Thank you for your interest in reading The Astorian. Here are a few stories that you might have missed this week:

•••

Columbia Memorial Hospital’s expansion is designed for resiliency.

The $175 million project will have four floors at an estimated 69 feet high on the Astoria campus off Exchange Street.

“I believe the resiliency piece is huge,” Erik Thorsen, the hospital’s CEO, said. “Our community has no evacuation towers, other than going up the hill. We have the most vulnerable people in our care every day in our community and not having a safe way to protect them during a major event, other than evacuation … but we believe we can do better than that, we believe the community deserves better than that — to have a way to remain safe while they’re under our care.

“I think all the effort that we’re putting into the resiliency around this building is a huge win for this community.”

See the story by Ethan Myers by clicking here.

•••

The regional food bank is feeling the strain from demand as the coronavirus pandemic ebbs.

While the data may seem counterintuitive, Dusten Martin, the food bank’s chief operations officer, said the picture becomes clearer when taking into account all the support offered to people during the pandemic.

“(That) certainly created a dynamic where people who were coming to food banks and food pantries stopped because they were getting their needs met through an ulterior avenue, which was all of this new government assistance,” he said.

Read the story by Nicole Bales by clicking here.

•••

The Port of Astoria is integrating planning for waterfront projects.

The agency will coordinate Pier 2 improvements, a boatyard expansion and pollution cleanup.

“This is all a bit of a delicate dance to try to make all this come together,” Will Isom, the Port’s executive director, said. “ … I think just this general idea of trying to roll things together to get a solution that’s kind of a one and done — here’s our most significant needs on the waterfront and let’s address all these and not treat them as being separate and only getting one or two of them done.

“Ultimately, in different ways, they’re all critical and I think they’re important to the public and the success of the Port.”

Take a look at Ethan Myers’ report by clicking here.

•••

We invite you to help sustain local journalism on the North Coast. Please consider subscribing. We have several options available at: www.dailyastorian.com/subscribe-now/

— Derrick DePledge