Ocassionally, the planets align, and I actually agree with the "loyal opposition."

Noted in the "loyal opposition's" blog, this tidbit concerning the idiotic bill championed by the 3 musketeers of the House in the 49th District (Moeller (sponsor) Fromhold and Wallace) on the issue of Annexation.

The bill, which SHOULD be entitled "An ACT relating to How can we speed up Vancouver's effort to suck up every square foot of unincorporated Clark County," is all about making annexation easy(er) so that Vancouver's "leaders" can realize their "dream" to become the Big City.

Stillwell hits it directly on target when he says "Let it go."

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Let it go

The Oregonian has an article about an annexation bill that is causing severe consternation in parts of Clark County:
Annexation bill stirs alarm

Neighborhood leaders north of Vancouver are fuming over a state House bill, sponsored by three legislators from Vancouver, that could smooth the path to annexation into the city.

Legislative officials say the bill is unlikely to get out of a committee, let alone reach the full House for a vote. But leaders in unincorporated areas aren't taking any chances. They are making plans to protest House Bill 1285 and start discussions about possible changes in their future governance.

The legislation would let cities annex outlying areas if they form agreements with their respective county governments. It would require cities to hold public hearings about a proposed annexation, but it would not require an election.

Stillwell goes on:

The article lists Rep. Jim Moeller (D-49) as the sponsor with support from Rep. Bill Fromhold (D-49) and Deb Wallace (D-17.)

There's just no tap-dancing around this one: this thing should die in committee, as the article hints it might.

You can argue about the wisdom of having urban areas stay unincorporated, and have experts tell you about efficiency until the cows come up, but the depth of feeling against being part of Vancouver is very deep in the discussed areas. There's no way a vote for annexation would pass in those areas, probably ever, and an attempt to do it without a vote would be an outright disaster.

And citing the east side of Vancouver as an example of how great it is to be annexed without a vote is downright absurdist. Go tell the parents of children in the Evergreen School District how great annexation was for them. You can stop by some of the hundreds of portable classrooms while you are there, once you navigate the newer, more efficient concurrency-controlled traffic signals.

If there is a possible positive out of this, there might be more discussions about what is ultimately going to happen in the heavily populated unincorporated areas. The move to form a city called "Salmon Dell" or whatever it was failed several or more years ago, but it would be sensible to talk about the future again. The area has all the attributes of a suburban city except for one: the legal definition.

Unfortunately, parts of our local Democratic delegation have stepped in the dog-doo with this bill. The smart political play is to let this one fade away.

Do you think that Stilwell would be happy to find out that almost as soon as the gigantic and idiotic Cascade Park annexation went through, then Rep. Marc Boldt was the first to drop a bill requiring a vote for annexation?

Nah.