One would think that the planning of the Columbia River Crossing was done without any citizen input, according to Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler’s Feb. 22 letter, “Allow representation to participate.” It is easy to document the many citizen meetings and open houses that the Columbia River Crossing planners used for several years leading to the proposal presented for funding and authorization. Of course, during much of this time Herrera Beutler was in Washington, D.C., either as a House of Representatives staff member or as an elected 3rd Congressional District representative.
Those who feel they were left out either ignored the citizen input process during the planning stage or somehow failed to participate. The Columbian reported extensively on the project with stories, pictures, drawings, etc. Pros and cons were printed on the Opinion page. Washington state senators prevented the project from moving forward with the state’s share of the project.
It seems that state Rep. Liz Pike, R-Camas, was not able to get support for her latest bistate bridge study group. Pike was given ample opportunity to convince her fellow legislative members to fund another study group, but her proposal did not move forward.
