As matters concerning the I-5 Bridge project and extending Portland’s financially failing Loot Rail into Vancouver heat up, we now see a group started up to support the project and “campaign for a pair of C-Tran ballot measures to boost the sales tax in Clark County to improve bus service and operate an extension of Portland’s light-rail transit system on a new I-5 bridge” according to a Columbian article, Group forms in support of new I-5 bridge.
No problem with a group supporting the project, that’s the way our system works. We have NoTolls.com headed by successful Vancouver businessman David Madore. And now, we see Keep Clark County Moving started by Tim Schauer, president of MacKay & Sposito engineering firm in Vancouver and philanthropist Ed Lynch.
A new group that I am unable to find a web page for so far and who, we are told, has raised “$14,525 in contributions as of Thursday” to launch their campaign to entice us to pay more in taxes to drag Portland’s Loot Rail over and fund C-Trans buses.
What concerns me is not so much that they have formed their group; they have a constitutional right to do so. I’m not even concerned that will do what they can to get us to agree to pay higher taxes at a time we continue double digit unemployment and are economically repressed. No, what concerns me is seeing that their number one contributor to date hails from New York City, clear across the country.
KEEP CLARK COUNTY MOVING PDC PAGE
PB’s America Inc web page says they are
“a leader in the development and operation of infrastructure to meet the needs of communities around the world. The firm provides strategic consulting, planning, engineering, and program and construction management services to both public and private sector clients.”
Looking over their projects page, I find one that says for the Portland area,
“The Portland metropolitan area sought to implement mixed-use regional and town “centers” as identified in the Region 2040 Growth Concept land use and transportation plan. These centers are higher-density areas of employment and housing, located inside Portland’s urban growth boundary, that are well served by transit to form compact areas of retail, cultural and recreational activities in a pedestrian-friendly environment.”
Sounds an awful lot like what we are told Loot Rail does, doesn’t it?
I also find another one saying for Washington State,
“A study to assess the economic and engineering feasibility of implementing high-speed rail passenger service in the Western Washington Corridor between Vancouver, British Columbia and Portland, Oregon.”
Quite an active company and I am sure a reputable one as well. But, why does a New York City based corporation donate the highest amount of a start-up political group that wishes to entice Clark County taxpayers to part with more of our money that so many oppose currently?
I see nothing illegal or even unethical in them making donations to the group, but I do see a trend starting that outside money is going to be used to entice us to give up more of our paychecks and quite possibly, send a decent amount of our taxes back to New York City in the form of payment for services, maybe even part of the construction on the bridge project and Portland’s financially failing Loot Rail.
I think I’ll keep that in mind in the weeks ahead when Keep Clark County Moving starts telling me that I am not paying enough taxes and should pay more to fund a project they too appear will be profiting from.
