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Updated: Gov. Inslee ‘Sneaking’ Into Town Again?

by lewwaters

Word is quietly spreading that Governor Jay Inslee is planing once again to slip into town, presumably avoiding those of us opposed to the CRC light rail project that he and others are now desperately trying to resurrect.

CRC Lobbyist

Word is that the ‘visit’ is meant to coincide with the Clark County Historical event on labor and a Union convention at the Hilton.

It has been heard that the unions in the convention are trying to organize a big “build that bridge” rally with out of state people coming in to help bring up the numbers.

As we know, the CRC allegedly died when the Senate Majority Coalition failed to vote on it and both Governor’s of Oregon and Washington announced pulling the plug on it. At the time, I, along with several others warned to not drop our vigilance as it would be back.

We know that discussions have continued since the alleged demise and efforts are still underway in hopes of still securing federal funding to move ahead, obtain the necessary permits from the Coast Guard and slip it in when we aren’t looking, not unlike TriMet did to Clackamas County Oregon against citizen wishes and votes.

This past March, Governor Inslee slipped into town to hold a private meeting with only pro-CRC factions, locking out any voice of opposition, but 17th District State Senator Don Benton got wind and managed to insert himself into the meeting. He was the only voice present questioning any part of it.

Citizens came out too, but where locked out, left to woefully look on as their future was being discussed.

DSC00105DSC00107

The expected date and time Gov. Inslee is planning on quietly slipping in remains unknown, but will be added when it is learned is said to be between the 24th through the 26th of this month (July). The Governor’s office declines to provide a more specific time frame.

The Governor will make his appearance Friday, tentatively scheduled for 11 a.m. and as expected, the public will once be left on the outside looking in, even though the taxpayers will be paying for the trip down.

It is still not being announced just where the meeting will take place.

We must continue letting them know that we, the citizens of Clark County, strongly oppose what has been proposed and will not support such a mega-project until our concerns are addressed and not those of the downtown mafia, Identity Clark County and other special interests hoping to grow their wealth off of our backs.

We must vote out pro-CRC officials and not vote in any pro-CRC candidates who will continue ignoring our voices to further their goals over ours.

Posted on July 22, 2013 at 12:53 PM in Clark County Issues, CRC/C-Tran   |  RSS feed |   Reply   |   Trackback URL

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8 Comments to “Updated: Gov. Inslee ‘Sneaking’ Into Town Again?”

    
  1. Craig Sayre
    July 22, 2013 at 1:13 PM

    I don’t think Inslee has the stomach for honest debate. He won’t even answer the letters he receives.

  2. lewwaters
    July 22, 2013 at 1:31 PM

    That was pretty much proven back in March when taking questions from the media, any citizen question saw his aid run over to silence us.

    He was only willing to ‘discuss” CRC with them in private, away from any camera

  3. K.J. Hinton
    July 22, 2013 at 1:57 PM

    I don’t call him “Outslee” for nuthin’.

  4. Friend of John Galt
    July 22, 2013 at 2:24 PM

    The weekly Barron’s Magazine (a financial publication published by Dow Jones, the publisher of the Wall Street Journal) had an article taking apart the California High-Speed Rail project. It described some “normal” ways that the promoters of these mega projects (like Tri Met and the CRC) typically approach things.

    1. They understate costs. The $50 million for CRC planning somehow turned into $176 million spent. You can bet that the cost of the CRC itself and for building the Tri Met trolly car system into Clark County will be considerably above the quoted cost. (The California HighSpeed Rail was “estimated at $9 billion … but is expected to exceed $100 billion, if it is ever built out per the original plan. Likewise, the SF-Oakland Bay Bridge east span replacement project started out with a dull, but serviceable design from CalTrans (the highway dept.) at a cost of a few hundred $million. The mayors of SF and Oakland both objected, claiming that we needed a “signature” bridge design. That put the project back several years (Loma Prieta earthquake, the proximate cause forcing the need, happened in 1989). The new design would cost a couple $Billion… and is not approaching $6.7 billion as it heads for completion.) We can well expect that “improvements” and delays along with lawsuits from environmentalists will double or triple the ultimate cost of the CRC bridge.

    2. They overestimate usage. The CA HS Rail project would need to handle nearly every air passenger now traveling between SF and LA to reach the passenger counts included in the original estimates. Of course the trains couldn’t handle that many passengers anyway. We can expect that the usage of the trolly cars (if they are extended to Clark County) will be far lower than the official projections. The trolley cars hardly enter the county, so this will require those using the trolleys to transfer from some other mode of transit — either parking a car in an expensive parking structure or riding a bus to a transfer point — both of these events cause significant increases in transit times, and make the “mass transit” choice much less desirable. Of course, the trolley cars are inflexible and are unlikely to ever go where people could ride them directly to their destination. Obviously, bus transit can be planned to do this more efficiently, given some effort by the transit district management (which can’t be assumed).

    Likewise, the number of trips per day over the bridge by private automobiles will probably be less than expected. Many commuters will change their routes to use the I-205 bridge “for free” to avoid the high tolls planned for the CRC. The result is that both transit fares will be raised and tolls on the CRC will be increased. Also, pressure will build to put tolls on the I-205 bridge to “help pay for the CRC.” (So this will give a new source of revenue for the politicians to squander.) I note that the original indebtedness for almost all crossings of the San Francisco Bay have long been paid off. Most of the bridges are essentially paid for and the only ongoing expense is for the required maintenance. Still, one-way tolls (tolls are only collected in one direction) for most Bay crossings are $5. About $1 is required for maintenance. Another $1 is administrative overhead (including the cost of collecting the tolls). About 60% ($3) of the $5 toll is siphoned away to pay subsidies for BART, various bus transit districts and ferry boats crossing the Bay. We can easily expect that tolls for the CRC will soon be captured for other unrelated projects, so the tolls will only rise over time and will never cease once collection begins.

    3. These mega projects are designed by politicians to move money into favored destinations. Unions, crony rent-seeking companies, and a variety of consultants (who help befuddle the electorate) will receive substantial revenue. There will be claims about the number of jobs created by the project — but “high steel” construction is somewhat specialized, and workers will arrive from across the country to take temporary residence here during construction. Local residents will likely get very few of these construction jobs — and those are most likely the lowest paying ones. Unions will receive a surge of dues from the “must be union” workers. Of course, this surge of union dues will be used by the unions to “help” the politicians pay for their campaigns. This is the very corrupt but “legal” quid pro quo that makes these projects almost impossible to kill.

    The only ones able to interfere with this process are the voters — and they will have to pay attention.

  5. Goldenoldie
    July 22, 2013 at 3:22 PM

    So much for “sneakin’ into town!!!” Time to get the popcorn ready!!!

    nyuk, nyuk!!!

  6. lewwaters
    July 22, 2013 at 4:18 PM

    When he tried sneaking in back in March, after it began being known around town and on blogs, the Lazy C mentioned he was to be in town the same day he was coming.

  7. Jack
    July 22, 2013 at 8:13 PM

    sINCE THE POLITICAL BAstards won”t TAKE NO! for an answer it’s high time to disband C-tran.

  8. carolyncrain
    July 22, 2013 at 10:07 PM

    So we still need to know and show up and fight it out one more time again!

    

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