Welcome to 2023! A new year is a time of renewal; an opportunity to start with a clean slate and improve upon the previous year’s missteps, disappointments and promising starts.
To that end, here are 10 New Year’s wishes we think are worthy of consideration.
1. Congress will focus on pressing issues, such as immigration, instead of lengthy investigations. We believe the House Jan. 6 committee’s work was important; democracy cried out for a thorough examination of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. But tit-for-tat probes threatened by Rep. Kevin McCarthy and other House Republicans appear they’ll be strictly political theater that will do nothing to address said pressing issues and move our country forward.
2. Gov. Jay Inslee and the Democrats in control of the state Legislature make an extra effort to include Republicans in development of a responsible budget that will address our state’s pressing needs while keeping in mind taxpayers and a potentially lurking recession.
3. The Clark County Council will coalesce to develop policies that will address our county’s housing shortage while ensuring our historically crucial agriculture sector isn’t squeezed out by development and onerous regulations.
4. The city of Vancouver will endeavor to ensure its “Main Street Promise” project — which will make a variety of long-needed improvements to the 10 southernmost blocks of Main Street — will do all it can to mitigate difficulties the work will cause for local businesses. It’s a positive sign that the issue is top of mind for city officials, including Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle.
5. Federal officials will quickly approve rules that allow refugees from Afghanistan to remain in this country without fear of deportation. These are people who assisted U.S. military forces and officials in their native country and would likely face death at the hands of its Taliban rulers. Families such as the Azizpours in Hazel Dell, the subject of a continuing series in The Columbian, are working hard to be contributing members of American society. Allowing them to continue doing so is the least the U.S. government can do for those who risked so much to aid our country.
6. All those who love our beautiful outdoors and all they have to offer will demonstrate that by being good stewards. This means leaving no trash behind, staying on trails, not feeding wildlife and obeying the rules, which are there not to spoil anyone’s fun, but to protect often-fragile habitat and ensure the public’s safety.
7. Incoming 3rd District Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez will not continue her predecessor’s resistance to town hall meetings. Perez is going to be busy, we realize that, but we believe setting aside time two or three times per year to give constituents an opportunity to ask questions or air concerns is simply good governance.
8. School districts will continue their efforts to ensure equity and inclusion for all students, and not be cowed by outside groups that want education to incorporate only their narrow view of what’s acceptable and appropriate.
9. Russian leader Vladimir Putin will give up his demented determination to rebuild the Soviet Union and withdraw his forces from Ukraine post-haste.
10. Columbian readers will continue to support local, independent journalism that is dedicated to keeping them informed about what’s happening in Clark County.
We wish a very happy and healthy New Year to all.
