RTC and the South Sound

This post originally appeared on Orphan Road.

John Stanton, who co-chaired the RTC and who supports “governance reform,” paid a visit to RAMP, which is sort of a South-Sound-centric version of RTID to pitch them on the idea.

They were nonplussed. RTC would end sub-area equity, a phrase that, in Tacoma, translates roughly as “give all your money to Seattle.” So it’s not exactly surprising that a group co-chaired by John Ladenburg would be against the idea.

I’m beginning to wonder if ending sub-area equity is the carrot designed to induce Seattlites into swallowing the RTC proposal. But either way, it’s a dodge. The problem is not governance, it’s cash. Re-drawing lines on the map won’t change the simple fact that no one wants to pay taxes.