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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2014
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Homelessness for students still on the rise in Oregon BY CHELSEA DAVIS The World
By Lou Sennick, The World
Roadwork is being done at the intersection of Commercial Avenue and North 11th Street in Coos Bay with new pavement and corner curbs. Coos Bay and North Bend are looking for ways to pay for such repairs in a stagnant economy.
Patch jobs Coos Bay and North Bend try to figure out how to fix their roads with dwindling budgets BY DEVAN PATEL The World
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By Kurtis Hair, The World
Construction workers pour asphalt around Grant Circle.
NB city streets in dire straits BY KURTIS HAIR The World
NORTH BEND — The streets in North Bend are facing a grim outlook, and city leaders are desperately searching for ways to fix the problem. The city has been suffering from a depressed economy for years, and the costs of services are growing faster than revenues can keep up with. In the past year, revenues from property taxes have decreased about $7,400 because of declining values and property tax receipts according to a League of Oregon Cities study. In the past years, the city has been forced to make difficult decisions. One decision has been to put aside needed maintenance on city streets. “This is a situation that’s existed forever,” said Mayor Rick Wetherell. “We need to get that
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DEATHS
COOS BAY — Already facing budget constraints, Coos Bay is now more aggressively exploring creative revenue streams to combat the deteriorating road conditions that have long plagued the city. As part of its first steps, the city is expected to have a new road assessment completed by January, following the recommendation of the Streets Task Force to accurately determine the extent of the problems. Covering 167 lane miles of streets, the previous assessment, conducted in 2002, found only 44 percent of the city’s streets to be in “good” condition, with 21 percent “satisfactory,” 11 percent “fair” and 24 percent “poor.” Those numbers are bound to be worse by now, Mayor Crystal Shoji said. In the 2013-2014 Street Task Force Report, the city projected only $1.4 million in maintenance revenue, which pales in comparison to an estimated figure of more than $25 million needed to bring the city’s streets to “good condition.” The estimated revenue needed, however, was based on the previous assessment, which led to the need for a more accurate assessment before more serious discussions can take place. “That’s not really the best figure to use because it’s based on a 2002 assessment so it’s really a guesstimate,” City Manager Rodger Craddock said. For Coos Bay, with property tax revenue plateauing over the past few years and growth expected to be only half a percent, the city’s general fund
done. We’ve been doing a lot of things in North Bend, but we would be amiss to do all the wonderful things we’ve been doing and leave the streets in the condition they’re in.” The decision has been costly. North Bend commissioned a Pavement Condition Assessment this past year for its 47 miles of streets. The result of the assessment revealed the city needs $10.9 million to bring all the asphalt streets up to “very good condition.” For all the streets in North Bend, including unpaved and concrete surfaced, the city needs $16.5 million. Currently, the city’s street fund, which is responsible for all of the streets in North Bend, is treading water. The fund has barely enough revenue to pay for its three SEE NORTH BEND | A8
Norman Kluchesky, Coquille Joseph Kuhn, Cherry Valley, Calif. Marti Sullivan, Citrus Heights, Calif. Clarence Jensen, North Bend
COOS BAY — Student homelessness continues to increase in Oregon. The Oregon Department of Education released its student homelessness report this week, which breaks down how many homeless students attend each school district and where those students stay every night. In Oregon, that amounted to 18,902 homeless K-12 kids during the 2013-2014 school year, up 737 from the year prior. That number fell on the South Coast, from 613 in the 2012-2013 school year to 577 last school year. It's no surprise that the largest district on the South Coast, Coos Bay, would have the most homeless students: 243. But that's down from the 318 that Coos Bay reported the year prior. Last year, nearly 15 percent of Central Curry School District K-12 students were homeless at some point during the year, compared to 8.35 percent the year prior, the biggest increase on the South Coast. Bandon had the biggest decrease: 1.5 percent of its student population was recorded as homeless, compared to 4.35 percent in the 2012-2013 school year. Statewide, the majority of homeless students — 75 percent — share housing with another family or relatives at night due to economic hardship. The rest are unsheltered (10 percent), living in shelters (10 percent) or living in motels (5 percent). The South Coast is similar: 78 percent share housing,13 percent are
Definitions ■ Shelter: Public or private accommodations intended for use by homeless individuals and families. ■ Transitional housing: Accommodations for homeless and formerly homeless individuals and families where stay is temporary (not permanent housing) and subsidized fully or nearly so. ■ Unsheltered: Living in cars, trailers, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings not designed as a regular sleeping accommodation. ■ Doubled-up: Sharing the housing of others, whether relatives or friends, due to loss of housing, economic hardship, domestic violence or similar reason. ■ Hotel/motel: Temporary commercial accommodations due to loss of housing, economic hardship or similar reason. ■ Unaccompanied: A child residing in one of the above homeless living situations, who is not accompanied by a parent or legal guardian, or adults with educational guardianship.
Definitions provided by Oregon Department of Education
unsheltered,5 percent live in shelters and 11 percent live in hotels or motels. There is some overlap in numbers since students bounce around throughout the school year. ODE also tracks “unaccompanied” students, those kids who don't stay with a parent or legal guardian at night. That number has stayed steady at about 3,100 statewide. On the South Coast last year, 79 students were unaccompanied, up slightly from the year prior. Reporter Chelsea Davis can be reached at 541-269-1222, ext. 239, or by email at chelsea.davis@theworldlink.com. Follow her on Twitter: @ChelseaLeeDavis.
Time change for Coos Bay woman’s service COOS BAY — The memorial service for Estella Morgan has been changed to a later time. Services for Morgan will now be held at 4:30 p.m. today at Grace Church, located at 2389 Sherman Ave., in North Bend. The original scheduled time at 2:30 p.m. had to be changed because of a scheduling conflict with the church. On Nov. 4, Morgan, a Bureau of Land Management employee, was monitoring a timber sale when a tree that had just been cut down fell on the vehicle she was operating. Morgan died shortly after. For more information about the memorial service, contact BLM’s Coos Bay district at 541-756-0100.
Wyden pushes Klamath water, timber county bills BY JEFF BARNARD The Associated Press GRANTS PASS — Sen. Ron Wyden moved forward Thursday on his plan to get two top-priority bills — one to implement Klamath Basin water agreements and the other to boost logging in Western Oregon — through the lame-duck session of Congress before Democrats lose their majority in the Senate. The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources endorsed the bills.
Marion James, Coos Bay Shelvey Prow, North Bend Mary Sprague, North Bend Kelly Works, Coos Bay Karen Jones, Lakeside Geraldine Mox, North Bend
One would increase logging on the federal O&C lands of Western Oregon that provide revenue to timber counties. It does not include a revival of federal subsidies to struggling timber counties, but Wyden says he remains committed to passing that legislation. The vote was 15-7. “This legislation won’t make everybody happy,” Wyden said, “but after years of working with stakeholders from every side of this complex issue, I’m confident
Debra James, Coos Bay Darrell Holloway, Coos Bay Lewis Benshoof, Myrtle Point
Obituaries | A5
SEE WYDEN | A7