A Concerning Lack of Tribal Participation in Tacoma Tidelands Planning

The Tacoma Weekly has printed a strongly worded editorial denouncing the engagement process for a new sub area plan for the Tacoma Tideflats. The editorial sets the stage:

The largest battle in the works on the waterfront pits the City of Tacoma against the Port of Tacoma over who will sit at the table during the creation of a sub area plan for the largely industrialized waterfront that not only is an economic engine of the region, but also a toxic sandbox caused by the industrialization of that very same land over the passing decades of unchecked capitalism and poor decision making in the name of “progress.”

The editorial's concern grows from efforts by the port to cut members of the Puyallup Tribe out of the planning process. According to the editorial, "a 1989-1990 land claim settlement between the city, the Port and the Puyallups requires that any discussion about developments or decisions regarding the Tideflats must include meaningful consultation with the tribe."

Yet, the "Port of Tacoma now wants to relegate that 'meaningful consultation' with the tribe to simply putting them among the ranks of business owners and commerce boosters with interests in growing the Tideflats. Such neglect of the tribe could put the whole process in "legal limbo," argues the editorial.

Environmental groups in the area are supporting a greater role for the tribe, and the big takeaway produced by the editorial is less than favorable about how much faith interest groups should put in the commitments made by government.