Some bits of business…

Highline Schools

The board has appointed two new directors, one for our own District 5. Welcome, Des Moines resident Dr. Damarys Espinosa and District 5 Director Blaine Holien!

While I’m at it, this Federal Funding Data Display is worth a gander. Note that both HSD and FedWay obtain some of the highest levels of Federal (and State) funding in the State of WA. I mention that for two reasons:

1. Any disruption to that funding stream (as keeps getting talked about in the news) would not be good for us.
2. School quality rankings, however you define them, tend to run opposite to those funds. The schools that rely least external funding (ie. more on local taxes) tend to be higher quality. Many are in wealthier cities – but not all.

It’s something we paper over, but both HSD and FedWay are struggling. Said it before, say it again: you cannot have a healthy Des Moines without better education opportunities.

With all that cheer, I really want to do everything possible to help Dr. Espinoza (and both school districts) succeed.

It’s Spring. Time For Critter Guilt Trip!

I’m preaching to the choir here, but… it’s Spring. Critters are running around having baby critters. And that means a high number of unnecessarily smushed varmints. Not sure what to do about it, except to employ my Ninja-Like Jewish Grandmother Guilt Superpower.

“So, you were texting and driving. Again. You heard a small thump? Don’t worry so much. Probably it wasn’t a totally defenseless opossum. Trying to feed her children.”

Call To Action: Port Packages!

The Governor’s proposed budget cuts the $1 million in funding that was secured last for fixing failed port packages, which were meant to insulate homes from airport noise but have deteriorated over time. Please mail key these legislators and let them know how important this funding is for our communities.

Call To Action: Save State Funding for Port Package Updates! – Sea-Tac Noise.Info

City Manager Stuff

City Manager’s Report March 21, 2025

The City is now offering an e-mail sign up for City Manager Reports. Other than that, two highlights are Camp Khaos and a note that the Des Moines Activity Center is available to study, work, have lunch, and basically just chill Monday through Friday.

New Contest: Camp Khaos!

Speaking of which: there is an exceedingly fun-filled prize for a non-random answer to this burning question: Why is it spelled ‘Camp Khaos’?

This Week

Wednesday: Highline Forum in Federal Way

There will be a briefing on the SIRRPP (ie. Port Packages), as well as (perhaps) an update as to where the status of the SAMP Draft EA.

Thursday: Economic Development Committee – 27 Mar 2025 – Agenda

Highlights:

Sound Code

Des Moines currently has no active sound code after repealing its 2007 ordinance in 2012. The staff recommends creating a modern sound transmission code to address aircraft noise and align with evolving building standards. Key recommendations include:

• Hiring a sound engineering consultant to draft the code, advise on cost-effective solutions, and define noise zones.
• Developing both prescriptive and performance-based compliance options using pre-tested wall and window assemblies.
• Focusing on major remodels for existing buildings, especially where external walls or systems are altered.
• Incorporating lessons from Burien and SeaTac, such as multi-zone frameworks and modern ventilation standards.
• Anticipating future impacts from Sea-Tac’s expansion under the SAMP (Sustainable Airport Master Plan).

The goal is a balanced, cost-feasible code to protect residents from airport noise while not hindering development.

Short Term Rentals

A draft ordinance regulating short-term and “amenities” rentals (e.g., pools or sports courts). The ordinance includes Permit requirements, annual renewal, business license, and designation of a 24/7 local property representative. Neighbor notification and a posted Good Neighbor Agreement to promote accountability and reduce complaints. Occupancy limits based on number of bedrooms and a ban on overnight amenities rentals. Strict parking and garbage rules to reduce neighborhood disruption. Noise restrictions with escalation: after three verified complaints, owners must install noise monitoring systems.

I support this, however I will note that this does not apply to long-term rentals – historically, a much bigger problem. Since ending its mandatory landlord partnership with King County in 2011, Des Moines has had a history of problems with absentee landlords and these same standards should apply to all landlords.

Thursday: City Council Regular Meeting – 27 Mar 2025 – Agenda

Highlights:

Redondo Boat Launch

We’ll vote on an ordinance to create a new parking infraction for unattended vehicles left on the ramp, allowing officers to ticket and potentially tow them without locating the driver. The ordinance aims to protect recreational access and improve operational clarity.

SKHHP Funding Allocation South King County Housing/Homelessness Partnership pools resources from 12 cities to fund affordable housing across South King County. Des Moines has already contributed the funds; this resolution formalizes how they’ll be spent.

The key financial points:

• Des Moines has already contributed the $39,811 — this vote doesn’t approve new spending. It just permits SKHHP to spend it on specific regional projects.
• The only Des Moines project ever funded in 2023. And that was restoration, not new construction.
• Funds are pooled with other cities to support regional affordable housing — meaning Des Moines is subsidizing housing development elsewhere with no guarantee of future return. The SKHHP structure allows wealthier or better-organized cities to pull in more funds than they contribute, depending on project readiness and advocacy. While Des Moines retains the right to vote on how its funds are used, there is no prioritization mechanism ensuring proportional geographic return over time.

For me, this has gotten perilously close to virtue signaling. We pay a (relatively) modest amount every year into a regional fund, to look like we’re doing something rather than building housing here.

2025 Poverty Bay Blues and Brews Festival Proposal

Des Moines is being asked to partner with Destination Des Moines for the 2025 Poverty Bay Blues and Brews Festival, held at Des Moines Beach Park. The goal is to raise money to support their non-profits.

Some key points:

• A $10,000 discount of rental fees, plus in-kind support (police, parks?) Rotary also wants a three year agreement.
• In exchange we get to be corporate sponsors.
• Tourism value: organizers expect the event to draw ³1500-1800 people, anecdotally boosting local business visibility.
• While Rotary emphasizes the event’s tourism benefits and charitable goals, the City forgoes rental income for this event during prime summer weekend use.

Executive Session

POTENTIAL LITIGATION RCW 42.30.110(1)(a)(i) – 20 minutes “To discuss with legal counsel representing the agency matters relating to agency enforcement actions, or to discuss with legal counsel representing the agency litigation or potential litigation to which the agency, the governing body, or a member acting in an official capacity is, or is likely to become, a party, when public knowledge regarding the discussion is likely to result in an adverse legal or financial consequence to the agency.”

Last Week

Tuesday: Burien Airport Committee. Coverage from our friends at Sea-Tac Noise.Info

Wednesday: Regional Transit Committee. Essentially, this group advises the County Council on bus services. 20250319-RTC-packet. The Council gets occasional letters on transit safety and I want to assure everyone that not a meeting goes by that ‘safety’ is not number one with a bullet. I ride the bus and take the Light Rail several times a week and I definitely do.

At this meeting, we also got a presentation on a new Fare Inspection program. Since COVID, Metro has not been enforcing fares. This has been controversial as the service does really need the money. For some, it also created a perception of lawlessness. The irony, of course, is that adding back fare enforcement leads to concerns over unnecessary friction – which no one wants. The 2-person teams are not police – they are more like drivers (although they will have emergency training like CPR ). To my mind, this is a good experiment.  When you see them, I hope you will show your appreciation and support. Personally, I love Metro, because where I live, it’s super-easy. For me, the biggest problem is that there is not enough of it for the rest of Des Moines.

Some bills passing through Olympia

As I’ve written, this is lawmakin’ season in Olympia and there were/are a ton of bills that will affect us. The problem is that, although the hearings are transparent, the actual process is super-convoluted and sometimes the furthest thing from it.

Over-Simplication Alert: there are rules that allow certain bills considered ‘important’ to basically bypass the hearing process entirely and get worked out in truly backroom deals.

One rationale being that if an item has broad funding concerns it cannot easily be worked in a single committee.

Property Taxes will likely rise, whether you like it or not. But the main thing I’m beating around the bush on is: property taxes, which voters want capped and almost all cities desperately want  increased are coming. So I’m punting to the Seattle Times which has a pretty good summary of the situation. Read it.

Senate Democrats release tax proposals as budget debate heats up | The Seattle Times

We will likely have more property taxes and more business taxes. Which should assuage whatever guilt you may have had in voting against Prop #1 last year.

• HB1923 the Mosquito Fleet bill, ie. Passenger Ferries will likely pass. As it stands, I support it – as does basically everyone in the region. However, like the tax bills, it has also undergone a few ‘backroom’ changes outside the strictly public process. After removing the following provision in the House, the Senate re-added this: the possibility of dinky cities (like Des Moines) of creating their own ferry district. That is a completely sensible idea for some small island communities — and also as completely insane for Des Moines as our previous pilot program.

¹Rogers, AR is Where Possible Lives. All joshing aside – in addition to ‘possible’ over 70,000 people also live there – and it’s growing fast. I think most people in Des Moines would absolutely kill to have their main street, low property taxes, and various services.

²Just tryin’ to lighten the mood.

³Semi-fake news. The packet actually says 1,200 – 1,500. I think the absolute max for such an event could be 1,800 so I’m being extra-generous. If ticket prices are in the $50 range that’s $90,000, which would be great. But that still not does answer the question the City should press on if it’s a true ‘sponsorship’. What would those 1,800 people do for the City? It’s not just semantics. If it’s a grant, that takes away any false pressure.

Some bits of business…

Call To Action: Port Packages!

The Governor’s proposed budget cuts the $1 million in funding that was secured last for fixing failed port packages, which were meant to insulate homes from airport noise but have deteriorated over time. Please mail key these legislators and let them know how important this funding is for our communities.

Call To Action: Save State Funding for Port Package Updates! – Sea-Tac Noise.Info

City Manager Stuff

City Manager’s Report March 14, 2025

The highlight is that the City is now offering an e-mail sign up for her City Manager Reports. Hopefully, this is only the first step towards a complete suite of better recip… er… on-line services.

This Week

Wednesday: Regional Transit Committee. Essentially, this group advises the County Council on bus services.

Saturday 9:00AM – 3:00PM: Recycling Event (Marina)

Unlike other events, the list is specific so check carefully. Batteries. Electronics. Wood. Mattresses. Appliances. Scrap metal. ⁴Nuclear waste.

Last Week

Tuesday: Port of Seattle Commission (Agenda) This meeting included a summary of the Port’s various grant programs — including the FAA-funded sound insulation plan for the year. Spoiler alert: once again, nada for us.

Wednesday: Emergency Management Advisory Committee The group had a very interesting after-action report concerning last November’s ¹bomb cyclone. What we experienced as mostly some fallen trees and a day of power outages was a true regional emergency up on the north and east side of the County. Several cities activated their Emergency Operations Center. What I found fascinating is that when they opened their warming centers, they laid out tables with rows of power outlets to let people charge their phone. Which they could easily do because proper emergency centers have tons of backup power. This was brilliant! A zero-dollar way to provide a real community benefit. When we have our next genuine emergency, the one thing everyone will need is a way to keep their cell phone charged.

Thursday: Transportation Committee – 13 Mar 2025 – Agenda

Highlight: Review of capital project progress, including the Memorial Flag Triangle and 24th Ave. projects. (Why the Memorial Flag Triangle is a ‘transportation’ project? ‘Vanity Project Politics’ as one of my colleagues put it. See below. This was a much deeper dive on both projects than the full Council got so watch this meeting.

Thursday: Environment Committee – 13 Mar 2025 – Agenda We did a review of our NPDES permit, which included some recent enhancements worth talking about. But first, a grouse and a compliment.

• Last month, Councilmember Mahoney and I were the lone votes against ending regular meetings of our standing committees. I can’t speak for him, but for me both these two meetings demonstrated why it was premature. Each of these allowed for much deeper dives than any ‘committee of the whole’ will do — especially with our stupid ‘meetings must end by 9pm or we’ll all die!’ rule. One only develops fluency on complex issues by visiting with routinely.
• The compliment is for our surface water team. When I first moved here, the engineers I got to know (sorry) seemed to view environmental regulations as ‘a pain in the butt’. That’s a quote, btw. At the time, a common view was that surface water management was literally that – managing the flow of water to maintain the built environment. Anything ‘environment’ was something of an add-on. The current team has never given me that impression – in fact, having consistently demonstrated a desire to go above and beyond in improving environmental processes. Or, they’re much better actors than the civil engineers I used to run into. Either way, I’m sold!

The NPDES process now includes trees and wetland restoration as integral components. I’m over-simplifying here. The City has a Federal permit to manage all the waters in the City. And that permit requires us to demonstrate various ways we’re improving that environment. But now, Now, NOW! We can get credit not only for ‘water’ but also the inter-connected tree canopy and surrounding land as one holistic thing! You have no idea how happy this makes me. I’ve heard over and over from planners that one needs to consider the entire system.

One reason I watch the airport is that (literally) everything environmental is downstream of the plateau on which it sits (prox. 400 ft above us.) For example, the City is just beginning to study and test PFAS chemicals now. As users of tens of thousands of gallons of the stuff in firefighting operations, the Port of Seattle started freaking out about it (and shutting down their water wells) a decade ago.

I have no idea how an airport committee (see below) can work this kind of issue better than our own engineers in tandem with a properly functioning environment committee.

Saturday: 33rd Legislative District Town Hall, Highline College. The crowd was almost entirely supporters of our representatives so there was none of the ‘heat’ you might have expected on issues like ‘homelessness’ which has garnered so much local media attention. Still, worth watching for answers from all three.

Council Meeting Recap

Once again, we hit the three hour limit, and once again, due to poor time management. And once again, the presentations the Council saw were not included in the packet. These ‘details’ happen so often it’s no accident. Sorry. Not sorry. But if there is a ‘theme’ it was Councilmember Mahoney’s night. Regular Meeting – 13 Mar 2025 – Updated Agenda

Public Comment

Des Moines Yacht Club announced the upcoming Opening Day. More soon.

Des Moines Memorial Drive Preservation Association (DMMDPA.org) showed up in support of the Memorial Flag Triangle. Check their web site to learn more about their great work in support of World War I Veterans.

There were several Redondo divers who showed up to support the Sixgill Shark thing below.

City Manager

K4C

We voted to join the King County-Cities Climate  Collaboration (K4C), a County group that helps identify projects to help with climate change (duh, right? )  Joining was something I first proposed back in 2020 so I had no comment. The annual cost was always ¹negligible. The opposition was “we can attend meetings for free.” And I was like “Yes, but we can’t actually get in on any of the programs for free.” It was code for “we don’t care about that climate-changey jazz.” It’s a good thing, and yes I know I sound like a broken record, but being five years behind schedule gets old. (Conversely, that’s also why I gush so hard when our surface water team gets ahead of the curve on environmental issues. )

Sixgill Capital of the world

Councilmember Mahoney has championed making Des Moines the Sixgill Shark Capital of the World. Apparently, these sharks are a highly prized sight for divers in Redondo.

There was the notion of some sort of commemorative sign – akin to ‘Waterland Way’. And some sort of event on July 6. And then something to do with helping some other (perhaps private group?) create some ‘swag’ (t-shirts, mugs, etc.) I found it all pretty vague. And puzzling… because those sharks are off-shore of Redondo – nowhere near Sixth Ave. But he insisted. ‘Sixth Avenue’ it must be – and the rest of the gang went along with it.

March 13 Attachments Sixgill Shark

I’ve said it before, and it bears repeating: we don’t compromise. Rather than simply proposing the idea, then having the City bring back a specific proposal, he insisted that it had to move forward tonight. Forget that.

This all sounds harmless, but it was 40 minutes of the Council’s time. And it follows a long string of promotional ideas like Cape Cod In Des Moines, Men In Black, Burning Boats, Premiere Waterfront Destination, FIFA, etc. that also add up to fun for a small number of people but never seem to create that ‘destination’ magic. But perhaps one reason it does not happen is because we constantly indulge in this kind of ad hoc jazz rather than developing a for realz marketing plan.

Passed 6-1.

Consent

I pulled an item asking for an additional $130k contingency (ie. ‘just in case’ money) for the Redondo Restroom. Basically everything to do with the 2023 bond money is going over budget — except the one project I support borrowing money to fund (dock replacement).

I also want to briefly note an item that, unlike that bond stuff, and with my complete agreement, floated under the radar – as consent items should. However, I do have to acknowledge that it could come off as kinda sneaky – being added to the agenda on Tuesday. There is always a fine line between ‘transparency’ and not having people go absolutely mental whenever anyone mentions the word ‘homelessness’. But this is that line for me.…

The Council voted to fund a $75,000 cleanup of a homeless camp behind Parkside School. If you live in the area, you know it’s already been cleared. The money is for environmental remediation. $75,000 seems like a lot, but in fact, is nothing as these things go. The (cough) ‘low’ cost is the signal that it is not some crisis. It just costs a lot of money whenever you have to hire cleanup specialists. As to the former ‘residents’, they are human beings, and in my opinion nobody should consider living in a wetland to be their best option. I will be asking for more detail soon and I’ll report back — but only if there is actually something worth reporting beyond this. We provide people with services. We provide the environmental cleanup. Thanks to the City for doing all that. Moving on.

Items/Votes

Flag Triangle

Pro tip: Always. Bring. Piccies. I’m on my third City Manager now and for whatever reason this is still like pulling teeth. But despite the fact that this has been going on for years, I don’t think any of us (including the public) has a clear understanding of how this thing will look.

Like the Sixgill thing, this began as a personal project for Councilmember Mahoney, back when he was mayor. But in this case, it was originally funded with the same bond money as the docks and marina steps. Terrible. We have absolutely no business borrowing money (with interest) for a public park when there are grant funds to be had. (Ironically, Councilmember Achziger seemed to have objections to using park grant funding. )

The original design was crazy expensive and it should never have been trotted out as a ‘park’ or talked about as a place for people to picnic. Anyhoo, the City did not provide a presentation, so here’s a reminder from the January Municipal Facilities meeting, where the cost was $424k and got no bids.

❮❯

It’s since been scaled back several times, but it’s still gonna be crazy expensive because every not-a-park project now costs a fortune. And the flag pole needs replacing. But here’s the winning bid of $453k. I guess.

Despite the improvements, I remain skeptical because there are also three proposed parking spaces (not in the piccies, grrrr….) I did not express it well at the meeting, but in my opinion, there should never be parking anywhere near that triangle. I don’t want to encourage parking or congregating anywhere near such a traffic-intensive spot. It should be a place for special events and that’s about it.

But this constant pressure to “get ‘er done” by Memorial Day only adds to the heartburn. After all, the traditional celebration of World War I is not until November. Perhaps because Mr. Mahoney’s seat is up for election this year. Who can say?

I also wanna throw in another grouse about ‘committees’ and ‘compromise’. With a properly functioning committee,  and two tablespoons of compromise, this woulda been sewed up a long time ago and before it got to the dais. The absence of piccies, the lack of clarity, the failure to compromise, has turned what shoulda been a simple, elegant monument to veterans into an unnecessary, years long kerfuffle – including this meeting. No one will remember the cost overruns or the animus; they’ll just enjoy the monument. And that’s why we’ll keep doing projects in this verkachte manner over and over. All’s well that ends well!

Airport Committee Structure

Last October, Councilmember Mahoney asked the Council to support resuscitating our airport committee. Despite rumours to the contrary I was not a fan because airport issues – including the Sustainable Airport Master Plan are not something any citizen group can tackle effectively. Not to mention that the Federal portion of the permit is likely to be approved even before the committee meets. Oops.

This was our fourth meeting on the topic and my colleagues have narrowed it down to five residents, or business owners, who may or may not know anything about the airport, or may or may not have interest in the topic, so long as they are not a member of a group, but definitely not a member of our City Council. Oh, and it may be temporary. Or permanent. Although it will definitely include the one remaining StART member. Because everyone else quits.

You can’t make this stuff up.

This is is yet another attempt to appear like we’re doing something useful to respond to the negative impacts of the airport – while actively making things worse for our residents. It is contemptible greenwashing. My colleagues and our staff know about as much about airports as I do about sixgill sharks.

One thing I can tell you: like warehouse taxes, dry stack, and it’s money we left on the table years ago in favour of rubbish ideas that have left us poorer in health and economics than 20 years ago.

If you care about the airport: Sea-Tac Noise.Info

24th Avenue Budget

Having run out the clock, rather than extend the meeting properly, we voted in 12 minutes to spend $1.2M extra to get the 24th Avenue project moving by October. 40 minutes to market a fish. 12 minutes for a $1.2M cost overrun. That money will come from next year’s road budget. Hopefully, we will recoup that money from Puget Sound Energy, who we appear to blame for everything.

March 13 Attachments 24th Ave

This lack of regard makes me even more nervous about dumping standing committees. I encourage you to watch the Transportation Committee meeting above for a (slightly) deeper dive.

But the overriding sentiment seemed to be, “Hey we have to spend it, so why talk? We can ‘finger point’ later.” Rubbish. As with the airport, or flag triangles, if you never look back you will keep making the same mistakes. Over. And over.

And ‘blame it on PSE’ is simply incorrect. The project began in 2020 – when I was on the Transportation Committee. There have been many issues along the way. Here’s just one. Over my strong objection, Councilmember Mahoney rallied support to override our ³own ordinance, which requires us to underground utilities like that. It was a cost saving measure – instead choosing to give over that money to – wait for it – underground the utilities behind the Theatre. (now known as Backstage Alley). Long time readers will remember that the completely bogus rationale was that by so doing it would turn the alley into an entertainment spot, something like Post Alley in Seattle. Does this look it’s going to become Post Alley any time soon? Whenever anyone tries to tell you how un-developer-friendly we are here? Point them to Backstage Alley. We should have simply done what our own ordinance specifies – underground those utilities and provide the benefit our children.

I only voted ‘yes’ on this as a measure of faith in our new Director of Public Works. If this were twelve months ago, I woulda voted Hell No.

But this, “It happened before my time” business has already started to get old.

Passed 7-0.

¹You know it’s a significant weather event because it has its own Wikipedia page.

²Even a micro-park like Cecil Powell will run close to $1M these days. And that’s without ‘tariffs’ on steel and lumber.

³By ordinance, uilities are supposed to be undergrounded. It basically takes two votes of the City Council to override that. But as with so many ordinances meant to provide some form of consistent ‘discipline’, if you look at our track record, we always seem to find ways around it. In this case? It was exactly what it looks like: valuing a commercial alley more than school children.

⁴Just wanted to make sure you were still awake.

Some bits of business…

Updated with new March 13, 2025 meeting agenda

Water District 54 Open Commission

News Flash • Looking for Candidates for Vacant Commissioner

This is an unexpired position expiring in 2029. Individual must live within the District boundaries. Two monthly meeting a month are required. Meetings are held at the District Office at 922 So 219th St. in Des Moines at 4pm on the first and third Tuesdays of the month. Position is currently paying a per diem rate of $161.00

If you have questions regarding this position please call 206.878.7210. Please send letters of interest to patti.clayton@kcwd54.org before 3/14/2025.

Highline Schools District 5 Open Seat

HSD has re-opened applications for the School Board Director #5 position left open by the recent resignation of Azeb Hagos. This is a big deal for us as District #5 covers most of Des Moines. Please apply here by March 13, 2025!

https://www.highlineschools.org/about/school-board/school-board-vacancies

Call To Action: Port Packages!

The Governor’s proposed budget cuts the $1 million in funding that was secured last for fixing failed port packages, which were meant to insulate homes from airport noise but have deteriorated over time. Please mail key these legislators and let them know how important this funding is for our communities.

Call To Action: Save State Funding for Port Package Updates! – Sea-Tac Noise.Info

City Manager Stuff

City Manager’s Report March 07, 2025

In her most recent report Ms. Caffrey included a bit of history regarding the proper pronunciation of ‘Des Moines’. I used to think it was a bit of a joke that the City went through all the trouble to pass an ordinance making the ‘French’ pronunciation official. It is not a joke. I cannot stress how seriously some of my predecessors felt/feel about this. Coming from Ireland, where basically every place name has gotten butchered over time, here is the final word on how to properly pronounce Des Moines.

Mea Culpa

In my last Weekly Update, I stated incorrectly, that there was no recipe in Ms. Caffrey’s February 28 City Manager’s Report! For my sins, here is that recipe, ¹in full, for what she claims are ‘the BEST chocolate chip cookies’. Bold statement.

³Wea Culpa

I also got several messages last week following the (cough) ‘fit up’ cruise of the King County Water Taxi MV Sally Fox, covered in a video by the Waterland Blog. (Having used the Water Taxi system many times, I did not attend.) A couple of problems.

• Our consultant was coaxed into implying that a passenger ferry might be docking in Des Moines in time for FIFA (June 2026). I do not think that was a great thing to say on camera, to a media company that relies on clicks, and especially given the obvious passions about the issue.
• Members of the Council stated that the City had spent $1,000,000 of ARPA money on our previous pilot program. Not to be that guy, but I’m pretty sure we’ve spent $45,000 of federal dollars on anything ferry-adjacent.

But that does not mean we have not paid. According to the City our hard costs for the pilot program were $445,000. That’s too low, but whatever. One way or another it was all your money.

• And no one talks about the original (cough) Ferry Demand Study or the consultant fees we’ve paid since 2020.  ⁵If you total all our ‘ferry’ costs and bake for 10-14 minutes at 375 degrees until golden brown, I’m pretty sure it’s several hundred thousand more.

But why quibble over a few hundred grand? For me, the real question is this: regardless of where that money came from, did we need to spend anything? And the answer is: No. If you learn nothing else following this issue? It is that passenger ferries are something that the entire region has been pulling for – and for a very long time. When the conditions are right, it will come to us without these tactics, for the simple reason that we are a logical spot. In addition to working for us, Mr. Philips does regular (paid) regional conferences to promote ferries and we should encourage him to keep doing them.

But once and for all, we should admit that we were wrong and stop acting like we ever had to spend any of your money on this.

This Week

Tuesday: Port of Seattle Commission (Agenda) This is an important meeting for Port watchers. Anyone watching the City or contemplating a run for office should also take note in light of our strategic plan (see below.) All that aside, it also includes a summary of their FAA-funded sound insulation plan for the year. Which is, once again, nada for us.

Thursday: Transportation Committee – 13 Mar 2025 – Agenda – Pdf Highlight: Review of capital project progress.

Thursday: Environment Committee – 13 Mar 2025 – Agenda – Pdf Highlights: Review of our SWM and NPDES plans.

Thursday: Regular Meeting – 13 Mar 2025 – Agenda – Updated Tuesday

Highlights:

• A budget amendment which will add over a million dollars to the cost of the 24th Ave. project. ow, ow, ow, ow, Ow, OW!
• We we also will discuss the structure of our upcoming airport committee.

There will be a notable update to the packet on two items on Tuesday. I will re-post this article with that update when it is released.

Last Week

Monday

SAO Audit Exit Conference. The State reported the results of its 2023 audit of our books. Obsessive watchers will note we’ve had a couple of ‘dings’ that I don’t get exercised about. What does annoy me, and I say the same when we do it, is when we gather for an ‘exit conference’ and some of the referenced materials are not ready to go.  The more obvious question is “Why are they still reviewing 2023?” To answer these burning questions, the SAO people will make a short presentation to the City Council. On the other hand, we just won a GFOA award for excellence in budgeting. Frankly, I don’t pay too much attention to that either. I know people want some sort of shorthand (good or bad) as to how well we’re managed. But it doesn’t work that way. If there was a shortcut, you wouldn’t need electeds.

Thursday

Washington Climate Action Plan Public Feedback Session

This is one of those long game things. Every year the Dept. of Ecology does a survey to help implement climate change into the planning documents it imposes on cities based (HB1181).  Here is the 2024 results. It took a looooong time to get the areas under the flight path recognised for what they are: among the most polluted and heavily impacted in the entire state. The next step is to convert that recognition into legislation that helps mitigate and compensate us for those harms. Bills like HB1303 (see below) move that even further.

Finance Committee (Cancelled)

Public Safety Committee

Public Safety_Emergency Management Committee. Several very interesting items you should check out, including crime stats and an overview of South King Fire.

2023-2024 Crime Stats Preview

South King Fire Overview

Study Session

Study Session – 06 Mar 2025 – Agenda – Updated These are some biggee items and I had some (cough) concerns.

Discussion on Developing a Strategic Plan.

We’ve never had a strategic plan before. We do ‘goal setting’ every year but frankly it’s never been about much for the simple reason that we do not agree on a lot of things. This will take time to develop. And I sure hope we can put aside our differences enough to make it something we all agree on – otherwise it will be like so many previous wastes of consultant money.

(Sorry, the really tragic thing is that, down deep, we actually agree on a lot of things. We just don’t compromise well. There’s no reason we can’t make this a historic and productive project. )

Anyhoo, the Council gave a bunch o’ feedback to the City Manager and I encourage everyone to watch this portion of the meeting carefully. My comments:

• Start from the money we need and work backwards. I maintain that we currently need at least $5,000,000 every year more than we currently take in, to achieve the goals we talked about when I took my seat in 2020. If you think that’s wrong? Give me a number.
• Don’t use a consultant we’ve worked with. We’ve tended to choose people who’ve had previous (and tenuous) connections with the City. Eg. the communications study we did in 2023 was $75,000 and was done by an engineering company.
• If you can, choose a consultant who has worked with cities like ours. The examples chosen bear little resemblance to Des Moines. Maybe it doesn’t matter. Or maybe we can’t be that choosey. But if we have a chocie? We should choose a firm that knows about marinas and airports and our demographics.
• Watch the Port of Seattle. They are so frickin’ complicated. So they take great pains to provide their electeds all sorts of ‘check-ins’. They don’t use an expensive ‘dashboard’. Instead, they follow the old sales maxim, “tell ’em what yer gonna tell ’em, tell ’em, then tell ’em what ya told ’em.” This Tuesday’s meeting is typical. It gives an outline of how all their committees did last year as a springboard into what they plan to do this year. The entire Commission is given a summary of how each committee did and what it plans to do. It’s relatively inexpensive, low-tech, and for such a complex beast it works surprisingly well. I think one reason our committees have languished is because we never created this kind of structure.
• ChatGPT. Not. Kidding. $20 a month and some elbow grease can create our own model containing every City Council document going back to 1959. Use that as the starting place for everything. I know this may sound like ‘space magic’ to some, or ‘ya gotta walk before you can run’. However, this is tech that high schoolers are now fluent with. As I said last week, we have a ton of great planning info that would be impossible for someone other than moi to ingest without help. The Council has also had every discussion as to “Why the downtown is what it is?” you can ever hope to have. And I’m kinda sick of all the myths and rumours that get endlessly recycled. Get it? It’s that ‘fog’ – that wilful avoidance of all the things we’ve already tried – that allows each new City Council (and administration) to come in and avoid dealing reality.

Discussion on City Council Committees and Appointive Committees.

This is really two discussions that should have been separate. The first went very poorly. The second a lot better.

• The end of Standing Council Committees in favour of a more ‘Burien’ style approach. Passed (2-5). We ended a system of committees that has been in place since 1959 on a single vote. I voted ‘no’ along with Councilmember Mahoney, who opined as to whether or not hell may be freezing over.
  • Frankly, we’ve both spent a certain amount of time developing expertise on various issues. And I stand by my contention that Cms – especially new Cms, need committees, if for no other reason, than to learn at least some specific area.
  •  At a minimum, we should have had the City Manager consider our feedback and bring the item back for a second reading. For this reason alone, it was a mistake to end our two-readings policy in 2023.
• Revisions to all the appointive (resident) committees. I moved that this be brought back for a second reading. And in this case, the Council agreed. That alone tells you something as to what the Council values.

At the end of the day, I understand why the City grouped these together – and what they get out of  it: more time for their daily tasks. Good. But there was no mention of how that balances with the benefits. The packet made it out like committees are mostly a pain that takes staff away from ‘the real work’. Not. Cool. And we will regret their passing.

Executive Session: Performance of a Public Employee RCW 42.30.110(1)(G) –30 Minutes

This was the second of a two-parter review of Ms. Caffrey’s first three months. Last week was 45 minutes of – I have no idea. But this one included Ms. Caffrey. I can’t divulge the contents without having to join the Foreign Legion, but after the councilmember comments, I asked Ms. Caffrey to take the floor. She was candid with us, and I hope this will become a regular part of her review process.

Don’t think I’m going soft here. If anything, this has been the ²honeymoon period. But she knows that.

I’m going to riff on something the current and recent interim city managers have both said to all of us. A colleague of mine in another City said something about her Council – which is just as divided as ours. “We disagree well.” That was smart. As I said above, and will continue to say, all seven of us actually agree on a lot of things. The problem is, we don’t compromise. The best we can do is vote cordially. But that is not compromise. People sometimes gag at the thought of being ‘transactional’. But in local government horse-trading is really just being productive. If all seven of us would simply give in 15% here and there, I can’t think of an issue we could not reach true agreement on. See that’s the thing – you can ‘win’ all these divided votes. But all that friction prevents genuine progress. If we had a ferry program, tax program, marina program, airport program, whatever program that all of us (grudgingly) were on board with? We’d get a lot more done. Look at all this bond stuff? By being so divisive, and having every vote be like pulling teeth for years it’s (literally) adding millions of extra dollars to those projects. When you can disagree well, reduce that friction, ie. compromise, you may have to swallow hard sometimes, but the net benefit to the City is massive.

Some bills passing through Olympia

As I wrote last week, this is lawmakin’ season in Olympia and there were/are a ton of bills that will affect us. Here are the ones I’m watching…

• HB1334 Almost every city, including Des Moines, officially supports giving City Councils the ability to raise property taxes up to 3% without a public vote.
• HB1380 is a ‘homelessness’ bill sponsored by our own Mia Gregerson. Basically, every City hates it. I share some of the same concerns. But the topic is so radioactive I dunno what I could say to convince you that, whether it passes or not, the sky will not fall. Read the amended bill summary. And show up at Highline College this Wednesday @ 11:00am to ask questions.
• SB5757 would take 50% of the speed camera revenue back to the State. Ouch. If this does not thrill you, click that link and comment. Ironically, it was proposed by a Spokane representative whose city benefits from them. His objection – and he has support, is this: It’s a fugazi. All these automated speed enforcement cameras are supposed to be about ‘safety’ but they’re really about cash. He’s not wrong, of course. Every agency testifying against spoke about the hole it would cut in local budgets. No one spoke about how it would devastate public safety. We’ve had the Redondo cams for a year and frankly, if we knew this might be a possibility, I’m not sure we would have bent over backwards to installe them. It is about the money.
• SB7575 (no you don’t have dyslexia) is one of two bills that would enable the City to increase our local sales tax .1 cent without a vote specifically for the purpose of increasing public safety. It also allows the County to add a similar tax. Normally, I would not be thrilled for the same reasons I always give: I try to avoid tax increases without giving voters a choice. But this one has a twist. If the law passes and we change our ordinance before the County does? They have to credit us back the amount with no out of pocket to you, the voter.
• HB1923 the Mosquito Fleet bill, ie. Passenger Ferries. The bill just passed the last hurdle (an amendment to avoid routes used by orcas) before getting a floor vote. So, it looks like smooth sailing.   Does not mean we get a ferry right away. But it means the places that have the proper infrastructure and truly need passenger ferries will be able to get them. The thing I keep trying to say is this: Everyone wants a ferry.

¹She’s far too young to remember, but back in the day, even a recipe for Beef Wellington would be like six sentences in cookbooks. It stuns me that anyone ever got any decent results with an any of those Joy Of Cooking books.

²Which is like taking yer honeymoon at Niagara Falls. Back when people used to go over in a barrel.

³Yes, it’s Nostra Culpa. I went for the cheap Catholic School gag. But the Brothers would have me hide for not putting in this footnote.

⁴Now see if she were really ‘Irish’ she’d insist that the real secret is: Kerrygold.

⁵It also does not include the $160k grant we’ve got for more ferry economic impact studies and another $1,000,000 for some sort of electric battery dock. You can call those ‘free money’, but… said it before, say it again… every grant you get for fluff, is money that could have gone for something worthwhile. We get (x) amount of grant money every year. But let’s say that the battery dock does get used five years from now? Is that really what we most needed in 2024?

Some bits of business…

Call To Action: Port Packages!

The Governor’s proposed budget cuts the $1 million in funding that was secured last for fixing failed port packages, which were meant to insulate homes from airport noise but have deteriorated over time. Please mail key these legislators and let them know how important this funding is for our communities.

Call To Action: Save State Funding for Port Package Updates! – Sea-Tac Noise.Info

ADUs

Good article in Seattle Times on Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs). We’re redoing our zoning and building codes this year so if you’re interested, please let me know how we can help you make yours come true.

City Currents

There’s a new Spring 2025 City Currents Magazine. I collect the PDFs, which are easier for me to read, but also fun to look back at to see where the City has been.

City Currents Magazines

City Manager Stuff

City Manager’s Report February 28, 2025

No recipe, but a reminder of the most excellent…

Indoor Tot Time!

This Week

Monday

SAO Audit Exit Conference. The State reports the results of its 2023 audit of our books.

Thursday

Finance Committee (Cancelled)

Wasn’t my idea. But you know I got yer back on some numbers, anyhoo. February Sales Tax Report

I generally don’t follow month to month stuff like this, but if you haven’t seen it before, this is a good thing to browse to get a sense of the money we bring in from various businesses.

Public Safety Committee

Public Safety_Emergency Management Committee – 06 Mar 2025 – Agenda – Pdf No detail. But several items you should check out…

• Substation Closure
• BWC Upgrades And Grant
• 2023 Vs. 2024 Crime Statistics
• South King Fire 2024 Statistics

Study Session

Study Session – 06 Mar 2025 – Agenda – Pdf These are some biggee items and I have some (cough) concerns.

Discussion on Developing a Strategic Plan. Examples from Other Cities

• • Shoreline Vision 2029
  • Bothell Road Map 2017-2018
  • Cedar Park City Council Strategic Goals 2024-2026 Performance Dashboard
  • Renton Business Plan 2024-2029 Goals
  • Issaquah Strategic Plan 2024 Update & Performance Dashboard
  • Richland Strategic Plan & Dashboard 2024-2026
  • Sugar Land, TX Strategic Action Plan 2025-2027

Discussion on City Council Committees and Appointive Committees.

This is really two discussions that should be separate.

• • The end of Standing Council Committees in favour of a more ‘Burien’ style approach. Spoiler alert: I had no idea this was being proposed.
  • Revisions to all the appointive (resident) committees

The packet lays out some valid problems with Current Council Committees: There is a ton of redundancy for both the Council and staff.

Recommended Changes to Council Committees:

• Modify the monthly Study Session (first Thursday) to begin at 5:00 PM. The first hour would act as a “Council of the Whole” where all Councilmembers receive staff reports on items typically handled by committees.
• Standing Council Committees would only meet when an issue requires more detailed discussion.

Appointive Committees

The City currently has seven citizen advisory committees, with plans to add two more (Airport Committee and Planning Commission). Again, there are valid problems: Infrequent meetings. Lack of agenda items.  Unclear roles. Underutilization. Heavy staff workload. All true.

Recommended Changes:

• No changes to: Citizens Advisory Council, Civil Service Commission, Lodging Tax Advisory Committee, Police Advisory Committee
• Merge the Arts Commission, Human Services Advisory Board, and Senior Services Advisory Board into a new Community Enrichment Board. Existing members with unexpired terms would be offered positions on the new board.

Executive Session: Performance of a Public Employee RCW 42.30.110(1)(G) –30 Minutes

This is the second of a two-parter review of Ms. Caffrey’s first three months. Last week was 45 minutes of – I have no idea. But this one will be with Ms. Caffrey.

Last Week

Wednesday: StART (Agenda). The highlight was a report on the Port’s SIRRPP survey of Port Packages. As expected, it was a sham, claiming that none of the homes they tested seem to merit an update. Of course, they hand-picked 30 out of 9,400 for testing. Follow Sea-Tac Noise.Info (STNI) for coverage – and contact STNI, if you have bad sound insulation.

Thursday: Municipal Facilities Committee (cancelled)

Thursday: Economic Development – 27 Feb 2025 – Agenda

Economic Development Committee Meeting 02/27/2025

Highlights:

• Charm Factor. This is a beautify the downtown idea – it specifically mentions using decorative screens to cover ‘the Pit’ and the Des Moines Yacht Club boat storage on MVD and getting it done in time for FIFA 2026. Councilmember Nutting raised some concerns. In fact, he really went to town, so I urge you to watch just for that. We disagree on those reasons, but I too am concerned. His concerns seemed to be more about ‘money’. Fair point. Mine are more about strategy. We have this nasty tendency to promote trial ideas, which either waste a lot of money or turn into permanent features – whether they make sense or not. We use the plucky small town volunteerism as a substitute for doing something long term. Frankly, it’s the reason a trial project like the Quarterdeck can end up becoming the centrepiece of the entire waterfront. I am suspicious of anything ‘Let’s try something!’ because once it gets in? You ain’t never gettin’ rid of it.
• Woodmont Development. The City has received interest from a developer on the area that (in ancient times) was called ‘Rosie’s Diner’, but was last referred to as ‘Oh no, the drug rehab clinic!’. A primary reason I want the planning commission re-instated was to prevent that sort of blindsiding from recurring. In this case, I think the City will be able to daylight the developer’s proposal in a way the public will find acceptable, but it still puts the onus on one public hearing to obtain public engagement.
• Sound Code?: This topic was moved onto the next meeting. Call me what you will, but this indicated where the committee’s priorities are.

City Council Meeting Recap

Shortest. Meeting. Ever. No public comment. No items of business beyond a short consent agenda. I picked the right meeting to telephone in sick.

Parenthetically, my first phone-in meeting was not a great experience, tech-wise. Ironically, I was able to Zoom in for the private Executive Session and that went great. Lesson learned? Let’s move City Council into the North Conference Room where all the plumbing works!

City Council Regular Meeting – 27 Feb 2025 – Agenda Highlights:

City Manager presentation on Flag Triangle

• Apparently, we got no bites from the three expected bidders. But there is still time. Our DPW says he’s still aiming for a Memorial Day (May 26) completion and that the all-in cost will be $376k – a lot less than previously mentioned.  I will not hold it against anyone if we don’t make that date and I’m still going with the previous estimate of $472k because:
  • I love that can-do spirit (seriously)
  • It’s local government.

Consent Agenda

There was an item to approve a grant to put a solar roof on the Senio… er… ‘Activity Center’. Woo hoo! If I had been IRL I would’ve put forward an item to see if we can’t redo the awning while we’re at it. The place was never ‘just’ the Senior Center. It’s the Des Moines Activity Center, not in name, but in terms of mission. It’s time to have that consistent brand throughout the City.

Executive Session

ES is supposed to be subject to the cone of silence. But again, again, the law requires us to mention the legal purpose. And whenever we do a ‘review of a public employee’ that means ‘City Manager’.

The following Executive Session was twice as long and it was the first of two evaluations of our new City Manager.

Some bills passing through Olympia

As I wrote last week, this is lawmakin’ season in Olympia and there were/are a ton of bills that will affect us. Most of the goofy ones (redesigning the State flag) die the quick deaths they deserve, but many do not. And in the ones that affect us there is a recurring theme, which I keep bringing up: overspending. When the State was ‘flush’ (ie. last year?) it overspends. Then this year it’s cut, Cut, CUT! Sound familiar? What I object to is that it is cities which always seem to take it in the neck. And, ironically, it’s often the most ‘progressive’ lawmakers that are the worst in that regard.  We’re given all kinds of mandates (most of which are great ideas, btw) but no money to pay for them. Or we’re offered the fabulous opportunity of taxing our residents without a vote in various ways. What we’re almost never offered is, you know, State money.

• HB1334 Almost every city, including Des Moines, officially supports giving City Councils the ability to raise property taxes up to 3% without a public vote. But don’t hate the playa, hate the game. Over time the State and County have reduced the amount of money they share with cities like Des Moines and keep more of it for their own needs and especially education. All worthy endeavours. However, as with housing, one could also see a system which kicks back more of existing State and County money to cities like Des Moines. But since that will never happen, cities like Des Moines are left to try anything they can to raise taxes — including this. Desperate times, and so on… Speaking as one person, I do not support these bills. I think most voters find anything like this (including the 2023 bonds) a bit sneaky. People like to have a vote. They like to be sold.
• SB5757 would take 50% of the speed camera revenue back to the State. Ouch. If this does not thrill you, click that link and comment. Ironically, it was proposed by a Spokane representative whose city benefits from them. His objection – and he has support, is this: It’s a fugazi. All these automated speed enforcement cameras are supposed to be about ‘safety’ but they’re really about cash. He’s not wrong, of course. Every agency testifying against spoke about the hole it would cut in local budgets. No one spoke about how it would devastate public safety. We’ve had the Redondo cams for a year and frankly, if we knew this might be a possibility, I’m not sure we would have bent over backwards to installe them. It is about the money.
• SB7575 is one of two bills that would enable the City to increase our local sales tax .1 cent without a vote specifically for the purpose of increasing public safety. It also allows the County to add a similar tax. Normally, I would not be thrilled for the same reasons I always give: I try to avoid tax increases without giving voters a choice. But this one has a twist. If the law passes and we change our ordinance before the County does? They have to credit us back the amount with no out of pocket to you, the voter.
• HB1923 the Mosquito Fleet bill, ie. Passenger Ferries. In a win-win, the bill passed out of committee. But it was amended to remove the portion I objected to – ie. the possibility of dinky cities (like Des Moines) of creating their own ferry district. One of the speakers said, quite sensibly, he was getting a bit tired of offering cities more ways to tax themselves. Agreed! The thing I keep trying to say is this: Everyone wants a ferry. We never had to ‘sell’ anything. Let the people who actually need it, and can afford it, pay for it. When we’re ready, our great location will bring the ferry world to us.

The next ‘key date’ on all this is around March 12th when the Governor weighs in with his response to all these items. WA is somewhat unique in that we give the Guvernator a line-item veto. That power kinda acts as a check on legislation. Who wants to put in all the work to pass a bill the Governor can de-fang with a stroke of a pen?

Some bits of business…

Traffic:

As part of the SR-509…

I-5 lane closure information

• Monday, Feb. 24 through the morning of Friday, Feb. 28: 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. – Up to three lanes of northbound I-5 will close nightly between SR 516 (Exit 149) and South 200th Street/Military Road South (Exit 151).
• Wednesday, Feb. 26 through the morning of Friday, Feb. 28: 11:59 p.m. to 6 a.m. – Up to four lanes of southbound I-5 will close nightly between South 200th Street/Military Road South (Exit 151) and SR 516 (Exit 149).

I-5 ramp closure information

• Monday, Feb. 24 through the morning of Wednesday, Feb. 26: 9:30 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. – The northbound I-5 to SR 516 off-ramp will close nightly. A signed detour will be in place.

SR 516 lane closure information

• Monday, Feb. 24 through the morning of Wednesday, Feb. 26: 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. – One lane of westbound SR 516 will close nightly between SR 99 and Military Road South.
• Wednesday, Feb. 26 through the morning of Friday, Feb. 28: 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. – One lane of eastbound SR 516 will close nightly between Military Road South and SR 99.

South Link Metro Survey

As Link light rail expands farther south with three new stations in Kent Des Moines, Star Lake and Downtown Federal Way, the South Link Connections project aims to improve transportation options for communities in South King County. Please take this Survey!

City Manager Stuff

City Manager’s Report February 21, 2025

When will the recipes stop? Hopefully after I run out of new piccies to take of this place. OK, it’s Slow Cooker Beef, so what’s not to love.

Parks and Recreation is hiring referees for the upcoming Youth Soccer
Season. These positions would start in April through Mid-June in evenings and weekends. https://desmoineswa.gov

The calendar of events is also good. Although it’s a band-aid.

This Week

Wednesday: StART (Agenda). The Port has already completed its SIRRPP survey, ie. its evaluation of Port Packages. As expected, it was a sham, claiming that none of the homes they tested merit an update. Of course, they hand-picked 30 out of 9,400 for testing. Follow Sea-Tac Noise.Info (STNI) for coverage – and contact STNI, if you have bad sound insulation.

Thursday: Municipal Facilities Committee (cancelled)

Thursday: Economic Development – 27 Feb 2025 – Agenda Highlights:

• Charm Factor. Apparently, this is a beautify the downtown idea – it specifically mentions using decorative screens to cover ‘the Pit’ and the Des Moines Yacht Club boat storage on MVD and getting it done in time for FIFA 2026. In principle, I have no objection. The design has echoes of the very cool 2008 UW Storefront Studio project ideas. However, I do have several concerns. This issue follows the band-aid theme. Over the years, we’ve done these sorts of beautification deals several times and they are not major economic drivers. Sorry. I know how much people want to believe that, but if you look at regional neighbourhoods that really have transformed themselves, it happened inside-out, not outside-in. In other words, people show up for the business, not the wrapper. Based on the Special Meeting the Council had a few weeks ago, I saw no evidence that FIFA will provide economic benefits no matter what we might do. My hope is that my colleagues will look at our limited resources and really think about giving the City Manager time to come up with something long term. I’d rather save up as much dough as possible for that discussion. Or to put it more directly: the problem we should finally address is not how to cover up ‘the pit’. It’s the pit.
• Sound Code: The City is tackling the subject of re-instating a sound code, ie. building requirements to reduce the interior noise level from the airplanes. We dumped that in 2012 for political reasons. This gets me into hot water with our building people, but re-instating it is not rocket surgery. And I’ll use the golf/computer/ analogy. You buy even el-cheapo golf clubs or TVs or computers today and they’re objectively better than golf clubs or TVs or computers from twenty years ago. Building materials have improved — including windows. Construction practices have improved. So even without a sound code a new house is likely gonna be ‘quieter’ than a house built in 2000. And you won’t get help from the FAA because, despite tens of thousands more flights they think the entire area is getting quieter! So much so they’ve scaled back the area eligible for sound insulation by two thirds. Problem solved!
  • Not really. The FAA’s metrics, based on ’65db were always rubbish. The numbers were based on what was affordable given the technology of the 1970’s. Now that building materials are better/cheaper, no waaaay should that still be the standard.
  • Every scientific study done since then makes it clear than the noise we endure is unhealthy. Not ‘annoying’, bad for your health.
  • There is also this: by ending our sound code, we essentially took ourselves off the table from future FAA funding. And to explain why in one sentence, here is a real question I got from a congressman five years ago.

Why should any member of congress vote to spend more money for sound insulation, when your city voluntarily decided it did not need it?

Thursday: City Council Regular Meeting – 27 Feb 2025 – Agenda Highlights:

• City Manager presentation on Flag Triangle. Unfortunately, there is no preview in the packet, so I refer you to last Municipal Facilities meeting. (Video). Obviously, we gotta fix the flag pole. And the Des Moines Memorial Drive Preservation Association has long wanted a plaque commemorating DMMD’s role in World War I and veterans.  However, there has been some tension on both the cost and what the site should ‘be’. At that last MFC meeting, the Director of Public Works referred to it as a monument and I think that’s a much better way to view it than as a ‘park’.

The cost is currently $474k-ish? Probably a lot more. But it does not bother me as much as perhaps it should. After a while you start to get numb because the cost of anything ‘park-adjacent’ these days, is ridonculous. But if you say, “Hey, can’t we get something on DiscountFlagPoles.com?” one sounds insensitive. Just know that, in the back of my mind there is a little voice wishing that were the case. My real grouse is that we haven’t been consistent in presenting the costs or the idea or the purpose to the public. As I said last time, the new DPW started referring it as a ‘monument’ rather than a ‘park’ and IMO, that’s the right vibe.

• There will also be the first of two Executive Session evaluations of our new City Manager. Which is two more than we often got in a year with our last one. One sentence: the Council wanted a good communicator. Ms. Caffrey is a great communicator. But speaking of band-aids, in one sense, this review may be perhaps a bit too early. Ms. Caffrey was immediately confronted with work more akin to an ER Surgeon than a day to day ‘manager’. She got smacked in the face with some time-sensitive, big ticket issues like the Marina and the airport SAMP, neither of which she had any background on – and neither of which were mentioned in her job interview.If I were ‘the boss’ I’d ask her to write her review of Des Moines, if not now, at the six month point.I’m also curious what you, Dear Reader, think of how things are going at the moment. Some of the initial joy in hiring Ms. Caffrey is wearing off and the realities of a tighter budget is starting to sink in. Please let me know what I should be asking about in this review process.

Last Week

Tuesday/Wednesday/Friday: I testified on behalf of two airport bills, including Senator Orwall’s SB5682 in the Environment Committee Tuesday @ 1:30PM and Rep. Sharlett Mena’s HB1303 in Appropriations on Wednesday and in the Senate Environment on Friday.

Wednesday/Thursday: I attended Association of Washington Cities Action Days! Which isn’t as exciting as that sounds. But I did get to hear some interesting takes on housing and public safety. And here are three quick takes.

• There are two bills working on giving a teensy portion of the sales tax back to cities explicitly for public safety. I totally support this because it’s not a new tax. It’s the State giving money back to cities.
• I used to have real arguments with the last police chief over organised crime involving teens – which he swore was not a thing. I hate being ‘that guy’, but anyone from Ireland would  be skeptical because the shoplifting and auto theft here is suspiciously like what one sees in Dublin. A boss gets a bunch of 13 year olds to do the crimes – because they won’t do the time – even if they have a gun. It’s big business. But we’re behaving just like my home. A certain percentage of legislators will not put teens behind bars no matter how many times they get caught. I’m not sure what the answer is, but I’m glad to hear police and legislators calling it for what it is.
• It used to be that AWC could present a unified lobbying position on most issues. That is no longer the case. For example, every year the state puts forward new legislation to encourage more housing — which I strongly support. But the legislation never comes with what we actually need – which is M.O.N.E.Y. or at least building code reform. Instead, it graciously allows cities to provide developer discounts (which reduces our revenue) or lets us create local taxes. More affluent cities (like Redmond) find these useful. Cities like Des Moines? Not so much. We must have money because the fact is, developers struggle to build stick frame houses at anything like an affordable price point. We either have to start allowing for pre-built housing (which is cheaper, better constructed) or we get funding to make up the difference.
• There was also HB1334. Almost every city, including Des Moines, officially supports giving City Councils the ability to raise property taxes up to 3% without a public vote. But don’t hate the playa, hate the game. Over time the State and County have reduced the amount of money they share with cities like Des Moines and keep more of it for their own needs and especially education. All worthy endeavours. However, as with housing, one could also see a system which kicks back more of existing State and County money to cities like Des Moines. But since that will never happen, cities like Des Moines are left to try anything they can to raise taxes — including this. Desperate times, and so on… Speaking as one person, I do not support these bills. I think most voters find anything like this (including the 2023 bonds) a bit sneaky. People like to have a vote. They like to be sold.
• While I had time to kill I stumbled into a hearing on HB1923 Passenger Ferries: House Transportation – TVW which absolutely blew my mind. Check out the bill summary. Both our lobbyist and our paid ferry consultant (who did not identify himself as such) testified in favour.

Some bits of business…

Police Dept. Policy memo on immigration

I strongly endorse the policy, the statement, and the measured tone of this statement.

February 4, 2025 DMPD Policy on Immigration

Passenger Ferry Article in Seattle Times

Despite a fairly exaggerated headline, this Seattle Times article provides a very realistic state of electric passenger ferries in Puget Sound. I grew up using ferries in Ireland. Big fan. However, I’ve been opposed to using Des Moines tax dollars since we began doing so five years ago. We wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars and it is still insane. While trying to strike a hopeful tone it also completely validates all my concerns. This thing is nowhere near ready for prime time. There is mention of Artemis (the vendor who visited Des Moines last year, but zero mentions of Des Moines – despite the Council approving a $1,000,000 grant for a ferry battery to attract service. What?

On a semi-related note: Eviation, the top local contender for creating passenger-electric aviation, just went belly up. Eviation has been holding on via squillions in State and Federal funding. It’s exactly like the fake news of ‘second airport’ as the path to ‘quiet skies’.

Both passenger ferries and electric aircraft may be wonderful things some day. But for the present they are simply greenwashing. Small cities like Des Moines have no business putting stock in either of them.

City Manager Stuff

City Manager’s Report February 14, 2025

In addition to a quasi-Greek Chicken Noodle Soup recipe there’s this:

After each of the past three Council meetings I’ve walked out needing a shower because the information was so biased — which inevitably led the discussion towards a bunch of blather, including many (sorry) plainly incorrect comments from my colleagues. As Michael Matthias used to say, “He who controls the agenda controls the meeting.”

However, Ms. Caffrey’s follow-up reports generally provide a more straightforward result, which is fine, but it’s also starting to give me whiplash.

There is an inherent tension in the role of City Manager. At best it will always be a slightly schizophrenic tightrope. At worst it is subject to terrible political manipulation – both intentional and unconscious. You’re both the ‘servant of the Council’ and  the source of 95% of the policy. You’re simultaneously the ‘executive’, whose job is to present every decision made by the City Council, you and your team, in the most positive light possible. But you’re also ‘the source of truth’ for the Council – a body of part-timers with no independent research. Who wants to be the CEO who tells any city council “bad idea”, “we’ve made mistakes”. Every discussion. At every meeting. And thus every decision… is based on the information in ‘the packet’ and ‘the recommendations’ the City Manager puts forward. My guess is that even George Washington would find this situation a bit of an ethical challenge at times.

This Week

Monday: Presidents Day. Hope you got the day off, although I’m betting most of you did not. Legally-speaking it’s still Washington’s Birthday, which is good because I’m starting to think there are only 2-3 presidents a majority of Americans will ever think of again in a positive light.

Tuesday/Wednesday: I will be testifying on behalf of two airport bills, including Senator Orwall’s SB5682 in the Environment Committee Tuesday @ 1:30PM and Rep. Sharlett Mena’s HB1303 in Appropriations on Wednesday.

Wednesday/Thursday: I will be in Olympia for Association of Washington Cities Action Days. Why? ¹For the continuing education credits, dude!

Last Week

Tuesday: Port of Seattle Commission (Agenda). The most important issue is the one that did not get mentioned. The Port has already completed its SIRRPP survey, ie. Port Package Updates. As expected, it was a sham, claiming that none of the homes they tested merit an update. Of course, they hand-picked 30 out of 9,400 for testing. Follow Sea-Tac Noise.Info (STNI) for coverage – and contact STNI, if you have bad sound insulation.

Wednesday: Olympia for lobbying on airport bills. Coverage from Sea-Tac Noise.Info

Thursday: Transportation Committee (Cancelled)

Thursday: Environment Committee – 13 Feb 2025 – Agenda – Pdf Highlight: Capital Improvements Plan update (projects paid for using the Surface Water Enterprise Fund) and the Estuary Project update. As with last month, although you will also see the same consultants in the main meeting, I strongly encourage you to watch this video which contains a much more detailed explanation of changes coming to the Beach Park area over the next decade. This will be a big deal and pretty exciting stuff for salmon, the park and all our residents. And best of all? So far, it is 100% grant funded. None of your taxes.

February 13, 2025 City Council Meeting Recap

Regular Meeting – 13 Feb 2025 – Agenda – Updated

Public Comment

There was only one, concerning the discussion on dry stack from the long time secretary of the now defunct Des Moines Marina Association (DMMA) Bill Linscott. His argument seemed similar to one made by DMMA a few years ago: Dry stack is a very good thing, but it should be held off until the next round of dock replacements — which are scheduled for at least five years out. Their desire was to provide a ‘first-call’ opportunity for their existing slip holders whenever that happened.

City Manager Presentations

• King County Metro South Link Connections Mobility Project. Long story short: during COVID, Metro shut down several (primarily east/west) routes in Des Moines. This presentation describes some new routes, which do not thrill most of us because they continue to focus on north/south and not ‘the last mile’. And this begs a real question: ‘haves/have nots’. As I often say, I am extremely fortunate. I live near the 635 Shuttle which takes me right to Angle Lake and then bam I’m at a Sounders Game or downtown. But the east/west ‘last mile’ the City needs is south of Kent Des Moines Road. The 635 did not happen until after Angle Lake opened. My hope is that, once the Kent Des Moines Station opens, it will help us get an analogous east/west coverage.
  PS… I’ve had this ongoing back and forth with Metro over their dashboard. It’s not just our City I spar with over ‘data’. A lot of these ‘dashboards’ look super-cool, but don’t provide the information you actually want. And then they look at you like you’re being ungrateful. You cannot guilt me! In this case, they make is super-easy to look at ridership on the main routes – but not the smaller routes – the ones residents need to get to the main routes.
• Des Moines Creek Estuary Project (see environment committee meeting above.)
• Black History Month Proclamation (more on this soon.)
• Field House Playground Equipment Upgrade Project Agreement. The Giant Slide Of Doom (which I love, btw) has been complete since last year. However, it’s been kept locked up over safety concerns! Outrageous. Sorry. That leaked out. However, in a move I am told is both prudent and practical, the City is adding some sort of hand hold/tow rope along the sides to make it safer and easier to get back up the hill — OK, I didn’t think about that – and Reason #327 why ³I am not a parks director. :)But the only question you have is: “When will my child be able to brave the Giant Slide Of Doom?” What with all the concerns over safety, the question of actually having fun was not exactly emphasised. But the contract completion date seems to be June 30, 2025.

Discussions

I’m calling this section of the meeting ‘discussions’ because for whatever reason, we’re not so much conducting ‘business’ as just sorta, you know, ‘discussing’ things more. It’s bad and you should not want it.

boat launch or Dry Stack?

As with the last meeting, apparently the Mayor and/or Deputy Mayor were caught off guard by the presentation. I’m struggling with that since the Mayor is in charge of agenda setting and because we were presented with a draft two days before the meeting. If they were surprised, as the originator of the topic, imagine mine.

Background: I’ve been trying to get the City to replace the small boat launch, which was declared unsafe in 2022, because every marina needs some form of small boat launching system. One important use case (but not the only one) is called Dry Stack which I explain here. And as the explainer says, Dry Stack was supposed to replace the Dry Sheds as early as 1999.

But instead of simply discussing replacing the boat launch, a manageable task, somebody decided we could not have that discussion without also discussing the much, Much, MUCH larger topic of dry stack facility. I call bad faith on the City. It’s like someone saying “We can’t decide on building a stop light, unless we’re ready to commit to building a shopping mall across the street ten years from now.” It’s ridiculous. As I said from the dais, this will be at least the eleventh ‘study’ the City has done since 1999. The entire discussion was designed to fail.

Two new commissions

The Council moved forward (with ‘head nods’) to have the City Planner take on two new Commissions.

Apparently we’re calling them both commissions. I’m honestly not sure if it makes any difference, but a ‘commission’ usually has some authority/decision making, whilst an advisory ‘committee’ does not.

Anyhoo… the Airport whatever will take off (see what I did there?) around March, whilst the Planning Commission process is planned (see what I did there again?) for the end of the year. The practical scheduling is that the City Planner came on board just in time to complete our State mandated Comprehensive Plan.

For me, there really is no rush with the Airport whatever you call it. The work they could do, really won’t be helpful until next year. One bill going through Olympia might.

But the SAMP is happening right now. If you truly wanna do something meaningful about the noise, pollution and economic harms from the airport? Please subscribe to STNI. And participate in the Burien Airport Committee. Turn that into a shared committee that works for both cities.Des Moines City re-establishes an airport committee. Sort of. – Sea-Tac Noise.Info

But a planning commission can provide some form of nexus for concerns residents have about everything ‘planning’, including what we now refer to as ‘municipal facilities’ – ie. the Marina, Redondo, etc. Whether it is part of the official mandate of the PPC, residents should have visibility on all planning across the City; not some artificial boundary between City-owned and public/commercials. Residents, potential residents, realtors and developers need one place they can go and see our vision over the next twenty years. (Like the one that included a very profitable Dry Stack system in 1999. )

New Items For Consideration

Councilmember Mahoney proposed that the City do something in concert with the Highline MAST center to help make Des Moines the Six Gill Shark Capital of the World. They want to draw attention to the fact that Six Gill Sharks are endangered in Puget Sound. Setting aside the logic of promoting a place with almost no Six Gill Sharks as the Six Gill Shark Capital of the World, I have no objection – so long as it’s a relatively zero cost campaign.

However, if ⁵my cousins were here, they would tell you that these animals are nice, but probably only about 85% as good as Seven Gill Sharks.

¹JK

²Seriously. That phrase was used at the last meeting.

³But still batting two for two in not killing small children on play equipment! In my defense, I did not feel quite as stressed about the design as-is because it seems identical to the other two working slides – which are very safe. (Having three slides is tres cool, btw).

⁴What gets on my last nerve is that the Parcel A proposal was 2022. And yet many people, including our own staff, seem to be unware of its existence!

5Although Six Gill Sharks were common where we fished, to my knowledge there are no Seven Gill Sharks in Ireland. That’s just my family’s sense of humour.