The Puget Sound had a great year of good news. We can start right here in our neck of the woods. If Santa made lists in 2009, Federal Way was on the nice one.
Our crime rate went down by 5 percent while the national average and parts of Washington went up. About 97 percent of our more than 85,000 residents had absolutely no crime or burglary committed against them this year. In a time when folks are clamoring and resorting to all manors of activities to live, Federal Way residents did it the good old-fashioned way with honest labor and healthy living. Even in tough times, over 90 percent of us are still employed. That’s something to crow about.
We also are home to one of the smartest kids in the nation: Audrey Lei. At 12, she scored in the top 10 for 13-year-olds on the SAT. Audrey scored a 720 in math and a perfect 800 in reading. She must also understand the revival of “new math” the schools and some other government branches have reinstated. It’s still a head scratcher for this chick from the sticks. Seems the majority has become the minority in 2009. The public schools add all ethnicities, minuses the Caucasians, and came up with the sum as the majority. I’ve got some Native American coursing through my country veins, which would make me a minority. But I’m a woman, which makes me a majority. They’re just facts of life, not divisions. Rather proud to be who I am and don’t mind if there is more or less of my kind, as long as I can just be me. We’re right proud of Audrey. Congrats young lady, we’re glad you call Federal Way home.
Some businesses across the nation were scramblin’ here and there. But our “sleepy bedroom community” was able to sustain 92 percent of its small businesses. We might be sleepy, but we ain’t dopey! Chong and June Pak have been cobblers here in Federal Way for over 30 years. They didn’t get a government bailout or lay anybody off. They also didn’t report a huge profit this year, but like many Federal Way businesses, they weren’t in the red either, and they are still around. I guess people have plenty of clunker shoes and will pay cash for new soles. I did this year, and the Paks did a mighty fine job. Thanks, Federal Way businesses.
The year wasn’t without a few challenges. We had some people who were hungry and couldn’t buy their own groceries, and our food bank’s cupboard was getting bare. But like my father would say when challenges came along, “The cream always rises to the top.” One local Christian church was able to gather up three tons of food for June and gave another four tons for the holidays in October. According to Citydata.com, over 77 percent of the people here in Federal Way consider themselves affiliated with a Christian church. Reckon we kept Jesus in the manger and food in the hungry in 2009.
So this year, in our 21 square miles of bliss, our crime rate was down, thinking power was up, most businesses hung on and folks were fed. The water down the hill from Federal Way might be called Poverty Bay, but I think this year we’ll just call it Prosperity Bay. One of the definitions of prosperity is to “push forward and jut out above the rest.” We’ve already got a head start. We’re not just a halfway point between Seattle and Tacoma — we’re our own City on a Hill. Here’s to us, Federal Way.
