It has been nearly two weeks since Seattle's ban on throwaway plastic bags at groceries went into effect. I am not happy about this ban. I like plastic bags. They're useful. And I'm annoyed that a similar measure — a tax on plastic and paper bags — was put in by the Seattle City Council and rejected in a public vote, and that this time they did it without a public vote.

Would the people have voted for this ban? Maybe.

Such is Seattle democracy. It reminds me of the case of the Mariners' stadium in the mid-1990s: there was a county-wide vote to authorize a stadium, the people voted no, and the county authorized the stadium without a public vote. The details were different the second time around, just as the details of the bag ordinance are different the second time around. This is face-saving. But there was no second vote.

Do you think there should have been a public vote?

Second question, for Seattle folk. Has the new law changed how you shop? Because if you are going to take a bag or bags to the store, you have to calculate how much you expect to buy, and you didn't have to think about that before.

It hasn't affected me yet because I haven't bought that much. I'm wondering how it will.

I've been to my neighborhood grocery a couple of times, and remembered to take a bag with me,