http://couv.com Audio and video stories from Southwest Washington. Fri, 07 Nov 2014 16:49:26 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5 Audio and video stories from Southwest Washington. Audio and video stories from Southwest Washington. no Audio and video stories from Southwest Washington. http://couv.com/wp-content/plugins/powerpress/rss_default.jpg http://couv.com/category/issues/clark-county-today http://couv.com/community/county-budgeting-mystery http://couv.com/community/county-budgeting-mystery#comments Fri, 18 Jan 2013 00:04:08 +0000 COUV.COM staff http://couv.com/?p=26962 http://couv.com/community/county-budgeting-mystery/feed 0 http://couv.com/community/new-pilgrims-among-us http://couv.com/community/new-pilgrims-among-us#comments Tue, 18 Sep 2012 02:50:55 +0000 COUV.COM staff http://couv.com/?p=24258 http://couv.com/community/new-pilgrims-among-us/feed 0 AM 1010,audio,Berlin wall,david madore,Mikhail Gorbachev,President Ronald Reagan,Russian Community,Russian Radio 7,Russian Speaking,Slavic Community,Socialism,Soviet Union Vitaliy Stepanyuk explains why Slavic families do not take our freedom in America for granted and until recently, have been reluctant to voice any dissent with authorities. Vitaliy Stepanyuk explains why Slavic families do not take our freedom in America for granted and until recently, have been reluctant to voice any dissent with authorities. Audio and video stories from Southwest Washington. no 45:33 http://couv.com/issues/clark-county-today/marvin-spires-healthy-living http://couv.com/issues/clark-county-today/marvin-spires-healthy-living#comments Wed, 08 Aug 2012 00:44:22 +0000 COUV.COM staff http://couv.com/?p=22867 http://couv.com/issues/clark-county-today/marvin-spires-healthy-living/feed 0 http://couv.com/issues/clark-county-today/david-madore-interview-with-tom-hann-%e2%80%93-coordination-and-the-10th-amendment http://couv.com/issues/clark-county-today/david-madore-interview-with-tom-hann-%e2%80%93-coordination-and-the-10th-amendment#comments Tue, 07 Aug 2012 22:06:42 +0000 COUV.COM staff http://couv.com/?p=22966 http://couv.com/issues/clark-county-today/david-madore-interview-with-tom-hann-%e2%80%93-coordination-and-the-10th-amendment/feed 0 http://couv.com/community/alex-tapia http://couv.com/community/alex-tapia#comments Tue, 31 Jul 2012 00:36:06 +0000 COUV.COM staff http://couv.com/?p=22741 http://couv.com/community/alex-tapia/feed 0 http://couv.com/issues/clark-county-today/stephen-pidgeon-attorney-general-2 http://couv.com/issues/clark-county-today/stephen-pidgeon-attorney-general-2#comments Tue, 31 Jul 2012 00:16:51 +0000 COUV.COM staff http://couv.com/?p=22727 http://couv.com/issues/clark-county-today/stephen-pidgeon-attorney-general-2/feed 0 http://couv.com/issues/clark-county-today/the-crc-gorilla http://couv.com/issues/clark-county-today/the-crc-gorilla#comments Fri, 20 Apr 2012 07:15:44 +0000 COUV.COM staff http://couv.com/?p=20833 http://couv.com/issues/clark-county-today/the-crc-gorilla/feed 0 columbia river crossing light rail project,CRC,david madore,kevin peterson,video,wsdot World renowned transportation architect Kevin Peterson says the manual for the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) is well written and well respected around the nation, but he has difficulty understanding why it was not followed to cr... World renowned transportation architect Kevin Peterson says the manual for the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) is well written and well respected around the nation, but he has difficulty understanding why it was not followed to create the design for the Columbia River Crossing Light Rail Tolling project. Kevin Peterson says the CRC is like a gorilla sitting in your front yard, and your view is the hind end. In 2010 frustrated engineer friends requested that Peterson review the Columbia River Crossing (CRC) as proposed and offer feedback. What Peterson saw was enough of a concern that he contacted the CRC directly and asked to meet with project officials. “When I looked at the project in 2010, I could not see that they had considered a collector distributor for a bridge replacement,” says Peterson. “Why the project did not consider a collector distributor is what I find disturbing.” The collector distributor option (CD), one that is spelled out in the WSDOT manual, greatly simplifies the design by placing local traffic on the bottom level with the faster freeway traffic on the top level. During their spring 2010 CRC meeting, Peterson presented a “notional indication of the benefits associated with a collector distributor” versus the braided design the CRC pursued. A braided design gets its name from its appearance. When viewed from above its intertwining on and off ramps appears braid-like. Peterson feels that on this project the braided design creates interchanges that are spaced too closely together and ultimately unsafe. Based on his experience, expertise and solid reputation that has been the foundational bedrock of Peterson's career, he believed that his input would be valuable. The CRC’s response to Peterson? “Nothing. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.” Peterson watched with increasing disappointment as the CRC, when questioned in public, suggested that there were problems with his idea, but the CRC only alluded to problems, and called his concept “fatally flawed,” without ever identifying anything specific.   According to Peterson there are significant benefits to the collector-distributor model. It straightens the grossly amplified curve in the current CRC design. It avoids massive land-take in the downtown area and virtually eliminates encroachment on Fort Vancouver. It even goes farther and connects downtown with the fort. The biggest plus of Peterson's concept offers superior safety and congestion relief with a projected outcome of reducing the number of potential deaths from vehicular accidents. From all appearances, the CRC bulldozed forward with a braided design, which grossly impacts Hayden Island. Hallmarks of the design that Hayden Island can look forward to are objectionable noise, the takeover of the equivalent of 19 to 21 city blocks, or 33-46 city blocks when the broadcast of freeway noise is considered.   As currently planned, the overwall CRC freeway structure swells over Vancouver in a manner that Peterson hasn’t seen since the 1960s when freeways were built without real regard or consideration for urban environments. “It’s a brutalistic structure that is being laid over Vancouver,” says Peterson, and if the freeway has to be raised 30 feet to accommodate river shipping it makes his assessment even more dire. He compares it to a “gorilla sitting in your front yard, and you get to look at the hind end.” Peterson now joins the frustrated engineers who pulled him into this review. He doesn’t understand the CRC mentality that is content with using a braided design that only meets minimal standards and costs substantially more. “When I saw that this was the solution it shocked me,” says Kevin Peterson. Peterson continues to seek answers to his fundamental questions: Why does the CRC project office refuse to consider a collector distributor? What are a design flaws that the CRC office has alluded to in a collector distributor model? Audio and video stories from Southwest Washington. no 1:23:43 http://couv.com/issues/clark-county-today/attorney-survives-train-crash http://couv.com/issues/clark-county-today/attorney-survives-train-crash#comments Thu, 15 Dec 2011 17:40:13 +0000 COUV.COM staff http://couv.com/?p=11426 http://couv.com/issues/clark-county-today/attorney-survives-train-crash/feed 0 Clark County Today,david madore,kathy marshack,michael langsdorf,railroad crossing,train crash,train crossing,video Vancouver attorney Michael Langsdorf drove his 2006 Lexus SUV up to a private railroad crossing just north of the Columbia River at 105th Avenue. He says he stopped, looked right, looked left, and "didn't see any train at all." - Vancouver attorney Michael Langsdorf drove his 2006 Lexus SUV up to a private railroad crossing just north of the Columbia River at 105th Avenue. He says he stopped, looked right, looked left, and "didn't see any train at all." The unlevel approach to the crossing, and possibily the early evening sun, may have obscured his vision of an approaching, eastbound train. He never saw the train, but he heard the train's whistle and hit his accelerator.   Langsdorf said the train bore down on him at 70 mph, but that the engineer was able to "lock it down and get to maybe 63 when he hit my car." The collision threw the SUV off the tracks and sent Langsdorf to the hospital. He suffered a crushed vertebrae, a lot of sore muscles, and after his near-death experience he has a renewed purpose to help others. He appeared before the Vancouver City Council and asked for review of statues that allow trains to travel through residential areas at very high speeds. "If we don't allow cars to travel more than 35 mph through a residential area, we shouldn't allow a train to travel at 70 mph through a residential area. We don't even allow freeways to travel that fast," says Langsdorf, and notes that when the ordinances were written trains didn't move 70 mph and the area where he was hit was far less populated.   "Four more feet and I was dead." In addition to the above Clark County Today video, Langsdorf's City Council testimony can be viewed on CVTV. Choose "Citizen Forum" on the linked page and forward to 4:54. Private railway crossings were the subject of an earlier COUV.COM piece: Marshack says civil rights ignored. Watch other programs from Clark County Today. Audio and video stories from Southwest Washington. no 16:11 http://couv.com/issues/clark-county-today/cct-marshack http://couv.com/issues/clark-county-today/cct-marshack#comments Thu, 29 Sep 2011 16:15:47 +0000 COUV.COM staff http://couv.com/?p=5072 http://couv.com/issues/clark-county-today/cct-marshack/feed 0 http://couv.com/issues/clark-county-today/cct-bpa-4 http://couv.com/issues/clark-county-today/cct-bpa-4#comments Sun, 18 Sep 2011 14:00:27 +0000 COUV.COM staff http://couv.com/?p=4601 http://couv.com/issues/clark-county-today/cct-bpa-4/feed 0 another way BPA,bonneville power administration,BPA,clark county issues,Clark County Today,david madore,ed orcutt,ed stortro,gray line,grey line,jaime herrera beutler,jordan thompson In the final segment of our four-part “BPA, Another Way,” series, Clark County Today host David Madore wraps up his conversation with Washington State Rep. for District 18, Ed Orcutt (R – Kalama), and Terry Constance, of Another Way BPA, In the final segment of our four-part “BPA, Another Way,” series, Clark County Today host David Madore wraps up his conversation with Washington State Rep. for District 18, Ed Orcutt (R – Kalama), and Terry Constance, of Another Way BPA, about of the Bonneville Power Administration’s plans for constructing a new 500,000 volt transmission line from Castle Rock through southwest Washington to Troutdale in Oregon. Constance describes the many ways people can become involved with the process of communicating their concerns and ideas to the BPA and one another. People can visit the website nowaybpa.com and learn about monthly community meetings that happen at different locations in Clark County the third Thursday of each month, at 6 pm. People can also send comments directly to the BPA or send comments to nowaybpa.com, which will forward them onto BPA on their behalf.   CREDITS Video shot by Ed Stortro and Scott Thompson Video edited by Ed Stortro and Jordan Thompson     View our part one of this series of interviews with Terry Constance of Another Way BPA and Rep. Ed Orcutt (September 17, 2011): Clark County Today - BPA, Another Way part 3 Audio and video stories from Southwest Washington. no 13:33