7:35 p.m.
Board adjourns.
7:20 p.m.
Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber recently proclaimed that he expects construction on the Columbia River Crossing project will get under way in 2013 — during a federal fiscal year that actually begins in October of 2012.
However, C-Tran official Scott Patterson just presented a possible ballot measure timeline whereby local voters wouldn’t decide on paying for light rail operations until November of 2012. That would provide enough time to conduct an expert review and finalize plans for the bus rapid transit line along Fourth Plain Boulevard.
“This board made a decision to separate the two issues and, in doing that, state law requires that we have to do this expert review panel, that we have to put together a finance plan,” Leavitt said. “And that takes a lot of time and effort. … There is no way we could even legally go out to the voters this November.”
6:35 p.m.
Board discussing other issues, not related to the ballot question. Discussion about ballot issue will come up during C-Tran executive director Jeff Hamm’s report to the board toward the end of the meeting.
6:15 p.m.
Penny Ross of Vancouver was the last of a half-dozen citizens to deliver public comment. Ross praised Camas city councilor Linda Dietzman for joining Clark County Commissioner Tom Mielke in expressing support for putting both ballot measures on the ballot on Nov. 8.
“You guys promised the voters a vote in November,” she said.
6:05 p.m.:
Sharon Nasset, a Portland resident who has advocated a third bridge connecting Portland and Vancouver in the area of the BNSF Railroad bridge, came before the board with new information about the proposal.
However, Leavitt said neighborhood groups and the city won’t support the proposal’s linchpin: Turning Mill Plain Boulevard into a freeway between Interstate 5 and the Port of Vancouver. He said the city’s downtown was bifurcated a half-century ago by the construction of I-5, and he won’t support compounding that situation with another major new freeway downtown.
“Ain’t gonna happen,” he said.
5:55 p.m.
Responding to criticism from Vancouver resident Steve Herman, Mayor Tim Leavitt said a majority of the city council opposed splitting the ballot measure in September.
“The reality is that the reason some of us thought it should be one measure was that we thought the future of C-Tran is more than just a bus agency,” Leavitt said.
5:50 p.m.
Josephine Wentzel of notolls.com called on the board to honor its commitment to put the controversial issue of light rail before voters sooner rather than later.
“I think this is creating confusion,” she said. “It’s sending the wrong message.”
The Background:
C-Tran’s board of directors, conducting its regular monthly meeting today, is seeking more information about proposed ballots measures to boost the sales tax.
The board decided in September to split a proposed increase of three-tenths of 1 percentage point into two measures: Two-tenths would shore up existing bus service and C-Van service for disabled riders. The other, one-tenth of 1 percentage point, would provide money to operate an extension of Portland’s light-rail transit system on a new Interstate 5 bridge and build a new bus rapid transit line on Fourth Plain Boulevard.
Both measures were to go before voters on Nov. 8.
On Saturday, the board considered delaying the measure on light rail and bus rapid transit. They asked for more information from C-Tran officials before making a final decision during the board’s next regular meeting in April.
