Marina Redevelopment Meeting Postgame

These are initial ramblings about the September 27 Community Meeting on Marina Redevelopment. I am 99% certain of what I’m saying and I will have more to offer as my thoughts sort of congeal.

[09/28 AM]  After some sleep I am 100% certain of what I wrote. Thanks for the initial support. I tried to record the thing and will post a transcript asap.

[09/28 PM] Here is the City’s post game. It contains the Mayor’s slides and the slides from Skylab (the architect.)

[09/28 PM] Here is my cell-phone audio and the machine-generated transcript.

• There was a talk with a ton of new information given by the architect from Skylabs in Portland. It came with two sets of slides, one for the architect and one for Mayor Mahoney. Which means it was prepared in advance.
• But there was no recording. And not even a microphone. I heard many complaints that people could not hear. If I had known, I would’ve:
  • Brought a cordless mic and a PA from my house
  • Asked former Mayor Pina (local musician) to bring a cordless mic and PA from his house or…
  • Driven to the nearest toy store and bought a Mr. Mike so that all these senior citizens could hear properly.
  • And this was despite the fact that the Council voted to fund my Marina Redevelopment Town Hall Proposal at our 2021 ARPA Spending Meeting for just this purpose. Since our staff are not paid O/T, we probably spent about $25.50 on this event (the cost of the donut tray.) OK, maybe that was unfair. The seven posters probably cost another $100.
• The reason Skylab was there and not the developer we chose back in January was because this is, to a very large extent, a reset. The whole concept has changed dramatically. I mean dramatically. Hoo boy.
• The Mayor took about 5-6 questions for about 15 minutes and basically dodged everything. The first resident asked three really good questions, but the Mayor only took the first, which was “How are we going to pay for all this?” And the mask is off on funding.
  • Once again, my guess would be that we would try to get the State to pay for part of it, the ‘public’ part… ie. the 223rd Steps.
  • The hope (cough ‘demand’) is that the Port should pay for that ‘private development’. That has always been the dream since before Kaplan. And it is the nightmare. Every Port development project in DM has been a disaster for Des Moines. But that is their notion of (cough) ‘mitigation’, ie. Port money to fund some cockamamie private development–like the Des Moines Creek Business Park (DMCBP.)  The Port will happily give us some dough to do some Stairs with ‘bioswales’. Just as they were thrilled to give us some one-time money for the DMCBP, which they lease out for millions now every year. They get paid, we get no relief from the planes. When people complain about ‘the evil Port’, it’s often not their fault. We ask them for things like this!
• The first ‘new’ project will be the 223 Stairs–the only one that pretty much everyone agrees on (including moi, with caveats.)
• There was no discussion of the ‘Adaptive Purpose Building’ (APB) but it’s still game on. Where else will SR3, Farmers Market, Harbormaster’s office and dry stack have to go? (See below.) But as to what/how it generates money? Who knows.
• The hotel is the main part of the reset. The Parcel A concept is gone.
  • 90 rooms and located in the north parking lot, nowhere near where we voted for it.
  • But a parking structure that will increase the net parking 56 extra parking spaces, depending on who was talking.
  • The original developer is gone. Or at least the RFQ?
• The Harbormaster’s House would go away.
• There was no discussion of the ferry’s performance, except to say that it is considered a given that it will continue. Our ferry consultant gave me three reasons why the ferry is a success:
  • People love it.
  • He believes it will be a ‘gamechanger’ in drawing investment to the City.
  • He insisted that restaurants were enjoying increased business. I’ve seen no stats, but I have heard from several that exactly the opposite.
• There was no discussion of dry stack, which is the only genuine revenue driver in these broader proposals, but is also a ‘no fun’ item.
• There was no discussion of the boat hoist.
• There was no discussion of traffic flows, gates or any of the stuff current residents care about.
• In fact, there was no discussion of the one thing that all this was supposed to be about: replacing the docks. And they will still cost $50,000,000.
• There was no discussing why. Why do we need to do this? Who wants a hotel? Specifically, what will it do for Des Moines?

 

• PS: there was a question about ‘crying seals’. Here’s the deal. The seal tanks at SR3 are open to the sky. You don’t see it on their home movies, but the seals make noise. Sometimes a lot. You can can call it crying, howling, whatever. But if you live in the condos opposite you hear it and you smell it. And it can be really disconcerting–especially at 3AM. I’ve witnessed this for myself and these people are not exaggerating. You can’t just dismiss them as ‘animal haters’ or nimbys.Another meeting that was not recorded was the initial rollout of SR3 at the Beach Park Auditorium. The vast majority of people at that meeting did not want SR3 on the Marina floor to begin with and neither did I for many reasons (including the fact you can’t even see what I’m talking about.)But once it was seen as a ‘done deal’, basically everybody got on board and those against the relocation were branded as seal haters and complainers. That was totally unfair.But guess what? After much (cough) ‘lobbying’, the City now agrees and keeps reassuring everybody that SR3 will be moving–probably into that spanking new  $2MM APB!

Analysis

• The only money makers we’ve ever had at the Marina have been 100% public projects, like the Beach Park renovations and the Marina itself.
• This is DMCBP again. It is the Four Points Hotel again. It is a private development sold as a game changer.
• There was no discussing why. Why do we need to do this?

I walked away thinking about a comment I have heard from more than one boat owner and member of our community:

“Hey, we all know it’s a sham. But so what?
In 10 years, one way or another, we won’t be here.”

That is exactly right. The people in that room will not be here in 10 years–and that is when all the pain points begin.