Watch the countdown
Click to see the east county bridge countdown clock
The clock is ticking. Will County Councilor David Madore make it?
Today marks a big anniversary. OK, I sort of created this anniversary, but that doesn’t make it unworthy. It still counts!
It was one year ago — on Jan. 24, 2014 — that Madore agreed to sit down with me for a wide-ranging interview. Near the end of that interview, I asked Madore what he saw five years down the road when it came to major transportation projects. His answer?
“Five years from now, we’ll be standing there at the east county bridge saying, ‘And they said we couldn’t build it.’ No kidding. And it’s toll free.”
Oh my!
The clock is ticking. Four years to go now.
For those of you not following along, Madore is sort of going it alone when it comes to a proposed east county bridge.
Most decision makers agree that replacing our aging Interstate 5 Bridge is the top priority before we even begin talking about other bridges. So, Madore’s pronouncement a year ago is — at best — distracting. And few folks — after he said what he said — gave it any chance of happening in that time frame.
Now, since a newspaper’s role is to hold the government accountable, I thought it would be reasonably cool to put Madore on the clock. So that’s literally what we did.
We began a countdown clock on our website, and it began ticking when Madore told me a year ago we’d be driving on the east county bridge in five years.
You can look at it on our website by clicking the link in the “Watch the countdown” box above. Sometime this weekend, you’ll see one full year click off.
• • •
And Madore wasn’t shy about his prediction. After he told me of his five-year plan, he repeated it again at the state of the county address a few weeks later. He added, “It’s in the works.”
The clock is ticking.
• • •
As noted, I’m not the only one who is skeptical. Former Vancouver Mayor Royce Pollard — never one to be shy with his opinions — isn’t a fan, either. Pollard showed up at a county commission (now county council) meeting and issued a challenge for Madore.
“If you build a bridge in five years, six years or seven years, I will kiss your butt in downtown Vancouver on Main Street during daytime.”
OK, strike that image!
One of the huge obstacles Madore faces with getting his bridge built is, ah, money. When pressed about his financing plan, he finally said — well — the Washington and Oregon legislatures will have to pony up.
Ah, OK.
But there’s one little problem. No one’s on board.
This week, I asked state Sen. Ann Rivers — who is in Olympia right now working on the state budget — if that pile of money that Madore wants is coming.
“There has been no discussion in the transportation committee about it.”
I could be mistaken, but I believe that’s the politically correct way of saying, “Fat chance.”
• • •
I’ve thought about Madore’s pronouncement — on and off — but was reminded of it this week because I actually ran into him on Thursday. Running into Madore isn’t easy. At least for me. It was particularly surprising, because I saw him at The Columbian’s Economic Forecast Breakfast. You see, Madore, ah, is not a big fan of The Columbian. He insists he doesn’t read us, The Columbian has been banned from the county councilors office, he’s pulled the county’s legal ads from us, and he was supportive of a litter fee being placed on us.
Essentially, he kind of pretends we don’t exist.
Regardless, I was happy to see him at the event. Thank you, councilor. And since he was there, what the heck, I thought I’d ask him about this one-year anniversary of his bridge.
“Are you sticking to your timeline on the east county bridge?”
Madore gazed over my head. Maybe he was looking for divine intervention? When it apparently didn’t come, he spoke.
“Talking to you would be like giving matches to an arsonist.”
OK, then.
In the meantime, my advice to Pollard? Don’t pucker up just yet.
And my advice to Councilor Madore? The clock is ticking.
