According to a statement put out Thursday by the Oregon Department of Transportation, the iconic "Ocean Beaches" sign marking the fork of I-405 and US Highway 26 will be replaced in June 2023 with a sign reading "Ocean Benches."
The change will reflect the desires of the residents of Gearhart, a small coastal town that has the largest-known number of benches per capita in the U.S. Recent estimates place the ratio of benches per citizen at 1:10. But given recent projections based on Gearhart's aging population and the increasing rate of bench installation, that ratio is expected to reach 1:5 by the end of the decade and 1:2 by 2050.
Some critics of ODOT's decision are citing the example of Easter Island, where inhabitants exploited their limited resources to build statues at the expense of their own long-term survival. These critics claim that the new sign will only encourage the already-high rate of bench installation in Gearhart. If this trend continues, they say, the implications could be dire.
One online commenter asked, "What is the point of all these benches if there is no one to sit in them?" Another anonymous commenter, this one claiming Gearhart residency, objected on the grounds that "There are so many benches now that there will be nowhere for my family to put my bench when my time comes."
But others support both the benches and the new sign. Gearhart resident Patrice Donovan told a local news outlet that, "We in Gearhart take pride in our benches. It's one of the things that makes this community so special and so unique. It has been my dream since I was a little girl growing up on Gin Ridge to one day have a bench of my own. And now that I'm approaching the end of my life I won't stand by and let the anti-bench activists take that away from me. The fact that the state of Oregon wants to pay tribute to this community with a new sign in Portland—we here in Gearhart welcome that. We're proud of it."
But the controversy reached all the way to the state capital. At ODOT headquarters in Salem, the decision to change the sign was reached only after extensive deliberation that was finally settled when it was pointed out by Randy Powell, a recently hired intern, that the cost of the new sign would be the equivalent of a rounding error in ODOT's budget, given that it would involve changing only one letter.
While the updated sign will hang above the freeway sometime next month, questions remain. Other Oregon beach towns are complaining that the new sign unfairly privileges Gearhart's tourist industry. One city commissioner told reporters that he couldn't rule out an arms race on the bench front as towns compete for the reputation of Oregon's favorite bench destination and the tourism that would follow from it.
However this story plays out, this is a monumental day for Gearhart. Local officials there are already discussing whether to commemorate the decision with the addition of a new bench outside City Hall.
At press time, Donovan was headed toward a cluster of benches in the beach grass, one of which she planned to sit on and let the magnitude of the new sign settle in. "It was," she said, "a long time coming."
