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 http://couv.com/issues/kotek-connections http://couv.com/issues/kotek-connections#comments Fri, 22 Jul 2011 13:00:00 +0000 COUV.COM staff http://couv.com/?p=2356 http://couv.com/issues/kotek-connections/feed 0 audio,Boondoggle,bridge,bridging the gaps,carol doane,CRC,john charles,lars larson,light rail tolling proejct,tina kotek,tri-met,TriMet In a Feb. 18 interview with Lars Larson, Oregon state Rep. Tina Kotek said that North Portland has to make sure it has “better transit connections" into Clark County. - In June, transportation analyst John Charles told the Bridging the Gaps audience t... In a Feb. 18 interview with Lars Larson, Oregon state Rep. Tina Kotek said that North Portland has to make sure it has “better transit connections" into Clark County. In June, transportation analyst John Charles told the Bridging the Gaps audience that Tri-Met, the entity that operates Portland's light rail, is not funding the need claimed by Kotek. Charles went so far as to describe the situation in Tom Sawyer-esque terms: Vancouver's C-tran pays to operate light rail, Portland's Tri-Met sits around and eats the apple. "Everybody else puts money in while they’re watching. I have to give them credit, it’s very clever,” noted Charles about Tri-Met. [couv.com video 3:30]. His statement is confirmed by a 2011 published Tri-Met report (download of PDF) which states, “TriMet is making no capital contributions to the Portland Streetcar, Lake Oswego Streetcar or Columbia River Crossing construction projects*.” (italics couv.com). Instead, the cost of operations falls in the lap of C-tran, where a tax increase of 0.2 percent was discussed during C-tran's July 12 meeting. Besides Kotek’s claim that North Portland must have access to Clark County, she doesn’t seem to think Washington taxpayers should have a voice in the issue. She notes the issue is not about voting, it’s about "negotiating." Even if Washington voters say "no," Kotek appears to say the project should still go forward. Listen to the audio interview, or read the transcripts included here. Then tell us what you think. Is Kotek against the citizens of Washington voting on light rail? TRANSCRIPT LARSON: And you think the $4 billion is justified? KOTEK: We’ve got to change the bridge, that’s about $900 million. We need light rail because we have to make sure we have better transit connections at Clark County. LARSON: Would you like to ask the voters about whether they want to spend the money on light rail? KOTEK: Well, they’re going to get that choice. There’s going to be a C-tran vote in November about, you know, supporting C-tran— LARSON: No, only about operations money, not about actually doing the project. If the vote is ‘no’ will you accept that as a ‘no’ to the project? KOTEK: Well, here’s how this project is going to work, this is like, think about it as negotiating— LARSON: No, hold on, ma’am, ma’am, do you mind just - If the vote is 'no' will you accept that as a ‘no’ to light rail? KOTEK: Absolutely not. This project doesn’t— LARSON: (erupts in laughter) So, hold on a second. Just so people are hearing you correctly, Ms. Kotek. KOTEK: Lars, Lars... light rail... LARSON: Like I said, you’re very brave to come on, but if the voters say ‘no,’ and you say, ‘oh no, but we’re going to go ahead and do it anyway,’ what are you, aren’t you kind of putting a middle finger to the voters? KOTEK: The folks in Clark County are going to be talking about operating costs. This project doesn’t get built without light rail because of the funding we’re going to get from the federal government to help that. It's going to reduce traffic. LARSON: Right now there are three lanes each way. I drive it every single day, both ways. KOTEK: Right. LARSON: Do you know how many traffic lanes there are each way on the new bridge? KOTEK: (pause) It’s three and three each way. LARSON: It’s three and three. KOTEK: But it includes — LARSON: So, we’re going to build a brand new bridge and not make it any bigger at the biggest choke point on I-5. Does that make sense to you? KOTEK: But you’re not giving all the details, ‘cause we’re going to have additional thru lanes to make sure that the congestion and the interchanges work better, so we don’t have a traffic accident every day. LARSON: No, but we’re still going to have three traffic lanes each way. We’re replacing three lanes each way with three lanes each way. We’re not going to build it any bigger, does that make sense to you? Audio and video stories from Southwest Washington. no 2:01