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Convention and visitors bureau
budget going up to $800,000 a year
A $2-a-night hotel room tax supported
by a majority of hotel and motel operators in Clark County and approved by both
the Vancouver City Council and the board of Clark County commissioners has put
the Southwest Washington Convention and Visitors Bureau on firm footing with an
$800,000 annual operating budget and has freed up Vancouver and Clark County
lodging taxes for capital projects, including the city’s convention center and
the county’s exposition hall.
During the current year the SWCVB
operated on a $350,000 budget, of which $250,000 was provided by Vancouver and
$100,000 by Clark County.
The new tax is effective Dec. 1 and
applies to some 2,000 lodging rooms in the county and Vancouver. It is in
addition to two 2 percent lodging taxes collected by the city and the county,
part of which was used to support the SWCVB through Dec. 1, this year.
“The local hoteliers deserve a lot of
credit for making this happen,” according to
Kelly Sills, polic assistant to the board of commissioners.
It happened quickly, too. The 2003
legislature created a statute allowing local entities to create Tourism
Promotion Areas (TPA) and levy the $2-a-room lodging tax, provided that a
majority of lodging owners petitioned for the creation of the districts. By July
this year the hoteliers responded.
Lodging owners representing over 60
percent of the amount of money to be collected by the $2 tax petitioned both the
City of Vancouver and Clark County to create TPAs. The city and county responded
by forming a joint TPA
Kalama, the little port that could,
does
The Port of Kalama, 30 miles up the
road in Cowlitz County, once again was, in 2003, the third biggest on the west
coast in terms of bulk cargo shipped, and third in the state of Washington in
terms of total tonnage, loaded and unloaded.
According to information from the
Pacific Maritime Association, 6,952,826 tons of bulk cargo, mostly grain, was
shipped from the port last year, compared to 10,532,545 tons for number 1, the
Port of Portland, and 7,269,307 tons from the Port of Long Beach, Calif., which
was in second place. The Port of Vancouver was in sixth place, with 3,179,551
tons shipped.
The Port of Tacoma handled the
greatest amount of total tonnage during 2003: 27.6 million tons, the Port of
Seattle; 19.8 million tons; and the Port of Kalama, 7.3 million tons. The Port
of Vancouver followed in fourth place, handling just under 4 million tons of
cargo during the year.
Jennifer Edwards wins Preceptor Award
Jennifer Edwards, assistant director of Pharmacy Services at Southwest
Washington Medical Center, has been named 2004 Preceptor Award winner by the
Washington State University College of Pharmacy.
Pharmacy students with whom
Edwards worked nominated her for the award. As part of the pharmacy preceptor
program at the medical center, Edwards hosted 15 pharmacy students from WSU, the
University of Washington and the University of Oregon. The students, whose
primary focus was on clinical pharmacy, spent much of their time on patient
floors under the supervision of practicing pharmacists.
Edwards says the award is
recognition of the entire pharmacy preceptor program at SWMC and of the
pharmacists who were involved in teaching the young about to become
professionals.
Season tickets to Bravo! Vancouver’s
11th concert season on sale
Season tickets for Bravo!
Vancouver’s 11th concert season are now available, reports
Michael Kissinger, conductor of the
six-concert series which begins with the annual Handel
Messiah oratorio at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec.
5, in the St. Joseph Catholic Church, 400 S Andresen Road.
Concerts during the season
include “The Best of the Baroque,” in February, Beethoven’s
Missa Solemnis in March, “Out of
Africa,” in May, and the Duke Ellington School of the Arts Jazz Orchestra,
The New Washingtonians, in June. A bonus
concert, Oliver Messiaen’s
Quartet for the End of Time, has been
scheduled for Jan. 9.
Reserved season tickets for all six
concerts range from $60 to $70. Reserved single admission tickets are $15.
General admission at the door is $12. For further information, call 904-0441, or
go to the Bravo! Vancouver website at
www.bravoconcerts.com.
News briefs
Pearson Air Museum’s Wednesday Cruz-In
is from 4 to 9 p.m. today at Pearson Field, 111 E Fifth Street.
g Port of
Ridgefield commissioners meet in regular session at 6 p.m. this evening and will
consider a resolution supporting annexation of port property by the City of
Ridgefield. g
The Forum at the Library presents school district superintendents
John Erickson,
Rick Melching,
Bob Donaldson and
Mary Vagner in a discussion of local
school issues at 7 p.m. tonight in the Vancouver Community Library Hall, 1007 E
Mill Plain Boulevard. g
The Puget Sound Blood Center is conducting a blood drive from 1 to 7 p.m.
Thursday, Sept. 23, in St. John Lutheran Church, 11005 E Highway 99.
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