Sign of spring

Don’t pay attention to that white stuff that crept up on our lawns today (yes, even in Seaside!). One of the sure signs of spring is the return of the ospreys to Broadway Park. Every year these birds return to their perch to a decommissioned cell tower in the northeast corner of Broadway Park. What’s great is the way that folks using the park, whether for team sports, playground use, the skateboard park or just hanging out can live with nature just overhead.

The best part is that residents and people around the world can check out the birds as they build their nest and fledge their offspring, via the Necanicum Watershed Council’s “osprey cam,” providing a first-hand look at the workings of nature.

Riding the path

Generations of Gearhart residents have walked the historic Ridge Path, a footpath that stretches between residential properties within the blocks between Cottage Avenue and Neacoxie Creek, extending from F Street on the south to 10th Street on the north. Residents came before the City Council last month to ask for a ban on bike riding, along with motorized traffic and horses — a ban put in place in the 1990s. They say bikes tear up the turf and put pedestrians at risk.

But those who remember the joy of riding their bikes along the path as children — and who want to see future generations pedal on the path — put up a spirited opposition to the ban. They point to the health benefits of bicycling, and the tradition of families exploring Gearhart’s wooded areas together. The ban got a second look last week as the city finalizes its parks master plan as Mayor Paulina Cockrum and councilors seek to balance the unique walkways competing goals.

First read

And Seaside residents await the results of Monday’s meeting as a new camping ordinance goes before City Council. The ordinance provides an option for licensed vehicles, including campers and RVs, to obtain a permit to park in predetermined locations throughout the city from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m.

The program is designed to serve those living in cars or without other housing. The ordinance comes in response to court decisions that cities must provide alternatives for the homeless, and was crafted after more than a year of task forces, think tanks and studying ordinances as far away as Coos Bay.

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