Cheers: To sidewalks. It is a small amenity — just 0.3 mile of sidewalk — but it is meaningful to local residents. Clark County recently unveiled a new walkway along Highway 99, from Northeast 122nd Street to Northeast 129th Street in Hazel Dell. Vicki Fitzsimmons, president of the Sherwood Hills Neighborhood Association said: “This stretch of Highway 99 has been on my radar screen for a long time. I have a disabled son. It’s very important that he is able to walk safely on the street.”
For years, county officials have been planning sidewalks along heavily trafficked Highway 99 to improve safety, mobility and even community health. Enhancing walkability makes a community more livable and can be beneficial to businesses in the area. We hope the county continues quality-of-life projects that bolster the Hazel Dell area.
Jeers: To Fire District 5. A report from the state auditor’s office has again found the district’s training center in violation of state law. The audit says about 13 percent of students at the training center, some of whom work for private businesses, pay for classes the district is not authorized to offer. The report says fees do not cover the cost of the classes, meaning taxpayers are subsidizing training for private businesses.
Fire District 5 officials dispute the findings and the legal interpretation by the auditor’s office. Instead, they should comply with the findings and establish a system that does not have taxpayers funding classes in forklift training and defensive driving.
Cheers: To accountability. The city of Vancouver has joined many jurisdictions in filing a lawsuit against opioid manufacturers, citing the cost of an ongoing epidemic. Nationally, more than 400,000 deaths have been attributed to the painkillers, and millions of people have become addicted. This has strained health care systems, law enforcement and social services, and more than 2,000 local governments — including Clark County — have filed suit.
If drug manufacturers are proven to have lied about the risk of addiction — as is alleged — they should be held accountable for putting profits ahead of public health. Vancouver officials are wise to join the effort.
Jeers: To threatened birds. A study from the Audubon Society suggests that more than half of 296 Washington bird species face shrinking populations by the end of the century if climate change continues on its current trajectory. “We are talking about huge changes in all aspects of their life history — what they are eating, what their habitat is and where they are nesting,” one Audubon official said. This follows an academic report from last month that found the North American bird population has declined by about 3 billion over the past 50 years.
The new report is yet another warning about the dangers of climate change. Critics claim some predictions about climate change are overblown. But even if, say, only one-quarter or one-tenth of Washington bird species will be threatened, the latest assessment is cause for concern.
Cheers, we guess: To the Washington Nationals. The baseball team that makes its home in the nation’s capital is heading to the World Series. This will mark the first World Series appearance in the 51-year history of the franchise, which began as the Montreal Expos.
That is exciting for Nationals fans … and depressing for fans of the Seattle Mariners. The Mariners, who have been around for 43 seasons, are now the only Major League Baseball team that has never been to the World Series. Oh well, there’s always next year.
