Bridge Authority Commissioners

My name is Marla Keethler. I am the mayor for the City of White Salmon and I'm also a commissioner for the Hood River White Salmon Bridge Authority. I do work as a communications consultant and previously have worked in sports television, and also in the nonprofit space with communication strategy.

My background professionally is primarily in communications, and I feel like that has prepared me for this role in understanding how critical it is that we tell the story of the bridge and the need for a new bridge and how it impacts our communities.

Well, when I moved to White Salmon with my family, we were renting a place in White Salmon and before we had gotten there, our landlords had said, ‘Oh well a new bridge is about to happen.’ Because we had been trying to figure out how accessible the Oregon side was by bike or walking and we were surprised to see that the map would always take us like an hour outside.

So when we got here and thought that a bridge was near completion and realized that was nowhere near the case, it was very interesting to then find myself kind of inserted into the middle of it because of my work in city government with White Salmon.

It's such a critical access point that even though I know the situation is urgent, I can't allow myself to think about it being something I couldn't be using every day. Because without it, I don't get my kids to childcare. I don't get myself or my family to most of our medical appointments. I worked for a long time in Hood River, I wouldn't have been able to access my job daily. It's truly such a lifeline that I'm able to separate the really frightening safety ratings and my need to cross it every day.

Replacing the bridge is important to me because I feel like it's our job, and it's not just my job. I'll hand it off to the next round of commissioners and the next mayor of White Salmon should care about it just as much.

Having a new bridge and this authority that has Washington representation to make sure that that toll doesn't become too expensive is a key part of this whole project happening. And I care about making sure that we're true to that intent.

The most pressing need in this first era of the Bridge Authority is securing the funding. So I really hope that in two years we look back and can check off that box.