Is Jack Burkman lying about the loot rail tax vote rip off?

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From a message sent  from Jack Burkman to Lew Waters on his facebook page:

“It sounds like you and I disagree on people in outlying areas having the right to vote on taxes in Vancouver. They choose to live outside the city, yet shop inside the city – a choice, not a requirement.”

“Taxes collected inside the city are part of the overall cost of accessing the city’s shopping and entertainment.”

There are a couple of frightening elements about this:

First, the gerrymandered C-Trans district contains a great deal of Clark County that is not within the city limits of Vancouver.

Second, regardless of our reasons for choosing not to live in Vancouver (And those reasons certainly outweigh any I can think of to live IN Vancouver) the fact remains that EVERYONE in the county will be taxed for this.  As a result, every registered voter in the county should have a say.

Third, one of the problems with Jack's perspective is this:

 They choose to live outside the city, yet shop inside the city – a choice, not a requirement.”

The gerrymandered district used to stuff the last C-Trans tax down our throats included every major retailer in Clark County.

When Jack says we have a choice, there is a level of agreement:  We have a choice to shop in Oregon.

But in Clark County at the time of the last vote, with every Fred Meyers, the Walmart, Sears, Penney's etc within their gerrymandered district, even those OUTSIDE Vancouver city limits, (Like Battle Ground and Salmon Creek) we, in fact, had precisely zero choice in the matter save shopping in Cowlitz County or Oregon.

Burkman, who has really stepped it up to oppose the ballpark, shows a lack of knowledge and understanding of the C-Trans rip off that is frightening.

The fact is this: they gerrymandered a taxing district that cut out every precinct in Clark County that voted "no," and as a result, they cut out 10's of thousands of us forced (Yes, Jack, I said FORCED, since our vote was taken away from us and we had no alternative) to pay their tax while silenced at the polls.

Here's Wiki's take:

Clark County Proposition 1 (2004) and C-TRAN's future

In November 2004 a ballot initiative known as Proposition 1 was defeated by a simple majority of voters. While 46.33% of eligible voters, or 73,959 ballots, approved this measure to increase the Clark County sales tax by 0.3% (from the current 7.7%) to continue the funding of the public transportation, 53.67% (85,684 votes) rejected the proposition.

As a result of the subsiquent Leavitt-style attitude of the C-Trans Mafia, we got this:

C-TRAN redistricting and new C-TRAN benefit area ballot measure
On June 1, 2005, the boundaries of the Clark County Public Transit Benefit Area were reduced from the whole Clark County to the area including only the cities of Vancouver, Camas, Washougal, Ridgefield, La Center, Battle Ground and Yacolt, as well as the unincorporated areas surrounding Vancouver. This is done so that, unlike in the failed 2004 Proposition 1, only those who would benefit from C-TRAN services will vote on any future ballot measure to secure new funding for the transit service.

C-TRAN proposed a special election in September 2005 to decide on whether residents within the new C-TRAN benefit area will pay an additional 0.2% (from 7.7% to 7.9% in Vancouver) sales tax to maintain the current C-TRAN service level.

The measure passed by a wide majority. C-TRAN continues to operate, and now with fresh funding, is expanding.

I like the honesty of the phrase "This is done so that, unlike in the failed 2004 Proposition 1, only those who would benefit from C-TRAN services will vote on any future ballot measure to secure new funding for the transit service."

Note the lack of the phrase "PAY for any future ballot measure."

For whatever the reason, the actual number of votes to screw us were left out on the Wiki page: the lackeys screwing us voting "yes" so they could tax us for THEIR services were 45,322; the people voting "no" were 21,545.

This action that Burkman seems to proud of cutting out over 100,000 voters from having a say... every one of whom got stuck paying a tax applied to us all by 45,000 voters... out of 170,000.

Had, in fact, the gerrymandering been limited to the city of Vancouver proper, that would be one thing, particularly since I do everything I can to avoid spending a dime in that den of inequity.

But in this case, their grasp far exceeded their reach... deliberately... and popped all of us they knew would be a "no" on yet another of their interminable tax increases.

Jack Burkman's arrogance and lack of information concerning this rip off, self-deluding or not, is an extreme disappointment to me personally, and emblematic of the kind of arrogance ramming this multi-billion dollar bridge/loot rail boondoggle down the throats of upcoming generations who, like the last C-Trans rip off, will have no say.

And that's a shame.
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