Cheers: To free fireworks. For “the first time in a long time,” according to the official website, admission will be free for Fort Vancouver’s Fourth of July festivities. This, of course, includes one of the nation’s largest fireworks displays, a tradition that has long been a hallmark of the city. Organizers also are scaling back what has been a daylong celebration in recent years, with festivities beginning at 6 p.m. and fireworks at 10 p.m.
The event is one of the area’s most notable community celebrations, and it makes sense for organizers to focus upon the main attraction. “The fireworks show is the element most valued by the community,” said Mike True, president and CEO of the Fort Vancouver National Trust. “We’re focusing on that — giving our audience what they most want.”
Jeers: To traffic congestion. The fact that traffic has grown noticeably worse in recent years is no surprise, but it still is instructive to see the increased delays quantified. A preliminary report from the Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council notes that speeds on the morning commute across the Interstate 5 Bridge have declined at least 55 percent since 2011. Last year, traffic moved through the corridor at about 9 mph.
Traffic across the Interstate 205 Bridge also is slowing, turning the morning commute into a frustrating, unreliable slog. Anyone who tries to cross the bridges at peak hours is painfully aware of how the situation has devolved in the past couple years, so here is a suggestion for how to spend that time sitting in traffic: Mentally compose an email to your local representative expressing your feelings about the congestion.
Cheers: To protections for Washington’s elk herd. Gov. Jay Inslee has signed into law a bill that addresses a serious health hazard for elk in the state, directing Washington State University veterinarians to establish a monitoring system for combating elk hoof disease in Southwest Washington.
The disease is blamed for an increase in the number of elk with deformed or missing hooves, and activists say the herd in this part of the state has decreased by two-thirds over the years. That indicates that the new law is long overdue. “It’s only taken two decades and 100 trips to Olympia to get this accomplished,” Bruce Barnes of Vancouver said.
Jeers: To legislative lethargy. Lawmakers’ inability to create and pass a budget in a timely fashion places a burden upon state agencies and, especially, school districts. The Legislature is in the first of what likely will be multiple special sessions, having missed an April 23 deadline for closing this year’s session.
While it is crucial for lawmakers to negotiate, compromise and come up with a budget that benefits citizens, they apparently have little concern for the burden the delays place upon others. School districts must formulate their budgets for next year, but that is rendered impossible by uncertainty about what will be coming out of Olympia. School districts and government agencies deserve a Legislature than acts with more urgency.
Cheers: To Vancouver’s waterfront. A new milestone was reached this week in the city’s waterfront development, with construction beginning on what will be the Grant Street Pier. Eventually, the pier will jut out 90 feet over the Columbia River, providing the centerpiece for the $1.5 billion development.
Most important, the pier will be symbolic of Vancouver reclaiming the remarkable natural resource that is its riverfront. For decades, that portion of land was claimed by heavy industry, which provided economic benefits but obfuscated one of the region’s treasures. With plans to surround the pier with a park and office and residential space nearby, Vancouver is about to be transformed for the better.
