(The following was also posted as a comment on the Mirror website.)

It’s great that the Federal Way Regional Library will reopen soon. My hope is that libraries are still relevant enough that the expansion will be worthwhile.

The real sad downside of the reopening of the regional library, in my opinion, is that at the end of this month we will lose the temporary location at the Commons. I don’t know why the KCLS feels the Commons is only good for a temporary location while Bellevue Crossings is good enough for a permanent “Library Connection” location. Federal Way has a real shortage of downtown services, and a library location at the mall was a welcome break from that trend. I am very curious what the activity was like at the temporary location, considering the mall is still by far the city’s top attraction for youth. With the return of the Regional Library, no matter how improved, visits to the library — like City Hall and too many other local services — will once again require a tedious car trip through Federal Way’s slow arterials to a semi-hidden wooded grove. What will it take for us to ever see a multi-use, service-rich, unsprawled downtown in Federal Way?

The grass field on the east side of the Federal Way Transit Center, which was once the candidate location to replace the 320th Library, is now dug up for construction. Unfortunately, neither the city nor Sound Transit websites had any information on what’s going there.

An email to Sound Transit’s Capital Projects department revealed that the construction is for Senior City, a low-income senior housing project undertaken by the Korean Women’s Association. According to the KWA’s fall newsletter (pdf), the project will house 122 low-income seniors, plus provide office space for senior services and meeting space.

There’s not a lot more information out there on the project, such as what it will look like, but I did manage to dig up this landscaping chart:

Elsewhere… The Fred Meyer in Twin Lakes is building a gas station, and construction is well underway. (Maybe one of the Safeways in town will get the hint and follow suit. The 320th store has plenty of room.)

Last week was National Banned Books Week in libraries nationwide. If you missed it, you can still celebrate in spirit by checking out something that has been banned in our own backyard:

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

An Inconvenient Truth

If I asked you what is the most important issue facing Federal Way, what would you say?

If you work for city government, your answer is probably “code compliance”. Signs are too big, woodworkers are too loud, real estate ads are in the wrong place.

Yes, in the lovely fantasy world of city government, Federal Way is a virtual utopia, whose worst problems are signs, scribbles, and saws. A big happy community of upper-middle class Christian homeowners.

Well, that’s not the Federal Way I read about in the papers. Federal Way is a city where in the past year two people have been shot to death in public places before a dozen witnesses. Where teaching established science in schools is threatened by anti-science crusaders. Where major downtown construction has been put on hold for who knows how long. Where dozens of retail spots have lain empty for years. Where we are about to lose 1,000 good non-retail jobs at a major local employer.

What is the city focusing its efforts on?

Cutting down 45-year-old neighborhood signs, because they are too tall. Shutting down home-based, charity-donating craftsmen because they are too loud. Kicking homeless people off street corners because they are too uncomfortable to look at.

Someday, perhaps, we can replace our head-in-the-clouds city government with one that is aware of Federal Way’s real problems, focus city resources towards solving those real problems, and react effectively and quickly to the needs of a growing urban environment. Unfortunately, our city government and laws are not structured or designed to allow that change to happen any time soon. Perhaps the best we can hope for is that our city leaders will wake up and see the city for what it is: a dual-metro satellite city with real urban problems that will only get worse the longer they are ignored; the longer we waste our effort on eradicating minor inconveniences like neighborhood history and identity, instead of fighting the real threats to the city’s viability like violent crime, low quality jobs, troubled schools, and a complete lack of cohesive community. The answer is not to take a saw to old landmarks, or to ban modern science, or to criminalize poverty.

Can our city government spend its resources reasonably? Can it open its eyes and see the real Federal Way of 2008? Can we change it to do so if it won’t?

Note to the City Council and our unelected Mayor: No one wants to be poor. No one wants to be homeless. No one wants to be unemployed. No one wants to live in a tent. No one wants to spend all day outside in the cold, wet Seattle winter just to make a few bucks with which to buy something for themselves and their families to eat and drink to get through the day.

The Council clearly doesn’t know any of this, because it has already signaled it is prepared to make things even harder for those fallen on hard times, by making it illegal for the poor to solicit cars for money.

Another note to the Council: We do not live in a walkable city. The sidewalks of Federal Way aren’t full of shoppers and sightseers and people out for a walk. Panhandlers can’t stand in front of stores because those places are private property (again, not a walkable city; the majority of the stores are behind private parking lots, not sidewalks). They can’t expect money from pedestrians, because there aren’t hardly any (shall I repeat about the “not a walkable city” again?).

Taking vehicles out of the panhandling market is to decimate the amount a beggar can hope to get. Who will this serve? Not the poor beggars who stand out in the elements in discarded secondhand jackets hoping to get a cup full of change by the end of a day’s effort. No, but perhaps it will serve the demands of those individuals who spread shamefully over-dramatized stories of mean, scary poor people dangerously menacing them in their SUVs at a minute’s wait at a stoplight.

The argument of this ordinance’s proponents is that approaching vehicles for the measly pocket change that makes up a beggar’s income is dangerous and causes accidents. Do they provide any proof? Even anecdotal cases of accidents caused by begging? Can indifferent, superior-feeling people really get laws passed in Federal Way with nothing more than empty straw men?

Will the Council ever learn a new way to deal with the problems of city growth? Or will it always be the same old simple, short-sighted, irresponsible stratagem of trying to make problems disappear instead of solving them? Does the council have a plan to fill the hole that their amendment will leave in the pockets and lives of the people who are reduced to asking for handouts, and the people they support? What plan to they have to undo the damage this amendment will cause?

None. That’s not in the plan. The poor and homeless are clearly not the part of the city’s community that the majority of the Council cares about serving.

The last time the family was driving through Peasley Canyon, I made a point to introduce them to the newfound Nowhere Road.

As we drove north under the SR18 overpass, I announced: “On the left edge of this road is the City of Federal Way. On the right edge is or will soon be the City of Auburn. And the road itself, right here, is nowhere.”

The failure of the East Federal Way annexation vote in August, and the success of the Auburn West Hill annexation vote, resulted in this peculiarity of political geography, the child of the maddening state of King County politics. As those familiar with the EFW proposal know, the proposed annexation area consisted of a north and south portion of USKC, connected by an umbilical cord of Peasley Canyon stretching from S 321st St to Highway 18, roughly 8/10ths of a mile. This allowed for one contiguous territory which could be annexed with a single proposal instead of two. (There were good financial-feasibility reasons for doing it this way.)

Federal Way’s North Lake area is to the west of Peasley Canyon. Auburn’s West Hill, which will be officially annexed within a year or so, is to the east of it. But since the EFW proposal failed, this stretch of road is a ribbon of USKC winding between two incorporated cities. And as a result, Federal Way still does not actually border its neighbor to the east.

Since a number of other local blogs are doing it, I’ll blab here, for the remotely curious, how I intend to vote tomorrow (yes, the increasingly unfashionable old-fashioned way)… and a bit about why.

Prop 1: YES

What it comes down to, really, for me, is this: Light rail from Federal Way to Seattle, plus Tacoma and Bellevue. Having spent most of my life in a city whose transport lived on its subway, the lack of non-bus mass transit in this supposedly modern, supposedly world-class metro area is a glaring omission. The more we put it off, the more glaring it will be, and the more expensive it will become.

Light rail proponents who are against Prop 1, like the Sierra club or the Stranger, argue that the roads portion of the bill is a poison pill. The Stranger criticizes it as “getting urban voters to support a suburban agenda.” What they miss is that the exact opposite is also true: getting suburban voters to support an urban agenda, namely light rail. The roads-and-transit combination is a painful compromise, but one that provides a benefit to those who won’t be benefiting directly from the light rail, such as the sub-suburban areas in the southeast and northeast corners of developed King County. They get better roads, we get light rail. Everyone’s happy, if we’d only allow ourselves and each other to be.

I-960: NO

If the name Tim Eyman wasn’t enough to turn me off to an initiative, the first few sentences does. The proposal says that any tax increase of any sort must receive a 2/3 supermajority in either the legislature or public election. Sounds like an effective check and balance on taxes, until you realize that almost nothing ever passes in this state or county or nearly anywhere else these days with that sort of majority. Eyman and cohorts know this, of course.

Compare also the irony that we have this initiative on the ballot at the same time as one that seeks to eliminate supermajorities for the approval of school bonds.

R-67: YES

We pay for health and other insurance so that we can have peace of mind that, when serious problems happen, we have a safety net that will either take care of it or cushion the blow. We don’t pay for it just for discount meds and routine visits, but for disabling injuries and illnesses too.

Bottom line is, if we can’t count on the insurance companies to make a good faith effort to satisfy their ostensible purpose, then we need to hold them to it with the rule of law; just like if we can’t count on our fellow individual not to drive through opposing traffic or steal candy bars, we likewise hold them to it with the rule of law.

The scare tactics by the insurance companies and business interests say you should vote no, because if you vote yes, insurance rates will go up. (Frankly, that sounds more like a threat than a prediction.) Well, I don’t know where you’ve been, but insurance rates are going up anyway, and have been for some time. We’re paying more for insurance already — are we sure that our insurance company will pay out when we need it the most, or try to weasel out of it with circumstantial evidence or misrepresentation? If we are going to pay for insurance, then we need to make sure we get our money’s worth.

While insurance companies and business interests oppose the law, firefighters and nurses support it. Who’s more likely to have your interests at heart?

JR4204: YES

After seeing last year’s FWPS bond fall just short of the current 60% supermajority, I have to say that the supermajority doesn’t serve either kids or their communities. I’ve heard that one of the reasons that we have this supermajority in the first place is that people feel guilty voting against school funds. Well, good; they probably should feel that way, because our country’s public education is important. Presumably, people likewise feel guilty voting against police or fire funding, but we don’t have a 60% supermajority for those votes. It doesn’t make sense, and our schools need funds.

Dovey vs. Freeman: FREEMAN

Basic math here: Freeman is in favor of an elected mayor. Dovey is against the EFW annexation (thanks FWG). For me, that puts Freeman up one and Dovey down one. (Both opposed Symphony, sadly, so no points for anyone there.) The local papers may argue that Freeman is a newcomer and Dovey has lots of experience. Personally, prior to this election, the name Jack Dovey evoked thoughts of … nothing at all. Given that I can’t think of anything he’s done (apparently he was pro-Celebration Park; more on that hot button issue later), and his positions vs. Freeman’s, I have to add that FW’s political circles could use some new blood.

Duclos vs. Elder: DUCLOS

This is, to me, perhaps the most meaningful election in the city this year. While the Tribune supports Elder, citing her preexisting council experience and years of involvement, the Mirror (surprisingly) supports Duclos.

Why is this the most meaningful election? Federal Way is currently embroiled in a simmering struggle between a homey small-town desire and a growth-oriented urban vision. To me, Elder represents the former, and Duclos mostly represents the latter (although my primary pick, Eric Stavney, who came in a close third, probably represented it better). I for one am for the latter: Symphony, a walkable downtown, light rail, growth, diverse community identity and pride; rather than a nice, quiet, reverent, sleepy little suburb with some nice parks and tightly condensed shopping complexes.

The News-Tribune touts Elder’s “gutsy” move to support Celebration Park years ago. While I won’t debate the value of Celebration Park, this frames the contest: Hope Elder supported the (then-unpopular) construction of a park that gave middle-class kids an unnecessary surplus of places to play soccer and baseball. Meanwhile, Dini Duclos ran a nonprofit company that provides services to lower-class people, young single-parent families and seniors to help them gain self-sufficiency. Hope Elder dreams of an imaginary white-bread Federal Way, Dini Duclos opens her eyes and sees a real modern city with real modern issues both present and probably approaching. Moving forward, it’s clear to me which one Federal Way will need.

Larson vs. Walker: WALKER
Castellar vs. Bronson-Doherty: BRONSON-DOHERTY

Not to pour salt into Larson’s wounds, which he displayed proudly despite not really feeling much pain from them, but last year’s national embarrassment, the Inconvenient Truth debacle, made the city of Federal Way look like a laughingstock, and rightfully so (even without Frosty Hardison’s appearance on the Daily Show). Larson claims to listen to the parents of Federal Way, but when a single notoriously vocal local family (and an unmentioned number of unnamed others) voiced their obscure concern, Larson and a majority of the School Board (including Castellar) were happy to oblige with a rare show of book (or movie) burning. Later, when a deluge of opposing mail (not counting that from outside the district) came in, Larson was not apologetic, only lamentatious. And while the ban on the movie was ostensibly overturned, I’ve not heard a word as to whether or not teacher Kay Walls was ever able to show it.

The school board is run by ideologues; sadly, the stay-at-home parents that have the time to get involved deeply with school and district issues likely share their ideology. But that by no means means that the rest of the parents and other residents of the city (which has consistently voted 54-56% for Kerry, Gregoire, and yes, Gore) share them, and our city’s schools and its children’s education shouldn’t be based on them. The more we can upset that apple cart, the better the community and its kids will be.

According to the Mirror, the Federal Way Community Center is running short of expectations.

It’s too bad, because I sort of like the Center, and go there fairly regularly. The locker rooms are modern and fairly well thought out (divided showers in the men’s is a nice rarity), with a family locker area with 5 self-contained bath/dressing/shower rooms, a dry sauna and steam room. The leisure pool looks like a lot of fun for the kids, with the playset, water slide, and lazy river. I’ve also enjoyed the 20-foot climbing rock a few times, and shot some hoops in the gymnasium (you can check out sports equipment like basketballs from the front desk).

The Center’s been plagued with a few problems of course — both the sauna and steam room have undergone prolonged maintenance, and the elevator was out of service for months — and there’s a few things that could use improving, like the game room (just a pool table), the fitness area cooling. Vending machines would also be nice, although the front desk sells water, soda, and snacks at a likely cheaper rate to make up for it.

I think the final problem with the Community Center is that it speaks to the City Council’s image of the city as one big happy community, which it simply is not. It could be, if the city could be bothered to acknowledge all of its residents instead of a subset consisting of homey old-schoolers and businesspeople. The Community Center won’t build a community for you, but if you do build one, they might come.

The Center’s webpage appears to be more reliably updated these days, and easily available from the city website.

A new front in the city’s struggle to grow into a modern city while maintain a small-town image: a midnight curfew for minors. Undaunted by the failure of Sumner’s curfew attempt, which was struck down in 2003 as unconstitutional, Federal Way is looking to the examples of Auburn and Tacoma, which have curfews that remain in place — largely because they have not been challenged.

Curfew proponents are bolstered by the reports that juvenile crime in Tacoma was reduced in the years after the curfew was in place; though there is some question whether this really stopped crime, or merely moved it somewhere else.

Bottom line is, yes, even people under 18 have rights like the rest of us, and a city seeking to build real community would do well to protect them rather than attempt to infringe upon them. In the ideological fight between security and liberty, America is supposed to be the place where the latter reigns. Let’s teach our youth that lesson, instead of the lesson that restricting the liberties of others is a proper way to solve our problems.

Did anyone happen to visit the Federal Way Technology Expo last Thursday? By the time FWayan got there it looked sort of over.

There was the Microsoft RV (bleh), and a ClearWire booth (which I guess just recently started service to FW), and of course an Honest John booth. There weren’t a lot of people manning the booths so I guessed they were shutting down.