Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit drinking…

Sorry for another post so quickly. As I said before, I’m still figuring this out: should I post about stuff I did or stuff that’s coming up?

Frankly, I had hoped to to take it easy after the election and get organisi-ised, but unfortunately, November tends to be the busiest time of the year for many governments: budgets, events. So it’ NUTS.

OK, this morning I attended the monthly SCATbd Meeting. SCATbd (pronounced skate-board) is a regional group of South King County Cities and the Port, which discusses anything ‘transportation’ related–from those little commuter shuttle buses right up to Sea-Tac Airport. If you have any desires, concerns about everything from transit for disabled people, bike lanes, ST3, a second airport, whatever, this is the place to go. 9AM third Tuesday of every month at SeaTac City Hall.

At noon was a Port Of Seattle Commission Meeting. They approved their 2020 budget and their Property Tax Levy (which you find on your taxes–more on that soon!) and also they approved a large series of environmental clean-up programs for South Park and Georgetown which could be models for helping our City with airport impacts. And finally, they approved the first two new noise monitors in 20 years–on Vashon Island. As a budding politician I can take partial credit for this as their whole new system for providing public data on noise events came about because of work that SeatacNoise.Info did three years ago.

At 4:30pm today there is a ‘joint meeting’ of the Des Moines Airport Committee and the Burien Airport Committee at the Beach Park at 4:30pm. For those of you who care about the noise/pollution, this is a very good thing to follow. I don’t have time to get into it now, but we have not been doing a good job on this stuff and I will need your help to make changes.

Tomorrow, there is a Stakeholders Meeting run by your State Rep. Tina Orwall for people with Port Packages. This is a thing that my organisation SeatacNoise.Info started and it has the potential to get some money for everyone with damaged sound insulation. I hope it expands into something good for all of Des Moines–but one step at a time.

Also tomorrow is a meeting of the Highline Forum, which meets every 2 months. It’s attended by the Port Of Seattle and City Councils from the six airport communities.

There is also a meeting for Reach Out Des Moines, a group which attempts to provide a bunch of services for kids in the area and help reduce teenage crime and violence. They do great things in our schools including YETI. Ahhhhhhhh! I DON”T HAVE ENOUGH TIME FOR ALL THE LINKS! GOOGLE IT! 😀

And still on Wednesday, and still at the Beach Park will be a City meeting to discuss ‘SR3’, the plan to host some sort of sealion recovery program at our Marina. I have no idea what this is all about so I’ll be as curious as you what to think. https://www.sealifer3.org

And on Thursday at 7PM there will be the regular Des Moines City Council Meeting. There are a whole bunch of procedural changes, which were designed specifically to be not too friendly to us new Councilmembers. So I will have public comment on that.

Somewhere in there are meetings with current Councilmember Traci Buxon (so far the only current member who has welcomed me) and incoming member Anthony Martinelli. And there are more salmon to count. (Won’t they ever stop? :D)

Call or email if any of this interests you and I’ll get you more details. BUT NOT NOW. I’m late for another meeting!

Get vaccinated! Yeah I know you’d like to forget about it, but there are new variants and the infection rate is climbing. Fortunately, there is an effective booster, which is recommended for people 65 and older and those who are immuno-compromised. It is available now, effective, free and you can get your appointment today here and here , including walk-Ins at SAFEWAY, Walgreen’s, Rite-Aid, SeaMar and Healthpoint.

Sign up for the King County Code Red Alert program. When you sign up for Code Red you’ll be notified immediately when there is a possible health threat. After the recent ‘Boil Water Notice’ I received just a few grouses that ‘it did not work’. I’m 99% certain that the problem is that you have to actually sign up for an account. Do It! There is this ‘guest’ option which is stupid and should not even be an option. Everyone who had an account in their system was notified. If you’re like me and signed up ten years ago (after the last notification), go to the site immediately and verify your account. Ten years is a long time for any computer system.
Check out the 223rd Green Street Project web site and take the 223rd Green Street Survey before December 11th!
Check out the Des Moines Marina Steps web site and take the Marina Steps Survey.
If you’re interested in any of our Kids or Senior activities, you can sign up here.
Learn more about our Comprehensive Plan and take the Housing Action Plan Survey.
Take the City Communication and Engagement Survey
Give blood! Schedule an appointment today. There is a CODE RED emergency shortage.
Masonic Home! There is a petition for those who are interested in historic preservation of the property. If you have questions, don’t contact me. Contact Barbara McMichael and Lloyd Lytle Jr
Community Service Officer Tonya Seaberry wants to hear from neighborhood groups interested in establishing block watch programs: Tseaberry@desmoineswa.gov or 206-878-3301.
City Of Des Moines Minor Home Repair Program: Low to moderate income households can get grants to do all sorts of necessary repairs. Email Tina Hickey (206) 870-6535.
Every home should have a Carbon Monoxide Detector–especially during the colder months! Full stop. If you need one but money is tight, South King County Fire And Rescue will get you one. Just call their Community Affairs Office at 253-946-7347.
And last, but not least: If your home has Port Package (sound insulation system) that is having issues, please go to SeatacNoise.Info

How to attend meetings and provide Public Comment

City Council Meetings are scheduled for Thursdays at 6:00PM at City Hall 21630 11th Avenue S., Suite #C Des Moines WA 98198. They can also be viewed live on Comcast Channel 21/321 or on the City’s YouTube channel. Committee Meetings are either at 4:00PM or 5:00PM, also on Thursdays.

You do not have to sign in to attend a meeting!
The sign-in sheet is only for people wishing to make a Public Comment.

There are three ways to provide Public Comment:

In person: Show up a few minutes before the meeting and sign the sheet. Public Comment is usually conducted at the beginning of the meeting.
By e-mail: All e-mails sent to citycouncil@desmoineswa.gov are considered public comment. They are instantly available to all members of the City Council and the City Clerk who includes them into the record of public comments at the next meeting.
By US Mail: Attn: City Clerk Office, 21630 11th Avenue S., Des Moines WA 98198 no later than 4:00 p.m. day of the meeting. Please provide us with your first and last name and the city in which you live.

All letters or e-mails requesting a specific action are referred by the City Clerk to the appropriate City department.

If you would like a follow up from me, personally please indicate that or call me (206) 878-0578.

The Clerk does not read e-mails to the Council in full; only the subject line. However, we do see them as soon as you send them. Your comments are added to the Agenda Packet available on the City web site following each meeting.

How to view public comments, correspondence and meeting materials

The City publishes a meeting agenda on the Friday (six days) before city council meetings. On the day after the meeting (Friday) the City updates that same file with all the slide presentations, the correspondence, and a list of the people who signed up to give public comment at the meeting. Currently, there is no button on the web site that says Show me the meeting comments for xx/xx/xxxx. You just have to know that this is the procedure. Below is a recipe to get you there.

Go to www.desmoineswa.gov
Once there, hover over Your Government and then click Council Meeting Center. (Or, you can skip Step #1 and just click on Council Meeting Center.)
Select the meeting date you’re interested in from the Schedule Of Meetings calendar.
Click on Regular Meeting for the meeting date you want. In this case, December 1, 2022.
Click the Agenda Packet link under “Print Verson”.
You can also select a meeting using the list near the top. You can also use the left and right arrows to select older meetings.
Once the agenda packet loads, there are two links we’re interested in:
- Correspondence to view all e-mails received by the City Council since the last meeting.
- Comments From The Public to view a list of the people who spoke in-person at the meeting.

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