Re: “Ruston vs. Point Ruston: Break up this fight” (editorial, 1-25).
The editorial was an egregious misrepresentation of the facts. Not only does The News Tribune editorial board not understand the matters at hand, it does not understand basic land use rules.
The ongoing public safety issues; the flouting of local, state and federal law; and the lack of concern by the City of Tacoma should be at the forefront of this discussion.
I have been able to obtain violation notices and probable violation letters to the developer from Ruston, the Environmental Protection Agency and the state Utilities and Transportation Commission. All are a matter of public record. To avoid looking like complete idiots in the future, the editorial staff might also do a bit of research.
This would also apply to the powers that be in the City of Tacoma. In the reading that I have done, it appears that the only thing in which Tacoma is interested is getting this property developed as quickly as possible so that it can get back the$30 million of the taxpayers’ money that it unwisely invested in this project.
There is little or no mention of public safety, which should be paramount on any project, but should be diligently monitored and enforced on a project built on fill, and especially when the fill is associated with a toxic Superfund site.