffee.

Housing was also a major part of my week. With so much discussion surrounding the Astoria Housing Initiative, I wanted to talk with one of the people who created it, so I am meeting with Andy Kipp tonight.

I’ve seen a lot of arguments both for and against the measure, and I’ve spent time studying it myself. There are legitimate questions that deserve answers.

How much will it cost the city to administer and enforce? How accurately can we determine whether a house has actually been vacant? What happens when someone’s circumstances don’t fit neatly into an exemption? Could the city face a legal challenge? How many vacant homes will actually return to the housing market rather than simply generating tax revenue? And we need transparency about how every dollar in the Community Housing Fund is eventually spent.

Those aren’t reasons to stop asking whether the idea could work. They’re reasons to study it carefully. I signed the petition to put this measure before Astoria voters because I believe citizens identifying a problem, gathering signatures, debating an idea, and ultimately putting the decision in the hands of voters is exactly what democracy is supposed to look like.

The measure has now qualified for the November ballot. It would tax certain residential units that have fewer than 183 days of qualifying use during the year. The tax would be $3,000 for the first year of taxable vacancy and $6,000 for each consecutive year after that, with numerous exemptions and exclusions for circumstances such as medical care, military service, disasters, probate, renovation, and financial hardship.

The point is not that this one measure will solve Astoria’s affordable-housing problem. It won’t. It’s one tool. And broadly speaking, an owner of a home affected by the measure would have choices: put the home back into residential use, offer it as a long-term rental, make another qualifying use of the property under the ordinance, or continue keeping it vacant and pay the tax. The measure also recognizes licensed short-term rentals as a qualifying use.

Whatever voters ultimately decide, I’m glad we’re having the conversation. Astoria has a housing problem. We aren’t going to solve it with slogans, and we aren’t going to solve it by pretending every proposed solution is perfect. We solve hard problems by putting ideas on the table, asking difficult questions, listening to one another, and then making decisions.

Tomorrow I’ll be back downtown with the Astoria Downtown Historic District Association, decorating witches that will go up on our streetlights in October.

Seven and a half months into this campaign, that’s still what I’m doing: meeting people, asking questions, studying the issues, volunteering, building relationships, and doing the work.

I announced early because I wanted you to have plenty of time to decide what kind of mayor I would be. Don’t take my word for it.

Watch what I do.

Astoria is home. Together we can solve these problems. Let’s get it done. .