2009 hasn’t been the kindest of years to FederalWayan.

One upshot was the passage of Proposition 1, the bitterly contested power-struggle between the entrenched, corporatist city council and a new paradigm of strong leadership. We have yet another year, however, to wait for that to come to fruition. The City Council is not interested in using the people’s money to reduce their own power by spending it on something that 52% of the people want. Curious, too, is the council’s camp’s insistence that they canceled a search for a new city manager because the switch to a new form of government would obviate the need for one, despite their insistence during the campaign that one would still be necessary even with a strong mayor, and even more confusing in light of the year they have now added to that transition.

One big downshot in our opinion is the city’s impending loss of Metropolitan Market, which will close their doors for the last time on January 6. The store has been named Federal Way’s Best Grocery Store by the Mirror’s polls for five years in a row, which is also the entire time the Dash Point branch has been open. Apparently, being Federal Way’s best is not good enough for Metropolitan, which has been packed on a daily basis ever since the word of its closure went out. Given that the city government and business community has said or done nothing about this, perhaps they are right. Locals fear that the Metro location will be snatched up by a jilted LA Fitness which was denied permission to open in Twin Lakes by the city government, who apparently thinks that it’s better to have a huge vacant building than a new business — as evidenced by the growing number of large vacant buildings in town. For FederalWayan’s part, we’ll be writing to the regional manager of Whole Foods telling them about a great newly available location with an existing customer base.

The esteemed city government also denied Federal Way commuters and visitors a better driving experience in and out of Federal Way from the interstate when it killed the City Center Access Project, deciding that it’s best to kowtow to two tiny neighborhoods rather than work towards the benefit of the city at large. Lakewood, population 58,000, has 6 exits on I-5; Federal Way, population 89,000, has half that. The preferred solution for the City Council is to tear up the downtown sidewalks to expand busy 320th; yet another example of the failed, nice-to-look-at-but-wouldn’t-want-to-live 50s-era suburban folly which guides every decision of the city government.

A confusing series of events occurred in the realm of the city municipal court this past election. Embattled presiding judge Michael Morgan lost his position to Rebecca Walls, who overcame a serious lack of experience by challenging Morgan’s unpopular management style. But Walls won’t be taking over the reins — that will go to former school board president Dave Larson, who had dismissed the attacks on Morgan when they were first challenged and continued to support his fellow judge all along. Those who voted to clear out the Morgan administration by replacing him with Walls will likely end up not getting what they expected.

In February the Regional Library closed for remodeling, cutting off the city’s largest public research and study center in an age when libraries are falling out of fashion via competition from a growing wealth of easily available online material. The KCLS placed a small library in the Commons Mall, adding a small spot of quiet and studiousness to one of the city’s biggest youth attractions. FederalWayan’s only complaint about this location is the word “Temporary” on it’s signage. We think the Commons Library location should join similar locations at Southcenter and Crossroads and become a permanent LibraryConnection location.

The recent month’s distraction from the city’s ills, post-election, has been the much ado about nothing regarding the Twin Lakes Country Club. Few Federal Wayans have likely ever set foot on Twin Lakes’ property, outside of perhaps a wedding reception or office party; but the fear of losing the elite status symbol has sent the Twin Lakes neighborhood, as well as the Mirror, into a frantic tizzy — which fizzled predictably when the big meeting to Do Something About It failed to attract a sufficient number of actually concerned residents.

On the topic of local politics, both local political parties showed themselves to be out of touch with the city’s residents when they both chose to oppose Proposition 1. Whether this was the result of the influence that the backwards-looking city boosters has on these groups, or whether it was the work of a well orchestrated and ferocious pro-council coffee klatch, the upswing is that both parties ended up on the side of the minority of Federal Way’s voters.

In 2010, we look forward to RapidRide Line A, which will run from Federal Way to Tukwila to link our city up to the Central Link Light Rail line. We look forward, hopefully, to the beginning of construction at Symphony. We look forward to the opening of a presumably improved Regional Library. But most importantly, we look forward to a popularly elected strong mayor who will provide a coherent face, voice, and vision for Federal Way, and an end to the lagging, stagnant, living-in-the-past city government our city has endured for far too long.

Google’s street-view feature has finally hit Seattle, and their traveling cameras went from Everett to Spanaway (and even a little bit of Bremerton).

Which includes a certain SKC town.

It’s a bit of tradition for FederalWayan to indicate how we intend to vote in upcoming elections. This one should come as little surprise, but for completeness’ sake, here goes.

CANDIDATES

FederalWayan supports a straight Democratic ticket. The top candidates of our concern:

Barack Obama

Like no one else that has run in this election cycle, Obama is the first and only 21st Century candidate. Unfettered by outmoded ideas, not pressed into a mold of a previous presidency, not tied to a failed system of policies, and with a forward-looking perspective that sees to an America beyond racial, class, and even political lines. While his opponent tacitly harvests the vote of the ever-divisive, Obama engenders not just hope, but unity; and inspires people to take ownership of their country. The greatest presidents are defined by those that inspired and unified; not by those that divided and conquered.

Chris(tine) Gregoire

Even before being governor, as state attorney general, Gregoire placed Regular Joe far ahead of big business. As governor, she kept the state’s economy strong after being injured by an early teaser of a national recession and bust, without resulting in devastating cuts to government services. While that recession may seem pale in respect to what might be forthcoming, that fact makes it even more critical to retain such governing going forward. Gregoire places individual social freedoms and needs ahead of the interests of padded pockets, and to eliminate that for the alternative is to pretend that “change” doesn’t mean anything.

Randy Dorn

To repair our state’s schools (and Federal Way’s) will need a non-entrenched, non-complacent leader to focus the state’s education efforts and standards. Passive acknowledgement of an imperfect system won’t do anymore. Far from passive, Dorn is an enthusiastic voice for reform in the state’s education system, but not only that, he’s a knowledgeable everyman who has been on the ground in that system as well.

Carol Gregory

Skip Priest converted an early mayorship of Federal Way — during the years of a miniature city Republican Revolution that saw most city founders quickly unseated and now mostly long forgotten — into a state representative seat. This year, joining fellow Republicans like Dino Rossi, he wants people to think of him as a nice friendly local guy who transcends politics — and ignore his actual record of voting like nearly every other Republican congressman in the state legislature. With little else to run on except for name recognition in a city where it is excruiciatingly hard to unseat an incumbent, we have an alternative in rising star Gregory, who has stirred up the local Democrats into an eager bunch behind her campaign, running on a credentialed platform of education reform and job development, instead of photo ops of a too-well-known face.

INITIATIVES AND PROPOSALS
Sound Transit Proposition 1: YES

Light rail now, light rail forever, light rail yesterday would be even better. Roads — even roads packed with more and more magical silver-bullet buses — won’t solve any transportation problems. Light rail is always popular wherever it has been placed; no opponent of Seattle metro light rail can name one instance in the past 60 years where a light rail system has fallen out of widespread use. Forecasts will tell you no one will want to use it; but faced with dealing with difficult traffic and unpredictable buses, a dedicated transit system will become increasingly popular. Once it’s built, and becomes a regular part of transit options, you’ll find that instead of being reviled; it’ll be in demand throughout the region. And Federal Way should be part of that system. Prop 1 doesn’t go nearly far enough nearly quickly enough in doing that; but saying no to light rail expansion — again — won’t make it come any faster.

Initiative 985: NO

The name “Eyman” associated with any initiative will immediately lower my expectations. Overall, I have no love of red light cameras, but if they do serve as a valuable deterrent, Eyman’s latest travesty will lead to their decline and probable removal. Beyond that, an illogical and unresearched mandate on HOV hour limits has no effective purpose (opening carpool lanes to traffic during times they are theoretically not even necessary) other than thumbing his nose at state transportation. While some may applaud the idea of making sure that highway incomes only go to highway expenses, a holistic metropolitan transportation approach does not make such rigid limitations, as there is more than one way to skin a congestion cat.

Initiative 1000: YES

People who have limited time left in their life should not be forced by law to spend their last days of life either in severe pain, or in a debilitating helpless condition. Those who read the actual text of the initiative — as I did — will note the explicit language and careful rules of the proposed program takes it miles away from the nightmare scenarios presented by those who wish to selfishly and autocratically enforce their individual morals (more strongly held among the perfectly healthy) on the terminally ill.

Initiative 1029: NO

Proponents of the bill make the sensible point that, taken in comparison to regulations for hairdressers and dog groomers, the requirements for a home care provider are much smaller — but not, mind you, nonexistent. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the requirements for home care providers need to be jacked up to be in line with them. We can live with less hairdressers, manicurists, and dog groomers; but not everyone can live without a home care provider. Certainly the regulations we have among these trades is a little out of whack — but if so, I’d be more willing to advocate lowering those other standards rather than jacking up those for (and thereby limiting the availability of) home care providers. There will always be isolated incidents of horror stories of untrustworthy home care providers, but we do not have an epidemic of irresponsible home care providers torturing our old people. Better that our seniors have easy access home care rather than be forced to live alone without assistance, or in expensive facilities.

King County Amendment 1: NO

It would be conflict of interest, I think, for the director of elections to be directly elected. Better that the person in charge of making sure our elections are run well, fairly, and securely not have to also be part of the system. Perhaps with a single term limit, this would be more reasonable. But unlike, say, a city mayor, the elections director doesn’t represent anyone or anything, or make decisions that affect the public sphere, but is simply an administrator who needs to run a serious and focused operation of an important democratic engine.

King County Amendment 2: YES

You should not be allowed to fire someone because they are gay (or not gay) or because they act in a manner not typical for their biology. This proposal makes the county follow that principle.

King County Amendment 4: NO

Making it more difficult for citizens to enter government is not a democratic principle, any more than poll taxes or reading tests to vote are. I don’t approve of requiring any sort of arbitrary set of credentials to hold public office. If the people can’t be trusted to make good decisions, then democracy is a failure. Assuming that it is not, then the people do not need to have their candidates pre-filtered by the government they are trying to get them into. Often, those who are not entrenched in established circles do a far better job in government than do those who have been vetted by a self-important professional old boy’s club.

King County Amendment 7: NO

Again, we do not need higher arbitrary hurdles to climb for entering the democratic process. Washington has a proud citizen initiative tradition; it should be maintained and made more open rather than more prohibitive.

King County Amendment 8: NO

I am opposed to nonpartisan elections. I think we need less nonpartisan elections, not more. Some are convinced of the notion that they can determine who will govern best based on what character they can pretend to glean from a political campaign. As a result, instead of being able to vote for values you support, campaigns are run based on who is (or appears to be) the nicer guy rather than who has the best ideas and who is best likely to support your principles in the decision making role of governing. Charismatic people do not necessarily lead to good government or good policies; charisma alone is not enough. Party identification (and endorsement) is a generally reliable gauge of whether they will govern in way that you likely to approve of; even when it isn’t, it is a good gauge of who is more likely to.

The Times reports that bus ridership has shot upwards. This is sort of news that everyone who cares already knows, and those that don’t already know don’t care. My experience lately mirrors that of the people interviewed: often, going home is standing-room only.

On a positive note, in 2010, you’ll be able to take a RapidRide bus to SeaTac, and then take the Link rail to downtown Seattle. I guess that’ll be good enough until they complete (and all you people vote for!) Sound Transit 2.

By now everyone knows there was a fatal shooting at the Transit Center. I use the FWTC daily; the shooting occurred just 45 minutes after my bus pulled in.

Initial reports suggested that the victim was a “bystander”, which put people, including one young woman who was afraid to let the suspect see her face, in high-gear paranoia mode. But as it turned out, the 38 year-old White Center victim knew her killer and and apparently owed him money.

Or maybe it was the other way around. The information that the FWPD have given the press is incredibly and disturbingly vague. We know the victim was 38 and from White Center. We know the suspect was a young black male in a black puffy jacket. And we think that money was involved.

That’s it. No names, no descriptions, nothing. Anyone who knows anything is encouraged to call the police. Of course, it’ll be hard for you to know if you know anything about these people since you have no idea who they are. But if you know a 38-year old woman from White Center who you haven’t seen for a few days, maybe ring them up.

I was surprised after the early news stories how little the police seemed to know. My first thought was: Aren’t there cameras littered around that facility literally every fifty feet? And what exactly are the Securitas drones supposed to be doing? As the signs on the booth’s windows make clear, it’s not to help you in any way, shape, or form with the transit system. And after Friday’s incident, it’s pretty clear that it’s not to, say, keep things secure or even notice crimes happening. I suppose their job has more to do with Windows Solitaire.

When all is said and done, though, this was an isolated incident, the people involved knew each other, and no random bystanders were hurt. Now, judging by the sheltered reaction of the young woman (and her mother) on KOMO, there are probably plenty of people in town who now envision tinted-windowed sedans routinely careening down the bus lane, spraying hapless commuters with an AK-47. But that ain’t the case.

There were flowers and balloons attached to the “Watch for bus traffic” sign near the elevators yesterday evening.

Update: It would be nice to think the P-I reads FederalWayan. In any case, more details have been released. The victim’s name was Dar’Rel Miller. The suspect is 24.

Everyone from the Times to the Stranger to the FWBlog are abuzz over Proposition 1, the RTID Roads and Transit Initiative. Even the City Council has thrown in their fourteen cents.

The Times and Stranger are against the plan. But don’t think that these two antitheses are on the same side — the Stranger is against the roads, while the Times is against the light rail. Meanwhile, the City is for the plan, but for the roads, not so much for the light rail, though they’d like that too.

If there’s anything that everyone can agree on, it’s that really no one likes the whole thing. Either you like the light rail or the road expansion, never both.

Most Metro Seattleites probably have not had a lot of experience with light rail. (Most KC suburbanites probably don’t have much experience with the bus system, either.) But, here’s one for the opponents: Find me a place where light rail or other non-roadway-bus mass transit system has been introduced and *not* been popular. Even the little pilot-project Tacoma Link blew out its ridership numbers in its first month. Where such projects have failed, it’s been due to bad management, underfunding, and cultural shifts like the increased popularity of private automobiles starting in the late 1920s.

Light rail is superior to express bus service, because (if elevated [as Link will largely be] or underground) you don’t have to worry about highway or other traffic, no crazy reroutes due to construction, and no getting on the wrong one and accidentally going 20 miles beyond where you wanted to go (as I’ve seen some poor saps do on the various Seattle-FW express buses).

I welcome the light rail. I can’t wait until a proud elevated rail track starts bringing its trains full of people (this includes shoppers and visitors, not just northbound commuters!) to and from Federal Way on an easy, low-hassle, rapid transit dedicated causeway. It’ll mean that Federal Way is truly connected to the Seattle area and has entered a new age.