Does Federal Way value power of the vote? | Letter

Published 5:24 pm Thursday, September 25, 2014

Once again the voters may have their vote canceled.

The majority of voters in Washington state said yes to Initiative 502. Statewide, 55.7 percent said yes, 66 percent here in King County said yes and locally 53.6 percent in the 30th District and 53.25 percent in Federal Way said yes. Any way you look at it, the people said yes to I-502.

Our Planning Commission seems to believe they know better than the voters. Yes, I understand the 1,000-foot rule. However, if we applied that rule to alcohol and tobacco, many of our local stores would have to close or would lose large amounts of revenue. Many studies show that alcohol is the leading cause in domestic abuse cases, not marijuana.

I have heard our city leaders make statements wishing there were more tax dollars to make ends meet or for improvements to our community, and allowing legal marijuana sales in our community would help to reduce the revenue shortfall. The U.S. Attorney General has said that as long as our state and local community abide by the state and local laws, then they would leave us alone, same as they have done in Colorado.

I think the bigger issue is community participation in what happens in our city. No one gave public comment, so the Planning Commission got the green light to form their own plan. Perhaps more people would show up if the city would utilize the power of technology and produce an email newsletter, published 28 days in advance of commission agendas for the next month.

If the Council goes on to approve this recommendation to ban marijuana-related businesses in Federal Way, perhaps next year we should use the power of our vote to show those Council members who vote in favor of the ban their way out of the Council chamber doors.

Randall Smith, Federal Way