Opinion Editor Greg Jayne, in his recent column (“Light rail’s local unpopularity shouldn’t beg the question,” March 11), tossed an unnecessary and surprising bone to the local right-wingers who have brought overdue transportation infrastructure progress to a screeching halt in Clark County over the past half-dozen years.
Debating the relevance and importance of light rail in the transportation mix seems pretty small potatoes while he ignores the elephant in the room — the obstinate and backward mentality of Clark County’s politicians. The Republicans among them single-handedly killed the Interstate 5 Bridge replacement — a project that would be well underway had they not stuck their heads in the sand.
In the process, they not only grossly offended, but alienated their “partners” on the Oregon side. Now, the chickens have come home to roost and the chickens on the Oregon side are biding their time, sitting on their eggs and even retaliating with their own plan to place tolls on the key connectors between Vancouver and Oregon. Tit for tat and well deserved.
So, with light rail and other issues of modernity, the question really isn’t about the practicality of light rail, but whether Clark County’s right-wing politicians will continue to sabotage the region’s growth because they prefer to live in the past?
