In a move that seemed to surprise many this afternoon, Clark County Commissioner Marc Boldt sided with Commissioner Tom Mielke in not supporting slapping a 5% admissions tax on county entertainment venues to pay a significant portion of a proposed new stadium.
Boldt had previously indicated support for this project and the tax, but today stated he simply could not support it due to concerns of whether or not the Vancouver City Council would also sign on to it.
In a lengthy public hearing this morning and into the afternoon, citizens were pretty evenly divided over support and opposition, much support coming from members of Identity Clark County, The Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce, the Columbia River Economic Development Council and the Downtown Vancouver Association as well as a few private citizens. Nearly all opposition was expressed by private citizens who would be left on the hook for this stadium, should it turn into a white elephant as did the Amphitheater, the Hilton and a golf course in North County.
Seeing Identity Clark County and many others with high hopes of reaping personal side benefits from construction of a stadium with taxpayers taking the risks is not unexpected. We see much of that with Identity Clark County and their “vision” for our community, often leaving us, the struggling middle class out of the loop, but holding the bag.
Amongst the most laughable commenters in favor was Clark College President, Robert Knight, who spoke about those of us who oppose it not knowing what “sacrifice” really is. I beg to differ with Knight, a retired US Army Officer as I was enlisted during my time in the Army, to include 18 months boots on the ground in Vietnam.
Knight also took issue with the many comparisons between this proposal and the 3-year old and financially plagued Town Toyota Center in Wenatchee, Washington, now seeking in excess of $40 Million in a taxpayer bailout to meet their bond interest payments.
That project too had high hopes for profit and benefit to the community and came up flat. Knight’s claim of any comparison being “apples & oranges” is not accurate. While it is true that the population of Wenatchee is far smaller than ours, barely over 30,000, the Public Facilities District created to oversee such projects there consists of Chelan and Douglas Counties, the Cities of Wenatchee, East Wenatchee, Chelan, Cashmere, Entiat, and Rock Island, and the Town of Waterville.
That is 2 counties and 7 cities. Far more than just the mere 30,000 claimed by Knight.
If all of the stiff neck commenters from Identity Clark County and other special interest groups from the equation, I do believe you would see the opposition from private citizens ran two to one against this tax.
Many are upset with Commissioner Boldt over his withdrawing the support most of us previously felt he would have for this. He is called a coward and you name it by the special interests who so desperately wanted to move this deal forward with taxpayers taking the risks.
Boldt, a Republican who has been falling out of favor with Republicans over his frequent support of and siding with Democrats, taking positions contrary to the Republican Party Platform and against the conservative roots he showed years ago that got him elected, took the courageous stand of opposing the powerful special interests in Clark County and supporting us, the struggling middle class.
It was leaked last week that he was taken to task by the Executive Board of the Clark County GOP for his frequent actions against the party platform and basically told he was being rejected. By a vote of 11 to 5, he was put on notice that he would not receive the GOP’s support or be given access to party mailing lists and literature in his upcoming reelection campaign so long as he supported Democrats and their positions over Republicans.
It is unknown if that played any role in his stand this afternoon or if having received word from 5 Vancouver City Council Members that they would reject it changed his mind, but it was a welcome sight to me for him to once again take a strong stand in support of taxpayers over special interests. Since each city council in Clark County would have had to sign on too, it would have been foolhardy to pass it knowing it would not make it through the council of the largest city in the county.
But, I hope to see Marc Boldt continuing to take more conservative positions and he can once again be the conservative we all first elected. That’s entirely up to him and his conscience.
The Yakima Bears team owners have indicated in the past that should they not get to place the risks for this potential white elephant on taxpayer’s backs, they would resort to Plan B that does not involve Vancouver or Clark County.
Fine and dandy. Let some other community screw their taxpayers over. Oregon is a great choice as they have a long history of slapping taxpayers.
I’d rather grow out of this recession with private sector jobs not dependent on questionable taxes.
See also: Boldt balks: Baseball proposal dies at county’s hands in the Columbian.
