Data centers have joined speeding drivers as a top concern for Richland residents and the data center crowd showed up Tuesday to let the city council know about it. Meanwhile, the public swimming pool is still closed and a newly appointed city councilmember recently learned that the city has 52 parks.
SPEED CAMERAS
Richland City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to begin the process for installing speed detection cameras in the city as allowed by Washington state law, RCW 46.63.220. https://app.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=46.63.220 According to Assistant City Manager Drew Florence, the cameras can go within a mile of a school, and he pointed out that that was just about everywhere in Richland.
Speeders have become the one issue that unites all sections of Richland. The recent rash of fatal crashes has pushed the matter to top priority status.
Before the cameras can be installed the city must collect crash, speed and other data to determine possible locations. Creating the ordinance approved by the council was the first step.
DATA CENTERS
Data Centers continue to be a hot topic, and a number of residents attended the Tuesday meeting to voice their concerns.
Some of them weren’t happy with the response from the council and referred to Mayor Pro Tem VanDyke’s expression as “stoic” and accused Councilmember Kurt Maier of smiling inappropriately and being a data center supporter.
Later Maier said that he had concerns about the proposed data center, particularly the size of it, and would be available after the meeting to discuss the data centers. He provided his cellphone number for anyone who wanted to call him.
VanDyke, in his usual style, thanked the attendees and then complained about them. He said wanted to respect everyone’s opinion. He added, “Kurt’s smile was mocked for it, and I don’t think that’s appropriate to call people out like that, and I think we can do better as citizens.”
GEORGE PROUT POOL
The George Prout Pool that opened on June 13 was closed on July 3 until July 13 while the parking lots are repaired. When the Observer emailed City Manager Jon Amundson to ask why this work could not have been completed before the relatively short summer season, he replied:
“The pool is temporarily closed due to construction associated with the George Prout Pool & Columbia Playfield parking lot improvement project. As part of the project, there is a limited construction window during which the contractor is completing the ADA-accessible parking stalls and the emergency vehicle access route serving the pool.”
The Observer replied that the closure seemed to be for the convenience of the contractor and Amundson responded: “That would be an assumption on your part and doesn’t take into consideration all factors.”
Amundson did not reply to a request for “all factors.”
NEWLY APPOINTED COUNCILMEMBER LEARNS ABOUT 52 Parks
Newly appointed Richland Councilmember Todd Samuel likes to list all of his council activities for the previous weeks during the Council Comments period at the end of their meeting. He reported that he had learned that the city has 52 parks. If he’d read the Observer, he’d have known that. Richland restarts 52 in’25 Park Tours at Brookstone Park. Amon Creek and Claybell Park are next on the list. – Tri-Cities Observer
how bout he does better as a council person, how about the council listen to the community, him sticking to this 2 minute rule is also his way of again not listening to the community, what they cant give the community a minute to speak, like the other cities in the tri, no because again, another way to limit our voices.
Hi Constance, I appreciate your comment. Voters on the southside of Richland control who sits on city council. Nothing happens until it affects them. Thank you for reading the Observer Randy
Richland residents that don’t have a vested interest in data centers DO NOT WANT one in our area period! We don’t want our potable water contaminated further. We don’t want our air contaminated. We don’t want our peace disrupted. We live in an arid area that gets hot enough without introducing one of these monstrosities here! We don’t care to foot the bill for the increase in utility prices. You want to see more people at the council meetings? Just wait. The alarm bell is ringing.
Hi Betty, I appreciate your comment. I think the whole country is waking up to the data center deal. My friends in Virginia, where they have 665 of them in northern part of the state, are having to work to stop even more of them. How many does the country need?? Thank you for reading the Observer. Randy
it is ringing, but after i saw their reaction, they dont care…this clearly is showing the public how they are NOT working for the community