Have we learned anything in the last three years?

The community has been on an emotional roller coaster between hope and fear as we have again been jarred by a set of needless murders, three in as many days. The parallels between 2013 and 2016 are somewhat haunting.

In 2013, the anticipated rematch between Mayor Skip Priest and Council member Jim Ferrell had failed to materialize and Priest was headed for an easy re-election. Ferrell still wanted the job but did not believe Priest to be vulnerable, and Ferrell announced he wouldn’t run. Then a domestic dispute turned murderous where five people, including the suspect, were killed in Pinewood Village. Ferrell said at the time that the murders were what got him to enter the race.

There are many reasons Ferrell went on to defeat Priest aside from the murders, but public safety, the then-named Performing Arts and Conference Center, and city priorities became intertwined political issues in 2013. Now it’s 2016 and Ferrell is the Mayor, and now we have a new set of murders, new public safety issues, the PAEC, and new city priorities. They are, again, major political issues.

In 2013, candidate Ferrell expressed his opposition to the PACC. “Make no mistake: This will negatively affect our city’s ability to fully fund our police force, as the cost to run this facility will negatively impact our city finances.” In 2016, Ferrell supports the PAEC and, at $32 million, many residents believe it, rather than public safety, is his highest priority. At the community meeting two weeks ago, some residents expressed the same fear that candidate Ferrell did in 2013.

The administration has not taken kindly to the comparison of priorities.

Like 2013, another topic at the meeting was growth, particularly in apartments. That could be a tricky issue for Ferrell as he was a supporter of affordable housing in the downtown core in the 2013 campaign. Now he and several of the council members are being challenged to support a moratorium on multi-family housing.

Although the city’s damage control has been better this time, the community is afraid. They want action. But now, as then, it is unlikely that having more police officers would have made a difference in the murders. Most people, too, would not blame the mayor for the murders in either of the cases. But 2013 was an election year, and the public and Ferrell did hold Priest accountable. Should the same accountability extend to Ferrell?

Perhaps not. The dynamics are different. In 2013, the suspect was among those killed, so no plan to keep it from happening again was sought as the public reacted to the crime. In 2016, we don’t know who the suspects are. If they are caught quickly it may reduce the political temperature among voters. But this time an organized, thoughtful plan that includes far more depth than the city has produced thus far is needed. The current plan is superficial. Additionally, because the suspects are still at large, the community has a rallying point of trying to help. How Ferrell handles the public reaction and the citizen committee of volunteers over the next few weeks could make a big difference.

But the biggest issue may be one of timing. Priest only had a three-year term due to the change in form of government, and the murders happened in his election year. Ferrell is not up for re-election until next year. If police find the culprits in the next few weeks then it lessens the political damage to Ferrell on the issue. Other major issues may come into play by September, and Ferrell’s budget proposal will be announced in October. Additional police will be a significant topic and police officers are very expensive. Concurrent with that will be negotiations with the police guild over their contract, which will also be expensive, and Ferrell as well as the council members up for re-election will want the guild’s support going into next year. At the same time, Ferrell and the Council will be planning a big party for the opening of the PAEC, although full funding still looks less than certain and an operations subsidy of $200,000 after opening has always been likely.

Is 2016 – or 2017 – another 2013? What will be the impact, and how will the public view accountability?

And did we, or did our leaders, learn anything in the last three years?

Federal Way resident Bob Roegner is the former mayor of Auburn. He can be reached at bjroegner@comcast.net.