The next mayor of Vancouver will either be a political newcomer with no previous elected experience or a current member of city council with a history of community involvement. Four mayoral hopefuls (John Carroll didn’t respond to The Columbian’s invitation) offered their thoughts on the direction of the city to The Columbian’s Editorial Board on Monday.
“I have background and experience that puts me in a unique position to hear the diverse interests of the city because I am from the grass-roots portions of the city,” Anne McEnerny-Ogle said. A longtime community volunteer, McEnerny-Ogle, 63, highlighted her work in neighborhood associations and service on the Vancouver Planning Commission before being elected in 2013 to city council, where she also serves as mayor pro tem.
“I think this is a really good community to raise a family in and I’d like to make it a better community,” said Greg Henderson, 57, who owns a business with his wife and whose son, Vaughn, is running for city council.
“I represent that majority of the population that is tired of the congestion, tired of the taxes and tired of being lied to,” said Steven Cox, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel who served 36 years.
“I want to put a different spin on (city government) rather than the people who have been in politics or government their whole life,” said Adam Hamide, 33, the co-owner of Main Street Marijuana, who touted his business acumen.
When asked about Vancouver’s housing crisis and how it should spend Prop. 1, an affordable housing levy, Cox’s response stood out.
“It was a fraud perpetuated on the people,” he said. Cox asserted the measure used a “statistical fallacy” and relied on erroneous federal numbers for Vancouver’s median income when describing the city’s poverty rate. Ultimately, Cox concluded that “homelessness in this area is not as bad as it’s being made out to be.” He said Prop. 1 needs to be reworked and that the city needs to build outward to create affordable housing.
Hamide said that some homeless people addicted to drugs or suffering from mental illness may not want help. Instead, he said housing vouchers and affordable housing should instead be directed to struggling families and people who do. Calling it a matter of supply and demand, he called on incentivizing builders to build more affordable housing.
“I think we’re a little naive if we think we’re going to get rid of homelessness in its totality,” he said.
Henderson blamed rising rents on institutional investors. He also said that the city should look at “building up.” He also called on changing state law to allow rent stabilization and supported inclusionary zoning, a practice where developers are required to build affordable units.
McEnerny-Ogle said that Vancouver City Council was “very clear” about how the $6 million Prop. 1 is expected to raise annually over the next seven years would be allocated.
Sixty-seven percent of the money is currently allocated for building and preserving affordable housing, 25 percent for rental assistance vouchers and the rest for shelters, transitional housing or administrative costs.
“And I’m not ready to start tweaking those percentages,” she said.
Cox was the only candidate to support the proposed oil terminal. When transportation came up, both Hamide and Cox said it didn’t make sense to force public transit on people. They both expressed support for the idea of a third bridge across the Columbia River and neither supported light rail. Both McEnerny-Ogle and Henderson said they supported bus rapid transit over light rail.
“If we rethink public transportation, I think a lot of people would use it,” Henderson said.
McEnerny-Ogle, who has worked on replacing the chronically congested Interstate 5 Bridge for 17 years and served on a governor’s task force, said she’d still like to see the structure replaced.
McEnerny-Ogle said that the Columbia River Crossing, the aborted replacement for the bridge, is “dead and gone.”
At the end of the meeting, Cox mentioned his endorsement from Republican state representatives Vicki Kraft and Liz Pike as well as county Councilor Eileen Quiring. McEnerny-Ogle said she was endorsed by current Mayor Tim Leavitt, former Mayor Royce Pollard and current county council Chair Marc Boldt.
McEnerny-Ogle highlighted the city’s fiscal health and how its plans to revamp the Vancouver’s waterfront are underway. She also touted her deep community involvement and pointed out that she hadn’t seen her opponents nearly as involved.
“I’m thankful that you finally got involved in our community,” she said.
