The Tacoma Way of insider politics mounting comeback at public’s expense
PETER CALLAGHAN; THE NEWS TRIBUNE
After a seven-year absence, “The Tacoma Way” is making a comeback.
The Tacoma Way is our own variation of the Seattle Way. That was the method that emphasized task forces and town halls and consensus building even if no consensus had a chance of emerging.
The Tacoma Way was the opposite. Insiders – both in government and business – would decide what was best for everyone and then conduct a public process that was more process than public. Opponents, usually those who weren’t at the table, were marginalized as obstructionists to progress.
The Tacoma Way was a welcome casualty of the 2003 David Brame Scandal. The same people who mishandled a disturbed police chief and the aftermath of the murder of his wife, Crystal, were the practitioners – and the beneficiaries – of the Tacoma Way.
From then on, the table would be bigger and those with the power were gonna have to share.
Now comes 2009 and the insiders want their power back. That desire is manifesting itself in the odd little battle over the way Sounder tracks will pass from Freighthouse Square near the Tacoma Dome to South Tacoma.
Most people don’t understand the issue or much care. But it is becoming a metaphor for how decisions get made. It is becoming a big issue in a so-far issueless campaign.
Sound Transit has to gradually elevate the tracks between Freighthouse Square and a proposed railway bridge over Pacific Avenue. The cheapest way is with an earthen berm, says Sound Transit. Opponents of this idea say that will create a physical, visual and psychological barrier down the middle of the Dome District, retarding hopes of using transit to spark a redevelopment. They prefer an elevated structure, dubbed “post and beam,” which they assert can be built as cheaply and quickly as the berm.
The insiders want the decision made and construction started. They fear that Tacoma will look bad to the rest of the region and the rest of the Sound Transit board if the project doesn’t get moving. To that end, government officials and bureaucrats want opposition to go away.
Which is where Jim Merritt comes in. Merritt is one of two candidates for mayor of Tacoma (the other is Councilwoman Marilyn Strickland). He is an architect and planner by profession.
Merritt was among residents who objected to the flat, thick and featureless design for the I-705 bridge across the Foss. He helped push government officials to change the design to the current cable-stay bridge.
Merritt also helped form opposition to the so-called Cosmos project – an ill-thought-out plan to let private developers build a second downtown in the Dome parking lots. Each time, Merritt was thoughtful and solution-oriented. He also happened to be right.
Merritt, who has been involved in this issue for years, is a post-and-beam guy and he’s not giving up. That gives credibility to the berm opponents and helps keep the issue alive which, apparently, has cost him the support of Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy.
Merritt and his campaign manager Ronnie Bush say McCarthy demanded – through a deputy – that Merritt apologize for publicly supporting post and beam at a McCarthy-convened public meeting. She wanted him to change his position or she would withdraw her endorsement, they say.
They also claim her deputy accused Merritt of personal disloyalty to the leader, which made me wonder if Pierce County had somehow become North Korea.
McCarthy denies demanding an apology, saying she just didn’t want to play in the mayor’s race anymore. But the episode does dovetail with the recent whispering campaign by city insiders that Merritt would be bad for the city because he doesn’t go along with their consensus.
None of this hurts Merritt politically because it appears this will be a pretty good election to be the outsider. But it is disturbing that there is an attempt – or even a desire – to restore the Tacoma Way of doing government.
Peter Callaghan: 253-597-8657
peter.callaghan@thenewstribune.com
blogs.thenewstribune.com/politics
