Disqus - Latest Comments for FederalWayan

Re: Condemnation deal is a bad idea | Federal Way letters - Federal Way Mirror

FederalWayan — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 21:09:21 -0000

I hear a lot of talk about encouraging development and supporting business. Then when the city opts to support development and business, that talk turns into outrage over how much it costs. You can't have it both ways!

The center of City Center is a decrepit eyesore. They had to put up black-plastic-lined fences around the whole parking lot up there, so that the people going to the World Sand Sculpture Competition didn't have to be exposed to the two crumbling, abandoned buildings rotting at the top of the cliff! Which incidentally overlooks -- that's right -- another crumbling abandoned lot!

So if you are in support of rotting buildings and crumbling lots continuing to sprawl across our city's downtown, then please, carp away. But make no mistake; you've chosen the side that is against the city's future.

Re: It pays to pursue happiness in Federal Way | Andy Hobbs - Federal Way Mirror

FederalWayan — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 20:58:03 -0000

Why does no one seem to have a holistic idea for improving Federal Way and moving it into the next decade and the coming (sooner or later) economic recovery? It seems like any time someone talks about how we need to make FW better, they have some single solitary pet project to push. For Mark Knapp it's a shooting range. For Neal Beets and others it is/was a Performing Arts Center. For Jack Dovey it was Celebration Park. For others it was the Community Center, or it's this or that chain store.

The holes in Federal Way are more fundamental than missing this venue or that superstore. It's in how the city is planned and regulated. Mark Knopp's shooting range would not revolutionize Federal Way any more than an art gallery or a petting zoo or a hockey rink. Our city's future success is not contingent on "if only we had one of those".

Andy says that Federal Way needs a Third Place where "the community" (does anyone truly comprehend what that *is* in Federal Way, I wonder?) can come together. Well, we have a *Community* Center now! So where's the community? The problem ain't the building or lack thereof. It's the whole atmosphere and attitude of the city, and the direction of both of those is up to both our government and our people.

Re: It pays to pursue happiness in Federal Way | Andy Hobbs - Federal Way Mirror

FederalWayan — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 20:39:23 -0000

A big problem with driving community in Federal Way is our tacky, outdated, and bad-idea-in-the-first-place suburban design. Sadly, the city seems determined to maintain all the worst aspects of 60s-70s suburban planning.

You can't have the kind of community we need (among other things) to be a successful city if we continue to be morbidly vehicle-dependent. The City Council has often touted a vision of a "walkable downtown", which despite the echoing chorus has yet to appear. As I said to Mike Park during last year's election cycle, I'm fine with the idea of a "walkable downtown," but what I would like much better is a "walkable Federal Way."

Symphony Towers would have been a slingshot towards positioning Federal Way towards both forward sustainability and modern sensibility in providing dense transit-oriented development. (Though don't get me started on the state of transit development!) Unfortunately four years later it is still a decaying lot with a great view of the patchy, color-mismatched gray rectangles on the 316th St wall. That section of downtown (for lack of a better term) is like an ugly, oozing sore on the face of the city, but no one seems to really care. Eradicate all the graffiti, corral all the shopping carts, drive out all the homeless -- but none of those oh-so-urgent urban blights can compare with the unsightly crumbling lot at 316th and 20th.

We need to rethink the way the city is planned and consider changing our tired and flawed Pleasantville routine for one that embraces, endorses, and allows us to create true communities -- not just repetitious subdivisions and glorified strip malls.

Re: In Brief - RapidRide A launches

FederalWayan — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 13:33:07 -0000

I wanted to be more impressed by RapidRide but so far I'm not. It seems to actually *travel* very slow. Not even doing the speed limit, on top of constantly having to stop every quarter or half mile or so. It's as if they think "rapid" means "frequent" and not "fast". Sure, it comes every ten minutes, but it'll take up to 50 minutes to get to where you're going. They probably should have placed no more than half the stations they put on the route.

Also I hear the transit-signal override mechanism is not online yet. Moreover I hear that the line was not really ready for prime time, but they had to introduce it at the quarterly schedule change.

Re: Abandoned shopping carts: Volunteers tackle Federal Way eyesore - Federal Way Mirror

FederalWayan — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 17:08:37 -0000

Federal Way should spend more time and effort on tackling the problem of eyesores like the AMC site, the decrepit Target and Toys R Us buildings, the traffic pileups on the arterials, on/offramps, and at school crossings, the empty office spaces beyond I-5, the hard-to-read and/or distractingly flickering lightboards popping up on businesses around town. Graffiti and shopping carts? Seriously? Those are the biggest issues our city faces?

Re: Link to FW in Jeopardy

FederalWayan — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 16:39:16 -0000

So which of the current two Mayor candidates will be the best for bringing growth and modern development (like mass transit) to FW? I have to say as a supporter of the elected mayor, I'm aghast at the quality of choices we got. Can it be true there are no real 21st century leaders in our town?

Re: P.J. Pockets Casino prepares to re-open Oct. 1 under new gambling tax - Federal Way Mirror

FederalWayan — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 19:31:18 -0000

Just like that they will reopen and hire people back? Like it's nothing? Well I guess they won! Now we know for once and for all who the City Council really works for! You better either own a house or a business if you want Federal Way to listen to your demands. PJ Pockets can just play a game of "Chicken" with the CC and get what they want. Who else would like to blackmail our city to thicken their pockets? The CC is more than willing to jump!

Re: You Can't Get There From Here

FederalWayan — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:26:59 -0000

Yup, I've been saying this about FW zoning for a while. I even mentioned it to a city councilmember that I met recently. I don't think the city council gets it; and they won't until they are finally undone by new, recent FederalWayans out-voting the Lake Wobegoners.

You know, despite not agreeing with you on the graffiti crusade, I find myself agreeing with you a lot. How is it that this sentiment isn't shared by more people? Or do people with that sentiment feel so disenfranchised by FW's landed-class-first, business-owner-second, everyone-else-third governance that they just don't vote?

Re: One reader's mayoral candidate analysis | Federal Way letters - Federal Way Mirror

FederalWayan — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 13:36:27 -0000

Limiting your assessment of the candidates to a skimming of the Mirror is a disservice to yourself and your audience. For Mike Park's part, he did in fact streamline the permitting process with the establishment of one-stop permitting at City Hall. Not to mention the little matter of helping create our city's police force and pushing it to attain accreditation. He mentions both of these in his answer, in fact, but you fail to mention these details. Is it a lack of difference in candidates or a lack of depth in the analysis?

Re: Bigger and better: Federal Way Regional Library reopens June 5 - Federal Way Mirror

FederalWayan — Fri, 14 May 2010 13:55:34 -0000

It's great that the 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 this library location was the closest thing the city's ever had. 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 the youth. With the return of the Regional Library, visits to the library will once again require a tedious car trip through Federal Way's slow arterials. What will it take for us to ever see a multi-use, service-rich, unsprawled downtown in Federal Way?

Re: National Day of Prayer returns; Freedom From Religion Foundation sends mayor a letter - Federal Way Mirror

FederalWayan — Thu, 06 May 2010 19:22:44 -0000

Come now. Are praying and getting involved really the same thing? Let's not overstate things. Those who pray and those who get involved are not necessarily the same people, no matter which way you look at it from.

I've no idea why so many people are so eager to have their government meddle in their religion. I can't help but wonder how many people hold up signs saying "keep government out of my Medicare" yet would never dream of holding up one saying "keep government out of my religion"

The bottom line is that aside from cases of exceptional necessity, every governmental public event and act should be inclusive of the whole community. Government operated religion flat out fails that simple test. It is excused by far too many people who see nothing wrong with that exclusion since it doesn't affect them personally. But we are a country -- and city -- of more than just Christians, English speakers, or homeowners, and a properly democratic and inclusive government would recognize, encompass, and defend that. Federal Way's simply does not.

Re: Federal Way schools lose $3 million in funding - Federal Way Mirror

FederalWayan — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 20:06:13 -0000

Don't raise taxes, just cut, cut, cut all those wasteful public spending!

Oh Wait, we didn't mean cut THAT!

sigh...

Re: Big city politics in Federal Way | Mirror editorial - Federal Way Mirror

FederalWayan — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 18:00:39 -0000

88,500 people, that's a short cry from an even 100,000. Federal Way is the third largest city in King County, the eight largest city in Washington, and about the 350th largest city in the United States. It is also the 12th densest citiy with nearly 4,000 people per square mile. It's about time we started acting like our size -- a big city. It's bigger than a lot of people seem to think. Let's stop watching as other nearby cities pass us by.

Re: Recycling in Federal Way: Check your mailbox - Federal Way Mirror

FederalWayan — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:10:31 -0000

Unfortunately the city continues to leave renters in the lurch. Apparently the city presumes that dirty, repulsive renters aren't interested in recycling like good, clean, upstanding homeowners are. When our former apartment complex took away it's recycling bins, they simply told us to put recyclables in the trash. I called the city's recycling office multiple times for help and never heard back. Instead I used to lug our recyclables up to Oxbow Lake Transfer Station in Tukwila. It pays to be among the Landed Class in Federal Way. After all, the city was founded in opposition to apartment complex zoning and development -- and that prejudice, projected onto those developments' residents -- has yet to subside.

Re: Councilman: Buy the mall - Federal Way Mirror

FederalWayan — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:05:46 -0000

Interesting how three of the four stores listed as "major" tenants of TCAFW are no longer there (though to be fair Bon Marche was renamed). Personally I think it's too bad the city didn't buy the mall; though if it were, I would advocate the city continuing to own it, not pass it on. In this city's maze of twisting residential streets, antisocial apartment complexes, stark bland strip malls, and unavailable government, the mall is simply the only venue in the whole city that can make a legitimate claim to be the meeting place of the public community. Unfortunately, that place is under private, not public, control.

Re: Google trials TV show search service

FederalWayan — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 11:55:46 -0000

Link or it didn't happen.

Re: Renton library to KCLS; now what's next? - Renton Reporter

FederalWayan — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:52:06 -0000

It's all to easy to call King County the bogeyman (excepting the fact that you admit you live in unincorporated KC, which means you don't actually hate county management at all or else you'd live in an incorporated area or push for annexation). You want us to fear the big, faceless, bureaucratic KCLS that kills libraries with a wiggle of its nose? Seeing as over half the voters served by the Renton Library chose to transfer it over, it seems that KCLS is no more fearsome in that regard than the people of Renton themselves. Of course, anything that happens now won't be the fault of the people, but of that evil tentacled monster KCLS that seeks to consume all libraries into one, big connected, interworking, sharing, accessible whole.

As a library user in the KCLS area who has patronized multiple libraries in the system, I look forward to knowing that I can now also use the libraries in Renton as well as gain access to their materials. Thanks, Renton, you're now an even greater part of the world around you.

Re: Renton library to KCLS; now what's next? - Renton Reporter

FederalWayan — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 18:45:54 -0000

According to the story, all Renton librarians have been offered jobs with KCLS.

Their being laid off is obviously a formality of this transfer. They obviously cannot continue to work for the city of Renton if the city no longer runs the library.

You should be called out for your use of hyperbole and demagoguery in highlighting the library staffer's layoff notices in spite of the corresponding offers of employment.

"Would you go out and find another job and makes your plans to relocate your family if you didn't know for sure you were going to lose the job you worked for more than 20 years?"

This is a baldfaced strawman, and you know it. No one who worked for Renton Library needs to move or even look for a new job!

Each time I've been laid off, it wasn't a democratic decision. To me that would be a lot more gratifying than the randomly-swinging axe most moden companies wield.

And frankly, it disgusts me how selfishly and belligerently you attack the institution of democracy.

Re: Hopes, fears at light-rail summit meeting in Bellevue - Bellevue Reporter

FederalWayan — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:06:21 -0000

Bellevue's leadership is determined to damage the success of Link. It's obvious they are not intimately familiar with cities that have mass transit, even at-grade systems. Portland's downtown core is crisscrossed with light rail and it thrives as a result. Other cities have seen clearly that those places located on mass transit rail (and more importantly, with stations) blossom while those away from mass transit lose out. I don't know if Kemper Freeman has his personal wealth held in GM or Toyota stock or what, but the car is falling out of favor these days, and depending on clogged highways and broad pedestrian-unfriendly avenues is simply not a good bet for the future. I agree inasmuch that at-grade is a poor option -- why not elevated or underground C11A? do we really save that much by bringing the to surface for a mere quarter mile and then back away? -- and that a tunnel is preferable in terms of usefulness. But even still, 108th is simply not that busy among downtown streets, especially for its size. And connection to the BTC is a no-brainer -- the whole point of the transit center is to consolidate transit. Bottom line is that plenty of Bellevue workers -- including skilled workers from other urban areas that are well ahead of Seattle on mass transit -- are eagerly looking forward to the ability to take the light rail to and from work. If the city council won't invite light rail into its downtown warmly, it will pay the price later, not the other way around.

Re: New fire marshal targets unincorporated King County - Federal Way Mirror

FederalWayan — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 16:06:20 -0000

I have an idea: they could annex! Thereby gaining the benefit of locally-managed SKFD and FWPD instead of Seattle-based King County!

Re: Emergency help: Supply vs. demand | Federal Way letters - Federal Way Mirror

FederalWayan — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 12:04:16 -0000

Perhaps we should ask the so-called TEA Partiers how they propose we provide such services. Yesterday in Olympia the mantra of these new champions of anti-Americanism was "Cut, Cut, Cut". They do not want to provide for those in need; they want to provide for their wallets, their gas-sucking SUVs, their height-of-market high-rate McMansions. They bark at the poor and homeless to "get a job" in the midst of nearly 10% state unemployment when even the jobs once only wanted by teenagers looking for mall spending money are being snatched up by postponed-retirees and offshored pink-collar workers looking to make ends meet. They don't have answers, they don't even seem to have a concept of the real world, but what they do have is an inordinate amount of sway in our state and national government run by nervous incumbent politicians.

Call your senator all you want -- s/he's getting 10 times as many calls by loud, inept armchair pundits with lots of free time telling him/her to cut, cut, cut, and cut. They don't care what. They wouldn't even know what TO cut -- or realize the consequences of what they would cut -- they just want our government to stop doing anything that costs any money. (Except blow people up in the name of Jesus, of course.)

Re: Suspect presents photocopied $50 bill | Federal Way crime blotter - Federal Way Mirror

FederalWayan — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:22:23 -0000

Seriously what's the point of using addresses instead of the actual location name?

FYI 2302 S 320th is McDonalds. 35425 Enchanted Parkway South is Lowe's. 30611 16th Ave S is FWHS. So is 1600 block of s 308th St. Only ATM in 2500 block of S 320th is inside the 76 gas station (ATMs are everywhere people commonly go. What a stupid and reprehensibly class-discriminating law). 33702 21st Ave. S.W is Fred Meyer.

Re: What a difference 30 years makes...

FederalWayan — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 12:50:25 -0000

While Bellevue has serious issues (they are much more anti-transit than FW, for example, and the downtown core is owned by some seriously out of touch elitists), I commend all efforts to turn Federal Way into an attractive, modern center for growth. The only thing holding it back, sadly, is the NIMBY and Lake Wobegon mentality that still pervades (and after all was the motivation behind the city's incorporation!). I look forward to the day that happens; hopefully I'll still live here when it does.

Frankly I'd be content with Federal Way reaching the level of a Renton or Redmond. As it is, we're not even at the level of a Kent.

Re: Letter: 194 Closing

FederalWayan — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 12:30:48 -0000

If they'd bring the light rail all the way down to the FWTC, we wouldn't need the 194 at all. But that's nowhere in the foreseeable future. However, the 194 isn't all it's cracked up to be. It's not by any means the "express" people like to call it, except in comparison to the snail's-pace 174. If you want to get to Seattle fast, take the 577; if you want to get to SeaTac fast, take the 574. Pay a few extra cents. The buses are nicer and get there faster.

Also the 577, a M-F commuter bus which used to stop at 9AM, now goes till past 8 PM (as the 578) and runs on weekends -- this is specifically to make up for the loss of the 194.

And if you ride the bus regularly and don't have an ORCA card by now, I have little pity for you. They're free (or were until recently) and they save a lot of hassle, like having to wait in long lines at the end of every month to get a new pass, or having to remember to ask for a transfer slip (which no longer exist anyway).

But I agree that transportation in FW is poor. What amuses me to no end is when I hear city council apologists talking about things like the great work done by councilmembers on the county transportation committee. Clearly it's not so great when the FWTC has nagging crime issues, bus lines to FW are being cut, and there's no interest in mass transit. Perhaps the "great work" being done is keeping transit out of Federal Way. After all, the retirees that stuff the crowd at city council meetings don't even want the FWTC there in the first place. They want to stay a rural nowhere -- one that no longer exists in Federal Way and hasn't for at least two decades.

But as for regular riders not knowing about the change -- signs were up on these buses many months ago warning riders about it, so I'm not very sympathetic about their ignorance.

Re: We'll Be a Real City Soon!

FederalWayan — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 12:13:07 -0000

GOOG-411, Google's voice directory service, doesn't recognize "Federal Way" at all, no matter how you pronounce it, and doesn't recognize the zip codes 98003 or 98023, either. Despite the fact that it *does* contain listings located in Federal Way and correctly states their city when it reads back listings.

Whenever I use GOOG-411 to look up something in Federal Way, I have to use somplace nearby that it *does* recognize -- which amazingly includes complete non-cities like Brown's Point, Redondo, and Midway -- and wait for the right result.

We've emailed Google about this to no avail.

Meanwhile Google Maps has never had this problem.