Advisory Group Members Get Up-Close Look at IBR Program Area

It’s one thing to look at a megaproject on a map. It’s another altogether to view in person the space where it will be built, says Pat Daniels. As executive director of Constructing Hope, Daniels is a member of our Equity Advisory Group and Community Benefits Advisory Group. She was among 16 other individuals serving on advisory groups who toured the program area on both sides of the Columbia River last month.

“To actually walk out and see it, it brought in the reality of how big this is going to be,” Daniels said. The tour started (and ended) in downtown Vancouver, with stops at the Expo Center light rail station and on Hayden Island.?

Along the way, Program Administrator Greg Johnson, Delivery Manager Casey Liles and Design Manager Shilpa Mallem presented the latest program updates. It was the latest in a series of similar program area tours our program has hosted, which aim to provide participants with an up close and personal view of the five-mile-long program area. Elected officials, community leaders and members of the media have also taken part in tours of varying locations.?

“I think it pulled everything together in a way that you can’t do without being there in person,” says Community Advisory Group co-chair Lynn Valenter.?

Michael Strahs, a member of the Community Benefits Advisory Group and vice president of development for Kimco Realty, which owns Jantzen Beach Center, agreed.