Astoria frowns on commercialization at Goonies house
Dec. 6—The Astoria City Council made it clear Monday night that any potential commercialization of the Goonies house in Uppertown would not be tolerated.
The message came after comments from one of the buyers and concerned neighbors.
Last week, Jordan Miller, of John L. Scott Real Estate, who listed the private home at $1.65 million, along with the house next door at $550,000, announced the homes were being purchased by two friends who have been fans of the 1985 adventure comedy, "The Goonies," since they were children.
Miller attended the City Council meeting Monday night with Michael Eakin, a Mountlake Terrace, Washington, resident who said he is under contract to buy the home next door. He said he was also representing the buyer of the Goonies house, who wishes to remain anonymous until the sale closes.
"It is his intention at this time to keep the house under a permanent residence," Eakin said. "And there is no intention to monopolize or commercialize it at this time."
When the City Council pointed out that commercialization cannot take place in a residential neighborhood, Eakin said that the house is a tourist draw that helps bring revenue into the city.
He said that it is in the best interest of both the city and the new owner to work together to find a solution to traffic and other issues.
Megan Hodges, who lives next door, read statements from her and her sister asking the city to protect the neighborhood from further promotion.
"We do not intend to sit idly by and watch this neighborhood become further clogged by commercial exploitation of this house within our residential neighborhood," she said.
City Councilor Roger Rocka said that while city cannot stop people from traveling to the house, the city code does have teeth when it comes to the commercialization of residential property.
"And that's something the council can stop and can punish," he said.
Mayor Bruce Jones said he believes some of the counts of visitors to the Goonies house each day are greatly overestimated. However, he said there are a high number of visitors some days.
He pointed to the work the Astoria-Warrenton Area Chamber of Commerce has done over the years to discourage people from traveling into the neighborhood to see the house.
David Reid, the chamber's executive director, said about 1 in 5 people who come into the visitors center are Goonies fans.
"When they ask about the house, and even if they don't, we tell them there is no Goonies house, there is a private home in a residential neighborhood," he said.
Reid said there are places in the city to view the house from a distance. The Goonies experience, he said, happens at the chamber, Oregon Film Museum and other businesses that can handle tourists.
City Councilor Tom Hilton, who represents Uppertown, took issue with the buyer's message to the city.
"I think I speak for the people of that neighborhood, and I think they're insulted that somebody would come in here and make suggestion that somehow our city benefits by tourism dollars and we have to make a deal," he said. "That's not the case.
"That was a figure in that neighborhood for over 100 years, and to come here and to stand at that podium and insinuate the idea that we're going to benefit financially somehow from this — we've been doing this for 30 years, man. I think the neighborhood is insulted by that. I, myself, am personally insulted at the idea that ... (we) would in some way make a deal so that that could be financially (beneficial) at the strife of our community."
