Back From Lincoln City

by Tryan Hartill

I have spent the last 4 days at the Kiwanis PNW Convention. Our District includes Alaska, Western Canada, Washington, Oregon, and Northern California, so it was a rather large group. The Convention was a excellent learning experience and gave an very in-depth overview of how the organization is run.

Another good learning experience involved staying in another coastal town for 4 days and comparing it with our neck of the woods…..

::::

Very Different

The differences are much more remarkable than the parallels.

First is the traffic. Anyone who complains about traffic in Astoria or Seaside needs to check out the Lincoln City area. Since there is only one main road it is always packed. Lines of cars for miles and miles, moving at a snails pace both North and South.

Second in the Casino and Hotel. This appears to be a huge boost to the area. Not sure how many people they employ, but I would think it would be close to 1,000. This may or not offset the drain it puts on the city. If we were to push for one here, as has been discussed, Chinook Winds would be an excellent study case for the effects it would have on the surrounding areas. As a sidenote the Indian Tribe who is involved with it was expected to pay off the loan for the buildings in 6 years and paid it off in 3! One knock on the Casino is the total lack of any Indians on the property. Which is not the case in other Indian Casinos such as Kahneeta. I have never seen such a large gathering of overweight bald white guys working in one place.

Next is the “Nazi Scriptures”. Whoever makes “Don’t do this” signs for the city and some of the businesses, is the richest person in the area. In fact I would bet the city could save some money if they just made signs of what people CAN do, it would be a much shorter list. At first I read the signs everywhere I went, but soon I realized that I really didn’t have time for anything else. Signs I was waiting to come across:

• Please do not toss your Burger King Collectable cups in this trash bin.

• Do not steal sand, please wipe off your feet when you exit the beach.

• Do not place another Do Not Sign near this Do Not Sign.

A few things that are similar include the weather, the locals and the tourist atmosphere.

The weather is very similar and may even be worse if you can believe it because there is so much more wind. The whole town is a matter of yards from the ocean.

The local workers are very friendly and even the ones making near minimum wage go out of their way to help. And nearly all like to strike up small talk to make folks feel welcome, which is the same here by what I have seen and what some of our visitors say.

Tourism is big. Basically everything revolves around getting as much money as possible from the people that visit.

Well there you have, a Lincoln City rundown.
To sum it up in a few short words, our area is better.

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