The heading of a recent letter, “Proposed large apartment complex will destroy Federal Way’s character,” inspired me to write, not about the apartment complex, but about the character of Federal Way. I don’t think we’ve shown a  lot of notable character recently. Mostly everything is about wrangling for and about money.

I have a couple of ideas that would cost very little and very likely would boost the city’s esteem. Trivial as it might seem to many people, discontinuing the use of plastic shopping bags is the right thing to do.

Despite concerted effort in education and outreach, it’s apparent that a large number of grocery shoppers are resistant to the use of reusable bags. It’s unfortunate that responsibility needs to be mandated, but we need to join other cities who have taken this positive step. No need for studies; they’ve been done.

I suppose we could have a special election for this, but isn’t that what the mayor and the City Council are for?

While the debate about the Performing Arts and Conference Center continues, we could be using our many empty storefronts in creative ways to energize the economy and our community. This could be happening right now.

There have been several different projects created in other cities, such as ours, to make use of all that wasted space. Federal Way has way more than its share of empty storefronts. They are dismal and depressing.

The Federal Way Arts Council could inject some fresh air into stagnant and unhealthy areas. Landlords could benefit from increased traffic and more interest in their properties. And this proposal would definitely not cost millions of dollars, nor become a political issue.

These are only a couple of ideas for polishing the character of Federal Way. They are ideas that do not require hundreds of thousands of dollars for studies, nor millions in building costs. I hope they are ideas worth considering.

Hilary King, Federal Way