When I saw an obituary for former King County Council member Audrey Gruger in the April 1 issue of The Seattle Times, it brought back a memory from the early days of our city incorporation effort.

The election for incorporation took place in November 1989, with official city incorporation scheduled for Feb. 28, 1990. One of the reasons for incorporation had been the unending deluge of multi-family apartments approved by King County in what would become the City of Federal Way. There had been no mitigation for parks, roads or schools with these massive housing developments. The first City Council, elected in November 1989, felt it imperative to address the King County Council immediately to request a moratorium on multi-family housing improvements until the City of Federal Way could assume review of such applications after Feb. 28, 1990.

Several city council members and interested citizens (myself included) went into Seattle to address the county council. County council member Audrey Gruger was not on the dais, or in the council chambers, when all the Federal Way area residents made their appeal to the council. She heard none of our statements or saw any of the exhibits we brought. She should have recused herself from the vote. Instead, she voted no on the moratorium.

Fortunately, a majority of her colleagues on the county council saw the true value and fairness of the Federal Way request and voted to approve the multi-family housing moratorium.

H. David Kaplan, Federal Way