I was recently listening to a report that was being presented to a national audience by Ms. Jerry Ellis from Washington State on how to implement Public Private Initiative Programs across the United States. The one part of her presentation that caught my ear specifically was how to get around public opposition. Here’s what she advised:

“Everybody at that period of time was trying to find a way to deal with this issue of opposition. How do you either sell it, how do you satisfy and still move forward with some sort of program? Our Legislature, in fact, did a couple things, and it was an honest effort to try to deal with what was overwhelming opposition.”

“Everyone, or those who are involved in transportation development or projects, knows that within two miles, within a mile or two miles of the adjacent to the project, people are going to oppose it. I just don’t want it in my backyard. They’re going to oppose it. So when the issue of who votes comes up, do you just vote? Or do a broader group of people who use it vote? We opted for a bit larger, and what resulted was 53 percent of the folks indicated their support of the project.”

“A bit larger?” Ms. Ellis failed to explain that her definition of “a bit larger.” It wasn’t one or two miles, it was approximately 120 miles northwest — as the crow flies and 60 miles southeast from the site of the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge project.

People who lived in Neah Bay (120 miles away) and on the far side of Mount Rainier (60 miles away) got to tell the people who lived in Gig Harbor and Port Orchard that they would have to pay for a bridge even though the locals voted 80 percent against.

Well, Ms. Ellis, why you’re still on the state payroll is beyond me. Your PPI Program was a total disaster. There were no private projects built, it has cost the state $40 million in a settlement pay off to the original contractor, hundreds of thousands in litigation fees and when the Supreme Court rules in the next month on the most recent lawsuit your precious PPI program will have finally been brought to its knees.

Your problem, Ms. Ellis, is you still don’t get it! The people of Washington State run Washington State — not you and your band of friends in Olympia. Sometimes it takes a few people like Tim Eyman and the Citizens Against Tolls and the likes of Doug Shaffer and others to remind you of that fact. You would have had a much better story to tell your national friends if you would have brought the people to the table to mitigate their concerns in the front end — rather than litigate their concerns in the back end.

Randy Boss
Gig Harbor
Citizens Against Tolls