First and foremost, the impact of this closure will be felt the least by the 91 employees of the two branches... and in these times, that is as good an outcome as could be hoped for.
On the other hand, the loss of this bank represents a massive blow to the egos and persona of what I refer to as the Downtown Vancouver Mafia.
The Downtown Mafia consists of those people who accomplish. Like organized crime everywhere, however, they give little thought to the needs or wants of the people that get in their way. The end result? The Downtown Mafia's support of an unneeded, unwanted, obscenely expensive bridge replacement plan, the result of a colossal waste of over $90 million in taxpayer dollars; all with a pre-ordained outcome: the replacement of a perfectly serviceable bridge for the ENTIRE purpose of bringing in a transportation system that the people of Clark County DO NOT WANT.
There have been other instances where the Downtown Mafia have and are abusing the people of Clark County; the moronic arrogance and idiocy of the Downtown Mafia's support of suing the voters into silence on the Pollard Hilton and then using tax dollars to subsidize THAT hotel at the expense of every private hotel in the area; the gerrymandering of the C-Trans vote, where all of the many segments of the county OPPOSED to the expansion of the C-Trans empire were kept from voting... but NOT kept from paying the increased taxes; a massive, additional monument to the arrogance and greed of the Downtown Mafia; the avaricious eyes cast towards using massive amounts of additional taxpayer dollars to help bail out the mouthpiece of the Downtown Mafia, the Pravda Columbian, by wasting 10's of millions to pay twice as much for their new, and (heh, heh) barely used newspaper building. The sale of a multi-million dollar city building to a fellow Downtown Mafia member for $200,000... a building that they didn't even offer to sell to anyone else at any price, and a building that would have cost anyone else's hundreds of thousands more.
Thus, the pattern of abuse of the people continues unabated, even in these perilous financial times.
So... what's it all mean?
When "No-choice Royce" tells us: “It is a huge blow, and tragic on so many levels,” said Vancouver Mayor Royce Pollard. “They have been just good people. That’s the thing. It’s not just the name. There are faces that go with the name. … We have all lost good friends and a good community partner,” I have to say: "Good. Couldn't happen to a bunch of people who deserved it more."
Downtown Vancouver has, and will, become an increasingly emptier ghost town. The Mayor's misplaced and sudden concern for the people doesn't extend beyond the confines of the Mafia; he doesn't give a damn about us or what we want, he only cares about those who have and will help him realize HIS vision, no matter how unwanted and twisted that vision may be.
In short, it is NOT a "huge blow." Those people, apparently, with jobs, will keep them. What's been lost, and properly so, is some of the Downtown Mafia's prestige. For investors and depositors who lost money, that's too damned bad. Next time, don't put your money into an institution that supports repressing the voice of the people.
When I was in the Army, I had a platoon sergeant who used to tell us, "if you're looking for sympathy, you'll find it in the dictionary between shit and syphilis." I'm sure that when the good mayor/LTC reads this, he'll recall that refrain.
This loss will be most keenly felt by the Downtown Mafia and their minions, peculiarly known as Identity Clark County, thought they should be known as Identity Vancouver. But most will not mourn the loss of the Bank of Clark County, which would have been more aptly named the Bank of Vancouver; save their fellow Mafia members.
And I can think of little else that so completely hits the spot as that.
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Bank's collapse resounds in county
Sunday, January 18 12:00 a.m.
BY JEFFERY MIZE,
COLUMBIAN STAFF WRITER
Government regulators, one day after they seized the Bank of Clark County, were busy working Saturday so the bank could reopen under a new name Tuesday.
For Clark County, it will take longer to get back to business as usual after the failure of a home-grown bank started by a group of prominent business representatives a decade ago.
Bank of Clark County’s collapse will send ripples through the county, not only for losses that will be incurred by the bank’s investors and holders of $39.3 million in uninsured deposits, but for the implosion of a financial institution that prided itself on being part of the community, not just a business in the community.
“It is a huge blow, and tragic on so many levels,” said Vancouver Mayor Royce Pollard. “They have been just good people. That’s the thing. It’s not just the name. There are faces that go with the name. … We have all lost good friends and a good community partner.”
Bart Phillips, president of the Columbia River Economic Development Council, also spoke highly of the bank’s employees and their community contributions.
“I don’t think there is a community event I have been to where they are not a significant sponsor,” Phillips said. “They were huge contributors, both as individuals and as the bank.”
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