Some bits of business…
Future Agendas
Future Agendas is the closest thing the City currently has to a calendar of upcoming City Council topics. It’s not dynamic, ie. you have to click it every time you want to see a new version. And it’s not always accurate. But until we develop a genuine calendar, this can be very useful if there is a particular issue you don’t want to miss.
Make you sure you got this…
If you have a Port Package, you should have gotten a post card this week, announcing a survey. This is important. As you may know, the Port of Seattle is spinning up an update program for existing sound insulation systems. If you don’t respond to the survey, you may not qualify for the update program–or you may get put lower on the list. If you have a Port Package and have not seen this in the mail? Contact the Port Noise Office (206) 787-5393, or Sea-Tac Noise.Info
Speaking of which…
The airport has begun a new Part 150 Noise Study. ‘Part 150’ refers to a section of FAA regulations whereby airports analyse their noise impact on the surrounding community. Ho hum, you say? Well, for one thing a Part 150 Study sets the official noise boundary around the airport. If yer hous is inside it, you get sound insulation (aka a Port Package). If not, you don’t. It does a lot of other stuff which I won’t get into here. But for that reason alone, you should show up to these public workshops hosted by the Port of Seattle on June 5 and June 6. https://www.portseattle.org/page/sea-part-150-noise-study
This Part 150 Study, is the beginning of an environmental review of the entire airport called the Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP). And it is a very big deal. In fact, think of it this way: The 2024 SAMP is to the 1996 Third Runway what 2020 COVID was to the Spanish Flu of 1918. That’s not hyperbolic. It has the potential to be really bad. But it’s far enough in the past that it’s possible we won’t take it seriously enough–until it’s too late.
Marina Paid Parking
Paid parking has begun. Or rather, there is a two week free test run starting now. Starting June 3, 2024? Cha-ching! 😀
City Manager Stuff
City Manager’s Report May 17, 2024
There is a good Food Truck list schedule.
Communications Director
There is also full press release on our new Communications Director. I was not as jump for joy as I would like to be because it was as much of a surprise to me as it probably was to you. And this is extremely awkward for me because I want our new Communications Director to succeed and I campaigned hard in 2019 on ‘communication’. But then (and now) I had some pretty clear ideas as to what I meant by ‘communication’.
But the rest of the Council has always had other ideas. The group was/is divided on what ‘communication’ means–otherwise we would not have was… …er… ‘invested’… $75,000 and 18 months on a communications study. Even at our March 7, 2024 Study Session the Council did not have a strong direction for the City Manager.
But to the extent there was direction coming out of that meeting, it was for the Interim City Manager to bring back a list of short term improvements we could make, including inviting various tech providers to present software products that could improve our digital presence. And if a hiring decision were to be made? I think that would have been the way to announce it–not as ‘the solution’, but as the vehicle to address the items on the Council’s list.
So I honestly don’t know what the mission is.
On the other hand, hiring decisions are at the pleasure of the City Manager. But thinking back on how I could’ve improved the City Manager Recruiting Brochure last month, I probably should’ve added a line in there…
“The ideal candidate will take a blood oath to avoid surprises.”
ADU RFI
I need your help. As you may know, we are updating our Comprehensive Plan, which will change City zoning rules for a generation. So far the City has reviewed re-zone opportunities in a couple of neighbourhoods, but not everywhere. I strongly believe in providing more housing flexibility for our residents. A lot more. So: if you’ve been considering putting on an accessory dwelling unit (ADU), or building something like a duplex or any other type of multi-family housing? I want to hear from you. What you’ve done. What you’d like to do. Challenges?
This Week
Wednesday: King County Emergency Management Advisory Committee
Wednesday: Highline Forum This is a group of electeds from the six ‘airport communities’ and Highline Schools that meet four times a year. As I’ve written before, it sprung up in 2005 after the Third Runway. So I think there’s a perception that the discussions have always been a continuation of those negotiations on ‘airport impacts’. But that has never really been the case. It’s mostly about talking about ways that the Port of Seattle can foster economic development or various grant programs. If that sounds like damning with faint praise? Yer not wrong. 😀 The various grants for things like community gardens or apprenticeships are fine. But the net benefit of those efforts for Des Moines has never been very large. It’s actually been something of a distraction away from negotiating.
Saturday: It’s not ‘official’, but Rey Martinez and his crew of close to 100 classic cars should be cruising down Marine View Drive around 5:30pm, as they did in 2021. This should be a total blast!
Last Week
Tuesday: Port of Seattle Commission Meeting. Highlight: a review of Sea-Tac Airport Round Table (StART) 2023. StART was created in 2018 to be kinda the mirror of the Highline Forum–it originally consisted of community members from those same six airport communities. And it was going to meet quarterly to explicitly go over the community impacts of the aiport. Somewhere along the line it kinda got co-opted and my hope is to help shift it back to its original value. The other discussion involved financing for another very large project at the airport (Concourse A) that will increase airport operations. What is interesting (or frightening) is that this is the latest project that is going ahead without a cumulate environmental review.
When you hear me go on about ‘the SAMP’, the key word is ‘cumulative’. The airport is building 30+ projects now on the airfield. Individually they don’t sound bad at all. But together they will increase operations over the next ten years as much as the Third Runway. Normally, a ginormous project like this provokes a huge environmental review (as is happening with the Masonic Home now.) That environmental review is where the community gets to make their concerns known and the project can either be delayed or modified or compensation funds created. But by breaking the SAMP into 30 separate projects, rather than one, it makes it possible to build most of it, and then do an environmental review of each component individually, rather than evaluating the cumulative effect.
One way to think of this: Let’s say you were building a new road through Des Moines. The cumulative effect on the neighbourhood might be fairly large and thus would demand some form of compensation and/or mitigation for people living nearby. OK, but what if you could have the crosswalk, the stop light, the street lights, reviewed individually. By themselves, each of those elements has very little impact on the neighbourhood. It’s only when you put them together that they make ‘a road’ and thus effect everyone living nearby.
That’s what the SAMP environmental review is turning out to be. As it stands today, it’s a way for the Port to build all the components now that together will yield a ton more flights when it all comes together. And not have to account for the cumulative impact on Des Moines when it does.
Friday: Wesley Gardens SR-509 Presentation. I helped organise several people from WSDOT to talk to Wesley residents about the upcoming SR-509 Stage 2 and the place was packed. To my knowledge, this is the first such presentation in Des Moines. I’m hoping we’ll get them to present at City Hall very soon. One small update: the 216th Bridge over I-5 is scheduled for completion this summer!