Weekly Update 12/14/2025

Some bits of business…

About the cover

For this week’s cover image, I added something for all the Seasonal Affective Disorder SAD-nerds out there. Although the shortest day of the year is technically next week, here in the PNW, the time of sunset starts to increase after Thanksgiving. We just don’t notice it because that increase is super-slow–picking up speed after the Super Bowl.

I made this chart perhaps for the same reason governments do them for budget presentations. Even if we can’t feel things are getting better (yet), we have a graph to look at which says so. 😀

Hannukah

On most holidays, I place an image and some little joke. But as has become all too common, today is no joke for Jewish people everywhere. If your family celebrates Hannukah, I hope it is safe and filled with light.

Masonic Home Appeal Denied

Without going into the sad details, the appeal to the City over the Masonic Home demolition permit was denied. This is one of the most challenging aspects of being a low-rent elected. For the appeal to have been successful it would have meant that the City would have been found to have done something very wrong. There was no way to push back on the project; only on the City and its staff. This is a failure of politics as much as process. More than a decade ago, your City Council failed to make it a priority, instead focusing on projects like the Marina Steps and a passenger ferry. Cities only have so much energy. I am sorry I have been unable to do more. Truly. The Masonic Home has always been, literally, my navigation point whenever I’ve returned home to Des Moines.

City Manager Stuff

City Manager Reports – December 12, 2025

This Week

Monday/Tuesday

Meetings w Senator Tina Orwall and Adam Smith’s office on airport legislation. Here is an article concerning one bill about to be signed on Port Package Updates from STNI.

Wednesday

StART last meeting of the year (agenda/signup).

Last Week

Monday

4:00pm Airport Committee The committee seems to be interested in developing a public outreach program? 😀 I was not thrilled with their last meeting so that ’emoji’ was me trying to be light-hearted. How’d I do?

Tuesday

12:00pm Port of Seattle Commission

The Port’s last meeting of the year mentioned Senator Orwall’s proposed legislation. And also seemed to go hard on spending. It’s a funny thing: the current Commission is by far the youngest and most diverse in decades. And yet, it’s approach to airport communities has become increasingly conservative. The concerns and flexibility that seemed to be in play before COVID are now absent. Concerns about paying for the SAMP seem to have taken over.

6:00pm-8:00pm Town Hall Des Moines Elementary School

In case you hadn’t noticed, I tend to be somewhat skeptical of all these sorts of things because they ask what people want rather than what is actually possible. I walked in and was like, “Please no stickers. Please no stickers. Please no stickers!” And of course, there were stickers. 😀

On the plus side, this was the first such Town Hall I’ve seen anywhere outside of the Marina or 216th–and that matters. The ‘center’ of the City is no longer where it was when we incorporated in 1959. Having these events where more people are is important. Turnout was still the same small basic cast of characters that always tend to show up–it will take multiple attempts to draw more people. But credit where credit is due.

That said, the best comment I heard was this: “Why didn’t the Survey ask about the airport?” Why, indeed. It’s the one thing everyone notices when they visit. My guess is that we are all so used to it we don’t even think about making it better. Which is why it hasn’t gotten better. You can’t get if you don’t even think to ask.

Wednesday

Emergency Management Advisory Committee (EMAC) last meeting of the year. The in-person meeting got canceled because the Emergency Operations Center had to be activated because of the flooding! I just want to continue to remind people to sign up for Code Alert.

6:00pm Citizens Advisory Board (Agenda) The main discussion seemed to be about that Town Hall and many of the comments were excellent. I was less thrilled by some comments scolding people on social media who complain about the Town Hall not being convenient or properly advertised or whatever. Here is my scold: Grow a thicker skin.

If the group is going beyond ‘advisory’ into ‘customer service’, never blame the customer. Of course people kvetch. That’s what people do! They will always make unreasonable demands, not be as grateful as you’d prefer, have a bad day. Who. Cares? And it’s always disappointing to hear my colleagues do that. We’re here to serve everybody.

I was also not jazzed about a possible plan I heard concerning placing corporate logos on utility box wraps!? I hope that’s not true. That is public art.

Thursday

6:00pm City Council Regular Meeting – 11 Dec 2025 – Updated (recap below)

Friday

10:30 Flock Camera Security Q&A There have been numerous articles and law suits over the license plate reading cameras. These are not frivolous. However, the police say that the benefits–especially in reducing auto theft–are unquestionable.

I was part of a Zoom call with Harry Steinmetz, Katherine Caffrey and several members of law enforcement, including Tukwila. I did not walk away alarmed, but I remain concerned.

To a large extent Flock’s argument is that “you own your data.” Which strikes me as like how Facebook has strong legal shields by not being a ‘data publisher’. They claim that they only retain data for as long as your city requests it. In our case, 30 days. But I’m not sure that means the data ‘disappears’.  I don’t know what our data retention policy is. What portion of their data can we copy and retain indefinitely?

There is also the question of what they capture. Obviously, the cameras capture a lot more than license plates. They told me that when the image is captured, surrounding people are scrubbed. OK, buthat about other identifying objects?

There should be rules. The problem is: a lot of people don’t care about privacy. In the case of social media and shopping, people gave up their personal data years ago. And in the case of public safety, a lot of people will say that any mention of ‘privacy’ sounds anti-public safety. For them, data should be retained forever–just in case.

There seems to be a bill being shopped in Olympia to set firm limits on data retention for all public safety agencies–including ours. I can imagine the arguments. However, if our policy is 30 days, I would have no problem with a law saying the same thing.

City Council December 11, 2025

Last meeting of the year and the current Council–the 412th since the incorporation of our fine City. 😀 No, actually I think it’s 35th.

Public Comment

There were two comments concerning Flock (see above) and also several to congratulate Traci Buxton and Matt Mahoney for their service, notably Senator Tina Orwall and former Mayor (and now Port legislative liaison) Dave Kaplan.

City Manager Caffrey made a speech and handed out award pieces to them both, sort of like the Spirit of Des Moines pieces we used to do.

Consent Agenda: Many of the items were very substantial, but may have seemed anti-climactic since they were voted on together. For details check last week. They included the restoration of a (slimmed down) Animal Control contract with Burien Cares, and the re-instatement of the Public Planning Commission.

We approved the second year of our first biennial budget. As I wrote last week, I am not happy with the reporting, and said so, because it does not adequately convey our poor long term outlook.

Wesley Terrace Redevelopment Over the past decade, the campus has slowly but steadily expanding. This next phase concerns some of the oldest portions along the north side of 216th St. known as The Terrace. It goes back a lot further than many people realise and will interact with Des Moines Creek so I asked a lot of questions about environmental issues–trees, wetlands, etc. All that said, the Gardens buildings (on the west side) have turned out smashing, so I look forward to this next phase being just as cool.

Port of Seattle Economic Development Grant/Dan Eernissee, Economic Development Consulting: (1-6) Some of you remember Mr. Eernissee was a finalist for the job of City Manager in 2024. This year he is back as a consultant to do a ferry economic benefits study which has now expanded into a city-wide economic development study. Am I thrilled at any of that? No. Which is why I voted against both items. None of the two previous Port ‘economic development grants’ turned out well. One was for a ferry. Every independent study has made clear that this is a terrible idea. So hiring another paid-consultant to study that is just another way to resurrect the same insane idea.

The other grant involved building a hotel at the Marina.

Maybe third time’s the charm. But Mr. Eernissee used Wesley as an example of economic development. I hope someone reminds him that all their properties are tax-exempt.

Valedictory

First, Councilmember Matt Mahoney and then Mayor Traci Buxton made farewell remarks after eight years on the Council.

Mahoney read a lengthy speech in which he took the high road. Not. 😀 Sorry. I would not have written anything except that he remained consistent in his feeling that ‘some’ are constantly spreading misinformation. If so, he certainly contributed his share. What I tried to say to him a long time ago is this: Many people seriously disagreed with most of your agenda. But in spite of that, you accomplished a lot. Nobody likes a sore winner. Be gracious.

Ms. Buxton was far more brief–and gracious. It is unfortunate that she chose to conclude her remarks with a Christian prayer. I did not wish to rain on her parade, but I thought that completely inappropriate. And if City staff had advance notice, I would find that very concerning.

The SAMP: Plan B

Over Tnanksgiving I wrote the essay Pay, value, the SAMP, and the future. Over the past two weeks I’ve published the first two excerpts–my opposition to pay increases for City Council and then my opposition to a very large pay increase for the City Manager. Here is the last third–the airport expansion (the SAMP) and our City Manager’s pivotal role in that successful (or not successful) outcome.

During the SAMP ILA discussion, Councilmember Mahoney definitely got one detail right (perhaps due to his participation in the PSRC.) 1994.

1994 was by no means the beginning or end of the Third Runway war. But that was the year every regional government came together at the Puget Sound Regional Council to abandon any search for a second airport – despite having identified three potential sites.

Unfortunately, even in 1994, opposition to the Third Runway was already so all-or-nothing, none of the communities paid attention to the absolutely crap mitigation plan offered at the same time–the consolation prize you may know of as ‘Port Packages’. Beyond that? There was never any real Plan B — ie. what we should get if we can’t stop the Third Runway.

Highline Schools came away with $150,000,000 in construction money from the Port/FAA. If you appreciate any of the new schools built since then, you have that conflict–and your City’s legal fees, in part, to thank for it.

Des Moines, Burien and Normandy Park ended up footing the bill for massive, mostly ineffective, legal challenges. But almost as a side note, did obtain a huge win in terms of water quality improvements, which the Port (falsely) claims as some heart-of-gold effort. That was us. And if you enjoy any portion of the Des Moines Creek Trail, or clean drinking water, or salmon recovery, give your City a pat on the back.

SeaTac, in contrast, refused to fight, and thus obtained yet one more of a long series of ongoing and ever-increasing paydays. And also obtained all those environment benefits. For free.

In a better world, one could have imagined obtaining the same environmental benefits, at far less cost, and getting paid. If we had gone down that road, this City would now be much different. At the time, we had a City Manager who considered that–having a real Plan B. But as so often happens with politics, they got canned.

If you think cockamamie ideas like having a self-funded ferry are anything new? Let me tell you about former Mayor Don Wasson, whose Council did the aforementioned canning. Personally, I liked Don. But his idea was to build a conveyor to move contaminated fill-dirt, barged in Vashon Island, from the Beach Park up to 200th. He thought that, rather than ‘fight’ the Port, helping to build the Third Runway would be the real pay day for Des Moines.

We have a history of small-town blindness and all-or-nothing thinking. Even when the Des Moines Creek Business Park opened, we were so thrilled to get something, we neglected to obtain the taxes we should have had. Fortunately, the now defunct Finance Committee (you’re welcome) proposed that six months before our new City Manager arrived. And in its first year (2025) it will bring in $515,000. I cannot imagine how any new City Manager could ask for any raise had that not happened. It’s good to be lucky.

Our former city manager/economic development genius missed that one. Perhaps because he (and the Council) focused all their energies on the miracles of self-funded ferries and Steps. But…if we had thunk of that in 2016, we’d have generated over $3,000,000 as of today. I came across it because I am constantly attending various regional meetings about the airport (for which I get nothing.) Warehouses in Kent and Auburn are one of many essential pieces in the airport eco-system. That wasn’t luck. One way or another, everything has to do with the airport.

We can do much better. But we need leadership that actually pays that attention — to what was always possible — even if the Council doesn’t.

Unfortunately, the SAMP ILA discussion before that Executive Session was terrible. To date we’ve shown none of the proper concerns we should for this once in a generation opportunity. Currently we are phoning it in. Checking a box.

My hope is that, now armed with a fresh sense of financial security (and appreciation), the City Manager will do better in 2026.

But not to end too harshly, the SAMP ILA discussion in Burien was even worse. Oy. They didn’t even know Normandy Park had dropped out when they voted! Awkward. 😀

Who did have the better discussion? Why SeaTac. Of course. And I strongly encourage readers to follow STNI for their excellent coverage of all three cities on this.

And from there, in the category of ‘irony of the week’, comes a comment from SeaTac Councilmember James Lovell. His concern seemed to be that… wait for it… by backing out of the ILA, Normandy Park might end up free riding on any benefits SeaTac might obtain in challenging the SAMP.

Perish the thought. 😀

If you care about the health and financial futures of Des Moines, I hope you will encourage the City Manager to make 2026 about  the SAMP. Again, do not listen to what anyone says. What we’ve done on airport issues for the past 20 years has always been lip service — including last Thursday. Currently, we don’t know how to succeed.

But a truly great CEO can learn — break through that sludge and get us where we’ve always needed to go.

Doing something really meaningful — what our City has always deserved — about the SAMP would be utterly transformative for all of Des Moines. That should be the ‘resume builder’ of a career — and hopefully  the 2026 Annual Performance Review.

¹Same year as the Masonic Home came on the market, if memory serves?