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Issues

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Homelessness

Homelessness is one of the most visible and painful issues facing Astoria, but it is not one simple problem with one simple solution. It touches housing, mental health, addiction, poverty, public safety, and the basic dignity of people trying to survive. We need compassion, but compassion without structure becomes chaos. We need accountability, and that doesn’t mean only for the city. We need accountability from the people we want to help.

My approach is simple: resources plus accountability (on both sides). Astoria should work closely with Clatsop County, service providers, faith-based communities, veterans’ organizations, and local nonprofits to connect people with shelter, treatment, case management, and real paths toward stability. At the same time, we need clear public expectations around camping, sanitation, fire danger, and the use of public spaces. People deserve help, and neighborhoods deserve safety. We need to help our police department enforce current laws and ordinances.

This issue will not be solved by slogans, outrage, or pretending the problem belongs to someone else. Astoria needs a coordinated plan that moves people from crisis toward stability while protecting the health and livability of the entire community.

Housing Working Families Can Afford

Astoria cannot remain a real community if working families cannot afford to live here. Teachers, firefighters, nurses, service workers, tradespeople, city employees, young families, and seniors should not be priced out of the town they help keep running. A city without working families becomes a postcard with an aging infrastructure that no one is around to fix.

We need to support housing that is actually affordable for people who work here. That means encouraging workforce housing, using city tools wisely, reviewing zoning and permitting barriers, supporting responsible infill, and working with regional partners to create homes that match local wages. We also need to take a serious look at how short-term rentals and speculative housing affect our long-term housing supply.

Housing is not just a private market issue. It is an economic development issue, a public safety issue, and a community survival issue. If the people who serve Astoria cannot live in Astoria, then we are building a town for visitors while slowly pushing out the people who make it the amazing place it is.

Living Wage Jobs Beyond Tourism

Tourism matters to Astoria, and we should support it, but tourism alone cannot carry the weight of a healthy local economy. Too many jobs connected to tourism are seasonal, low-wage, or vulnerable to economic swings. Astoria needs jobs that allow people to build a life here, not just survive one summer at a time.

We should support industries that already have deep roots in this community, including maritime work, seafood processing, trades, small manufacturing, brewing, arts, education, healthcare, and emergency services. We need better partnerships with the Port, Clatsop Community College, local employers, unions, and small businesses to create career pathways for local residents. A strong economy should include jobs where people can raise families, buy homes, and stay in the community.

The city cannot create every job, but it can help create the conditions for better jobs. That means smarter infrastructure, faster and clearer permitting, support for entrepreneurs, and a long-term economic vision that does not rely on Astoria becoming a gift shop with streetlights.

Infrastructure

Infrastructure is the issue most people ignore until something breaks, floods, collapses, backs up, or catches fire. Then suddenly everyone discovers pipes, roads, storm drains, bridges, water systems, and treatment plants exist. Astoria cannot afford to keep treating infrastructure like an afterthought.

Our water, sewer, streets, wastewater systems, public buildings, and emergency access routes are the foundation of everything else we want to do. Housing depends on infrastructure. Business growth depends on infrastructure. Public health depends on infrastructure. Emergency response depends on infrastructure. If we do not maintain and modernize these systems, every other promise becomes a campaign slogan printed on wet cardboard.

Our water waste treatment plant was established in 1975. Back then the city was told that the life span of this system was 25 years. We’re still using it 51 years later. We need to update and increase its capacity.

Astoria needs a serious long-term infrastructure strategy. That means identifying the most urgent needs, being honest about costs, pursuing state and federal funding, coordinating projects wisely, and communicating clearly with the public. Preventive maintenance may not be flashy, but neither is a failing sewer system. One of those things is cheaper than the other.

Emergency Preparedness

Astoria is beautiful, but it also sits in a region with real risks: earthquakes, tsunamis, storms, landslides, bridge failures, power outages, wildfire smoke, pandemics, and supply disruptions. Emergency preparedness cannot be something we dust off after the emergency starts. By then, we are just improvising in expensive shoes.

My background in the military taught me that preparation saves lives. Planning, training, logistics, communication, and coordination matter. Astoria needs to strengthen its emergency plans, improve public education, support neighborhood-level preparedness, coordinate with county and state agencies, and make sure vulnerable residents are not forgotten. We also need to think practically about food, water, shelter, communications, evacuation routes, and volunteer response.

Preparedness is not fear. Preparedness is responsibility. A resilient Astoria is one where residents know what to do, city departments know how to coordinate, and the community can respond together when things go wrong. Because sooner or later, something will go wrong. That is not pessimism. That is geography.

My Commitment

Astoria deserves leadership that is compassionate, practical, and honest about what works.

I will protect our public spaces, support our businesses, help people off the streets and into stability, and build a future where working families can afford to live here.

That’s the job. I’m ready to do it.

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