House of the rising stunned

Ken Miller’s battle with Sound Transit went to the next level-ed.
by John Herbert
Apr 17, 2008

Tacoma area developer Ken Miller learned this week that Sound Transit has demolished the historic Hansen House at 5820 S. Hood St. Built around the turn of the 20th century, it was named after the family of Northern Pacific Railroad worker Daniel Hansen. Miller contends that the home has substantial historic value, and that the demolition was unnecessary and premature. Sound Transit officials have contended in letters to the Tacoma Historical Society and in court that the home’s historic value is marginal at best. Apparently the home’s value was so marginal that the agency didn’t feel the need to tell anyone that they were going to destroy it.

“I never even heard from them. Their idea is that once I gave it possession, they could smash anything they want,” Miller says. “I didn’t go look. I can’t bear to go over there anymore.”

The Hansen House is on the property seized by Sound Transit, which the Weekly Volcano documented in February (“Life Derailed,” Feb. 7, 2008). Not telling the Millers what was planned for their property seems to be a trend — Sound Transit didn’t tell the Millers that it intended to take the property on which the Hansen House sat either.

Miller characterizes the demolition as another insult in a long string of insulting decisions made by the regional transit agency. For the past three years, Miller has spent most of his time trying to hang on to property that Sound Transit says it needs to complete a long-delayed stretch of commuter rail service between Tacoma and Lakewood. Sound Transit used a typical procedure to take Miller’s property — a power granted government entities by the U.S.Constitution known as eminent domain, which allows government agencies to take private property against the will of its owners. Traditionally eminent domain has been used to clear the way for development of military bases, government buildings, roads and rail lines. Miller chose to fight the regional transit agency and lost. The sum awarded to Miller by the courts for the property barely covered legal costs.

The value of the Hansen Home — if it hadn’t been destroyed — is worth exploring, says Miller, if for no other reason than to gauge just how little the agency cares for the concerns of property owners. The former home of Northern Pacific Railroad worker Daniel Hansen was built in the 1890s. The home was occupied by several generations of Hansens until the Millers purchased the property. It is the last home along Northern Pacific tracks in the South Tacoma area — what Miller characterizes as a rich historical tradition in the area.

Tacoma Railcar Society’s Dave Burns spent years working with local and state officials to save the home from the wrecking ball. Plans included refurbishing the home as an interpretive center celebrating Northern Pacific’s contributions to South Tacoma’s history. The home was scheduled to be considered for inclusion on the city’s historic registry in 2004, but Sound Transit officials sent a letter to city officials claiming that the home had no historical value and that Miller was simply hoping to avoid having his land taken by placing the home in protected status.

Miller says he hasn’t attempted to move the house for a couple of reasons — he can’t afford it, and Sound Transit has no use for the property, and no reason to clear it. Sound Transit has years of red tape and construction to wade through before the Miller’s property can even begin to be converted.

“It would have been a real easy move,” said Miller. “I don’t have the $15,000 it would cost, though. I just can’t be putting my hands out there any farther. We are trying to sell some of our real estate to get back on our feet. But there’s no market. It isn’t going well.”

User comments

submitted 01:07 on Apr 18, 2008 by

Upon taking possession, Sound Transit let meth addicts strip the wiring and anything of value from the Hansen House. Yet, ST wouldn't allow the Millers to enter the property. Sound Transit and its former chairman, John Ladenburg are as unethical as can be. Ladenburg lied, claiming that ST negotiated with the Millers before the condemnation. Show us the proof, Ladenburg. You can't, because there was no negotiation. But maybe, you could explain how the Millers got such an odd jury pool. There are only 343 employees at Sound Transit and many live in King County. Having three first degree relatives of Sound Transit office employees in their Pierce County jury pool and a Sound Transit Executive's brother as their jury foreman was statistically impossible, but that's what they got! Was it just lucky for ST that one of the jurors is a budget analyst who has been involved in condemnation issues for the government? What about the pro-ST civil engineer and the juror who had worked with the husband of ST's "witness". The whole jury selection process was bizarre. The Millers and their attorney had to wait from 8:30 until after 1:30 for jury selection procedures (and the ST lawyers' blathering)to begin and then suddenly at 4:30 were told the process had to be completed immediately or people wouldn't be able to get their cars out of the parking garage. What a way to get a jury of their peers! Not!

submitted 06:07 on Apr 18, 2008 by TacomaZone

Oh my God. If that string of absurd conspiracy theories doesn't prove how clueless and obsessed the Miller family is, I don't know what would.... These people are living in fantasyland. Good thing their lawyer was perfectly happy to walk away with the cash they otherwise would have been able to keep for themselves. The only thing worse: the guy posing as a journalist who wrote this piece in the Volcano (which looks like it's printed in Sri Lanka) This was a rotton shack on a lot piled with garbage. Just the kind of thing South Tacoma residents (as in, the people who actually LIVE THERE) can be proud of. If we want our city to look like it's part of Washington State, and not post-Katrina New Orleans, absent slumlords are going to have to make way for community progress on occasion. Our entire city and county would not exist if it weren't for our freeways, roads and railroads. Literally thousands of people were displaced when Interstate and state freeways were built. The difference between then and now: the media (fueled by outside special interest groups) actually listens to the crazies and self-centered yahoos. Back in the day, community values outweighed self-centric obsessions. And thank God for that.

submitted 06:43 on Apr 18, 2008 by TacomaNative

Notice how it was a self-centered attitude which caused the Millers to flush half a million dollars down their lawyer's toilet in the first place - and how the conspiracy theory laden tirade above (entire judicial system has been taken over by the bus company) also sets the author at center stage. Playing his favorite role: The Victim. But if the author of that nice story about crooked corruption really cared about his friends/family members the Millers, he would have advised them to use the settlement to buy TWO houses down the street for the ONE lot they donated to their high priced lawyer. And, human beings could actually inhabit the TWO houses down the street (piles of garbage and dead vehicles might have been a bit more difficult to store however). Some day, this part of South Tacoma will actually return to its heyday. Where people will live, work, play, shop and contribute to our economy. Look, I am a strong proponent of property rights, but also realize I am a member of society. I also acknowledge that change occurs, every once in a while (the question is, do you take advantage of change, or do you stick your head in the sand and get run over?) Some days I wished I could live in the razor-wire fenced bubble the commentator above uses to inform his world view. But, like it or not: if you live in a city, you gotta expect some change will occur in your lifetime. I have never met the Millers. I am sure they are fine people, just trying to get by like most of us. But I think they dug their own hole here, and are trying to blame others since the hole got so deep. I hope someday they are able to move on. We all run into bumps in the road. Focusing on one bump for years isn't going to do anybody any good.

submitted 01:18 on Apr 21, 2008 by NotBuying

This story raises more questions than it answers. So why didn't the Miller's put the property on the historic list? ST couldn't stop that from happening. Why didn't the Miller's take better care of the property in the first place? They were an easy target. And why were the Miller's so greedy to think their trashed property was worth a million dollars? No sympathy here.

submitted 01:53 on Apr 22, 2008 by NotLying

Mr. Ladenburg and Company, you should be ashamed of your lies in the TN/TZ/NB postings. Yes, you and your many assistants in the Pierce County government and courts are corrupt. The Cadillac Judge Grant is just one of many of the court's fine examples! Do I need to remind you that your team "had carefully reviewed all of the evidence" about Judge Grant and you found "no basis for a criminal complaint"? It was just a conspiracy theory? That's right folks, the man who wants to become our next Attorney General found nothing wrong with Judge Grant taking bribes. I guess since "Boss" Ladenburg takes so many handouts himself, he doesn't understand what's wrong with it. As for the claim that the Millers flushed half a million down the toilet, look at the millions of taxpayer and sewer rate payer dollars, Ladenburg flushed down Chamber's Bay. Maybe Sound Transit shouldn't be run by the giant Seattle law firms that flush tens of millions of taxpayers money down the toilet, with frivolous legal actions such as the Millers experienced. The Millers asked to negotiate, but ST refused. They preferred to spend millions on attorneys fees. The Millers knew that the adjoining Gilchrist auto dealership had paid over $600,000 for similar property about 15 years before. They knew that their property was worth at least $750,000. As you well know, Mr. Ladenburg, ST offered them around $425,000 and tried to deduct as much as $80,000 for hazardous waste removal. The Millers had run a lumber mill there, the nominal hazardous waste was from the railroad operations along their property. The Millers were not acting as slumlords: they were not renting out the property, but some wayward people did keep attempting to camp out there and people did keep dumping garbage on the corner. A little law enforcement, would've helped! Mr. Ladenburg, I don't see how those problems mean that the Millers should have had their property stolen from them, any more than you should blame a person for being raped, robbed or murdered. ST did indeed, stop the Millers from placing their house on the historic list. The Millers also, with difficulty, removed the squatters from their property and removed all of the trash, too. Mr. Ladenburg, you have met the Millers (although, you would not talk to them when they asked for help) and they are fine people. They are also very giving of what they have and no one who knows them well would ever call them greedy. They just wanted to be treated fairly and with respect and not to be drug into court needlessly by ST attorneys. Mr. Ladenburg, you work for the citizens of Pierce County, not for your campaign contributors: attorneys, corporations and the Puyallup Indians. Your intolerant, condescending attitude toward average citizens does not fit with being in public service. You better improve your rhetoric before November, or are you just running so that you can rake in all those bribes/campaign funds?!

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