Cheers: To Vancouver Public Schools. District officials are giving needed attention to the will of voters, holding off on plans to remove a proposed elementary school from their list of projects. Because of increased costs and declining enrollment, a planned neighborhood school in Hazel Dell was on the chopping block, but officials have delayed that decision and scheduled a series of community forums.
District voters in 2017 approved a $458 million bond for a series of projects that included a new elementary school on 25th Avenue. Rising construction costs have led officials to second-guess that idea, and the school board was expected to vote on it this week. They are wise to wait. In addition to the need for public input regarding a voter-approved bond measure, voters also elected three new school board members who will be seated in January. It makes sense to engage the public and to allow the new board members to make the final decision.
Jeers: To generous tax breaks. The Vancouver City Council has approved a $772,000 break in property taxes over eight years for the developer of downtown’s Block 10. In exchange for the abatement, the developer promises to make at least 20 percent of the proposed 105 units affordable.
The problem is that “affordable” is defined based on the median income throughout the metropolitan area, which is much higher than the median income in Vancouver. With two-bedroom apartments renting for up to $2,578 a month, most local residents would not consider them affordable. Breaks for developers push more of the burden onto residential taxpayers and should be handed out sparingly.
Cheers: To less driving. The Seattle Times reported that a lower percentage of workers in Seattle are making a solo drive to work. In 2018, 44 percent of workers drove alone to work on a typical day, down from 53 percent in 2010. Among the nation’s 100 largest cities, that was the steepest decline; Portland’s percentage dropped by less than half a percentage point.
Seattle saw a sharp increase in the use of public transit for the commute to and from work, along with more bike commuters and more walkers. Reducing the number of solo drivers plays an important role in limiting carbon emissions and congestion, enhancing the quality of life for all residents.
Jeers: To Hanford contractors. Cleanup work at Hanford Nuclear Reservation was halted to remove a dangerous spill, the eighth incident this year in which a worker’s clothing or skin was contaminated with radioactive waste, according to the Tri-City Herald.
The spill occurred about 300 yards west of the Columbia River and resulted in the U.S. Department of Energy writing to contractor CH2M Hill, “the number of personnel contamination events indicate a negative trend in contamination control that corrective actions taken to date have been inadequate to address.”
Cheers: To Mrs. Miniver. Well, at least to a collection of stories by that title that was published in 1940. A copy of the book recently was returned to the library at Fort Vancouver High School — probably 76 years overdue. The book had been checked out by Elaine Wilk, a 1943 graduate of Vancouver High School as Francis Elaine Bailey, and was sent to librarian Kate Burton by Wilk’s daughter, Kasia Wilk.
The daughter came across the book in cleaning out the expansive reading collection of her mother, who died in 2011. Burton said, “This woman felt like it was important to return it to the place where it belonged.” There’s no word on whether a fine will be charged for the late return.
