A new draft of a transportation revenue package is circulating among state lawmakers, but its shortage of money for Clark County projects is raising concerns in Southwest Washington.
The latest iteration of the plan, drafted by Sen. Curtis King, raises the gas tax 11.5 cents a gallon over 12 years and sets aside $7 billion for transportation projects across the state. But about $100 million from that pot would head to Southwest Washington. Just $41.4 million would be spent in Clark County, which is one half of 1 percent of the package’s project dollars.
State Rep. Jim Moeller, D-Vancouver, said the plan skimps on money for his corner of the state.
“I’m hoping this is not their best and final offer, and that we’ll still negotiate,” Moeller said Thursday. “At the moment, I’m not voting for this, and I doubt there will be anybody from the 49th (District in Vancouver) voting for it.”
Dan Ogden was an advance man during John F. Kennedy’s 1960 campaign, and he was invited along when the president scheduled a series of appearances in Texas in November 1963.
Ogden, who was an Interior Department official, had a job commitment and didn’t make the trip. Ogden and a few other people were in a Maryland restaurant when they heard what happened in Dallas on Nov. 22.
“We were just devastated,” Ogden said.
Now, as the nation approaches the 50th anniversary of Kennedy’s death, Ogden isn’t just recalling the stunning conclusion of an era that came to be known as “Camelot.” He can remember how it started.
As an advance man in Kennedy’s campaign, Ogden made sure the campaign stop had enough cars and drivers for the motorcade, a speaking platform at the rally site and a place for Kennedy to eat.
Starting Jan. 1, people who don’t live in the city will pay a few more dollars a month to break a sweat at Vancouver recreation centers or rent one for a party, while city residents either won’t see an increase or will save a few bucks.
Letters have been sent to people who have passes to Firstenburg Community Center, Marshall Community Center and the Vancouver Tennis Center, notifying them of the fee changes, said David Perlick, the city’s recreation services manager.
As an example, adults currently pay $37 a month to work out at Marshall. In January, a noncity resident will pay $40 a month, while a city resident will pay $35.
Starting May 1, 15 percent higher fees will be charged to noncity residents for swim lessons and other programs, although families with more than one child might consider paying a flat annual fee of $70 to essentially buy resident status, Perlick said.
Perlick said the higher fees are meant to make up for the fact that noncity residents aren’t paying property taxes to the city.
The debris is long gone from the violent rain and windstorm that smacked into Clark County in late September, but for the area’s sweetgum trees, the ordeal is far from over.
The storm, which caused more than 2.5 inches of rain on Sept. 28 and 29, knocked huge branches off sweetgum trees across the county, including three in Esther Short Park.
Many types of trees can survive that sort of battering, but the park’s historic sweetgums haven’t properly recovered — so they’re getting the axe late next week and will be replaced sometime in February.
As a group of physical therapists took turns at the operating table, their faces showed a combination of wonder, fascination, and a bit of squeamishness.
Each tried his or her hand during a demonstration knee surgery, performed on a cadaver leg. But it wasn’t just human hands at work for this partial knee replacement. They worked with the guidance of a robotic arm that already knew where to go.
Dr. Todd Borus, the surgeon leading the demonstration at Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center on Saturday, explained it this way:
“It won’t let me color outside the lines,” he said.
Legacy Salmon Creek was the first hospital in the region to offer the robotic-assisted procedure, known as MAKOplasty, in 2009. It’s still one of just three facilities in the Portland-Vancouver area using the technology. Borus himself has performed more than 500 such procedures.
