Could someone fix the clock at the Transit Center? It’s stuck in February.

A couple things struck me about the rather presumptuous, self-aggrandizing press release from Federal Way Stagnates in this week’s News. (Yes, that’s me in the comments.)

First, I managed to get Ron Gintz’s name wrong in this post.

Second, there are an awful lot of people on that list that have obvious close ties to the Council — the same Council that would lose the most from a strong mayor — ranging from former Council members and at least one identifiable spouse of a council member.

Third, that Ron Gintz’s name is on the list at all. When it occurred to me that I need to go back to the Council’s archives and double check the name, I also dialed up the minutes from December 21 1993, when outgoing Deputy Mayor Joel Marks proposed a ballot measure for an elected mayor. The motion got two council votes: one from Joel Marks, and one from Ron Gintz.

And I’m curious as to why a strong mayor for Federal Way made more sense to Ron in 1993 than it does in 2008.

As for FWW, I doubt that their high-profile politicking defeated the measure. I chalk it up to the old-school Federal Way mindset that resists growth and change — after all, that’s why the city was first created, right? — and an off-season election date, and on the same ballot as a primary vote that just over half of people knew was (officially) meaningless. FWW (and ACT) needs to acknowledge that 45%, especially under those circumstances, is nothing to sneeze at.