Saturday, June 4, 2011, was sunny, with temps in the upper 80s in Vancouver, WA … our first 80 degree day since October 6, 2010. In spite of that, a dedicated group of community-minded Vancouver citizens willingly sacrificed four to five hours of that precious time to attend Bridging The Gaps, an opportunity to be enlightened and to be heard on the topic of the proposed CRC Light Rail Crossing Project … the biggest public works undertaking in the history of the community.
Sadly, Vancouver’s Mayor, Tim Leavitt and the majority of elected officials invited to attend Bridging The Gaps, didn’t join their constituents at this meeting. In Mayor Leavitt’s case, I knew that he had posted an update on Facebook about the day’s great weather and stating that he would be “cruising around town, enjoying our beautiful open spaces and trails.” My initial thought on this was, “How sad, when a group of folks Leavitt is sworn to represent are willing to sacrifice a big chunk of their first summer-like day for the sake of the community, their Mayor is unwilling to do likewise.” I was very disappointed to see Mayor Leavitt use this “Sunny Day Excuse” as his latest rationale for not hearing and responding to the will of the people. Going into Saturday’s event, I continued to wonder about this ongoing attitude on Leavitt’s part and frankly, I was baffled by it. Coming out of this meeting, however, I thought I was finally beginning to understand. Based on the information presented at Bridging The Gaps, I don’t think it was the sunlight that led Mayor Leavitt and other elected officials to remain outside. The expert presentations at Bridging The Gaps were very revealing. This included a number of stunning questions related to the accountability of the CRC Light Rail Crossing Project. I believe it was this revealing light of truth that frightened the delinquent elected officials away from Saturday’s meeting.
Before going on, I want to encourage you to view the recorded presentations from Bridging The Gaps at http://couv.com/. According to COUV.COM, these will be available late Monday, June 6th. Please check them out and come to your own conclusions. Although I don’t intend to provide a “blow by blow” report on Bridging The Gaps, I do want to draw your attention to some of the presentation points that hit home the hardest with me.
For me, the most revealing presentation was made by Tiffany Couch, Founder of Acuity Group, a forensic accounting firm. Ms. Couch was hired by local businessman David Madore, the host and sponsor of Bridging The Gaps, to help him try to make sense of a blizzard of documents he received from the CRC Light Rail Crossing Project, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. Based on the review of these documents and details of related meetings with CRC officials, it appears that there has been little oversight of this project and that many basic accountability practices have not been followed. These include:
- CRC is unable to produce several essential accounting reports. Here are their replies regarding the reports requested:
o Total CRC Funding, By Source – NO REPLY.
o Total CRC Expenditures – PARTIAL REPLY.
o Project Deliverables – “DOES NOT EXIST”.
o Financial Statements – “DOES NOT EXIST”.
o Benchmark Costs of Newly Built Overpasses – NO REPLY.
o Master Vendor List – NO REPLY.
o Audit Reports – “NO AUDITS PERFORMED”.
- WSDOT’s report of expenditures for CRC:
o Total $108 Million.
o $15 Million not coded to a vendor name.
o $38 Million not coded with a specific purpose (e.g. rent expense, engineering expense, etc.)
o $77 Million has gone to a single vendor - David Evans and Associates.
If you’re astonished by this, I’m with you. Thankfully, we’re not alone. One of the few elected officials in attendance was State Representative Ed Orcutt (WA-18). His response to this presentation was that he will be calling the State Auditor on this and possibly, the State Attorney General.
When you check out the Bridging The Gaps videos at http://couv.com/, you’ll find more revealing information from:
- John Charles, President and CEO of Cascade Policy Institute – On the CRC, as a Light Rail Project, not a Bridge Project.
- Joe Cortright, President and Principal Economist of Impresa – On the $10 Billion price tag for this project plus its inaccurate forecasting and other financial risks.
- Paul Guppy, Vice President for Research of Washington Policy Center – On how this project serves the interests of the government agencies involved but not the interests of citizen mobility.
Furthermore, when you check out the Bridging The Gaps videos at http://couv.com/, you’ll discover that proposals for a 3rd and a 4th bridge were presented. These bridges could be included in an alternative plan that’s vastly superior to the proposed CRC Light Rail Crossing Project. And, this stands as proof-positive that the folks behind Bridging The Gaps aren’t anti-bridge. They are just opposed to the proposed CRC Light Rail Crossing Project.
Although I’ve lamented the lack of attendance of elected officials at this event, I do want to acknowledge and express my appreciation for those who did attend. As mentioned above, State Representative Ed Orcutt (WA-18) was present. He is encouraging a county-wide vote on the proposed CRC Light Rail Crossing Project. Beyond his comment in response to Tiffany Couch’s presentation, the concerns he expressed about the CRC included:
- Having just two bridges makes no sense.
- The tolling plan for the proposed project is disproportionate for Washington residents.
- Light Rail just takes up space.
The following two photos are a great illustration of this last comment by Orcutt:
The first photo depicts I-84 during the morning commute. You’ll note the area to the right of the road that is taken up by The MAX, Portland’s Light Rail. That area was originally set aside for freeway lane expansion. Now, there is nowhere left to expand the freeway and you’ll note that there isn’t a MAX train anywhere in sight.
The second photo shows where I-84 feeds into I-205, during the afternoon commute. If you look at the feeder roads, you’ll note that traffic is backed up beyond sight. And, you’ll note the area in the middle of I-205 that is taken up by The MAX. Here too, this is space that was originally allocated for freeway lane expansion. Now, here too, there is nowhere left to expand the freeway and, again, there isn’t a MAX train anywhere in sight.
In addition to Ed Orcutt, State Representative Paul Harris (WA-17) and Tom Mielke, Chairman, Board of Clark County (WA) Commissioners, were in attendance. Thankfully, the citizens of our community have been able to rely on these public servants to join us in speaking out with their concerns on the proposed CRC Light Rail Crossing Project.
In closing, I want to get behind two admonitions given at Bridging The Gaps:
One admonition came from David Madore, the event’s host and sponsor. He said, on this topic, it is time (for you) to move from Spectator to Participant. And he said, if you don’t, this (tyrannical boondoggle) will become a reality. I believe he is dead right.
The other admonition came from George Golden, who gave the Benediction at the outset of Bridging The Gaps. He said, accomplishing good things requires honesty and courage. Especially considering the information presented by Tiffany Couch, I don’t believe we can rely on those supporting the proposed CRC Light Rail Crossing Project for honesty. And while we may sometimes be baffled by their seemingly bold actions, those actions can’t be called courageous. When looking for honesty and courage, we won’t find it if we don’t see it when we look in the mirror. Find yours and bring it to the next meeting. See ya there!
2 comments:
Thanks Gary for the synopsis. I find myself quite often quoting stats I've been aquiring during many forums of this sort. I find it interesting those that appear to support light rail have rarely attended many of these meetings. It's quite unfortunate, since they seem to be getting their info from the Columbian newspaper. That scares me, since they aren't reporting the entire picture. This seems disingenuous, to report only one side. You have to wonder why this is. Why would they not want the public to have the entire picture? To sway those that care not to look further and trust in their local paper. I am so sorry that this is not a trusted source any longer. And those that think they still are will have a rude awakening. Maybe not today... Or tomorrow... But one day. And they will be the first to cry foul...when those of us that have been watching the game the whole time knew who was pitching curve balls the entire time.
Gary,
You have hit the nail on the head. Like you I was very upset at the appearance of negligence of the CRC and lack of accountability and proper project management and accounting procedures.
The meeting was called by concerned and dedicated citizens that have had enough of the spending spree this country is currently on. The meeting's purpose was to bring to light the issues and lack of project accountability that has apparently been shown by the CRC management. The citizens are just sick and tired of the same old run-around by the various entities that seem to be avoiding the light of day and deep scrutiny of the CRC project. To many inside the CRC system and those involved with its extensive cost it is a forgone conclusion that the project will happen as currently accepted. I absolutely disagree!
I was disturbed and rather shocked as to the obvious absence of the Mayor, the City Council and other invited politicians and the low level of accountability and seeming non-disclosure of such a visible project and the fiscal mismanagement that has recently come to light to those in attendance yesterday. As a businessman with 30 years of engineering, project management and manufacturing experience, I was horrified as to the lack of procedure and documentation of the facts of where the money has gone to and for what purpose.
It is for this reason that I am writing a formal request to challenge the management of this flawed bridge project to disclose the information requested by the Forensic Auditor, Ms. Couch as mentioned in your posting.
Because of my extensive business and consulting experience I have a tendency to drill down and ask many uncomfortable questions when I see that something does not smell right, and believe me, something does not smell right with the CRC project.
I am asking for a formal investigation into the process that will make those accountable to produce documents, invoices, journals and all other information pertinent to the $136 million already spent on this project. With what I heard yesterday by many authorities, from CRC advisors, citizen representatives and forensic auditors, this whole process has been mis-managed and flawed as a properly set up project. If this were a business it would have gone bankrupt already yet it continues a perpetual life with seeming disregard for doing what is right and performing the proper procedures to be executed as in a normal project.
I am very interested in what has been done for the $136 million and to whom it has gone and to what purpose. I understand that there have been many studies done but when was a study performed by a third party on the third or fourth bridge option. As I understand it, there has never been one done! Is that true? If one was performed then I and the vast majority of critical thinking citizens like myself would like to see it!
We cannot afford to get this wrong so I am therefore stepping into the fray to raise another red flag on this project. I did NOT like what I heard and want to see some VERY high level action of accountability and responsibility in producing the records requested. I know it will be difficult and time consuming but it must be done to ensure 'true' transparency.
This is very disturbing to me and something must be done right now!
There is a very old saying that really seems to resonate right now. " If you have nothing to hide, you hide nothing. "
Post a Comment