WASHOUGAL– Mayor Sean Guard is on a camping trip next to Main and 32nd streets, just yards away from the BNSF Railway line. He plans to sit and record all sorts of information about every passing train for the next week.
Last week, Guard announced plans to camp out next to the tracks, counting each and every train that passes from noon on Friday to the same time on Friday, April 24. He also sent out invitations to Gov. Jay Inslee, BNSF Railway Executive Chairman Matthew Rose and a number of state legislators to join him for the adventure.
As political theater goes, this may be one for the ages. The scene had already become somewhat of a media circus late Friday afternoon as local TV news vans waited across the street with reporters putting together their segments on the mayor.
But Guard insists his trip 10 blocks away from his home to his camping spot serves an important purpose. During his stay, Guard will keep track of how many trains go by, the type of trains, how fast they’re traveling and how long they tie up traffic at Washougal’s busiest intersection. If he has to step away to run an errand, a volunteer will step in to maintain the effort.
“The point of this is at least for a week’s period of time to get an accurate count,” he said. “They (BNSF) obviously know what their number of trains are and stuff. They just don’t share that information.”
Another part, of course, is using the information to convince BNSF that Washougal needs traffic mitigation at the intersection — an overpass for either the trains or the cars.
Today is Day 98 of the 105-day legislative session.
Lawmakers’ biggest task remains passing a two-year operating budget. The main sticking point is over whether to raise taxes. The GOP-controlled Senate is pushing an operating budget that doesn’t raise any new taxes, instead relying partly on marijuana tax revenue and partly on dipping into existing accounts. Democrats have called the plan unsustainable and proposed a capital-gains tax that would hit the state’s richest residents.
The parties would need to strike a budget deal this week to adjourn by their April 26 deadline. But most lawmakers are keeping their gym memberships and apartment leases in Olympia; both parties appear to be laying the groundwork to blame the other for a possible special session.
Four other important legislative to-dos that could impact Southwest Washington:
Imagine owning a house with a sprinkler system that monitors the weather and carpets made from recycled milk jugs.
Imagine having rooftop solar panels generate so much power that the utility company sends you a check.
It’s green living, and that’s life for Salmon Creek-area residents Mike and Robin Mooney. In 2013, they bought their four-bedroom, 2 1/2 -bath home with an “emerald” rating, the highest possible score under the National Green Building Standard.
“It’s a well-built house that’s comfortable,” said Mike Mooney, 49, an IT engineer. “It’s probably the best home I’ve ever owned as far as performance. … It’s about being sustainable.”
“I just like knowing we’re doing something for the environment,” said Robin Mooney, 48, a registered nurse whose severe allergies are alleviated by the home’s medical-grade air exchange system.
Meanwhile, Vancouver city officials want to help homeowners and builders who want to voluntarily adhere to the National Green Building Standard within the city. The City Council on Monday will hear a proposal to add the standards to city code, providing guidelines for the design, construction and operation of green buildings and a uniform way to measure their performance. A public hearing and council vote on the proposed ordinance will follow April 27.
Sree Thirunagari, Vancouver’s building official, said the city wants to be socially responsible and reflect community values of sustainable development and efficient use of resources. The city wants to help people who want to build, remodel or live in an eco-friendly house through the design process, he said. The city also will record the home’s National Green Building Standard certification in its permit files so the information will be available to future property buyers.
Gov. Jay Inslee on Friday expanded Washington’s drought emergency to cover nearly half the state, including much of Southwest Washington and all of Clark County.
The declaration means Clark County can qualify for relief funds that can be used for various water supply measures. It also means the county is expected to experience at least some hardship from the growing drought.
“This is an ongoing emergency, and we’re going to have some long, hard months ahead of us,” Inslee said in a released statement. “We’re moving quickly so that we’re prepared to provide relief to farms and fish this summer.”
Officials have characterized this year’s emergency as a “snowpack drought.” Despite near-normal precipitation across the state since October, unusually warm temperatures have resulted in a dismal mountain snowpack. In Southwest Washington’s Lower Columbia basin, for example, snowpack stood at just 18 percent of normal for this time of year as of Friday. Some other parts of the state look even worse.
“We’ve never experienced a drought like this before,” state Department of Ecology Director Maia Bellon said in a conference call with reporters Friday. “It’s not for lack of rain, but lack of snow.”
In addition to all of Clark and Skamania counties, the current drought area includes parts of Cowlitz, Klickitat and Lewis counties. Friday’s declaration expanded a drought emergency that Inslee initially declared last month.
The last previous drought declaration in Washington occurred in 2005.
