When corporate profits speak louder than people
Is it greed, strategy or just business as usual in Corporate America? The answer might not be what you expect in Pierce County.
By: J.A. Aleman
Greed is a mighty ideal that finds a way to interfere in the lives of everyday people, especially those in corporate positions. It needs a conduit to work in a society, and in America with capitalism, that’s not hard to find.
I’ve lived in Tacoma for over 20 years and have seen the changes and developments made and love how these changes have made our beloved city. We locals dearly call it Tac-Town, as it still feels like a home people can be proud of.
However, there is a price to pay for a city’s growth as business owners, employees and patrons who frequent Point Ruston are finding out.
The paid parking rules at Point Ruston introduced in 2018 have changed. On Jan. 1, the new rules were implemented, and now visitors can expect to pay $4 plus tax per hour when parking in the garage or on the streets. There is an exception if they patronize a retail location that participates in the retail validation system.
To be honest, I don’t mind paying for parking. What really caught my attention is that with the new rules, employees at Point Ruston must pay for parking using a discount QR code. Businesses were informed of the change just before Christmas, according to The News Tribune.
Starting in 2006, Point Ruston was developed by Cohen Point Ruston LLC, which worked with lenders and is now in litigations about their failure to repay loans, according to The News Tribune.
Nearly $170 million plus interest is what’s owed to TerraCotta Credit REIT and AURC III, not including court fees or penalties. While all this money is owed, we find Cohen is overlooking another development in Tempe, Arizona, worth $1.8 billion with McBride-Cohen Management. This was approved on Feb. 10, 2022, and will be developed over the next 15 years, according to the City of Tempe’s website.
Business is business, this is something that we all understand. I’m not one who gets angry at an investor for wanting to make a profit. I am frustrated, however, with people who are in over their heads, who are only chasing profits without considering the people they will step on.
The businesses at Point Ruston are trying their best to help their employees by paying for their parking. They are also starting their own form of parking validation for customers and told The New Tribune that they feel like pawns in the middle of a debt collection battle.
One of the business owners told The News Tribune the parking cost will exceed $50,000 a year in overall costs. Another owner said they lost $250,000 in the last quarter after the change in parking rules.
“Greed is self-correcting. It’s a very reliable ethos,” said Dr. Jordan B. Peterson on episode 513 of his podcast. “It is not the highest form of morality by any stretch of the imagination but it’s predictable. If I know you’re motivated by money, we could work together. I could imagine there would be a circumstance under which that might not go so well for me but most of the time I can predict exactly what you’re going to do.”
While I don’t disagree with Peterson entirely, at least in the point of greed’s predictability, I can’t see how it would be self-correcting. The only way would probably be if a bigger fish came along to play in a small fish’s pond, pushing it out of its home. However, this is detrimental to any person who depends on what that small fish had built to begin with. In this way, it’s not self-correcting, but completely unbalanced.
In the case of Point Ruston, the developers want what belongs to them, even if they have to wring it out of everyone affected in any way possible.
When I started researching information for this article on capitalism, I found out that Starbucks was also making changes. More specifically to their open-door policy which was implemented back in 2018 after two black men were arrested at a store in Philadelphia in a controversial case.
Rashon Nelson was denied the use of the restroom because he and his business partner, Donte Robinson, weren’t paying customers, according to CBS News. They were later escorted out by the police because they bought nothing. They were waiting for a business meeting with Andew Yaffe, a potential business partner.
I went to the Starbucks located off the UW Tacoma campus on Pacific Avenue to ask about this topic. I had my press pass with me and as I approached the counter to make my order, the manager asked me if I was there to report on something. I took the opportunity to ask about the policy change.

The manager didn’t want to comment but told me she was supposed to direct anyone asking questions to corporate and didn’t let any other employees there speak with me. Fortunately, one employee was willing to comment, and we later communicated on social media.
“We have a lot of students and unhoused that stop in for water and to use the restroom, and it makes me deeply upset to be asked to deny that to someone,” Barista Hart Williams said.
Williams told the Ledger that Starbucks employees received training on Jan. 26 and the open-door policy was reversed on Jan. 27.
“We want everyone to feel welcome and comfortable in our stores,” Sam Jeffries, Starbucks Media Relations told the Ledger. “Coffeehouse Code of Conduct helps us prioritize our paying customers. This means our cafes, patios, and restrooms are for customers and partners. These updates are part of a broader set of changes we are making to enhance the café experience as we work to get back to Starbucks.”
UWT’s on campus coffee shop Metro Coffee is a shop that has also seen the negative impact of the open-door policy. The owner, Stephanie McCullough, has had to call campus security a number of times in scary situations. She is grateful that she hasn’t had to so far in 2025.

“Unfortunately, people abuse privileges, and it makes it hard on everybody else,” McCullough said.
It’s clear to me that in 2018, the open-door policy was implemented due to societal pressure. In the end, if all you’re doing is chasing money, then that’s what you’ll bend your knee to. This doesn’t signal any type of moral standing. I ask, what was the message?
The notion that businesses change their priorities simply because society cries out in pain is unrealistic. Business is business, and it will continue to be for profit, even if it looks like it lands on the moral side of things for a while.
It’s basic public relations. Companies will pander and do performative allyship and push the agenda as far as they can to make every bit of profit they can. Then, when the outcry is over or pushing the other way, they do it all over again.
We can’t be too upset and if we are, then we blind ourselves into believing a for-profit business is supposed to give people perks and free stuff and be moral at every turn. Unfortunately, in a capitalistic society, the all-mighty dollar rules the day.
I like to think and have hope that not every company functions this way. But if you worship money, then that’s who your master is and that’s who you serve.