Once again, a majority of voting Fairwood neighborhood residents have rejected an initiative to incorporate into what would be King County’s poorest city.

By a margin even greater than three years ago when a last-minute public information campaign narrowly defeated a measure to incorporate, “Go Vote No!” supporters have prevailed again in spite of a determined, more heavily financed group of incorporation proponents.

Even more than the 2006 results, the heartwarming totals are more significant for the southeast King County community of 25,000 residents for several reasons.

First, the results showed voters were not swayed by a campaign of misinformation and personal attacks founded on a poorly conceived consultants’ study championed by incorporation proponents. The report, in fact, never endorsed incorporation, suggesting numerous times that “readers should come to their own conclusion.” Page four states “this study does not state a ‘conclusion’ of whether or not Fairwood works or not because our study reports the results of our analysis and lets each reader draw their own conclusion.”

That they did, and the majority chose not to incorporate.

The results pave the way for Fairwood residents to have the opportunity to choose a path toward a more promising future as a neighborhood of choice in the City of Renton.

J. Paul Blake

Renton