That Sinking Feeling
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GIRL IDENTIFIED DISTRICT CROSS COUNTRY Maria’s parents located in Bulgaria, A7 Siuslaw teams sweep; Pirate boys, Bulldog girls advance, B1 Serving Oregon’s South Coast Since 1878 SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2013 theworldlink.com I $1.50 North Bend thunders past Siuslaw That sinking feeling I Old buildings, rotting pilings have some in downtown feeling low BY TIM NOVOTNY The World COOS BAY — Little by little, downtown Coos Bay is starting to lose ground. It started to become noticeable in 2009, when the Chandler Building began to droop at its northwest cor- ner. Since then, two other down- town buildings, the Egyptian The- atre and the public library,have got- ten the attention of city engineers. All three were found to be droop- ing in spots. The experts say the troubles for all three can be traced to the wood pilings below ground that hold their foundations in place. The question is, are these isolated By Alysha Beck, The World coincidences or the sign of a bigger The North Bend Bulldogs stampede onto the field before the start of the game against Siuslaw on Friday night. Both teams came into the game undefeated in the Far issue lurking below the streets of West League. Only one left that way. North Bend dominated the visitors from Florence, securing a 42-14 victory and the Far West League championship.With the vic- Coos Bay? The answer to both ques- tory, the Bulldogs earn a bye during next Friday’s play-in round and will host a first-round game. See Page B1 for complete game coverage and go to www.the- tions, it turns out, may be yes. City Manager Rodger Craddock worldlink.com to see the photo gallery for the game. said the city sits on numerous wood pilings,and said most are doing fair- ly well. One long-time local architect agrees with that assessment. Mike Crow, of Crow/Clay & Associates Despite setback, buoy plan still afloat Inc., has been working in Coos Bay since 1978 and said most of the buildings are doing OK. BY THOMAS MORIARTY surface float and three giant, 500- That doesn’t mean,however,that The World ton anchors on the sea floor. we won’t be seeing more buildings In August 2012, the company start to sink. Crow said he is con- REEDSPORT — A wave energy received a 35-year license from the vinced that there is settlement company says it still plans to build Federal Energy Regulatory Com- going on under the city. the country’s first commercial mission for the park. OPT planned “Particularly the closer you get to wave energy park off Reedsport — to install 10 of the buoys approxi- the waterfront. Now, I know there once it figures out why its equip- mately 2 miles off Reedsport. was a big study done by the Army ment went AWOL in the Pacific The company installed the first Corps saying dredging of the chan- Ocean this winter. anchor and subsurface float for a nel doesn’t cause any of that,”Crow Kevin Watkins, the West Coast test buoy that fall, but bad weather said, “and that may be the case. But representative for Ocean Power forced workers to postpone instal- I think with the traffic and the fact Technologies, said the company is lation of the other two anchors. that it’s mud and ooze (underneath), still trying to understand the cir- In February, OPT lost track of the more we beat on it, the more we cumstances behind the February the float altogether. vibrate it, the more it settles.” disappearance of its test buoy’s CEO Chuck Dunleavy told The City Operations Superintendent subsurface float and marker buoy. World that the buoy wasn’t at its Randy Dixon said the issue comes “We don’t have all the informa- designed depth, and the company back to the wood pilings put in to tion,”he said. wasn’t certain of its disposition. stabilize the buildings erected Watkins’ comments come a The company ended up launch- decades ago. A practice that he said week after contractors removed ing a remotely-operated sub- didn’t change until the mid-1970s. the float and its attached tendon mersible to locate the installation. That was when earthquakes in Cali- line from what was intended to be The state subsequently ordered fornia triggered a major,and sweep- ing, change in the building codes; the site of the company’s first test the company to remove the calling for all concrete pilings. buoy. anchoring system until it had OPT’s designs call for a wave “It’s not uncommon for the wood pilings to deteriorate over a energy generator tethered to a sub- SEE BUOY | A8 period of years,” Dixon said. “You’re talking about structures that are 90, 100 years old. Back in the day when pilings were put in at that point they were nothing but Oregon employment landscape shifting timber — not even treated.” Coos Bay’s situation is not unique. Other cities, bigger cities, PORTLAND (AP) — New decades later, the share has fallen predict job polarization will con- Middle class jobs made up 88 are facing similar issues; from research shows the number of mid- to 59.8 percent. tinue for years. percent of the 137,000 jobs lost Boston to Milwaukee to San Fran- dle-class jobs in Oregon is shrink- During that contraction, there The trend is largely driven by between 2008 and 2010 in the state cisco. Virtually any city that was ing rapidly, while high-wage jobs have been gains at opposite ends of technology — the use of computers, — most of them in construction, built on wooden pilings is starting and low-wage jobs are growing — the pay scale, a trend known as job software or automated assembly production and administrative to see some signs of sinking. and at a faster pace than those in polarization. It has been shaping lines — which allows workers to be support occupations. In February of 2012, Gene the rest of the nation. the U.S. labor market for three more productive and allows compa- Low-wage jobs and higher-paid Mueller, of WTMJ radio, wrote a In Oregon, middle-class jobs decades, but the Great Recession nies to employ fewer of them. occupations rebounded faster after piece about a report in Milwaukee were the hardest hit during recent exacerbated the process. Another factor is globalization, the recession. Magazine titled “The Sinking economic downturns and have Polarization means work is which leads to routine jobs being More than half of the 40,000 City.” He credited reporter been the slowest to recover, gradually shifting away from the performed overseas. jobs recovered between 2010 and Michael Horne with targeting according to a study released this types of factory, repair and office Much of the polarization in 2012 were among occupations pay- plummeting groundwater levels in week by Oregon’s Office of jobs that typically fall in the middle Oregon occurred because its rela- ing more than $50,000, according old Milwaukee as the reason for Economic Analysis. of the pay scale, with annual wages tively large manufacturing firms to the report. the dropping foundations. In 1980, such middle-wage between $25,000 and $50,000. downsized. The dotcom bust and The state’s high-paying job base “Downtown is built on what used occupations represented 67.6 per- And while most people still hold the Great Recession led to middle- cent of all Oregon jobs. Three such middle class jobs, experts class job loss. SEE POLARIZATION | A8 SEE SINKING | A8 Police reports . A3 Sports . B1 Pauline Jensen, Coos Bay S Emma Farr, Coquille Frederick Russell, Bandon E H Dorthy Creach, Sheridan D What’s Up . Go! Comics . C5 Bonnie Brock, Coos Bay Joe Main, Coos Bay I T Dennis Rice, North Bend A S South Coast. A3 Puzzles. C5 Connie Lucas, North Bend Duane Fjeld, Coos Bay E N Kenneth and Helen Herbert Morris III, Coos Bay | I Obituaries A5 Opinion. A4 Classifieds . C6 D Lindquester, Coos Bay Wyman Schiro, Coos Bay A2 •The World • Saturday,October 26,2013 South Coast Executive Editor Larry Campbell • 541-269-1222, ext. 251 theworldlink.com/news/local Man arrested Births BAY AREA HOSPITAL Silas Cole Carpenter was born at 8:53 a.m., Oct. 4, 2013, weighing after attack 1 5 pounds, 10⁄2 ounces. Parents are Jeffery Carpenter Jr. and Shayla Richards of Port Orford. with chair Braxton Nathaniel Fleming was born at 7:53 a.m., Oct. 4, 2013, 5 weighing 8 pounds, 11 ⁄10 ounces. I Roseburg man, 53, arrest came after dispatchers Parents are Shawn Fleming and received a report of an Samantha Mattarolo of Coos Bay. accused of assault assault at Abbey’s Pizza Ammanuel Angel Soto-Arias was on 15-year-old boy shortly before 9:45 p.m. born at 9:13 p.m., Oct. 4, 2013, Witnesses told police that 5 weighing 7 pounds, 9 ⁄10 ounces. that Filley had become agi- Parents are Pedro and Mandy THE WORLD tated with a group of singing Soto-Arias of Coos Bay. teenagers who had just come COOS BAY — Coos Bay Angel Darling Reina Lynn from a choir concert at police arrested a 53-year-old Matthews was born at 6:38 a.m., Marshfield High School. Roseburg man Wednesday Oct. 4, 2013, weighing 7 pounds, night after they say he After Filley started yelling 10 ounces. Parents are Korry attacked a 15-year-old boy and cursing at the kids, one Matthews and Cassandra Olson By Lou Sennick, The World of North Bend.