The Sound Transit Board member that opposes ST3

For a day job, Ron Lucas is mayor of Steilacoom. On the side he’s also the vice chairman of the Sound Transit Board.

Renter chooses between paying car tabs or rent

Lucas is one of 18 board members, all of whom are elected officials from Pierce, Snohomish, and King counties. Where Lucas differs with most of his fellow board members, is he doesn’t think the voter-approved ST3 is a good plan for the region.

“The idea was to come to Tacoma, as if everything has to go north to Seattle, or to the Seahawks or the Mariners on those rare days, or to the airport,” Lucas told 770 KTTH’s Jason Rantz. “But if you look at Freight House Square in relation to where Pierce County is 20 years later, the population is to the east. It’s unincorporated Pierce County, Orting, Puyallup, Bonney Lake, all going out that way.”

Last year, Republicans in the state Senate voted to replace the appointed Sound Transit board with an elected one. The plan didn’t get support from Democrats, so it failed in the House and nothing came of it. Now that Democrats control both chambers it’s even less likely such a plan would ever get enacted.

Lucas says he understands the appeal.

“I can see the advantage of having elected folks, if this is all they did and they spent their time on it,” Lucas said. “It is really cumbersome and the amount of paperwork that comes your way is absolutely staggering. I’m talking eight to ten inches worth of stuff.”

As a board member, Lucas works with Sound Transit CEO Peter Rogoff with some frequency. Earlier this month, Rogoff missed out on a performance bonus due to the way he allegedly treated colleagues.

According to a memo, Rogoff even once described the board as just a bunch of small-town mayors. Lucas wasn’t bothered by that characterization.

“I chuckled the first time I heard it,” Lucas said.

Rogoff later explained to Lucas what he meant, and the context allayed any feelings of offense.

“I think he was talking about time and staffs,” Lucas said. “I think Peter’s context was with small town mayors, they don’t have a very large staff. They come to the meetings and their time is pretty much inside what they’re doing in their community.”

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