To the Editor:

Recently I logged onto your papers site and found oh so many articles belittling the fact that my husband and I spoke on behalf of ACT.

To make things perfectly clear, my husband and I are not associated with ACT, but don't mind stepping up to present the pro side of having a strong mayor. We were asked to in fact.

For those of you so highly offended by the fact that ACT members didn't speak, please realize that not everyone is willing to stand up and speak. Many simply cannot do it. Their knees knock, they get sweaty palms, their voices freeze.

I do know that at least one ACT member was there, but you don't really hear about that. One need only look at the folks supporting Federal Way Works to see that the con side is mainly (with some exceptions) comprised of those currently in power and those who "rub elbows" with those in power.

There is a famous quote that goes something like this..."Absolute power, corrupts absolutely." That is what our city council has had. Do I have a beef with the city council? Yeah, I guess I do when all but just one (maybe two at most) have historically made decisions for our city that are not in your interest or mine!

When those people make the decisions that govern our lives, but are not generally willing to listen to "We the people," yeah, I have a problem. Is having a strong mayor the solution? YES, it is!

Now, I noticed that there are numerous articles for the con side, but are you trying to tell me that with 3000+ people signing the petition, only one other person for the pro side has written?

I tend to think it is more a case that this paper has a vested interest in keeping the "pro-sayers" at bay and that is more likely why you don't see anyone's letters from the strong mayor side.

That equates into I hope (don't really count on, but hope) that you will allow for the size of this response since you have used so much space to bad mouth us.

The bottom line is we have a very vested interest in Federal Way as our 7 children live here and we have operated a business here. In the more recent years, we have taken a more active role in our city and spoken out on things that are not being handled properly. What we have is already a popularity contest!

Don't be fooled by the letter coming from members of our city council claiming that a strong mayor would only be a popularity contest because it is their very handling of our city that can easily be seen a corrupt.

When the council serves in their own interest and the Mayor serves at the pleasure of the council, then you and I, (We the people) are getting royally screwed because nobody represents us!

Accountability Comes to Town is giving you the chance to make your city more accountable to you!

This city manager that everyone touts as being so great, got mediocre ratings from this very council, and our council chose him in spite of a very questionable past. How many of you reading this, have done research on Neal Beets?

Did you just leave that up to the city council? IF you did, shame on you! If you did do your research and would have hired him over Derek Matheson, then you are as nuts as you saying we are!

Add to that our council's decision to push through the Community Center (which does compete with local businesses and is operating at a huge deficit), Celebration Park which charges for parking during major holiday events like the 4th of July, huge financial support of Han Wu Ree that was only tamed by when that financial support became public, and now the Symphony and Convention Center when our city is operating at a deficit of $3.4 million and one has to ask... Where are they planning on getting the money from??? The answer is easy... you and me.

Those advocating against an elected mayor have told you that you don't need one - the current system works.

What they don't tell you is that it works for a select few, leaving the rest of us ignored and footing the bill for our city councils bad decisions.

They tell you that you aren't smart enough to vote for a competent mayor- that you will elect a "sixth grade dropout who can't even balance his own checkbook."

They tell you we won't get any qualified people to run for mayor, yet most of our city council members and our state representative have stated that they will run if the citizens vote to have an elected mayor... gee, I hope these people can balance a checkbook!

They will tell you that you will know nothing about mayoral candidates, yet those candidates will have to run on a platform informing voters of their priorities and backgrounds.

They tell you that there is nothing wrong with the city's business atmosphere - that we are imagining the mass exodus of businesses along the Hwy 99 corridor -yet I see it and most of you probably do too.

They tell us how valuable the Community Center is yet it is operating at a huge deficit meaning the taxpayers will bear that burden. They tell us that the city council is running our city wonderfully, yet we are incurring a deficit of $3.4 million annually because of the council's bad decisions.

They tell us that a strong mayor won't give us the benefit of national selection that we have with a city manager, but one of the best parts about having a strong mayor is that we will have a city leader who has a vested interest in our city, and it's not likely that we will vote for "hire" someone with a known questionable background as they did.

They tell us a new mayor will cost us taxpayers tons of money, yet in actuality, an elected mayor can save us tons of money by making good decisions!

They tell us that there will be gridlock with an elected mayor, but there won't be as long as everyone is voting in the citizen's best interest.

They tell us that we will lose our professional city employees, but we will in fact retain our professional city employees because we are not going on a firing spree. They tell us that a strong mayor can hire and fire people at will - but they forget to tell you that our city manager can do that now, and you didn't even vote for him!

They tell you that our city council built Celebration Park in order to provide a place for "families to come together," yet the park, built with taxpayers money charges for parking and is virtually unusable by families.

The council encouraged moving the 320th library to the grassy area by the crime laden transient... oops transit center, and only reversed their stance when huge numbers of citizens showed up council meeting after council meeting in outrage... but they will tell you that is okay.

The city council thought it best to "beautify" 320th by planting trees along the sides of the roadways and has plans to do the same down much of Hwy 99, yet those very trees are breaking up the sidewalks and pavement and will have to be removed and the damage repaired once again costing us more money.

They tell you it is a good thing that the city council is requiring new development in our city core to have businesses and retail AND residential all in one building yet have you noticed how few developers are rushing in to this? They tell you that our council's decision to buy and develop property on speculation is a good thing, but they forget to tell you the developer they chose has some real legal issues involving other projects in both the US and Canada.

They tell you that it will be hard to remove a bad mayor, when in fact, it would be easy... just don't vote for that person again. And... isn't it easier to "fire" one bad mayor than it is to "fire" (not vote for) just about the entire city council who chooses the city manager? They say it will turn this into partisan politics - but it won't because this isn't a partisan issue, it is merely about having someone represent "we the people."

They tell you that our city's history of closed-door meetings is okay... that you really don't need to know what's going on.

The citizens of Federal Way are not idiots! I choose to vote in my best interest... and yours, and hope you will do the same. And if you don't, when (notice I didn't say if) but when you have trouble and need to go to the city council, don't go crying on anybody's sleeve because the council wouldn't listen to you!

Gayla Hardison

Federal Way