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Time Travel to 2011: Why Tillicum Lost in the Dispute with Camp Murray

June 16, 2013 By Ben Sclair

By Walter Neary

In 2011, Lakewood endured one of the most bitter neighborhood debates in recent memory. Residents of the Tillicum area were deeply concerned about traffic changes announced by the leadership team at Camp Murray. Camp Murray is outside Lakewood boundaries, and it already had half the permits it needed for construction from Pierce County government. Lakewood was wresting with the rest of the requests of Camp Murray and its then commander, Maj. Gen. Timothy Lowenberg.

Many Tillicum residents just naturally assumed our Lakewood council would defend them from Camp Murray at all costs, just as we had done our best to defend them and other parts of town from the railroad line proposals. Our council, armed with sharp lawyers, had to stare down the state government, the federal government, and a president running for re-election who was bragging about the project. I sort of assumed we would stand immovable for Tillicum too, which is why my blog was so rosy at the time. And yet, based on the nature of Lakewood itself, you could tell this was going to be one of the thorniest Lakewood neighborhood battles ever. When I met with Tillicum neighborhood leadership, I did not predict an outcome, but I do remember telling them to get a good lawyer.

Here’s the deal. Tillicum was never going to win that one, because of who they were up against. And it’s a lesson worth knowing if you want to be part of steering Lakewood away from such disputes again.

lowenberg-gate

Of course, in almost every scenario you could have imagined, Tillicum would have won. It’s an unwritten rule that a city is going to put its own citizens first. Tillicum residents have earned the consideration not just for where they live, within city boundaries, but for years of organized effort to reclaim their community from crime.

If Camp Murray had been Microsoft, or Intel, or Western State Hospital, or the Gates Foundation, or the state Department of Parks, and they wanted something that would disrupt Tillicum, Tillicum would have won.

So why didn’t it? Please let me exaggerate in this post to make a point. Indulge me while we enter a slightly alternate universe.

Let’s suppose Camp Murray did not exist. Let’s suppose instead Lakewood’s neighbor was the Animal Shelter for Pandas, Penguins and Every Cute Animal Imaginable and Camp for Adorably Wide-Eyed War Orphans of Brotsylspotsnia.

So in this alternate universe, everyone growing up in Lakewood would grow up next to an organization that traffics in adorable animals and children. Daily, the media from around the world would come to do stories on the place. Viral videos of adorable frolicking penguins, cute pandas and wide-eyed children from war zones would be among the most highly watched in YouTube. Children of all ages would grow up thinking that it would be cool to visit Lakewood and come see the adorable animals and donate to the disadvantaged children. Hollywood celebrities would come to the camp routinely to help the place raise money. The place would be a meme factory.

Let’s suppose the guy who ran the place, a fella named Lowenberg, was embarrassed at how these Hollywood celebrities have to see some parts of Lakewood and particularly at the awkward entrance to the  Animal Shelter for Pandas, Penguins and Every Cute Animal Imaginable and Camp for Adorably Wide-Eyed War Orphans of Brotsylspotsnia.

Lowenberg decides he wants a new gate.

Now, based on history, the city of Lakewood would look at the disruption caused by the gate and kindly tell him to deal with it. They would make alternate suggestions for improving the entry to his camp, and perhaps considering moving things a block or two. But Lowenberg would not take this lightly, and so he would lobby for Lakewood to give him what he wants. In my alternate reality, he would be able to summon the support of millions of people who support adorable penguins and pandas, and thus are slightly crazed with love of animals. He would be able to summon those who feel bad for the war
orphans, and these people would pack the emails and mailboxes and voice mails of the Lakewood City Council with sympathy for the camp. Hollywood celebrities would arrive at the Lakewood City Council meeting. They’d sing songs of support for the camp outside in the City Hall parking lot, and clog the public comments section of meetings begging for the evil, mean city council to help the Animal Shelter for Pandas, Penguins and Every Cute Animal Imaginable and Camp for Adorably Wide-Eyed Orphans of Brotsylspotsnia.

And the Lakewood City Council would stand firm for his citizens, because that’s what the council normally does. Your residents come first. Tillicum would have won.

But Tillicum was not up against any of those people, pandas or penguins.

Tillicum was up against the military.

The military cannot lose in Lakewood. Consider its role and its numbers in this community. Go into any store and look for young men with long hair. Good luck. You’ll see a couple. What I see instead are young men and women with short haircuts, often accompanied by a young spouse pushing a stroller.

For that matter, look around for men my age with long hair. Instead, I see men who have lost some or all of their hair after a lifetime of dedicated heroism to our nation.

Lakewood is packed to the bring with retirees who bring wisdom, honor and valor to our community.

The numbers bear this out. Camp Murray folks estimated in 2006 that their economic impact in the surrounding area was nearly half a billion dollars. Most of the available economic statistics are for JBLM, Camp Murray and Lakewood’s neighbor, which pumps more than $3 billion of payroll into the area.  Overall, more than 670,000 veterans and 106,000 active duty military live in the state.

If the military says , “Hey Lakewood, disrupt your voters and other residents in Tillicum,” then Lakewood will.

Now, here’s the deal. You might think I’m teeing up to say I disagree. I’m not. I can’t say this is a bad thing. Consider the military. the men and women serving in our Armed Forces are willing to give their lives for you, for me, for people in other countries. I don’t know about you, but the bravest thing I am doing right now is driving a 1987 Toyota Corolla that does not have airbags. So for me to tell people in the military that they can’t have what they want is very ungrateful.

If the military announced that it is going to change traffic on my home, School Street, for the betterment of uniformed personnel and the nation’s security, then I better be prepared to suck it up.

If you return to Lakewood, consider that some of our elected officials, such as Mayor Doug Richardson, wanted to win election to other office. If the dispute was a political exercise, which it’s not, Doug could have chosen to side with the voters of Tillicum, all 90 of them, or the voters who represent current and retired military and/or work at JBLM and Camp Murray. Doug now represents, thankfully, our region on the Pierce County Council. Doug himself is a retired brigadier general, the caliber of man who could have commanded Camp Murray.

Now I know Doug Richardson. He is a man of great integrity. He has been a mentor to me. I was one of a couple people who helped make him the mayor after Bill Harrison. So I know Doug Richardson well, and he doesn’t count votes.

But there was absolutely no political downside to siding with the military over Tillicum.

In retrospect, it’s impressive that our City Council pushed back to Camp Murray as long as we did. As The News Tribune noted, Tillicum got a better deal than it would have had with the original plans for Lowenberg Gate.

I made a wisecrack about 90 voters in Tillicum. There are more. But not enough to counter the impacts of the military in this community, which run like blood through our collective veins. The voter numbers are not a slam at Tillicum. It’s true nationwide that people in lower-income areas vote less often than people in other demographics.

If Tillicum wants to be able to win political battles with the military, it’s going to need triple the number of registered and participating voters than it has now AND be able to prove it has an overriding interest in the nation’s security. Good luck.

It is rare, however, for the military bases to make demands that affect Lakewood residents so directly. That’s why in an earlier note, I called the Lowenberg Gate matter a fluke. It was a fluke that people associated with the military decided to use their power to impose will on Lakewood.  But could it happen again? Sure.

Here’s an example, once again exaggerated for effect. The commanders of the base and its Stryker brigades ponder what they could do to improve morale of the troops. Someone has a great idea. Name the local communities after the base! That would show real support! So they go to the local City Councils. They ask Lakewood to rename itself JBLM-wood. They ask Puyallup to name itself Lewis-lup. They ask DuPont to rename itself McChord-Pont.

Councils would immediately divide into two camps. Some council members in those cities would immediately make a motion to change the name. A second camp would suggest forming committees with citizens to explore the implications of the change. Would the military win in all three cities? I don’t know enough about DuPont and Puyallup to say, but it will take mighty strength to announce to the world, “No, we are not going to give our heroes in the military what they want.”

You might think that renaming idea is silly and no way it could happen. Tillicum residents used to think along those lines too. See the picture above.

And yet …This might be the time to step back and say, why do Tillicum and the military have to be at odds? Wouldn’t it be better if they got along, and the military not propose disruptions to the community? Camp Murray’s leadership has changed, and the Lowenberg of the Lowenberg Memorial Gate no longer commands out there.

Hopefully the military will work collaboratively with the community instead of being at odds with the community. Yes, the military are our real world superheroes. But when neighbors of any kind battle, no one wins.

(( By the way, a final note to avoid confusion, the gate is not, as far as I know, yet named the Lowenberg Memorial Gate because a) he’s still alive and b) no one has gone through the formality of changing the name yet. I’m just trying to make a point by giving it the name early ))

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Comments

  1. Ellen M says

    June 17, 2013 at 10:17 am

    Since the city initiated contact in 2008 ….. why? And
    Who wanted the gate moved and ….. why? What did it accomplish? I dont buy the “feel good, pretty gate” scenario. And ….
    Who benefited from the move and how? And ….

    Amtrak will be no different. Federal $$ always tops local citizens.

    • wtneary says

      June 18, 2013 at 10:00 am

      Hi Ellen. As far as I know, people involved in city government have been talking about alternatives to traffic flow in Tillicum since cityhood. Government is supposed to look for ways to make things better. Tillicum residents know better than most that the configuration of the Madigan gate, Thorne and Berkeley, the railroad line and the Camp Murray entrance doesn’t work for everyone.
      No one in local government was pushing, as far as I know, to help Gen. Lowenberg play his trump card of “national security” in asking for the gate. Government loves to build things like gates, because people can get their name on the plaque.
      The real answer is for the state government to step forward and support JBLM as if it was a private employer. If JBLM was Microsoft or Intel, Tillicum would have the best traffic design that money could buy in order to help retain the employeer. Yet JBLM is the third largest employer in the state. The perfect solution would be if JBLM was able to follow Boeing’s lead and threaten to move to South Carolina. Then the state would apply proper resources to keep JBLM, as opposed to having the time to come up with nonsense like the pseudo-high-speed-rail line. Minus anyone investing real money into a solution, we’re all left tense and squabbling like mice fighting over too little cheese. IMHO

      • David Anderson says

        June 18, 2013 at 12:26 pm

        “As far as I know,” writes Neary is, as I carefully documented, not very far given Neary’s time-line article ended with 2011 when in fact Murray and the City had been holding gate discussions – to which the council was irresponsibly oblivious – since 2008.

        “Government is supposed to make things better (presumably for the citizens its members are elected to represent),” but as Neary wrote, it made and, according to Neary, will always make deals with the military irrespective of the public. Ironically, while the likes of Neary will campaign hard for your vote promising to represent you, the electorate, that promise goes out the window when the non-voting military comes calling.

        While it is true the heretofore existing gate is problematic, it remains so even with a new gate which itself is problematic. Ironically again, Community Development Director Dave Bugher found fault with every single argument put forth by Camp Murray to move its gate. It is doubtful, given the homework – if any – Neary put in on this issue as your elected representative that he is aware of – or cares about – much of anything related to this several-year battle. Of course given the transportation committee on which he sat never had this transportation issue on their agenda might explain, although hardly, his ignorance.

        The “as far as I know” get-out-of-jail-free card is played again by Neary when he claims, as far as he knows, that no one on the city side was “pushing” the gate – when in fact in a PDR request Bugher states that very thing in an email to then-city manager Andrew Neiditz.

        “Squabbling over too little cheese”? Is that how you saw your responsibility as a councilman Neary? Like calling the council’s miscue on the gate relocate simply “a fluke” that “make you squirm a little?”

        And so you lost a night’s sleep? While the community is left with a life-time of consequences.

  2. John Arbeeny says

    June 17, 2013 at 10:33 am

    Walter:

    “Brevity is the soul of wit” Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2. In response to your lengthy circuitous “explanation” of the Camp Murray gate fiasco let me summarize:

    “Resistance to government is futile; bend over and take it; be glad that it wasn’t as bad as it could have been; government knows what’s best for you; it just needs to be explained to you so you understand better.”

    See: I’ve accomplished in under 3 lines what it took you pages not to accomplish. Escew obfuscation! Please!

    Yours is exactly the attitude towards representation and government that now finds our country in scandal after scandal all the way up to the highest national levels. If you can’t even affect local political decisions what hope does anyone have of affecting them at County, State or Federal level. Or are we a country run by hired bureaucrats instead of represented by elected officials? What’s the point of cityhood if we kowtow to the druthers of every level of government over us? No guts; no glory; no representation.

    • John Arbeeny says

      June 17, 2013 at 12:03 pm

      Eschew…..typo.

    • wtneary says

      June 18, 2013 at 9:38 am

      Actually, John, if you worked up the discipline to read something longer than one of your slogans and read the column, the short version would be “If anyone closely associated with the military wants something from Lakewood, they will get it.”

      The other short saying that comes to mind is “Don’t shoot the messenger.” But some people have a thing for shooting.

      If you read the column, you see I was writing about the military, not government in general. For example, i’s only because of the resistance of our City Council, with allies at the school district and DuPont and the community etc that we don’t have pseudo-high-speed rail sailing through our neighborhoods. If you want to blame me when the state and federal and presidency eventually ram a railroad down our throats, I hope you also give me credit for what the state and federal governments do that’s good.

    • wtneary says

      June 18, 2013 at 9:40 am

      Actually, John, if you worked up the discipline to read something longer than one of your slogans and read the column, the short version would be “If anyone closely associated with the military wants something from Lakewood, they will get it.”

      The other short saying that comes to mind is “Don’t shoot the messenger.” But some people have a thing for shooting.

      If you read the column, you see I was writing about the military, not government in general. For example, it’s only because of the resistance of our City Council, with allies at the school district and DuPont and the community etc that we don’t have pseudo-high-speed rail sailing through our neighborhoods. If you want to blame me when the state and federal governments and presidential branch eventually ram a railroad down our throats, I hope you also give me credit for what the state and federal governments do that’s good.

  3. Ellen Mn says

    June 19, 2013 at 12:43 am

    I still do not understand why, after all these years, why the Nat. Guard needed the gate moved and why there could be no better solution

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