Cheers: To the Fort Vancouver Seafarers Center. Located at the Port of Vancouver, the center has long offered assistance and a place to gather to seafarers from merchant ships who are visiting the port. Many of these merchant sailors are from faraway places such as Indonesia or the Philippines. After spending weeks aboard ship, they enjoy the chance to spend a little time on land and enjoy the simple recreation the center provides, or even a chance to visit a grocery store or the mall.
Our center is one of only two on the U.S. West Coast; the other is in Seattle. The passage of the USA Patriot Act after the Sept. 11 attacks made it more difficult for seafarers to get clearance to come ashore, but those who do are welcomed at the 4,000-square-foot center, which is located in the port’s secure area. There, they can find armchairs, couches, a pool table, a chapel, a TV room, the internet, a kitchen and many welcoming smiles from the center’s 80 volunteers.
Jeers: To Vancouver Port Commissioner Jerry Oliver. Oliver has just finished his rotation on the Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council, a transportation planning group made up of local government representatives. Before he left the board, he twice tried to get his colleagues to send a nasty letter to the head of the Oregon Transportation Commission opposing tolling on Portland-area freeways.
Oregon is seeking to study the idea of asking motorists to pay for freeway improvements, such as removing the infamous Rose Quarter bottleneck, but there aren’t any studies yet, let alone any tolling proposals. So Oliver’s tantrum comes much too early.
Furthermore, Oliver claimed to have unanimous support for his letter from all three of the local port districts. But when The Columbian asked the ports if they had taken a position on Oregon tolling, all three indicated that they had not.
It may be that eventually Oregon will come up with a plan that is unpalatable to Washington. But our elected representatives should wait to see the plan rather than try to rekindle the same fires of political acrimony that burned and sank the Columbia River Crossing.
Cheers: To Lucy Crouse, the 10-year-old local seamstress who this year sewed 105 quilts and many other gifts to benefit clients of Second Step Housing, a program that helps people who were recently homeless.
“I sew a piece of my heart into everything I sew,” said Lucy, whose wish for Christmas was for more fabric so she could make more quilts. She sold part of her Lego collection, and she started a GoFundMe account, lucysstitchedhugs, to raise money for her projects. Her justifiably proud mother, Holly Crouse, says that Lucy has a big heart because she knows what it’s like not to be included. Lucy and her sister are both on the autism spectrum.
Jeers: To the deaths of 17 of our fellow citizens. That’s the number of local homeless people who are estimated to have died last year; no one keeps an official count. The dead were mourned at a Dec. 21 candlelight vigil at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Vancouver.
“Each and every one of us has a story and each and every one of us has an impact on the world around us,” said City Councilor Ty Stober, who was one of the featured speakers at the vigil. Homelessness is a complicated issue, and a hard problem to solve. It’s sad to think that for at least these 17 people, there will never be a positive solution.
