Editor,
The Portland Vancouver Junction Railroad (PVJR) and three county councilors would argue that implementing the freight rail dependent use plan will generate millions in tax revenue and would be a boon for Clark County’s economy by providing living wage jobs to keep Clark County residents working here and not in Portland.
None of these claims are grounded in any economic or demographic study to confirm these assertions, and the County Council has refused to authorize a study to prove their claims.
The millions in tax revenue and living wage jobs can only materialize if railroad-dependent businesses gobble up the surrounding agricultural land and set up shop while hiring local employees to do dream jobs for an enviable salary.
I challenge the advocates of this rosy economic picture to name names and tell us who is going to locate along the rail and what jobs they will provide. We have never been told who these businesses are despite being told of their existence and desires for six years.
Name names, please, because as of now there appears to be only one named business, Granite Rock, who wants to set up a quarry in Chelatchie to pull rock from an environmentally fragile hillside. How many jobs would that be? At what exorbitant salary? And is this business
really rail dependent as required by Senate Bill 5517?
I doubt that Granite Rock alone can generate the promised tax revenues or detour many Clark County residents from their Portland jobs to come work in a quarry, specifically a quarry with no city sewer access as defined by SB 5517.
Until we see the economic studies that prove definitively these claims, I remain skeptical. Until we have a study that specifically targets Clark County residents currently working in Portland who would rather work here at a railroad-dependent job, I remain skeptical.
The railroad is a nostalgic piece of Clark County history, and it should continue to function as such. The promise of millions in tax revenue and fabulously desirable jobs are unfounded pipe dreams. The railroad will never be an economic boon to Clark County. It’s time to let this go.
Kimberley O’Hara
Vancouver
