County land use plan will degrade quality of life
Clark County Citizens United, Inc., a grassroots public service organization, is concerned over many aspects of the newly adopted Clark County Comprehensive Land Use Plan, and believe the public has a right to know what the impact of the plan will be.
Very little of the plan reflects the type of living now enjoyed by the people of our community. History takes us to small farms, suburban homes, friendly neighborhoods, and an overall quality of life that is envied by many. If this plan continues to proceed, all of that will change. That is why CCCU is challenging it at the state level, to convince this Board of Councilors that what is being proposed is not right for our communities. Our citizens and families don’t want to be forced into different lifestyles.
One could say the new plan is a planner’s dream. It is a way to stack as many people in as small a space as possible, with high density housing and little chance of home ownership. The proposed housing consists of a great deal of subsidized housing for low income households, thereby preventing those who don’t qualify, to just simply go away or pay a very high price for any kind of home.
The people who own those homes will be compelled to carry the tax burden of such an arrangement. Apartments are on the rise as “affordable housing,” with the expectation that the homeowner will also subsidize that housing, as rents continue to go up.
This plan was changed considerably from any other Comprehensive Plan of the past. Such a plan of high density stresses the roads, utilities, services and the people. The population will become more transient, living from here to there, trying to find the best value in housing. The result will be little obligation to the community at large, as they move from location to location. communities need stable and secure households that pay their fair share of the financial burden of necessary essentials like schools and infrastructure. Those who want to own a home, should be financially able to do so.
CCCU urges the people to speak out loud and clear against such a plan. Write or email the Clark County Board of Councilors that you do not support such a plan and you want it changed. You can learn more about the Comprehensive Plan by logging on to www.clarkcountycitizensunited.org.
Carol Levanen
Executive Secretary
Clark County Citizens United
Battle Ground
Oil terminal, methanol refinery should not be built on marginal land
Gov. Jay Inslee must reject two major industrial development proposals here in Southwest Washington — the Vancouver oil terminal and the Kalama methanol refinery.
Both are clearly out of character for our one-of-a-kind Columbia River shoreline, and both could result in very negative impacts for our entire region. Each would result in just a handful of long-term jobs, but the potential costs to the environment, tourism, fisheries and transportation (and state coffers, in the event of a major accident) are incalculable.
I worked for 30 years here in Clark County, providing fire, emergency medical service and hazardous materials response. I can state from experience that this region's ability to deal with major fires and spills at our existing petrochemical facilities is marginal at best. These new proposals seem irresponsible to me, given the huge gaps in fire service funding and staffing that already exist here. Neither proposal offers anything meaningful in the way of long-term improvement of local fire agencies.
But there is another issue that makes these proposals even more worrying to me, a guy whose job it was to research, plan for, and respond to, worst-case scenarios. Both the Kalama and Vancouver projects would be built on saturated sand and gravel, deposited recently by the river or by dredge work.
The city of Portland now regrets that they allowed so much chemical and petroleum infrastructure to be built along the lower Willamette River, atop the same kind of marginal land. It is a given that widespread liquefaction will occur in these deposits during a strong earthquake, with catastrophic results to the tank farms and other industrial infrastructure already located there. Now that the region’s true seismic potential is known, Portland has learned that retrofitting or relocating those facilities will be a monumental (and perhaps impossible) task.
For new facilities, modern engineering offers only partial, mostly untested, protection from liquefaction in saturated sand and gravel. Given that timely, local knowledge, why would any Washingtonian want to allow these two petrochemical monstrosities to be built on wet sand here along the Columbia?
Mike Senchyna
Battle Ground
Ridgefield school bond would help solve overcrowding
We moved to Ridgefield with a toddler in 1995 and the population then was 1,400 folks.
We were the newbies, our neighborhood was the first planned neighborhood and not everyone liked the “new neighborhood.” As our family grew and our kids went through the Ridgefield schools, we watched the town grow. The new families each year move here for the same reasons we did — because they love it.
Our schools are one of the many attractions of Ridgefield. Go to a football game and see the whole town turn out to cheer. We are a community that supports each other and supports our kids. Proposition 2, the upcoming school bond vote, will allow our schools to grow along with the town. The current schools are overcrowded, the downtown traffic is crazy and safety and security upgrades are desperately needed.
The school district has developed an efficient plan that accommodates growth while taking advantage of state and city funding. The new school bond will meet our school needs while still keeping our tax rate at one of the lowest in the county. I am voting yes and I urge you to support our community and our kids and vote yes on Proposition 2 — the Ridgefield school bond — in the upcoming election.
Allison VanArnam
Ridgefield
Passing school bond will strengthen Ridgefield community
I’ve been lucky enough to be part of Ridgefield these past 10 years. During this time, Ridgefield has changed from being a small sleepy town to a thriving metropolis (at least if you are driving on Pioneer Street at 8 a.m.).
I have friends who love and welcome all of their new neighbors (at least until a grocery store shows up) and others that frankly wish Ridgefield could go back the way it was five, 10, or even 20 years ago.
Ridgefield schools have been handling the rapid growth as well as could be expected, but are reaching their limits. Every school is above capacity, the elementary schools each have twice the number of students as the state’s “typical” elementary school, and students have seen their common spaces and recess field invaded by a growing swarm of portable classrooms.
With matching funds from the state of Washington, a community centered partnership with the city of Ridgefield, and the voter’s support this February we can give our schools the leverage to meet these challenges. We will be able to build new classrooms so kids have space to learn; improve the safety of our school buildings to reduce potential threats and distractions; create new athletic fields so kids have room to play and develop as athletes; and move 500 or more students away from the downtown corridor, drastically reducing traffic and radically improving safety.
This bond will not make Ridgefield grow faster, nor will defeating it make Ridgefield go back to the way it was before. Passing the bond will help strengthen our community’s values and sense of cohesion by creating schools with fewer students; it will reduce our traffic on the roads by shifting busses and kids out of downtown, and it will help our students get the education we want to give them, the opportunity and space to play, and the chance to learn in schools that love them in a community that they love.
Please support Ridgefield’s schools and vote yes this February.
Joe Thayer
Kalama
Have a heart, GOP, and don’t kill Obamacare
In the Republicans rush to kill Obamacare I would plead — get a heart.
I applaud Sen. Ann Rivers for at least holding a town hall on the issue with her constituents. I don't agree with some of her positions on health insurance, but she seems to grasp that it is a complex issue that has been thrown into chaos by Republicans in Washington, D.C.
By contrast Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler won't hold town hall meetings on this or any other issue. Since Republicans aren't responsible enough to have a replacement before killing Obamacare who knows where health insurance is headed.
I find the most vocal opponents of Obamacare are hypocritical seniors on Medicare. They sure love their socialized medicine. Imagine that you are a person with cancer relying on Obamacare for health care bills. Beside the stress of dealing with cancer you have no idea if you'll have health insurance in the future.
Are we headed back to the days of pre-existing condition denial of coverage? There always seems to be money for bombs and waging wars, but not for saving lives in this country. Opponents of Obamacare think beyond yourselves and get a heart.
David Miller
Brush Prairie
Are Murray and Cantwell shills for drug companies?
Both Washington state senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray voted against allowing Canadian imports of drugs, due to "safety issues."
Both have accepted a significant amount of money from the drug companies. If safety is really an issue, and we cannot trust the Canadians, do these senators also support a repeal of North America Free Trade Agreement? Surely if drugs are unsafe then food is also unsafe.
Or are these senators merely shills of drug companies?
Chris Mathews
Vancouver
Passage of Ridgefield bond is a community affair
Why vote yes for the 2017 Ridgefield school bond? Because it’s our community bond.
You have probably heard this many times over the past year, but the bond is just that, a community bond. Community members, teachers, students, parents, grandparents, coaches — we have all contributed to the making of this bond. Countless hours have been spent researching and formulating a plan that is responsible with taxpayer money yet is precise in solving the school growth issue.
I have lived in Ridgefield for over five years now and have definitely seen a tremendous amount of growth in that time. However, we continue to be an inviting community with a small town feel, friendly businesses, many sports and extracurricular opportunities, and one of the top rated schools in the state for education. It’s no wonder people want to move here.
So, register to vote, fill out your ballots, and please vote yes for your Ridgefield school bond.
Dana Ziemer
Ridgefield
Vote yes for Woodland schools replacement levy
Woodland School District will be asking for continued community support with a replacement levy on the ballot in February.
The current school levy expires at the end of 2017. Woodland is a great town, with great schools. One of the reasons we moved here 15 years ago was because we wanted to raise our kids in a small town, where everyone knows everyone, where there is a sense of community and people helping each other. Woodland Schools have become part of that community for us.
As a volunteer and substitute teacher, I’ve been able to see the hard work and extra effort that teachers and staff put in every single day. As a parent of two kids at Woodland Middle School, I’ve been impressed with the education and opportunities that they have been given over the years, and I’m excited to see what the high school experience will bring.
It is important to note that Woodland’s levy rate is among the lowest in Clark and Cowlitz counties. This is a replacement levy, not a new tax. Our school district has been a good steward of taxpayer dollars, and continues to ask for only what it needs. Levy funds help with all sorts of needs, from facilities maintenance and staff training to school clubs and athletics. All of these pieces help make a complete and meaningful education for our kids.
Woodland is a special place in part because of the various ways our community supports all of its schools. Strong schools in turn make Woodland a great place to be. Our kids and our community deserve our continued support. Please join me in voting yes on the replacement levy.
Kim Heidgerken
Woodland
Herrera Beutler’s health care solution won’t work
Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler’s latest newsletter headline states “repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.”
That sounds reasonable and caring to the 16,400 people in her district covered by the ACA. However her answer to “replacement” is the 30-year-old Republican call for allowing purchase of insurance across state lines. Research shows that this proposal has been rejected as unworkable by state insurance regulators, the health insurance industry and independent health care analysts.
Professor Len Nichols, a health policy expert at George Mason University, states that allowing insurance companies to establish headquarters in states with low regulation and then sell insurance out of state, would actually save the insurance companies very little. The companies would incur cost, and encounter difficulties, in establishing network contracts with doctors outside their borders.
Furthermore, the cost of providing health care would differ greatly from state to state. When companies have been offered the opportunity to expand across state lines, they have chosen to pass on the opportunity. The Fiscal Times, The Wall Street Journal and Forbes have all noted the resistance from state insurance commissioners to the Republican “solution” of selling insurance across state lines.
The Wall Street Journal reports that commissioners decry deregulation as leading to “poor product accountability.” The National Association of Insurance Commissioners, working to protect consumers, believes that allowing companies to establish national programs based in states with the least regulations would cause a race to the bottom.
Low cost, low benefit policies would be offered to the healthiest individuals. Those with greater health care needs would not be able to find affordable policies. Under such conditions, Washington companies that follow regulations to provide health care policies to all would go out of business, being forced to cover only the consumers at highest risk. Our Congresswoman must face the reality that providing affordable healthcare for everyone, low risk and high risk, does not have a simple solution. Unless of course we could agree on Medicare for all.
Elizabeth Campbell
Vancouver
BG school district employee voting yes on levy
I am writing to support the proposed Battle Ground School District levy being put before voters on Feb. 14.
As a property owner who has lived in Battle Ground all my life, I take seriously any issues that affect my property taxes. It is important to me that my taxes are spent wisely and in the best interests of our community — especially the interests of our children.
I also work at the Battle Ground School District office. I am able to observe firsthand the operations and priorities of our district in educating our children. We have good leadership and strong teachers. I believe our tax dollars for our schools are being well spent.
I was at the school board work session when there was a thoughtful and complete public discussion on what dollar amount should be set for the levy. It was clear the board set the amount with two balanced priorities: maintain effective services for our children and keep the tax rate for property owners as equal as possible to our current rate. This seemed reasonable to me.
The district website has important facts about the levy including dates of levy information nights for the public. I encourage you to attend one of these nights and cast an informed vote on Feb. 14. As for me, I’m voting yes.
David Cresap
Battle Ground
State liberal leaders are afraid, want to take away our rights
Liberals live in a constant state of fear because they believe that people are too stupid to think for themselves and if they do, they would pose a direct threat to the future of modern day liberalism in that we will reject it and all that it represents.
Therefore, living in such a state of fear, they believe that they must do everything they can to control everyone in order to feel safe.
Case in point, on day one of the Washington state legislative session for 2017, Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced two anti-gun bill proposals that would ban the sale of one of the most commonly used firearm in the nation, as well as all standard issue ammunition magazines.
These bills, if they become law, are predicated upon a lie that has been overwhelming debunked at every point by FBI crime statistics. Even Washington state crime statistics prove that these bills are nothing more than a huge waste of legislative time and taxpayer money, which would be better put to use on more important issues such as fixing our road, schools, and healthcare system. But instead, state Democrats want to waste money and time taking away our gun rights because, why not?
This isn't an issue about safety or crime, but rather, freedom and control. State Democrats want to take away our freedom by controlling every aspect of our lives. They want to pick and choose what right we have and do not have by legislative means.
They believe they are better than us so why not tell us what rights we have and don't have. Their mentality proves that they aren't a bit concerned about safety or crime, but rather all they care about is the thrill of power they get when they take from us. They revel in their own smug, arrogant, and superior way as they, with straight faces, tell us that they did it for the sake of common sense and safety.
But those are just more lies perpetuated by an ideology so bankrupt in common sense as to be anemic. Simply put, it is all about control, they want it, and they will take it from us one way or another no matter the costs.
We need to oppose any attempt by our state government to abrogate, diminish or abolish our rights. If they can accomplish their agenda to weaken our Second Amendment rights, they'll move on to our other rights.
Don't let the Democrats in our state take away our freedom so they can feel safe and in control. Our freedom is worth more than their petty agenda so please say no to them and their objectives.
Raymond Williams
Battle Ground
Ridgefield bond passage would alleviate downtown traffic
The Ridgefield School District has demonstrated strong performance in delivering high quality educational opportunities for our community.
Improvements that were completed recently were done so on time and on budget. Currently, our schools are all over capacity and more portables have been necessarily purchased and placed in playgrounds and fields.
This bond planning process has had extensive community input. The proposed project is a cost effective approach to providing much needed new facilities. It is both accountable and cost efficient as it leverages state matching funds as well as funds from the city of Ridgefield.
A yes vote for the upcoming bond will help relieve downtown traffic congestion by moving 54 percent of the current Union Ridge and View Ridge student population out of downtown to the proposed new intermediate and middle school campus near the high school. That means more than half of the commuter traffic that participates in morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up will be eliminated from the downtown core.
Even with the cost of this bond, Ridgefield School District’s property taxes will remain among the lowest in Clark County. Please join me by voting yes on the school bond on Feb. 14 and support our schools, our students and our community.
Kent Landerholm
Ridgefield
Clark County family court administers dysfunctional system
Drain the swamp? At the Clark County "family" court, Commissioner Scheinberg and Judge Rulli should be investigated and fired.
They are blinded and detached from reality by special interest bias and no accountability. Their job should be limited to parenting plan enforcement, period, but resort to lies, slander, and distortions from irrational hack "evaluators" like Jeanne Waller and Don Moore.
No court official should be allowed to ignore report cards, police reports, medical reports or growing adversity for the children resulting from their absurd decisions. They are obtusely impervious to reason and conjured up endless absurdities to enable parental alienation.
To this day, my children have suffered from their negligent incompetence. This court has no respect for the father-child relationship. There is no viable place to turn for redressing their sneering excess abuse of power. When they came after me, Judge Poyfair testified in my defense, but my testimony was stifled and virtually nothing of what happened was mentioned when it counted.
The documentary Divorce Corp., DADS, and shared-parenting groups shed light on this witch trial, medieval court abomination, where the simplest disputes are convoluted into endless court appearances and non-sensible judgments with destructive outcomes that are ignored.
Unlike The Columbian, The Reflector mentioned some of these court abuses (Nov. 18, 2009, thank you Marvin). This dismal court record is hiding in plain sight. No American citizen should have to put up with this arcane, dysfunction-wreaking system. We should not tolerate it in the 21st century.
Bruce Boyman
Long Beach, California
Ridgefield school bond is well-planned out, deserves support
The Ridgefield School District bond that we’ll vote on next month is a well-planned next step for our schools.
I’m voting for it, and I hope you will, too. We have an exceptional school district because of lots of enthusiastic students, committed, effective teachers and very supportive parents and community members, but we’re bursting at the seams. School districts are not allowed to build for projected growth, they can only build for students currently enrolled. But, with good planning and forethought, buildings designed for the current kids can also adapt to growth.
That’s what the current bond has done. The new fifth through eighth grade complex will shift the middle school kids out of the middle of the town, which is too congested for the busses and where there’s too little land for more expansion, and draw some kids from Union Ridge and South Ridge, reducing overcrowding in those schools.
The district has partnered with the city to build the new facility next to the $5 million Ridgefield Outdoor Recreation Complex, saving considerable money and thus keeping our property taxes among the lowest in the county without shortchanging our kids. Please vote yes on the bond.
Ken Wanderer
Ridgefield
Younger generation missed out on God, flag and patriotism
Thank you Marvin Case, for your article about "The Good Old Days.”
I too was raised in the 50s in a small town in Central Washington. The times were much more simple. We weren't faced with the "crap" that our country has today. We didn't have to lock our doors. Our police were well respected. We had no terrorist attacks. We didn't have all of this political correctness we have today. In high school if we had an occasional beer, we thought we were bad dudes. Marijuana and other drugs were seemingly nonexistent, at least in our area. We were raised to work hard and become self dependent. Back then, we had God, flag, and patriotism in our country. There was respect, unity and love for fellow man. We didn't have a lot of money, but we had much love and caring.
I feel so blessed to have had the parents I had and to have been raised in that era and in that area. I feel so sorry for the younger people of today — they will never know what "The Good Old Days" meant.
Ken Willmon
Vancouver
Ridgefield school bond lacking common sense
One of the worst idea in the Ridgefield school bond is the outdoor recreation areas to be built with the city on the same property as the two new middle school buildings.
The schools shouldn’t be in partnership with the city and it seems there are already enough sports fields in this area and the nearby communities. Who will maintain the outdoor recreation areas after they are built? Another taxpayer expense?
The drawing in the Jan. 4 The Reflector appears to contain three soccer fields, two baseball fields, a track and football field. Seems like the two new school buildings are dwarfed by all these fields and parking lots. This property was sold years ago to build a high school, not a sports complex.
Reading The Reflector about the bond for Ridgefield schools, we question even more the reasons to ask for so much money. We feel that the school district doesn’t have its priorities correct. Our biggest concern is that the taxpayers are expected to give a blank check for numerous schools, not one specific school, and the exact dollar usage for each isn’t always stated. We think because of the growth in Ridgefield that the number one priority is classrooms.
In 2012, the taxpayers voted in $48.6 million and this bond was to upgrade several schools. We were told that we were overcrowded and many of the portable classrooms were in such dire shape that they were a danger to the children and a poor learning environment.
Recently, several portables were purchased again. Obviously not enough classrooms were added from the 2012 bond. The school board chairman said they were only able to build so many facilities because of the debt ceiling and bond rating for the schools 2012 bond. Instead of building numerous more classrooms at the high school, the district chose to build a new gym, soccer, football, lacrosse field, track and a state-of-the-art performing facility. The latter facility has such new technology that there wasn’t a person who knew how to operate the system and the district was going to hire someone to help with that problem. South Ridge and Union Ridge got new soccer fields, gyms, stages and a music room. All three schools added more parking.
The traffic problems at View Ridge could be easily remedied if the large number of parents would let their children ride the buses. Moving the school out to Hillhurst Road is only going to move that problem to that area. This district does provide buses for children to use.
The bond lacks a common sense and conservative approach to our growing city and schools. The total amount for this bond has been fluctuating and we’ve seen amounts from $78 million to the current amount of $100 million. We will not be supporting the current proposal nor vote to increase our taxes $200 to $300 a year. Christmas is past and we are not Santa Claus.
Please vote on Feb. 14 — you have a choice and your vote is important.
Linda and David Hoffman
Ridgefield
Schools coddle bus riders; can’t they get out and walk?
Much has been said about the younger generation being fat and out of shape.
Over busing of students surely has a lot to do with it.
Today in Battle Ground, a bus stopped three times within about 500 feet to let off kids. It stopped once, then roared on about 200 feet, jammed to a halt, let off one more kid, then went 200 feet farther and let off another. All the while there was a long line of cars backed up behind the bus.
Does the bus company assume kids today are unable to walk 200 feet on the sidewalk?
I live on a dead-end street. Busses come down here to let off kids and laboriously turn around at the end in a tight area, presumably so the kids won’t have to walk a few hundred yards to home. I wonder how much gas gets wasted because of this that taxpayers have to pay for.
Apparently kids today expect to be driven everywhere, and the school system enables it.
Bob Waber
Battle Ground
Levy money won’t solve difficulties educating our children
Before you pull the lever for the Battle Ground school levy please consider the following points under the heading of “can more money fix schools?”
In 1966, sociologist James Coleman wrote a 700-page report surveying 65,000 students. The survey found, “Families are important after that schools contribute little.” The Hoover Institute at Stanford University added, “and resources contribute very little.” In a long-running case (1985), Abbott vs Burke, New Jersey increased spending in 31 poor school districts. "So much money was pumped into these districts that in some districts they eclipsed the wealthier districts.” Findings: Spending 2.5 times the national average, “there was no real evidence that they are closing the achievement gap or that they are doing significantly better.”
According to an original Cato Institute study, “The correlation between spending (adjusted for inflation) and academic performance (SAT) of the past 40 years for all 50 states is .075.” PolicyAnalysis March 18, 2014 conclusion was "... a decades-long body of work that suggests there is little to no link between spending and academic achievement."
In Washington, the state SAT scores have remained relatively constant however the total dollar inflation adjusted amount invested in schools has doubled since 1972. Some states even had lower SAT scores in spite of the increased pupil funding (Cato Institute). How is that to be explained (away)?
The educational system including how it is funded is flawed and unsustainable because our expectations of the system are simply unrealistic. We expect the school system, unfairly, to do what can only be accomplished by parents and family. This is why the studies above show no appreciable improvement in SAT scores irrespective of increased spending. It is like building more prisons and expecting the crime rate to fall.
It is not a question of increased funding but a better application of revenue. Spending on family services could be far more advantageous than funding expensive administration or building projects. Ill-fed, unhealthy, poorly-housed children, many with psychological and social challenges cannot be expected to do well academically no matter how modern the school buildings, how great the sports program, or how competent the teaching staff.
Bill Dennis
Battle Ground
Vote yes on bond, keep Ridgefield schools world class
There is a high cost when we don’t support our Ridgefield school students through our bond.
How much is world class teaching worth? It should include: Integrating computer/technology lessons into every subject — not just taking students to a computer center within a school; opening up classrooms with Internet, video, blogs, visits via Skype with scientists and authors; utilizing the processing power of cell phones to teach that allow students to go beyond social media and games; encouraging our teachers to tweet, blog and share what works and what doesn’t; expanding the offering of healthy foods in our cafeterias; increasing the use of our library spaces as a place where students, teachers, community members and parents can come to relax, access technology, edit videos, find music, print in 3D and more; building education around the needs of students instead of following the way of how schools were set up to meet the needs of industrialism — allowing students to work in groups based on their needs and interest instead of their age; and encouraging Twitter, Pinterest, articles online, cooperation and conversation among teachers worldwide to build students who are ready for the world.
Andreas Schleicher, renowned advisor on preparing students globally, said, “Schools have to prepare students for jobs that have not yet been created, technologies that have not yet been invented and problems that we don’t know will arise.”
Ridgefield schools have always been known for solving the real issues in education and are leading the way for our state and country. We have a bargain in saying yes to the Ridgefield school bond to solidify the world class merits we seek through this bond. This is worth having and worth our vote.
Joseph Mendoza
Ridgefield
