Power lines act as eyesore
As you may know, Federal Way has received approval for a new access from I-5 to service the Federal Way city center area.
After considering many options, the city has narrowed the possibilities down to one of two options: South 312th Street or South 324th Street.
I strongly favor the South 324th Street option with some modifications not currently being considered.
The South 324th Street option would run from I-5 westerly into the city center. This is the southern boundary of The Commons mall and the current location of the Bonneville Power Administration’s overhead power lines. I’m told that current plans do not include the burial of these overhead power lines, and I believe they should.
These overhead power lines are an ugly eyesore and should have no place in the future skyline of a progressive city. Further, the support stations that currently exist take up valuable real estate space that could be used for future commercial or retail space that would produce tax revenue for the city for years to come.
Finally, by burying these overhead lines, now as part of the city center access project, it would save time and money and be far more efficient than burying them sometime in the future.
Since the city is now in the planning stage for this project, and if you want those ugly power lines to be hidden, please contact Maryanne Zukowski, project manager for the city center access project, and urge her to incorporate the burial of these eyesores as an integral part of the South 324th Street option.
John Ribary
Federal Way
Economic writings on the wall
I fail to understand why U.S. Congressman Adam Smith (D-District 9) thinks we don’t know “how we got to this point” (regarding the economic crisis).
It’s very plainly evident in any decent book of history about the United States in the 20th century. It began during the time of Ronald Reagan when he vowed to eliminate governmental departments like the Department of Energy and the Department of Education, to end any regulation that reined in the ambitions of businesses and corporations.
The 1982 Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act was an initiative of the Reagan administration largely authored by lobbyists for the savings and loan industry — including recent Republican candidate for the presidency, Fred Thompson. This act led to the savings and loan scandals of the 1980s, the sins of the Keating Five, all at great expense to American taxpayers.
Toward the end of the last century, Texas Republican Senator Phil Gramm authored the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), which allowed commercial banks, investment banks and insurers to merge, a violation of antitrust laws under the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933. GLBA laid the foundation for the Wall Street Meltdown of 2008.
In the last year of the last century, Phil Gramm acted again by sneakily inserting his Commodity Futures Modernization Act, a 262-page amendment, into the omnibus spending bill signed into law in 2000. This led directly to the Enron debacle and ushered in the new era of unregulated securities.
The irresponsible acts which led to our present-day mess are very plainly in our view. All we have to do is to critically look them over and wisely learn from them.
Karen Hedwig Backman
Federal Way
Know your ballot lingo
In his ranting letter on Oct. 1, Mike Malaier rails against Dino Rossi for using the term “GOP” on the ballot, instead of the term “Republican.”
Mr. Malaier, the term GOP, or Grand Old Party, is something most people learn in a seventh- or eighth-grade level U.S. History class. It has been used on countless ballots since the late 1800s. Twenty to 30 years ago, ballots routinely had more occurrences of candidates listed as “GOP” than “Republican.”
If potential voters are confused with the term GOP, then perhaps they do not have a good grasp of American history or American politics. Which leads to the question: Have they done the research needed to make an informed decision?
Voting is a constituitional right that comes with it the paramount responsibility of knowing (researching) the facts about the issues or the individual candidate. This includes party affiliation.
Mr. Malaier, if you are trying to tell me we have an uninformed electorate that does not have an eighth-grade level of education — selecting candidates who will have a great impact on our lives — then we (Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Libertarians, Socialists, etc.) are all truly doomed.
Larry Paterson
Federal Way
Thank you, Angie Vogt
Thank you, political columnist Angie Vogt, for standing up for our military and their right to have their votes counted in the upcoming governor’s election (“Democrats’ lawsuit over GOP tag threatens military vote,” Sept. 27).
Had the lawsuit been successful, it would have disenfranchised all their votes (both Democratic and Republican) for governor of this state.
Thank you, Washington state judicial system, for doing the right thing by our military men and women.
Thank you, Mike Malaier, for your opinion of Ms. Angie Vogt (Oct. 1). Unfortunately, your elitist attitude (I’m referring to all your 50-cent words, i.e., umbrage, pedantic, etc.) may have cost support for your opinion because many Mirror readers didn’t have their dictionaries handy.
Harry Larsen
Federal Way
