Chief
07-01-2008, 05:41 AM
http://www.columbian.com/news/localNews/2008/06/07012008_Vancouver-city-council-listens-to-testimony-on-crossing.cfm
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
By JEFFREY MIZE, Columbian staff writer
No single view dominated Monday as the Vancouver City Council heard slightly more than two hours of testimony on a plan to replace the Interstate 5 Bridge.
Next Monday, the city is scheduled to become the first of eight local agencies, four on each side of the Columbia River, to endorse a package of bridge, highway and transit improvements that could cost $3.5 billion or more.
A number of speakers strongly embraced light rail, a transit mode that county voters soundly rejected in February 1995.
Ralph Welch recounted how it took him two-and-a-half hours to drive from his office in southeast Portland to his home in Vancouver’s Arnada neighborhood.
Welch said he looks forward to making the same commute via a 30-minute train ride.
Gretchen Starke said the current spans are unsafe and need to be replaced with transit, preferably light rail.
“I do know criminals drive,” she said, referring to the oft-repeated assertion that Portland criminals will take light rail to Vancouver. “I know they don’t ride light rail. I frankly don’t understand the hysterical opposition to this.”
Several speakers offered a different perspective on light rail. Stephanie Turlay said there is “report after report after report of light rail failures across the country.”
Fran Rutherford said no light-rail project in the past 15 years has stayed within its initial construction estimates or met its ridership projections.
Debbie Peterson, a Republican candidate for state House in the 49th Legislative District, said the existing bridges could be reinforced to survive an earthquake expected to occur every 500 years for less than what it would cost to tear down the twin spans.
But Dick Malin, a Central Park neighborhood resident who served on the 39-member Columbia River Crossing Task Force, challenged the suggestion the bridges could be retrofitted and retained.
“You don’t want to be on that bridge if it goes down with an earthquake,” Malin said. “If you retrofit it, you still have the bridge lifts to deal with.”
David Carrier, an economics instructor at Washington State University Vancouver and a Democratic candidate for state Senate in the 17th Legislative District, said Vancouver’s economy is tied to Portland’s.
“If you want good jobs for future generations, we need to move people and goods between here and Portland,” he said.
Bridge tolls should be set high enough to eliminate congestion, Carrier said. “I am convinced we can pay for the bridge with tolls and will not need to increase taxes,” he said.
A projected $2.50 toll each way during rush hour could cost a commuter to a day job more than $1,200 a year.
“I can’t afford that,” said Lynette Duvall, a Washougal resident who commutes to an Oregon job. “Who can? Most of us are just barely getting by.”
A couple of business groups are coming out in support of a replacement bridge with light rail.
Eric Olmsted, a member of the Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce board of directors, said the chamber’s board voted unanimously to support that option. “We believe a no-build option is not an option,” Olmsted added.
Representatives from Vancouver’s Downtown Association also prefer a replacement bridge with light rail.
But Jim Keithley, government affairs director for the Clark County Association of Realtors, said his association supports replacing the bridge but cannot back light rail, because the impact on private property would be too great.
Realtors also have huge concerns about financing and tolls, he said, adding that a federal government with a $3.5 trillion budget should be able to pay for a $4 billion bridge.
“We’re looking at Clark County residents’ paying a tremendous amount for this,” he said.
Next Monday, the Vancouver council almost certainly will endorse a replacement bridge with light rail, but there are two big unresolved issues:
* Transit alignment. Support is starting to coalesce around ending the light-rail line at Clark College, but two council members, Jeanne Harris and Pat Jollota, opposed that terminus last week.
* Tolls. The Columbia River Crossing Task Force, a bistate study group, last week supported placing tolls on the existing spans “as soon as legally and practically permissible.” But the Vancouver council voted 6-1 last week to remove all references to tolling from a preliminary version of the council’s final resolution.
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
By JEFFREY MIZE, Columbian staff writer
No single view dominated Monday as the Vancouver City Council heard slightly more than two hours of testimony on a plan to replace the Interstate 5 Bridge.
Next Monday, the city is scheduled to become the first of eight local agencies, four on each side of the Columbia River, to endorse a package of bridge, highway and transit improvements that could cost $3.5 billion or more.
A number of speakers strongly embraced light rail, a transit mode that county voters soundly rejected in February 1995.
Ralph Welch recounted how it took him two-and-a-half hours to drive from his office in southeast Portland to his home in Vancouver’s Arnada neighborhood.
Welch said he looks forward to making the same commute via a 30-minute train ride.
Gretchen Starke said the current spans are unsafe and need to be replaced with transit, preferably light rail.
“I do know criminals drive,” she said, referring to the oft-repeated assertion that Portland criminals will take light rail to Vancouver. “I know they don’t ride light rail. I frankly don’t understand the hysterical opposition to this.”
Several speakers offered a different perspective on light rail. Stephanie Turlay said there is “report after report after report of light rail failures across the country.”
Fran Rutherford said no light-rail project in the past 15 years has stayed within its initial construction estimates or met its ridership projections.
Debbie Peterson, a Republican candidate for state House in the 49th Legislative District, said the existing bridges could be reinforced to survive an earthquake expected to occur every 500 years for less than what it would cost to tear down the twin spans.
But Dick Malin, a Central Park neighborhood resident who served on the 39-member Columbia River Crossing Task Force, challenged the suggestion the bridges could be retrofitted and retained.
“You don’t want to be on that bridge if it goes down with an earthquake,” Malin said. “If you retrofit it, you still have the bridge lifts to deal with.”
David Carrier, an economics instructor at Washington State University Vancouver and a Democratic candidate for state Senate in the 17th Legislative District, said Vancouver’s economy is tied to Portland’s.
“If you want good jobs for future generations, we need to move people and goods between here and Portland,” he said.
Bridge tolls should be set high enough to eliminate congestion, Carrier said. “I am convinced we can pay for the bridge with tolls and will not need to increase taxes,” he said.
A projected $2.50 toll each way during rush hour could cost a commuter to a day job more than $1,200 a year.
“I can’t afford that,” said Lynette Duvall, a Washougal resident who commutes to an Oregon job. “Who can? Most of us are just barely getting by.”
A couple of business groups are coming out in support of a replacement bridge with light rail.
Eric Olmsted, a member of the Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce board of directors, said the chamber’s board voted unanimously to support that option. “We believe a no-build option is not an option,” Olmsted added.
Representatives from Vancouver’s Downtown Association also prefer a replacement bridge with light rail.
But Jim Keithley, government affairs director for the Clark County Association of Realtors, said his association supports replacing the bridge but cannot back light rail, because the impact on private property would be too great.
Realtors also have huge concerns about financing and tolls, he said, adding that a federal government with a $3.5 trillion budget should be able to pay for a $4 billion bridge.
“We’re looking at Clark County residents’ paying a tremendous amount for this,” he said.
Next Monday, the Vancouver council almost certainly will endorse a replacement bridge with light rail, but there are two big unresolved issues:
* Transit alignment. Support is starting to coalesce around ending the light-rail line at Clark College, but two council members, Jeanne Harris and Pat Jollota, opposed that terminus last week.
* Tolls. The Columbia River Crossing Task Force, a bistate study group, last week supported placing tolls on the existing spans “as soon as legally and practically permissible.” But the Vancouver council voted 6-1 last week to remove all references to tolling from a preliminary version of the council’s final resolution.