By any name, Vancouver is a bastion of growth

• Year incorporated: 1857

• Population: 163,186

Must see: Officers Row, Fort Vancouver National Site, Esther Short Park, Columbia River Trail, Vancouver Farmers Market (on weekends during warmer months)

Web site: http://www.cityofvancouver.us

Even in the worst of economic times, nothing in Vancouver seems to stay static.

The big city budgets of the financial boom may have gone bust, but the ‘Couv is forging ahead with bold plans for the future.

The city is partnering with an investment group to redevelop a massive 33-acre site along the Columbia River — a 20-year, $1.2 billion project that aims to bring at least 2,500 residences, 400,000 square feet of office space and 100,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space to a former industrial site. Ten acres of parks and an extension of the city’s wildly popular Waterfront Trail are also in the works.

Residents have also recently restarted chatter about changing the city’s name to Fort Vancouver, giving a nod to the city’s famous Fort Vancouver National Historic Site. The bigger motive would be to get the area a greater name definition beyond the T-shirt sold locally that reads: Vancouver (not B.C.), Washington (not D.C.), Clark County (not Nevada), near Portland, OR (not Maine).

Would a Vancouver by any other name be just as sweet? The idea of giving the town another moniker has been floated before, with Vancouver residents voting three times to keep their city’s name: in 1960, ’67 and ’75.

Vancouver residents cast ballots to change city leadership in the last election — first-term Mayor Tim Leavitt beat out 14-year incumbent Royce Pollard, who made service to what he calls “America’s Vancouver” his two decade mission.

Work will continue on the planning of the massive multibillion revamp of the Interstate 5 bridge, providing a better connection for the estimated 60,000 Clark County residents who cross the Columbia River to get to work in Portland each day.

Leavitt’s strong opposition to tolling local commuters to pay for the bridge is cited as one of the reasons he won the election; only time will tell if he is successful.

And hard economic times mean that city leadership has a tough road ahead of it — on top of more than $20 million in cuts to the city’s $144.5 million general fund in 2009 and 2010, an additional shortfall of $10 million is expected in 2011. That means the city, is taking a hard look at which services must be trimmed. For now, no new road or parks projects are planned within city limits.

But that trouble hasn’t changed the foundation of the city, incorporated in 1857 where the Hudson’s Bay Company had established its northwest headquarters in 1825. The fort, along with Army barracks and Officers Row, remain standing and are a central part of the city’s identity.

Esther Short Park, hailed as the oldest public square in the Pacific Northwest, has had new life breathed into it in the last decade, along with downtown.

The city continues to grow, particularly on the east side, where annexations have brought thousands of new Vancouverites into city limits. Small tensions between historic west Vancouver and the Southern California-style development of east Vancouver exist, but national chains and small businesses alike are flocking to the area to serve the folks who undeniably want to be there.