Bill Hunsinger is the Astoria Port Commission President and a member of ILWU Local 50. Click on the photo to read the Daily Astorian article.
A lengthy presentation by Bill Hunsinger, president of the Port of Astoria Commission, to the Astoria City Council Monday, failed to convince Astoria Mayor Willis Van Dusen that a return to exporting logs is a good idea. The Port’s new plan would bring Westerlund Log Handlers of Bremerton, Wash., to Astoria and would create a log yard at the Port of Astoria that would be bigger than the one at the Port of Tacoma. “I’m here to put the loggers of Clatsop County back to work,” Hunsinger said.
But the project described by Hunsinger, Dave Westerlund and Greg Franklin, of International Veneer, did not go over well with the present tenants of the Port and owners of nearby businesses, who had proceeded with business plans based on the Port’s previous master plan. And others at the meeting expressed concerns about the effect a big logging operation would have on tourism and the increased log truck traffic the operation would bring.