“I want you to be the tough guys”

Vancouver resident Carolyn Crain came to talk to county commissioners on Tuesday about how she feels betrayed.

She feels betrayed that Commissioner Steve Stuart promised a districtwide C-Tran vote, but then he and Commissioners Marc Boldt and Tom Mielke “didn’t put off enough muscle” and allowed themselves to be pushed around by Vancouver Mayor Tim Leavitt during a May 10 C-Tran meeting.

“I am not happy with that,” Crain said.

“Josephine was right,” said Crain, referring to Josephine Wentzel of notolls.com. “It was a ruse.”

Crain said she doesn’t like when she goes to Vancouver City Council meetings and Leavitt points out that she lives outside of city limits.

But she shops in the city, she said. She drives on city streets. Isn’t that enough? Does she really need Leavitt to treat her as, in her words, “the bastard child of the community?”

While Leavitt is only elected by people who live within city limits, commissioners have to act on behalf of every county resident. And they can’t just grandstand and make promises that they don’t follow through on, she said.

“I’m your child,” Crain told the commissioners. “I want you to be the tough guys. Stand up and defend my American freedoms … make me proud. Not ashamed.”

Stuart explained that both the county and the city have three members on the C-Tran board. Leavitt is on the board with Councilors Larry Smith and Bart Hansen. Both the county and city have veto rights. The county did stand up for its citizens, Stuart said, but the board reached a stalemate.

“They could vote not to do a districtwide vote, we could vote not to do a subdistrict vote,” Stuart said. “And then there’s no votes.”