Civic improvement is part of our job description

By the mid-1980s, Tacoma’s Union Station was a sad old relic. A domed-and-vaulted masterpiece of neoclassical design when it opened in 1911, the train depot was decrepit, filthy and probably headed for a date with the wrecking ball.

Then, in 1985, a letter to the editor changed everything. The author, Seymour Johnson, urged U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks to throw his weight behind a plan to renovate the old station into a federal courthouse.

Dicks took note. Eight years later, a gloriously rehabilitated Union Station – its copper dome shining like a newly minted penny – reopened for a second tour of duty as a great architectural landmark. Its resurrection spurred the rebirth of the surrounding district, now a regional showcase that features the Museum of Glass, the Washington State History Museum and Tacoma Art Museum.

And just across the street, the University of Washington Tacoma.

The publication of that letter demonstrates a newspaper’s unmatched power to focus attention on big problems, mobilize action and bring about change. In this case, the champion of change was a letter writer – a “citizen journalist.” The newspaper’s opinion section was the vehicle of his message.

Look at nearly any major reform or civic improvement in this area over the last century, and chances are you’ll find The News Tribune had a hand in it. Rarely is a newspaper the prime mover; Dicks and his political allies played that role in the case of Union Station. But The News Tribune has often alerted the public to things that need fixing and frequently served as a relentless cheerleader for the needed fix.

A newspaper has staying power. It can hammer away at an issue for decades until something happens.

A good example is growth management. For many years, Pierce County may have had the worst case of haphazard sprawl in the entire Pacific Northwest. Its land use planning was hostage to fast-buck developers and property rights advocates who wanted essentially no public regulation of real estate.

This newspaper’s reporters and editors covered the issues and conflict from a straight news perspective. This opinion page shouted for tighter land use controls until it got hoarse – then kept on shouting.

In 1986, the battle seemed lost when county voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposed countywide land use plan. Still, the editorial board kept up the pressure. Finally, relief came from the Legislature in the form of the Growth Management Act of 1990. Our editorials called on lawmakers to pass the GMA at every turn. Since then, we have fought to preserve reasonable controls in the face of nearly constant pressure to unravel them.

Regional mass transit is another example. Again, straight news coverage kept the public informed of relentlessly growing traffic congestion on Puget Sound highways. The editorial page – which operates independently of the newsroom – started arguing in the 1980s for rail connections among the region’s communities.

Voters approved a first phase of rail construction in 1996; they approved a second phase last November. We’re not sure how much of a difference our advocacy made in either election, but it certainly didn’t hurt.

The News Tribune has focused attention on countless other problems through the decades, including:

 • Surges in street violence.

 • The state’s penchant for releasing felons in Pierce County.

 • The shamefully blighted condition – years ago – of the Thea Foss Waterway.

 • The old “Aroma of Tacoma.”

 • The scarcity of college opportunity in the South Sound.

 • Appalling daily traffic jams – and occasional deaths – on the old Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

News coverage identified the problems; the editorial page argued for solutions. Long before the first dollar was appropriated for the UWT, this page was calling for the school’s creation. Long before work on the second Narrows bridge began, The News Tribune was pressing the Legislature to get moving on it.

Fostering change is something a concerned newspaper does. At The News Tribune, we’re proud of the improvements we’ve fought for over the last 125 years.