One of my most rewarding retirement activities is driving one or two days a week at Vancouver’s Touchmark retirement community. This year we organized a Mayor’s Bus Tour series with local mayors boarding our bus and narrating tours of their cities.
It was a joy to hear each local mayor brag profusely about the community he loves so deeply. Clearly, Clark County has many fine cities that enrich our local quality of life.
The mayors who helped on the tours this year included Ron Onslow of Ridgefield, Shane Bowman of Battle Ground, Tim Leavitt of Vancouver, and Scott Higgins of Camas. Each one eagerly accepted the invitation and regaled the bus passengers with colorful local anecdotes while pointing out economic development achievements, applauding their schools and parks, and making each of us wish we had grown up there.
Often during election season politicians are denounced and insulted, but it takes a special person to step forward, agree to enter the public arena and try to improve a community while keeping many different factions satisfied.
