Right now, there is a bill in Olympia we have not been told about. House Bill 1490 and Senate Bill 5687. I have been calling Olympia every day trying to keep up with what’s happening.

Federal Way has over 87,000 citizens and it would be interesting to know how many of them knew that at 3:30 p.m. Feb. 19 in Olympia, there was a “public” hearing. Let me tell you what this bill will do, and keep in mind, the transit center is already morphing into a slum with murders, gang activity, drug pushing, etc.

A half-mile wide circle of property around the transit facility is to be a designated high-rise density development for low-income government-assisted housing, manufactured housing, multifamily, group homes, foster care, etc.

Land must be designated at densities that support transit service. We will forfeit our property for a mile-wide area with a population dense enough to support a transit facility we didn’t want in the first place and, now, will enlarge the slum area already growing in the center of “the mile.” Please, take the time to call the toll-free Olympia hotline at (800) 562-6000 and ask that your opinion of the new Section 9 and related half-mile parts of the bill in both the House and Senate (SB 5687 and HB 1490) be sent to State Reps. Skip Priest and Mark Miloscia and to State Sen. Tracey Eide. And remember those on our city council and in Olympia who did nothing to help their constituents (we non-block single voters) when they run for re-election.

Clara McArthur, Federal Way