Once again, voters in Clark County have spoken on dragging Portland, Oregon’s financially failing light rail into our community by defeating the latest C-Tran Proposition 1 for raising the sales tax to cover the cost of operations & maintenance of the light rail line. Just as before, voters resoundingly rejected it by nearly 20,000 votes.
In spite of claims otherwise by proponents, the vote was well known among voters to be a proxy vote on light rail itself since all promises previously made of letting voters vote on whether or not we even want Portland’s folly have been denied by elected rulers.
One of the first was Vancouver’s Mayor, ‘Teflon’ Tim Leavitt, known for lying through his teeth to win office as upon seeing the results of the election indicated the “result only confirms that voters do not support raising sales tax to pay for light rail.”
Not one deeply rooted in reality, ignoring the vote ‘Teflon’ Tim adds, “I think it’s imperative to continue to move forward,” according to a quote in a Nov. 6 Columbian article. Many denials by proponents were included in my previous post, Voters Slap Down CRC & C-TRAN, But Will It Matter?
By all indications, as expected the votes by the people will not matter as forcing Clark County residents to accept Portland’s deeply indebted light rail move forward as the denials of the meaning of the vote fly.
We see Mike Briggs, who seems to troll the Columbian’s comments to support just about every ‘stick it to the taxpayer’ scheme rulers dream up informing people of just what they did and did not vote for. A Letter to the Editor by a Laura Brumfield takes elected rulers to task for ignoring the will of the people and as expected, Briggs pops in to say, “Laura, you write above, ‘We the people have voted against the current plan and the light-rail plan for a third time,…’. No you did not Ma’am. The last vote was merely a vote for or against a tax increase for the O&M of Light Rail, not Light Rail in total. I do realize that many, just like you, thought you were voting against Light Rail in total– you were not.”
I guess Briggs never heard of a “proxy vote?” Even the Columbian admitted before the election that in spite of what proponents and rulers said, voters would be voicing their view of light rail with the vote in their article, Charged issue: C-Tran tax hike on November ballot with the subtitle, “Voters’ opinion of MAX service could determine fate of tax.”
Even Scott Patterson, C-Tran public affairs director admitted, “People have pretty strong feelings on high-capacity transit — especially light rail.”
That we do, Mr. Patterson, that we do. Evidenced by rejections of previous measures addressing light rail or perceived by voters as a backdoor funding of light rail, including the 2004 Proposition 1 that led to the formation of a gerrymandered sub-district, cutting out half of the voters in Clark County from voicing their views through a vote. Even with that gerrymandered sub-district, voters once again rejected funding for light rail, clearly stating what we have been saying for over 15 years now, we do not want Portland’s financially failing light rail in our community.
Now comes the Oregonian’s Editorial Boars chiming in with their own denial, Playing games over CRC’s light rail line could cloud efforts to win U.S. funding and saying, “The failed tax had nothing to do with building light rail. It was put to Clark County voters against the wishes of those advocating the Columbia River Crossing, among them the Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce, to raise about $4.5 million. Slightly more than $3 million of the revenue would have gone to operating and maintaining an $850 million light-rail line the U.S. government intends to build in partnership with Oregon and Washington. The feds simply need evidence that somebody along the way will pay to run the line.” (emphasis added)
I’ll leave it to you to imagine just why those in the best position to make personal gain off of the backs of taxpayers opposed putting the tax increase before voters, but I trust you can figure that one out easily.
But, we see the Oregonian continuing the blatant lie of “the feds intend” or “the feds require” light rail on this project. It was revealed a bald faced lie long ago that the only reason light rail is being pushed is because of Portland’s Metro, seeing agreeing to a new bridge as a means to force their nearly bankrupt light rail on us after we voted it down, revealed in the Willamette Week article The $2.5 Billion Bribe.
Claims by Sen. Don Benton of “This whole (CRC) thing has been a master scam perpetrated on the citizens of Washington by Metro in order to bring light rail into Vancouver” and Congresswoman Herrera Beutler of “the $3.5 billion project will fail if light rail is pushed upon a community that doesn’t want it” are marginalized and ridiculed as “phobic and without evidence.”
They further add, “After weighing several project alternatives, the Vancouver City Council four years ago endorsed the CRC as configured. And there have been no substantive, Vancouver-based light-rail protests in several years of CRC public sessions and hearings to remedy one of the region’s key economic and quality-of-life challenges: replacing an I-5 bridge whose slowdowns and danger constrict the flow of freight and commuters.”
First off, again it is a lie that there has been no “substantive, Vancouver-based light-rail protests.” No, we haven’t rioted, set any buses on fire or engaged in the mayhem seen last year around the country with the Occupy Wall Street crowd, but our voices have been loud and constant, evidenced again by Mayor ‘Teflon’ Tim Leavitt’s effort to silence critics speaking before Vancouver City Council.
They also, perhaps unwittingly point to another reason the project continues to face much public opposition, nobody asks those of us who will be stuck for generations into the future paying for this boondoggle.
Like above, I’ll let you imagine why the powers that be, the elected rulers continue to deny and block any effort to let the people vote, they know full well we do not want it!
The Oregonian also joins in the plaintive cry of “the legislatures of Oregon and Washington must in 2013 commit to their doable shares of the funding,” unaware, or more likely ignoring that both states still face severe funding problems, Washington alone facing over a $2 Billion budget gap again with no means in site to raise more revenue without further bankrupting taxpayers.
I can’t help but notice that the voice of the voters is embraced by these Neo-Coms on both sides of the Columbia River when it comes to votes on Homosexual Marriage or legalizing Marijuana.
But when it comes to respecting the voice of the people in regards to this boondoggle, the Neo-Coms do everything in their power to ignore and do end runs around us.
I am left to ponder, just what vested interest does the media outlets have in the project?
