of course the key line was buried at the end of the article:

The resolution must be considered by the full C-TRAN Board of Directors, which includes the three county commissioners and six other local elected officials.

The Clark Co. Commission is merely asking the C-Tran vote to go along with the idea.

One notes that one of the Clark Co Commiss is up for re-election this year and his opponent is a big time tolls & rail opponent. Said commis is a liberal who has been advocating a vote on rail for some time, instead of outright opposing it.

Thanks
JK

"If the vote is favorable, light rail will be built across the Columbia!"

If the vote is un-favorable, light rail will be built across the Columbia!

I guess they didn't get the hint the last several times its been voted on.

How much does an election cost these days? I wonder if those kinds of costs will be accounted for in the 100M and rising planning budget.

There's not a chance in hell this thing is passing.

They can't even get Portland voters to support light-rail.

Justin...sorry but the incumbents on both sides of the river don't care what we think or how we vote. Start saving the cash for the tolls on 5 and 205.

The two new commissioners on Portland's City Council, Fritz and Fish (sounds like a good name for a fish&chips joint)are going to enter a resolution to Council asking for a vote too. They ran their campaigns on the "transparency" motto.

Let's see how that comes out since Sam/Rand never asks for a vote on light rail or anything else.

Total cost of CRC project: $3.6-4 Billion
Total length of MAX in Vancouver: 1.4 mi.

"To receive federal funding for light rail construction, C-TRAN must demonstrate it can pay to operate and maintain the extension without reducing existing bus service."

How can it ever be approved then? Too bad this requirement does not apply to TRIMET!

Having a public vote on MAX to Vancouver is a bigger waste of money than actually sending MAX to Vancouver. Everyone knows the results will have NO BEARING on what the idiots in authority decide(d) to do.

It will be a no vote and MAX will never go to Vancouver.
The gig is up.
I'll also repeat my prediction from two weeks ago that Milwaukie Light Rail will never get built.
Stay tuned this coming week for some hefty nails in the coffins.
I'll also predict Beaverton's attempt at Urban Renewal will soon come to screeching halt and Clackamas County's equally insane attempt at a massive Urban Renewal scheme for Milwaukie Light Rail will also soon fail.
And it goes without saying the Lake Oswego trolley is dying.

Ben you putting money on each and every one of those predictions... ;-)

Who wants light rail?

http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story_2nd.php?story_id=128087560879736200
Two held for assault on Clackamas sheriff's officer and his wife
Suspects may have followed the two on a MAX train from the Gateway area

The sheriff's office saw the incident as part of a disturbing trend in Clackamas that recorded a 32 percent increase in reported crimes and a 56 percent increase in calls for police service after the opening of the MAX Green Line on Sept. 12, 2009.

“We have had a spike in criminal activity as a result of the implementation of light rail at Clackamas Town Center,” Strovink said. “We have to be as creative as possible to bring in undercover officers and that type of thing to keep the pressure on.”

Justin: Actually, it does:

If the vote is favorable, Vancouver/Clark County pays their share of the light rail construction costs by shutting down their bus system.

If the vote is not favorable, TriMet district residents will shut down their bus system to pay for an illegal expansion of their transit system outside of the TriMet service district and into Vancouver.

Having a public vote on MAX to Vancouver is a bigger waste of money

I believe under Washington state law (as I've heard multiple times), an election is required because C-Tran simply doesn't have any legal means to just force light rail.

TriMet, on the other hand, has mastered its ability to engage in major projects without significant public voice, and even to cut bus services without public voice. All that's required is a public meeting where the public is invited to attend, but not necessarily take input. After the failure of South|North, TriMet built the Interstate line, the Airport Line, the I-205 line, rebuilt the Transit Mall, built WES, cut back numerous bus trips, is planning Milwaukie MAX and Vancouver MAX, and possibly Powell Boulevard and Barbur Boulevard MAX - all with virtually no public input or decision.

A simple law to update ORS 267 could change it: "No transit agency created until this section shall plan, build, or operate any transit service which requires more than $10 million in capital expenditures without a vote of its residents." The problem is that our Democratic leaders see these as "jobs" programs that they dare not stop.

Uh... wasn't light-rail voted down like two or three times already in Clark County?

And hasn't the reason that Tri-Met can proceed with projects w/o public votes been the fact that they're issuing tax increment-financed bonds via UR districts to fund the "local share" of most of the lines? I don't see how C-tran could be stopped from doing this. It certainly has not stopped Tri-Met even in the face of their bleak financial future and deteriorating bus system.

RE Ron:
Total program cost for development of typical new car : $3.5 billion.

Total cost of guardrail system, per mile: $42,000.

"Total cost of CRC project: $3.6-4 Billion
Total length of MAX in Vancouver: 1.4 mi."

Posted by Ron Swaren | August 6, 2010 4:49 PM

What politicians on both sides of the river need to do is take a serious look at opening the market to other transit alternative. The fact that there is no need to the government to run a transit agency has been demonstrated time and again. They got into the business because they erected so many barriers to private companies that there was nothing else to do. Law upon law drove others out. Government created a problem and then government tried to solve a problem it created in the first place. End the transit monopoly!

It's interesting that articles about federal transit money always mention the so-called "requirement" that the local transit district be able to operate the facility for 20 years after taking fed money, which is the ostensible reason for the Vancouver vote. But I know of no instance in which FTA has actually gone after a local transit agency for cutting service.

Here in Portland, TM took plenty of fed money for the Yellow and Green lines, but has been cutting service steadily ever since. In fact, by TM's own admission, the Green Line service was cut before it even opened. It will go down again after September 5.

Technically, FTA should insist that TM restore rail service to promised levels, which would result in more cuts to bus service. That would anger a lot of people, including me, but at least it would help educate the locals about how high-cost rail cannibalizes low-cost bus service.

John Charles