Open Gorge: The Skamania Dispatch & Klickitattler

Kate
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Welcome to Open Gorge, your audio bridge to local government, infrastructure, and community news in the Columbia River Gorge. Hosted by the founder of Open Gorge, Kate Bertash, this podcast brings the in-depth, civic-minded reporting of The Skamania Dispatch and The Klickitattler newsletters straight to your headphones. We break down the public meetings you didn't have time to attend, track local infrastructure projects, and decode the regional policy decisions that directly impact your daily life. Whether you are a Columbia Gorge resident commuting across the river, following local elections, or tracking where your tax dollars are going, we provide clear, factual summaries of what’s changing and what’s coming next. Our unified feed covers the entire Gorge. Check the title of each episode to see if we are covering Skamania County, Klickitat County, or regional issues that impact us all. Listen to what matters most to your neighborhood, or stay tuned for the full regional picture. Subscribe to the written newsletters and join the community at SkamaniaDispatch.com.

  1. 1h ago

    [Klickitat] 🥬 The Dollar Store Showdown - White Salmon August '26

    White Salmon spent August getting three big decisions ready and making none of them. The City Council pulled a dollar store moratorium off its own agenda before anyone spoke, the Tree Board decided what a mature oak is actually worth, and a storm ratification quietly revealed a funding hole close to a million dollars. We also went looking for where the city's borrowed ordinance language came from, and found Tulsa, Oklahoma. In This Episode Why the Council pulled Ordinance 2026-1189 before it was ever presented, and what happened when it came backWhere the phrase "small-box discount store" comes from, and why the fresh food rule sits in one White Salmon document and not the otherThere is no dollar store in White Salmon. The nearest one is in BingenThe Tree Board's case study: one oak, two very different price tagsA preliminary storm estimate of nearly two million dollars against a grant of up to one millionA three minute special meeting that opened without a quorumWhy the Planning Commission told staff its own draft was confusingly wordedResources & Links Read the full written Dispatch at skamaniadispatch.comOur July White Salmon round-up, which laid out the tree ordinance comparison: https://skamania-dispatch.ghost.io/balcony-solar-tree-credits-and-a-postponed-store-white-salmon-july-26-round-up/Our June White Salmon round-up, on the thirty percent rule and the Wyers Street appeal: https://skamania-dispatch.ghost.io/june-in-white-salmon-an-ev-mandate-a-denied-appeal-and-the-30-rule/White Salmon agendas, packets and meeting recordings: https://www.whitesalmonwa.gov/meetingsWhite Salmon Municipal Code, Chapter 18.41, Heritage Trees: https://library.municode.com/wa/white_salmon/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=TIT18EN_CH18.41HETRColumbia Gorge News on the postponement, and on the mayor's account of it: https://www.columbiagorgenews.com/news/business/center-market-in-white-salmon-is-separate-from-proposed-moratorium-code-changes/article_5c613efa-49da-4e2b-aaab-eb9ecbd12f7d.htmlStay Connected with the Gorge The Skamania Dispatch and The Klickitattler are community-led projects of OpenGorge.org. To stay updated on local news, governance, and community events across the region, you can sign up for both newsletters at SkamaniaDispatch.com. For real-time updates and to join the conversation, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/OpenGorge.

  2. 1d ago

    [All-Gorge] 🧭 "One of the Two Purposes," Debates Inside the Gorge Commission - August '26

    The federal signature the Columbia River Gorge Commission has waited on since January finally landed, and it arrived as a footnote in a scheduling discussion. Post-fire rebuilding rules take effect around October 1, which matters to every household still rebuilding after the Rowena and Burdoin fires. We also get into a vineyard warning about prescribed fire, and a real argument inside the Commission about whether it has been doing half its job. In This Episode The Secretary of Agriculture's concurrence, and the three things that change for people rebuildingWhy no appeals hearing is scheduled, and why nobody can tell you what appeals are comingPrescribed fire, smoke taint, and roughly 110 Gorge vineyards"One of the two purposes of the Act": Commissioner Fowler on what the Commission has not been doingThe Commission starts approving AI-written meeting summaries as its public recordA first-ever annual report, a trial newsletter, and a 40th birthday planned on a flat budgetResources & Links Read the full written Dispatch at skamaniadispatch.comGorge Commission meetings, agendas and recordings: gorgecommission.orgThe Commission's index of decided appeals: gorgecommission.org/appealsOur January explainer on what the disaster-recovery amendment actually changed: https://skamania-dispatch.ghost.io/gorge-commission-passes-disaster-recovery-amendment-what-changed-what-didnt-and-what-comes-next-1-13-26/Our July edition, where the Commission adopted these rules: https://skamania-dispatch.ghost.io/turning-40-on-a-tight-budget-gorge-commission-6-18-7-14/Next Commission meeting: Tuesday, September 8, 8:30 a.m., by Zoom. The registration link lives inside the posted agenda.Stay Connected with the Gorge The Skamania Dispatch and The Klickitattler are community-led projects of OpenGorge.org. To stay updated on local news, governance, and community events across the region, you can sign up for both newsletters at SkamaniaDispatch.com. For real-time updates and to join the conversation, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/OpenGorge.

  3. Aug 26

    [Skamania] 🔌 The Utility We Create: A Field Guide to Skamania PUD

    Public Utility District No. 1 of Skamania County runs three separate systems, and this year they went in opposite directions. Underwood closed to new commercial water while Carson sits six hundred hookups under its ceiling. We walk through what your PUD actually decides, what gets decided for it somewhere else, and what both mean for your bill and your property. In This Episode Why your base charge is a bigger share of your bill than you think, and why that is happening at every utility, not just this oneThe man with three electric meters on one property, and why the board could not help himUnderwood's moratorium: it is a pumping problem, not a water rights problemCarson has room. Underwood does not. What that means if you are planning to buildA federal judge in Portland, a spill order, and the wholesale rate increase headed your wayWhere to actually get help with a heating bill, and why you should call in the fallData centers, the one percent levy cap, and how "data center money" really worksTrees are the number one cause of your outages, and what the district spends to stop itRemembering late Commissioner Liz Green, and the nomination of Dev Bell to the empty seatResources & Links Read the full written Dispatch at skamaniadispatch.comOur coverage of the August 4 moratorium decision: https://skamania-dispatch.ghost.io/a-spider-called-sparkle-muffin-skamania-bocc-pud-weed-board-7-28-8-4/The Levy Scissors, our explainer on the one percent cap: https://skamania-dispatch.ghost.io/levy-scissors/Klickitat County's parallel data center debate: https://skamania-dispatch.ghost.io/the-county-that-didnt-pause-data-centers-klickitat-bocc-7-28-to-8-18/Energy assistance, Washington Gorge Action Programs: https://www.wagap.org/newsfeed/energy-assistance Skamania County appointments, (509) 493-2662 extension 315State Auditor's CETA compliance report for Skamania PUD, Report No. 1038885: https://portal.sao.wa.gov/ReportSearch/Home/ViewReportFile?arn=1038885&isFinding=false&sp=falsePUD agendas, packets and minutes: skamaniapud.comStay Connected with the Gorge The Skamania Dispatch and The Klickitattler are community-led projects of OpenGorge.org. To stay updated on local news, governance, and community events across the region, you can sign up for both newsletters at SkamaniaDispatch.com. For real-time updates and to join the conversation, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/OpenGorge.

  4. Aug 24

    [Klickitat] 🖥 The County That Didn't Pause Data Centers - Klickitat BOCC 7/28 to 8/18

    Three Washington counties hit pause on data centers this month. The Klickitat County Board of County Commissioners took up a moratorium request of its own... and chose a different tool entirely. We get into why that decision is harder than it looks, and what the county's own tax math has to do with it. In This Episode Commissioner Todd Andrews asks for a data center moratorium, and the Board goes another wayWhy saying "no" can seem expensive for a rural county, and why saying "yes" doesn't always fix it eitherThe county's land use map still dates to 1979, and a rezone that quietly corrected a 47-year0old errorA mental health program that is built, funded, and cannot openPublic health loses about three hundred and eighty thousand dollars in expected state moneyPeople move barricades and drive across closed bridges, and the liability lands on the countyThe August primary, certifiedResources & Links Read the full written Dispatch at SkamaniaDispatch.comOur property tax explainer, for the one percent lid behind all of this: https://skamania-dispatch.ghost.io/splitting-the-dinner-check-a-property-tax-explainer/Last month on this beat, when the county mapped out how a data center would get approved: https://skamania-dispatch.ghost.io/data-centers-come-knocking-kl/Klickitat County agendas, packets and meeting recordings: https://www.klickitatcounty.govElections and ballot information: https://www.klickitatcounty.gov/1136/ElectionsVoter-RegistrationStay Connected with the Gorge The Skamania Dispatch and The Klickitattler are community-led projects of OpenGorge.org. To stay updated on local news, governance, and community events across the region, you can sign up for both newsletters at SkamaniaDispatch.com. For real-time updates and to join the conversation, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/OpenGorge.

  5. Aug 20

    [Skamania] 🧁 A Spider Called Sparkle Muffin - Skamania BOCC, PUD, & Weed Board 7/28 - 8/4

    Skamania County's PUD just froze new commercial water hookups in Underwood, and its own paperwork gives three different answers about when they start again. Meanwhile the county divided a federal pot that came up seventy-four thousand dollars short, found out its entire emergency stockpile is unusable, and heard that the timber money holding up the budget runs out after twenty thirty. In This Episode Resolution 2905 and what a water moratorium actually doesWhy agriculture, not houses, are the reason for itTitle III: seven agencies, one pot, and the averaging trick that decided itThe PUD's empty chair, six applicants, and a ninety-day clockThe Grange restoration, a ten-year lease, and a rumor the commissioners knocked downThe county's entire COVID stockpile, and why the state says it cannot be usedWeeds on the county's own roadside, and a cost-share program nobody has ever usedResources & Links Read the full written Dispatch at skamaniadispatch.comSay Hello to SparklemuffinComment on the Columbia River transmission line before August 26: comments.efsec.wa.govProject documents: efsec.wa.gov, Cascade Renewable TransmissionSkamania County PUD, Underwood water questions: (509) 427-5126 or info@skamaniapud.comSkamania County agendas, minutes and audio: skamaniacounty.orgHigh Lava Fire closures: Gifford Pinchot National Forest, fs.usda.govOur earlier explainer: Cascade Renewable Transmission, an underwater power line with a long road aheadStay Connected with the Gorge The Skamania Dispatch and The Klickitattler are community-led projects of OpenGorge.org. To stay updated on local news, governance, and community events across the region, you can sign up for both newsletters at SkamaniaDispatch.com. For real-time updates and to join the conversation, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/OpenGorge.

  6. Aug 14

    [Klickitat] 🚱The Flood They Can't Discuss - Bingen July 2026

    Bingen City Council spent thirty minutes in July listening to its own residents and legally could not answer a single question. Four downtown businesses have been closed since a contractor struck a water main in April, one of them is now closed for good, and the city says it cannot lend a dollar to fix it. We walk through both July meetings, plus a rail Quiet Zone that just slipped by a year. In This Episode Why the city attorney told a packed room "there will be no response, and that goes for everybody here"The constitutional rule that makes a city loan illegal, and why "just help them" has no legal formThe contractor the city would not name, which the newspaper had already printedThe city's July 20 press release, the July 6 estimates, and the resident who called it a lieMugs Coffee is not reopeningThe BNSF Quiet Zone diagnostic visit finally happens, and the timeline slips to two summers outBingen writes its first fence rulesBoth Public Works employees retire within a day of each otherThe public comment box that quietly went nowhere for eight monthsResources & Links Read the full written Dispatch at SkamaniaDispatch.comBingen agendas, minutes and meeting recordings: bingenwashington.org/AgendaCenterNext meeting: Tuesday, August 4, 2026, 6:00 p.m., in person and by ZoomOur prior Bingen coverage: https://skamania-dispatch.ghost.io/a-green-light-for-the-quiet-zone-bingen-june-26-round-up/ and https://skamania-dispatch.ghost.io/water-main-breaks-red-rag-clog-mystery-in-bingen-april-26/Columbia Gorge News reporting cited in this episode: Sean Avery on the July 7 meeting, and Nan Noteboom on the July 21 meeting, at columbiagorgenews.comStay Connected with the Gorge The Skamania Dispatch and The Klickitattler are community-led projects of OpenGorge.org. To stay updated on local news, governance, and community events across the region, you can sign up for both newsletters at SkamaniaDispatch.com. For real-time updates and to join the conversation, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/OpenGorge.

  7. Aug 12

    [Klickitat] 🏘 Rules for Backyard Homes - Goldendale July 2025

    Goldendale's City Council spent both July meetings fighting over one sentence in its new backyard-homes rule: whether somebody has to actually live on the property. It passed anyway. Also this month, a five-year airport engineering deal, an award-winning sewage plant, and a resident who asked the mayor point blank whether the city plans to sell its water to a data center. In This Episode Goldendale adopts an accessory dwelling unit code, and why the objection that opened the hearing turned out to rest on a misreadingThe owner-occupancy clause, and the police chief's question that actually changed the ordinanceA wider runway that starts with a culvert, and a three hundred sixty thousand dollar plan trimmed to seventy-one"Are we going to sell our water to the data center?"Six years running for the wastewater treatment plantSidewalks, outdoor dining, and who actually gets blockedCommunity Days, a ceremonial key, and a centennial nobody can confirmResources & Links Read the full written Dispatch at skamaniadispatch.comCity of Goldendale agendas, packets and minutesCity of Goldendale City CouncilPrior coverage: Smoke, Weeds and Fireworks, Goldendale's June round-upPrior coverage: Data Centers Come Knocking, Klickitat CountyStay Connected with the Gorge The Skamania Dispatch and The Klickitattler are community-led projects of OpenGorge.org. To stay updated on local news, governance, and community events across the region, you can sign up for both newsletters at SkamaniaDispatch.com. For real-time updates and to join the conversation, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/OpenGorge.

  8. Aug 10

    [Skamania] 💸 An Equipment Fund Run Dry - North Bonneville July ‘26

    The North Bonneville City Council filled its last empty seat in a single evening, then spent the rest of the month finding problems. A typo in a five year old planning document nearly sank a grant application. The city's equipment fund turned out to be spent by January. And a long awaited Bradford Island discussion happened with the Army Corps in the room and unable to answer questions. In This Episode Norm Woods interviewed, appointed, and sworn in on the same nightA Capital Facilities Plan correction and a grant deadlineWhy Chambers says the equipment fund is at ninety nine percentBradford Island, the Restoration Advisory Board, and a transmission line under the riverThe city's contract planner asks about his own jobMoss, moles, and squirrelsWhat's next: the August fourth zoning hearingResources & Links Read the full written Dispatch at skamaniadispatch.comNorth Bonneville agendas, minutes, and recordings: northbonneville.netZoning periodic review documents: northbonneville.net/planning/periodic-reviewBackground on the transmission project: our special report on Cascade Renewable TransmissionStay Connected with the Gorge The Skamania Dispatch and The Klickitattler are community-led projects of OpenGorge.org. To stay updated on local news, governance, and community events across the region, you can sign up for both newsletters at SkamaniaDispatch.com. For real-time updates and to join the conversation, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/OpenGorge.

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About

Welcome to Open Gorge, your audio bridge to local government, infrastructure, and community news in the Columbia River Gorge. Hosted by the founder of Open Gorge, Kate Bertash, this podcast brings the in-depth, civic-minded reporting of The Skamania Dispatch and The Klickitattler newsletters straight to your headphones. We break down the public meetings you didn't have time to attend, track local infrastructure projects, and decode the regional policy decisions that directly impact your daily life. Whether you are a Columbia Gorge resident commuting across the river, following local elections, or tracking where your tax dollars are going, we provide clear, factual summaries of what’s changing and what’s coming next. Our unified feed covers the entire Gorge. Check the title of each episode to see if we are covering Skamania County, Klickitat County, or regional issues that impact us all. Listen to what matters most to your neighborhood, or stay tuned for the full regional picture. Subscribe to the written newsletters and join the community at SkamaniaDispatch.com.

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