Politics, thou art a heartless and unforgiving mistress. Mayor Jim Ferrell can attest.

It was just a few short weeks ago that Ferrell was enjoying his finest moment in office, basking in the glow of the opening of the Town Square Park. Despite the park’s political baggage, it serves as his highest achievement in office to date. Only months from the 2017, the year he’ll run for another term as mayor, things were looking good for Ferrell.

But no matter what career you choose, remember that your mother told you there would be days of great satisfaction and… well, “Momma said there’d be days like this.”

City Hall, and Ferrell as its leader, are under fire for supporting a developer’s conversion of the Weyerhaeuser property from a Northwestern cultural shrine of corporate and environmental beauty to a fish processing warehouse.

Beyond the potential hazards of traffic, air pollution, odor and noise lie the suddenly dashed dreams of a community’s confidence in its future. In emails, letters and phone calls, citizens have vented their displeasure. They’re angry with what they see as a major step backward in Federal Way’s regional image and the destruction of its last gemstone.

Some felt the city was derelict in allowing favorable zoning for Weyerhaeuser from 1994 to remain in place for a new property owner. Ferrell says others wanted the zoning to stay due to their fear of apartments on the property, although trading apartments for fish processing may not be what they had in mind. It was the zoning that Ferrell pointed to when saying the project could go through and not be subject to a formal public hearing before the City Council. Had the city required the new property owner to submit a request for a re-zone to a higher classification, such as industrial zoning, a public hearing would likely have followed. The city also could have asked for a Master Site Plan for the property so any new owners would know that expectations had changed to ensure environmental and community compatibility.

Angry residents pointed out that Ferrell and the Council called an emergency Council meeting when City Hall wanted to score easy political points by opposing a possible methanol plant in another city, but when faced with a plant of bigger concern to their own constituents, residents suddenly have no voice and no support from their elected leaders. For Ferrell, the Weyerhaeuser fiasco came on top of an additional murder, traffic jams due to seasonal street and highway repair, and unbearably hot weather.

But the anger reached such unreasonable levels that Ferrell’s Chief of Staff, Brian Wilson, who was the lead on the fish warehouse project for Ferrell, took extra criticism because he lives in Seattle rather than in Federal Way. One resident was so angry he wanted to impeach Ferrell, apparently not understanding impeachment is for presidents, not mayors.

And residents didn’t forget the City Council. Council members were caught off-guard by the overwhelmingly negative public reaction, and members seems to be distancing themselves from Ferrell quickly by reminding voters that, in a strong mayor form of government, Mayor Ferrell is in charge and it’s his administration and his direction to city staff that matters. Even though council members have likely known about this project for months, a voter might be hard-pressed to find one of them who currently likes the fish warehouse idea. And Councilman Mark Koppang, who last week covered both sides of the argument, this week was firmly in the “against” column. Some saw his comments as an announcement of a run for mayor, but that seems doubtful this early. Still, he might be keeping his options open – as are others.

Simply put, it was a bad week for Ferrell.

The fish warehouse story, and who has the vision to run for mayor and City Council, has replaced the long-awaited onset of football season as the major topic in our coffee shops.

And Ferrell just couldn’t catch a break – even his birthday worked against him. The day after what has to be his worst week in office, invitations to a birthday party and campaign fundraiser for his re-election arrived in some mailboxes. Fish warehouse adversaries and political opponents found both humor and irony in the re-election letter, which applauded Ferrell’s “vision.” And it was signed by, among others, Councilwoman Jeanne Burbidge, who now finds herself in hot water because of Ferrell’s “vision.”

Could citizen outrage cause the developers to take Ferrell off the hook by looking elsewhere? We’ve already heard the criticism about the lack of staff in code compliance, as well as questions about Interim Community Development Director Scott Sproul’s credentials on environmental regulations. With other planning staff having left recently, who will process the paperwork? Then came the confirmation of the second domino, a second warehouse that, at 700,000 square feet, is even bigger than the first one.

Not surprisingly, Ferrell and the Council were in damage-control mode, and by mid-week had called for a study session on Sept. 1 that would include an opportunity for public comment, although no action can be taken. Ferrell was also trying to walk back from his earlier advocacy of the fish processing warehouse by saying his enthusiasm got the better of him when he was thinking of jobs. But temperatures have not cooled, and everyone is looking for a way out. The public hearing will keep the pressure on Ferrell, and he likely won’t get much support from the City Council. Some suspect that Burbidge won’t run next year, which opens the door for other candidates, but what about council members Kelly Maloney and Martin Moore, who are up for re-election next year? This could be a problem for them, and they are not likely to support jobs of unproven value over the anger of their voters at the loss of the Weyerhaeuser property.

Keep an eye on Ferrell. He initially seemed to portray himself as the successful leader who secured the two warehouses, so his attempts at neutrality are late in arriving. But he has no other option at this point but to stand behind the process until it plays out. State review of the environmental impacts are critical.

What lies ahead? We don’t know, but we did re-learn one old lesson: Momma is always right. There are days like this, even for mayors!

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