Once again we witness efforts by the few in Southwest Washington to circumvent voters, ignore our votes and lobby funds the state does not have to forcibly ram Portland’s financially beleaguered light rail on us and into our community.
It is Kelly Parker, President/CEO Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce who has sent out an email soliciting signatures from selected business owners with the Greater Vancouver area to show support for the Columbia River Crossing Project and light rail, even though voters have clearly said we do not want it in proxy votes, such as the recent defeat of C-TRAN’s Proposition 1 to fund operations & maintenance by a sales tax increase.
Parker’s email bypassed numerous businesses, such as Acuity Group PLLC, a Forensic Accounting Firm in Vancouver hired to independently audit CRC’s books and that was met with foot dragging, a huge document dump, usually designed to confuse and overwhelm, lack of cooperation and even a lawsuit from a contractor to inhibit access to some documents that might show where some $160 Million of our tax dollars has gone, seemingly targeted to those few who may profit from the project or who would merely pass along any expense to taxpayers, already bearing the brunt of the multi-Billion expense.
