This blog is designed to give readers a glimpse of our editorial-page operation and how we make our decisions. We’ll let you know who we’re meeting with, what they’re telling us, what events and issues we’re looking at. We’ll also pass on information and observations that may not make our print editions. In addition to the editorial board members who post on this blog, the board includes Publisher David Zeeck, Executive Editor Karen Peterson and Managing Editor Dale Phelps.
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Editorial page editor Patrick O’Callahan oversees the online and printed opinion sections of The News Tribune. He came to The News Tribune in 1987 and has worked at Washington newspapers since 1979. E-mail him at patrick.ocallahan@thenewstribune.com
Editorial writer Cheryl Tucker, in addition to writing commentary, manages the daily production of the editorial and op-ed pages and edits letters to the editor. She began her journalism career in 1974 at a Virginia newspaper and came to The News Tribune in 1978. E-mail her at cheryl.tucker@thenewstribune.com.
Editorial writer Kim Bradford manages the online opinion section of The News Tribune and writes commentary. She joined The News Tribune in 2005 after working 11 years at newspapers in Washington and Maryland. E-mail her at kim.bradford@thenewstribune.com.
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Editor emeritus David Seago retired from The News Tribune in 2008 after 41 years at The News Tribune. E-mail him at sds99@harbornet.com.
Richard Davis’ column on state politics frequently runs in the print edition of The News Tribune. He was president of the Washington Research Council, a statewide think tank, from 1986 through 2006. Currently, as a principal with The Simeon Partnership, Inc. he coordinates the activities of the Washington Alliance for a Competitive Economy, a business coalition founded by the Research Council, the Association of Washington Business and the Washington Roundtable.
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Michael Allen, professor of history at the University of Washington Tacoma, was born and raised in Ellensburg. He served with the U.S. Marines in Vietnam from 1969-70. He has written five books, including the prize-winning "Patriot's History of the United States: From Columbus' Great Discovery to the War on Terror," "Rodeo Cowboys in the North American Imagination" and "Western Rivermen, 1763-1861: Ohio and Mississippi Boatmen and the Myth of the Alligator Horse." Allen lives in Tacoma and Ellensburg and has three children.
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The portents abound: Regional Transportation Governance is barreling down on us Pierce County folks whether we like it or not.
The latest: During her visit with the TNT ed board today, Gov. Chris Gregoire declared, "It's time we had a heavy-duty conversation about governance" in the wake of Proposition 1's drubbing at the polls.
The governor said she was prepared to introduce her own RTG legislation for the 2008 session, but she agreed to let state Sens. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, and Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, take the lead in crafting a proposal.
Gregoire reminded us that a blue-ribbon panel led by former Seattle Mayor Norm Rice and businessman John Stanton in 2006 had recommended putting regional road and transit authority in the hands of one body consisting mostly of directly elected members.
RTG means no more Sound Transit, no more Regional Transportation Improvement District - bodies comprised of elected city and county officials from Pierce, King and Snohomish counties.
And the notion of "sub-area equity," Gregoire said emphatically, has got to go. That gave us a little shudder, because the principle that the money raised in each county should be spent each county is pretty much Holy Writ in Pierce and Snohomish counties.
The problem with sub-area equity, Gregoire contended, is that local goodies get piled atop the most serious regional priorities, for reasons of local politics, that the total cost of any package balloons and it topples of its own weight.
A pretty good description, I admit, of what happened with Proposition 1 on both the transit and road sides. But, as I told the governor, "we little people in the sticks" have a legitimate fear of getting little more than table scraps while the Seattle-centric mega-projects get taken care first.
Another RTG portent: This article from the online news site Crosscut. Commentator Ted Van Dyke lauds the gathering momentum for RTG. The vision:
In all of this, a new consensus is emerging about a post-Prop 1 agenda. It centers on moving aside turf-oriented, self-serving agencies such as Sound Transit and transferring power to a more objective, more responsive regional body. It would stress immediate priorities such as addressing the urgent Alaskan Way Viaduct and Evergreen Point Bridge, which are aging and structurally vulnerable.
It would not stop light rail construction in place, but it would limit construction to a line running from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to either Convention Place, Husky Stadium, or Northgate. Future funding would be focused more greatly on express bus, bus rapid transit, and normal bus service; dedicated transit lanes; HOV lanes; tolling; and selective repair and expansion of long neglected local roads and lifeline highways. Citywide trolleys (touted by Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels) definitely would not be part of the scheme.
I've already predicted that the future of light rail in this region, post-Prop.1, will lie entirely within King County. Heck, except for the line to the airport, it may lie entirely with the City of Seattle. Tacoma's short LINK light-rail line could remain an curious anomaly for another half-century - or longer.
Local officialdom, including Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg, his counterparts in King and Pierce Counties,and transit supporters could still put up a formidable fight against RTG in Olympia.
But Proposition 1's ignominious defeat means the prevailing winds now favor creating regional authority governing both roads and transit.
And the local-government electeds might come around. After all, that regional transportation authority would probably mean the creation of a whole new slate of highly visible, well-paying elective offices that would be mighty tempting for the likes of, say, the capable Mr. Ladenburg.
COMMENTS:
Road-centric solutions are not what people were voting for with regards to Prop 1, as exit polls and surveys have shown that in fact what people wanted was a less complex package, and probably one that was more transit heavy.
Don't believe that Seattleites are any less anti RTG than those of you in Pierce or Snohomish.
Sound Transit IS comprised of local officials. Roads and transit are apples and oranges, I just don't see how a new combined regional authority would do a better job than Sound Transit - especially if the only solution is more buses! How lame! Where is the vision in that?!
And Don't even get me going on sub-area equity- there will be a big fight if that's taken away!
Vaska works for Foster Pepper Sheffelman (which just lost their base of power, their several decade representation of WAMU). FPS came to prominence in the bonding field under Rice's first big project, a housing issue. I don't know anything about Stanton and the rest, they might just be swayed by what appears to be a good idea.
Rice, as you might recall, lost quite a bit of his credibility in his return to the federally owned corporate housing finance organization. Well before the current housing crunch Rice's mismanagement was quite clear and he left that agency in some state of disgrace.
The lower status of Rice and Vaska in the greater power structure supporting Sound Transit is actually a sign of good management on the part of the Sound Transit 'folks' up there.
That doesn't mean I'm not a critic of Sound Transit or a supporter of some sort of elected reform to the agency - I've been talking up the idea of this reform for better part of a decade.
One of those crucial questions is that of Sub-Area Equity. Gregoire's angling for the removal of one of the best procedures of Sound Transit will backfire.
The State Legislature, with more than one good reason, has made it clear that Seattle has to pay the cost of not just the Viaduct, but hopefully all of the costs of their schemes that exceed their fare share.
The only way the removal of sub-area equity can come up on the table is if there are additional guarantees of Seattle paying its share of its costs. Attempting to just suck off the region instead of the entire state is hopefully a laughable non-starter.
Most importantly I think it is time to start talking about what the folks in the FPS and PGE power structure OWE THE REST OF THE REGION AND STATE.
Certainly the rest of the State does not need to accept their requests for 'assistance' - however the rest of the State is certainly legally able to interpret that request for assistance as an acceptance of procedures that would result in 'them' paying (their rules, our outcome').
Methinks Gregoire, Sims, and Vaska just 'volunteered' not only their friends and clients, but also those of Preston Gates Ellis.
This outcome won't be without costs of its own, a wise use of the recently Court rulings on Emminent domain should be used to mitigate some of the harshest effects of this effort. There are many private businesses that are crucial to the safety and future of this State, and if necessary, we should remove the incompetent from their ownership, with, of course, fair compensation.
-Douglas Tooley
Lincoln District
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