Some bits of business…
- June 4, 2026 — Committee of the Whole, 5:00–5:50 p.m.
- SAMP Update
- Crime Stats Presentation
- June 4, 2026 — City Council Study Session, 6:00–10:00 p.m.
- Infrastructure Project & Funding Discussion
- June 11, 2026 — City Council Regular Meeting, 6:00–10:00 p.m.
- LGBTQIA+ Pride Month Proclamation
- Juneteenth Proclamation
- SKHHP Presentation
- Port of Seattle Presentation
- 2027 SKHHP Work Plan and Budget Adoption
- Adoption of Strategic Plan
- Airport Committee Workplan
- June 25, 2026 — City Council Regular Meeting, 6:00–10:00 p.m.
- 2025 4th Quarter Financial Report
- 2026 1st Quarter Financial Report
- August 6, 2026 — Committee of the Whole, 5:00–5:50 p.m.
- Check in on Committee of the Whole
- August 6, 2026 — City Council Study Session, 6:00–10:00 p.m.
- 2026 2nd Quarter Financial Report
- August 13, 2026 — City Council Regular Meeting, 6:00–10:00 p.m.
- Capital Improvements Plan - First Reading
- August 27, 2026 — City Council Regular Meeting, 6:00–10:00 p.m.
- Capital Improvements Plan - Second Reading
- Capital Improvements Plan - First Reading
Future Agendas is the closest thing the City currently has to a calendar of upcoming City Council topics. It’s not always accurate. But until we develop a genuine calendar, this can be useful if there is a particular issue you don’t want to miss.
Calendar Nerds
And for those of you who, like moi, plan your entire life around our meetings, I put the City’s updated calendar of official meetings in the sidebar. You now have no excuse for not showing up!
About the cover
This is a slide from the Ferry presentation. It will sound self-serving, but it was one of the 3-4 best presentations I’ve seen since I’ve been here. The presenter was straightforward, informative, unafraid to make clear points.
I not only did not vote for the ferry, I didn’t vote to hire him because the results were so obvious. There are so many projects that people find irresistible. I get it.
I probably bore younger people to tears but ‘back in the day you could take the ferry to Orcas Island for six dollars!’ Which was true. For my family a key part of the value proposition of Des Moines was our location. We used it as our launch pad to everywhere else — because transportation was so easy and inexpensive.
Those days are gone. Our challenge is to figure out reasons to get people to come here.
I never want our city to confuse what we enjoy — if the point is to actually draw people to spend money here. It’s easy to get confused when something is that appealing.
Memorial Day
I hope you’ll join me in honouring our veterans of foreign wars at Sunnydale School at 11am Monday May 25, 2026. 
Transportation Survey
This is actually pretty good. Please take 5 minutes to fill out. But only if you like bike lanes and transit. jk. 🙂
Transportation Survey – City of Des Moines, WA
City Manager Stuff
City Manager Reports! May, 22 2026
Quite similar to last week’s. The highlight for moi remains the updated Construction list. I know a lot of you have been inconvencied and I want you to know how much it sucks to be you! 😀
Just wanted to make sure you were paying attention.
The detour around 16th Ave is particularly rough. I’m told it will be over in a couple of weeks. But I know that is cold comfort atm.
This Week
Tuesday
Port of Seattle Commission. The Port will roll out the SAMP NTP. If neither of those acronyms mean anything, subscribe to STNI.
Wednesday
Highline Forum. The Port will roll out the SAMP NTP. If neither of those acronyms mean anything, subscribe to STNI. No, that wasn’t a copy/paste error. The Port is going to be doing a ton of almost identical presentations over the next 60 days.
Citizens Advisory Board (May 27, 2026 Citizens Advisory Board Agenda Packet)
Last Week
Wednesday
Des Moines Aviation Committee Special Meeting. The group held a special meeting to discuss a letter from STNI — full disclosure, a group I helped found in 2016. It is not secret that I have never been thrilled with airport committees in any city. The airport is so technical, and the negative impacts (including millions of dollars we’ve lost) are so massive, it should be a core service of the City. In the same way we’d have a professional manager if we lived next to a major river.
Thursday
City Council meeting recap
Friday
King County Flood District Advisory Committee. The periodic explainer. The County has several special purpose districts — like our water and sewer districts. But at some point, although they remain technically ‘independent’ they are now governed by the King County Council. I know it sounds weird but when you are elected to KCC, you also become a board member of a bunch of agencies like an airport and a bus service and a flood control district — all duties that used to be handled by separate elected bodies.
To maintain some semblance of independence there are separate advisory committees. The job of this committee is to help prepare and evaluate the recommend budget for a billion dollars in construction projects all over the County and then provide a letter of recommendation to the board… er… King County Council.
No, there aren’t major rivers in Des Moines you never heard about. But there is a pot of money that cities around the airport depend on for stuff like urban flooding and creeks. And as KC continues to drown in debt (see what I did there?) every year there is more and more pressure to lose our funding opportunities in favour of the mega projects.
May 21, 2026 City Council Recap
May 21, 2026 City Council Agenda Packet
National Public Works Week Proclamation
I know I say I don’t like proclamations, but I am a fan of every person who makes the trains run on time, keeps the water safe, the parks clean and so on… I even painted my office orange. 😀
Presentation by Nelson\Nygaard on the Findings from the Ferry Pilot Evaluation and Alternatives.
I should call this the “I was right and you were wrong presentation” But it is, at best, a pyrrhic victory. There will never be accountability for the entire approach to ‘Marina Development’ that was, at bottom, corrupt, and wasted millions of dollars. More than one head should have rolled.
Website Update
Please help beta-test the new site! It is a big deal and perhaps another pyrrhic victory. The web site has been so terrible for so long people took it for granted. The new beta site is much better visually. However, mechanically it is not what I had hoped and some parts (the document part) are actually worse. It caused notable friction during the meeting because, frankly, no one else is noticing. But the document search is where electeds and journalists and residents concerned about transparency will go to find things. If they can’t? All you can do is depend on ‘staff’ and ‘public records requests’.
There is a very nice gift card for anyone willing to help test the Agenda Portal. I honestly cannot get the search to work. At all. Seriously. Type in anything and tell me what you can find.
Transparency means, I can find what I need without having to ask for help. Get it? The moment you have to ask the people you are overseeing for help you’re already headed to an awkward place you should never have to go.
Update on SB6002 Implementation
This is the state flock camera law. It is much better than what we would have ever done ourselves. But the City should also add its own last-mile of protection by disallowing any off-line storage. The law will require Flock to delete its data after 21 days. But it should also be clearly illegal for the City to download and retain any image on any other device for future use.
Here is a link to the City of Des Moines Flock Portal
Recology Annual Update
If you have issues with your service? (And I know many people do) this is your moment to show up and be heard. This is also something of a victory. We never did this when I first got on the Council. I used to be told that we did not get complaints. Keep complaining. (And sending in compliments the other 99.9% of the time when the service is fantastic!) See what I did there? 🙂
Des Moines Farmers Market 2026-2028 Agreement
As usual, we will be offering the Farmers Market free use of the Marina. What is a bit different is that this is a three year agreement.
Residential Conversions Ordinance – 1st Reading
This was interesting. A recent state law requires the City to allow conversion of mixed-use properties to fully residential. The classic 5-1 (business in front, party in back) — wait that’s a mullet 😀 try again — (commercial first floor, residential above) has often been unsuccessful. We like the notion because theoretically storefronts generate more revenue. But given the chronic need for more housing, this addresses reality. It’s much better to have places to live now than theoretical business revenue.
Resolution No. 26-050, City of Des Moines Opportunity Zone Application
The federal Opportunity Zone program was established under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to promote private investment in designated economically distressed areas through federal tax incentives. Portions of the City of Des Moines have been designated as potential Opportunity Zones, presenting opportunities to attract private capital for redevelopment, infrastructure improvements, business expansion, housing development, and job creation.
From your mouth, to God’s ear. 🙂
What we learned is that we are applying for a grant to make better use of property from 216th north and/or south along Pacific Highway. The consultant seems to think multi-family housing is a likely option. I asked about layering. If you put housing along a highway — as we’ve been doing more of over the past decade — how does that help build community? In other words, how do people facing out (onto the highway) be encouraged to head in to participate in all Des Moines has to offer.
