Federal Way Strong Mayor Campaign Is Only One Of A Proliferation Around The Country

Supporters of a campaign to change the form of city governance and install a Strong Mayor in Federal Way, WA are breathing deeply of a whiff of fresh air that appears to be blanketing communities across the United States.

Local voters who heretofore have been under the erroneous impression this election ballot was merely a honest local reaction and frustration to particular set of decisions and policies in our city by current and former sets of elected council representatives may be relieved to know that groups of equal adamant and vocal parties have been popping up in communities around the nation!

During a relatively brief informal search dealing with of the topic on the Internet of either discussing the pros and cons of a strong mayor, establishing a strong mayor form of government, amending a city charter to later allow for a strong mayor or the introduction of strong mayor type legislation such as Federal Way's own ballot initiative or debates over a previous installation or attempts to roll back a strong mayor has yielded a full basket filled with items from Columbia, SC; Sacramento, CA; Spokane, WA; Pueblo, CO; Miami, FL; Sarasota, FL; Seminole County, Fl; Muskogee, WI; Toledo, OH; Vallejo, CA; San Diego, CA and Dallas, TX to name merely a few.

The bursting sentiment is so trendy that I'm extending a personal invitation to anyone who desires to see for themselves to do so. Click up
your favorite Internet search engine and expand from there!

Extra money and sentiments appear to be right there.Even during this anbiguious period of economic restructuring elections are being held almost right and left. Federal Way supporters have placed the issue on the ballot twice in as little a space as one year. Who or whom has so much money to spend?

I'm quite mystified by the apparent willingness of so many cash strapped communities to spend what money and resources need to fund such elections while large cuts are being made to previously existing programs in all over the nation. But it seems reasonable then to conclude that the rewards for letting this change be diverted must certainly be good enough to let this cash go. When extra taxpayers funds are expended to finance these various amendments and elections - what are we the voters buying and whom are we purchasing it for?

No matter how distant the locale from our own Federal Way or how individual the regional issues are at hand supporters somehow manage to pluck the same set of slogans and reasoning to sell their message. There's music in the air. And it's echoed again and again in corners around the country. It plays in my ears as a symphonic exhortation drifting outward from the same tall and frustrating dusty hallway mirror. From state to city to town, the closely resembling list of charges and thinking points is so alike it's hard to say that they sprung from the mind of totally different souls.

After completing my search, I rose from my computer to take a little break from all of it. I felt as if I'd been listening to an orchestra.