Author Archives: Calley Hair
Downtown drag racing draws ire
Bothered by car noise downtown? You’re not alone, if recent email correspondence between the Vancouver City Council is any indication. The Columbian maintains an ongoing records request, and recieves the emails and text messages among city councilors in biweekly installments. Over the last two weeks, councilors have been fielding emails from residents frustrated by pollution […]
County passes 2010’s census self-response rate
Well, at least we’re doing something useful with all this time at home. Clark County residents have surpassed a noteworthy milestone in their response to the United States Census. On Thursday, the county surpassed its 2010 self-response rate — 70 percent of Clark County’s households have responded, and we still have a few more weeks […]
3 Democrats, 1 independent gain IGV endorsement
The local progressive organization Indivisible Greater Vancouver announced endorsements for candidates seeking county and state offices this week. The group will support four candidates challenging incumbents on the Aug. 4 primary election ballot, three Democrats and one independent. In Washington’s 18th Legislative District, Indivisible Greater Vancouver is endorsing Democrat Donna Sinclair, who’s challenging Republican Rep. […]
Diversity delayed for Vancouver City Council
Vancouver’s push toward creating a more diverse city council has fizzled, at least for now. Like so many other long-term projects, the suspension of the city’s Community Task Force on Council Representation is a casualty of COVID-19. The group, tasked with making the (all white, all home-owning) city council more reflective of the people they […]
Atencio drops out, leaving two-person race for WA-3
Rudy Atencio — at turns a Whig, a Democrat, and eventually a self-proclaimed “gay, liberal Republican” — has dropped out of the race for Washington’s 3rd Congressional District. His decision leaves the district with a two-person race in November. For the second time, voters will choose between the five-term incumbent, Repulican Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, […]
Have you filled out your census? Your neighbor probably has.
Not too shabby, Clark County. According to the United States Census Bureau, our corner of southwest Washington has one of the best self-response rates to the decennial census in the state. As of Monday, 57.8 percent of households in Clark County had responded to the census online. We’re beat out only by King County (58.4 […]
Want to participate in the next city council meeting?
The Vancouver city council meeting on Monday looked very different from the norm. Only one person was sitting in the council chambers at City Hall, to start. The rest of the participants — all six members of the council plus the mayor, the city manager and the city attorney — all called in to conduct […]
Yes, the Vancouver Farmers Market is reopening. Here’s what that means.
On Friday, Vancouver City Manager Eric Holmes issued an emergency declaration that reopened the Vancouver Famers Market. Shortly afterward, my email inbox blew up with readers wanting to know how that could possibly be a good idea during the COVID-19 outbreak. So I reached out to city spokesperson Carol Bua on Monday about the reasoning […]
Parking tickets suspended during viral outbreak
Quarantined at home in Vancouver, but worried about overstaying your meter? Ducking out every two hours to move your car? You can chill. The city stopped issuing regular parking tickets on Thursday. “We are suspending, for the duration of the declared emergency, enforcement of parking tickets,” City Manager Eric Holmes told me on Friday. “We […]
Long on lukewarm young voters: ‘Can you blame them?’
Carolyn Long, the main (scratch that; now she’s the only) Democrat seeking Washington’s 3rd Congressional District seat, told National Public Radio she’s trying to win over unaffiliated voters and energize the base in order to beat a 10-year Republican incumbent. However, the Washington State University Vancouver political science professor also said she understands why young […]