The Astoria City Council met in the Council Chambers at 1095 Duane Street on the date provided as September 9, 2026. The agenda and raw transcript identify the local meeting as Tuesday, September 8, 2026, at 6:00 p.m.; the supplied UTC timestamp corresponds to September 9, 2026. The meeting included Mayor's Awards, an ODOT update on the Highway 30/Columbia-Bond Street merger, a Latin American Heritage Month proclamation, consent calendar approvals, a first reading of a building-code ordinance, authorization of the cooperative library IGA, and approval of the Teamsters Local 58 Public Works collective bargaining agreement.
Mayor Fitzpatrick adjourned the meeting at 7:48 p.m.
Always a high note for me, uh, as are the proclamations that we will do after that. So tonight we are going to start, and I will be uh I'll be recognizing three people's people with mayor's awards tonight, and I would point out as I say before Mayor's Awards ceremonies, the mayor's awards are presented to recognize those Astorians who quietly go about making Astoria a better place to live, not due to their need for recognition, but because it's who they are and what they do, and that is what we're celebrating this evening. So our first award tonight will go to the Tango twins, and that's for bringing joy to Astoria. I'm going to step up to the lectern here and tell you a little about the twins. So if you guys want to join me up here, you can. If you'd rather sit in the audience till that time, you're welcome to do that as well. Um how about this? So about 10 years ago, Ann and I were living at the Illihee apartments, and at the time the Astoria Co-op was located at 14th in Exchange, where Breakside Brewing is now. And Ann and I were shopping there in the co-op, and we saw a woman that we didn't recognize, but she was very friendly. She smiled at us and said hi. And then two aisles later, we saw her wearing a different outfit, but she was still friendly, and she smiled at us and said, Hi. So for 11 years, Estelle has been teaching private and group lessons, sharing the culture and joy of the beautiful Argentine tango. And if you will allow me to pull these out real quick so I can read with a little less stress on my eyes. There we go. She says that uh Celeste and Estelle have performed tango a few times together. And she has also performed with another dancer who no longer resides here, most recently at Cala at the 1015 Theater at the Liberty Theater, and also the McTavish Room and at Fort George. And as part of their 10-year celebration, the Tango twins offered free practica demonstrations in the summer months at Breakside, where dancers practiced in the wild to share tango in a public space. And I'm gonna quote Estelle here. She says, My goal of bringing tango to Astoria was purely selfish. I wanted to dance here, and therefore I had to teach others to share the dance with me. It's delightful to share such love of dance with others and build some community around dance. And we're seeing dancers pass through on their travels to our sweet and charming town, and bonus, they get to break out their dance shoes. Tango offers something special, a connection, a secret language without words, movement to music that is timeless and also evolving. Astoria deserves tango. It fills my soul that we've been able to bring in here. And still quoting Estelle, she says, Celeste has a much longer list of accomplishments as a local artist. She's a jazz singer, a jewelry artist, a dancer, a performance artist, my lovely assistant, and a face around town, which causes much strife to people who don't know she's a twin. And Celeste tells us that her performance artistry has taken the form of singing and dancing with dragulation for Astoria's Pride Gala's and Jane Barnes, as well as other drag and singing performance shenanigans like MCing Burlesque at the Labor Temple. She has sung with Astoria's own Midas Diggs at the Liberty, Fort George, and the Columbian Theater. She danced with Sparrow Dance Company, a modern dance company at the 1015 Theater and various outdoor venues. And as a dancer and one half of the Tango twins, being Estelle's assistant for the for their 11 years and counting of founding Tango in Astoria. Celeste has performed Argentine Tango with her twin at myriad venues, including the 1015, Fort George, Outdoors at the Column, The Garden of Surging Waves, and most recently at Cala. And Celeste sang with the local rock band Soul Proprietors and now sings for C now sings for Sea Cats. An exciting North Coast jazz and blues outfit. She states that she is blessed and honored to be performing with such talented and seasoned pros. And her jewelry of varying styles and designs is represented at both Image and Gallery and Vintage Hardware. And she participates in the gallery's annual fiber arts exhibit in December, where she premieres a new body of work focused on beadwork using fiber art to create both bold statement jewelry as well as everyday wearable art. And then quoting her, she asks, have you seen my woolly palm-pom earrings at Vintage Hardware? They spark a lot of joy and give a lot of whimsy. And she continues to note, as an administrator, I am a notary public and a legal assistant serving Plattsup County. I play these roles closer to my chest for the sake of the propriety that they deserve. I also oversee administration for Tango and Astoria, my own jewelry-making artistry, and handle social media for a small handful of accounts. And she says, for fun, aside from Tango, obsessive beating and her pure joy of singing, she speaks German. And she says, yes, I said fun and speaking German in the same sentence. She loves the language, the people, its culture and history. She says that she meets almost weekly with a group of friends with whom she practices speaking to attempt to keep up on her ability of the language, and it's wonderful. And I appreciate her inviting one of my friends who needs to keep up on his German to join them as well. So Celeste and Estelle have lived in Astoria for over 10 years. Wherever they go, they bring joy. And so thank you, Estelle.