.com
FUNDRAISER | Annual Multi-Service Center luncheon raises over $53,000 [2]
VOL. 17, NO. 44
MIRROR
F E D E R A L WAY
DIVISION OF SOUND PUBLISHING
OPINION | Guest Column: Congress should preserve AmeriCorps funding [4] Roegner: Voting forecast for local races [4] COMMUNITY | Citizen of the Month: South King firefighter advocates for burn victims [8] POLICE | Man investigated for viewing child pornography [15]
SPORTS | Beamer beats Federal FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2015 | 75¢ Way for first time in history [10]
STABBING | Police investigating suspicious selfinflicted stabbing [21]
Council approves $68,000 more towards downtown park redesign
Trick and treats Left, a girl dressed as “Little Red Riding Hood,” carries her stuffed wolf and basket of goodies during the city’s annual Trick and Treats event at the Federal Way Community Center on Saturday. Below, left, Federal Way City Councilwoman Susan Honda enjoyed the event with her grandson, who was dressed as a ninja turtle. Below, center and right, a girl wears a feather head piece and another girl’s face is painted like a skeleton. Costume contests brought out the cutest, scariest and coolest of all ages. For more photos of the event, visit www. federalwaymirror. com and search “trick and treats.”
BY RAECHEL DAWSON rdawson@fedwaymirror.com
T
he Town Square Park redesign is at the top of its $1.7 million budget after the Federal Way City Council unanimously approved a $68,000 increase to a firm’s contract last week at a council meeting. Henderson Partners, the contractor responsible for doing earth work at the park, is the first of at least three others who will work on constructing a restroom, picnic shelter, spray park and incorporating electrical and lighting, among other features. Constructed in summer 2014, the council approved the park’s redesign this past summer to expand it and implement restrooms, a spray park and a larger grass lawn, among other improvements. The redesign began over the summer with a budget of $1.5-1.7 million and won’t be complete until next summer. Steve Ikerd, the Parks and Recreation deputy director for the city of Federal Way, said while the contractor was doing groundwork, they found it would save the city money for them to take on more work as they already had large equipment on the park’s property. “Because of the new addition of some upgrades from LID (Low Impact Development) from public works here … we now have got to go back and kind of redesign some things,” Ikerd said at the meeting. “So for example, the sidewalk instead of a 3-inch rock base under, it will need to go to more of a 6-inch rock because we’re going to be putting previous concrete on top of it.” The “redesign” to the redesign Ikerd is referring to is the additional $400,000 stormwater outreach project and educational center that was added to the park in mid-September. Technically, the funds for that project come from a separate source, Storm Water Utility user fees, which were allocated for the project years ago. Still, that totals $2.1 million of city funds invested into Town Square Park, not including the some-hundred [ more PARK, page 3 ]
Photos courtesy of Bruce Honda
Keller Williams Charity Auction to benefit Federal Way family, three others BY RAECHEL DAWSON rdawson@fedwaymirror.com
Casen Buswell, 3, lives in pain every day with a condition that only 13 others in the world have.
Violet Spataro, 4, sees out of one eye and carries the genetic mutation for cancer in every cell of her body. Sienna Braun, 7, is about to undergo a bone marrow transplant after her second leukemia diagnosis. And Leslie Aubry, 35,
suffers from brain damage and paralysis after a brain bleed that caused a stroke. She used to be a nurse. Casen, Violet, Sienna and Aubry were chosen to be the recipients of Keller Williams Puget Sound’s fifth annual charity auction on Nov. 7.
The Federal Way-based office received 15 applications. While last year the auction benefited McKenzie Harris, a quadriplegic girl’s family, to the tune of $56,000, this year, Tricia Ackerman with Keller Williams said their goal
is to raise $100,000 to disperse among the four recipients. Janette Braun, Sienna’s stepmother, said being chosen to receive funds from the auction was “amazing, a blessing” and it came right when her Federal Way family
needed it. Sienna was diagnosed with pre-B acute lymphoblastic leukemia on May 2, 2014. After fighting it for a year, her family was heartbroken to learn it had returned over the summer. Sienna’s parents decided [ more AUCTION, page 16 ]