A recent article in ClarkCounty.info provided a brief history and current status of the battle rural land owners have with Clark County government.
The grievances are real. Certainly real enough for reasonable public servants to be interested to understand and carefully consider them. Last Friday, about 200 citizens gathered at Hockinson High School to discuss the rural property rights problems which, in their view, have gone unaddressed for more than 20 years. Representatives from 15 Clark County Groups, including rural citizen groups, also attended, according to event organizers. The County councilors were invited and Councilors Madore and Mielke attended. The other councilors were fully aware of the event and knew there are many rural land owners and property rights advocates who are unhappy. Earnest politician would have shown up, even if they were an ideologue for higher density and limited further rural development. The only plausible reason these three politicians didn’t show is that the decision to kill the alternate land use plan for rural citizens is a done deal. This further demonstrates the returned arrogance of the County Government. They feel no political risk in ignoring the matter.
As we noted in an earlier article, these three councilors, Marc Boldt, Jeannie Stewart, and Julie Olson, are off to a rocky start with regard to citizen-focused government. They instead spend their time with a brazen and very counterproductive vendetta against the two other conservative councilors, Madore and Mielke. This vendetta is undeniably conducted in tight coordination with the liberal Vancouver establishment to reassert their collective power. This includes the previous culture of ever-growing and arrogant county government.
The county councilors take up this matter on Tuesday, February 16th at 10 am. They will probably vote to remove the alternate land use plan from further consideration. This meeting is held on the 6th floor of the Public Services Center, 1300 Franklin Street in Vancouver. We understand the organized rural land owners will not accept this decision and legal action will result.
In coming articles on this rural property rights matter, ClarkCounty.info will interview the founders of Clark County Citizen’s United on the 20 plus year battle with Clark county politicians and county bureaucracy. Initial discussions with this organization expose a story of deceit and arrogance by the County government over the years as they used public resources to legally confound the rural citizens. Further, after 5 out of 5, court victories by the citizens, the County Government found ways to ignore the various court’s rulings. The impact on these rural citizens will be explained and case-studies offered.
For ClarkCounty.info readers, please understand that we are not advocating any particular land use approach nor are we advocating for any particular element in the alternate land use plan for rural land owners. This is a story about disregard of citizens and that any of us could be adversely affected by such self-interested authority.
Links:
Video of Alternative-4 citizen meeting
Message from State Representative Liz Pike to Clark County Councilors
Facebook page for Citizen United Group who support Alternate-4