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C-TRAN to cut Portland
commuter service in January
Over 54 percent of Clark County voters were rejecting
C-TRAN’s proposed .03 percent sales tax measure Tuesday, leaving the transit
agency no choice but to begin reductions in service beginning as early as
January 2005, according to C-TRAN executive director
Lynne Griffith.
All of C-TRAN's commuter routes to downtown Portland will
end Saturday, Jan. 1.C-TRAN service will be provided only to the nearest TriMet
light rail stations at Delta Park/Vanport and the Parkrose/Sumner transit
centers.
In addition, the following service will be completely
eliminated in January: The Connector, Route #114 Camas, Route #173 Battle
Ground, and all Sunday service.
Additional reductions will take place in May, September.
The increase in revenue from the sales tax proposal would
have balanced C-TRAN’s budget. The budget will have to be balanced by a 46
percent reduction in services,. according to Griffith.
"Our goal, at this point, is to educate our riders on
upcoming service changes so they're able to plan appropriately," says Griffith.
C-TRAN directors will hold a public hearing at 6 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 16, in the Rose Besserman Room at the Fisher's Landing Transit
Center to adopt the final service reductions.
Board of County Commissioners
faces changing with the times
Marc Boldt,
veteran 17th District legislator, last night defeated Vancouver City Council
member Jeanne Harris to become the first
Republican to serve on the three-member board since
Mel Gordon, who was elected in 1998 but
was unseated by Democrat Craig Pridemore
four years later. Harris, a Democrat, retains her seat on the city council.
Boldt succeeds Democrat Judie Stanton,
who is retiring after two terms on the board. He will represent commissioner
District 2.
Democratic District 1 county commissioner
Betty Sue Morris is leading her
challenger, 18th District Republican state representative
Tom Mielke, by 62,725 votes to 60,659, in
unofficial and incomplete tabulations. Although more than 10,000 additional
absentee votes are yet to be counted, they are not expected to change the
outcome.
Meanwhile, Pridemore, who has two more years remaining on
his county commissioner term representing District 3, is in an extremely tight
race to unseat veteran legislator and 49th Legislative District state Sen.
Don Carlson, the Republican.
The most recent vote tally early this morning gives
Pridemore the lead by 521 votes out of 33,835 tabulated.
If Pridemore’s lead prevails, he will resign from the
board of commissioners.
The remaining two years of his term would be filled by
one of three persons selected by the Clark County Democratic Central Committee.
If Pridemore were to resign before his term ends, commissioners Morris and
Stanton would select his replacement. If he resigns effective with the end of
his term, Morris and Boldt would make the selection. If the two commissioners
were deadlocked, the governor would make the selection.
Local voter turnout huge
Upwards of 80 percent of Clark County’s registered voters
will have voted in the Nov. 2 election, predicts county auditor
Greg Kimsey. Vote totals this morning
showed that 89,515 voters voted by absentee ballot and 45,968 voted at the
polls. By election day Clark County had a record 207,6121 registered voters.
The vote count, which includes at least another 10,000
absentee ballots, will continue as the mail brings in new ballots postmarked by
Tuesday, Nov. 2. The official vote is to be certified in ten days.
State representative races decided
In the 49th District, Democratic incumbents
Bill Fromhold and
Jim Moeller easily won races to retain
their seats in the House of Representatives:
Fromhold 23,558, Republican
Justin Riley 14,073, a 62.6 percent
margin.
Moeller 22,259, Republican
Mike W. Smith 14,749, a 60.37 percent
margin.
In the 18th District, incumbent Republican Sen.
Joseph Zarelli turned away his Democratic
challenger Dave Seabrook by a 54 to 46
percent margin. Republican incumbent Position 2 state representative
Ed Orcutt defeated Democratic challenger
Brian D. Beecher by a 60 to 40 percent
margin. Republican Richard Curtis beat
Democrat Pam Brokaw by a 57 to 43 percent
margin to win the seat vacated by Tom Mielke.
Don Benton,
17th District Republican, beat his Democratic challenger
Paul Waadevig by a margin of 56 percent
to 44 percent. Democratic 17th District incumbent representative
Deb Wallace bested her Republican
challenger Roy Rhine by a margin of 53 to
47 percent. Jim Dunn, a former 17th
District state representative, beaten by Wallace two years ago, returned as a
winner for position 1 by beating Democrat Pat
Campbell 55 percent to 45 percent.
Charter amendments adopted
Two amendments on the Tuesday’s ballot were approved by
voters by 45 to 55 percent margins.
The first changes the term length for mayor from two years
to four years. The second makes mostly housekeeping changes to the city’s
initiative and referendum rules.
Changes in the initiative and referendum codes will require
the city attorney to review and point out procedural flaws in proposed
initiatives, and spells out that initiatives proposing something contrary to
state law cannot be considered.
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MIRIAM GREEN 
"Working to help you!"
