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Economic Development, TransparencyBetter City Council Meetings, Budget, Finance

Proposed Budget Amendments 2021

Submitted to Councilmembers as “information only” November 13, 2021

Fellow Councilmembers,

At Thursday’s meeting I will present the following six budget amendment items, most of whichh I have already discussed with Beth Anne and Dan Brewer on November 4. They total $41,204. $5,000 of which is a one-time expense and the remaining $36,204 to be considered as expenses that would become structural. At least one of these items will require a vote of the Council (item #2) and at least one other will require a resolution to provide a legal framework (item #4). Obviously, if those items do not get an affirmative vote the money would be returned to the general fund.

Since the total amount is relatively small, I would not anticipate that these would have any impact on our reserve. Broadly speaking, all these items appear to fall within the Finance or City Manager’s Administrative budgets so obviously the hope is that ways might be found to make room without too much hardship to other needed programs.

My hope is also that most of these are relatively easy to say ‘yes’ to since all these have precedents in other cities (eg. SeaTac has a subscription system Item #3… and all our sister cities except Normandy Park now have some form of ‘digital media consultant’… Item #6.) But if you have specific information-only requests, please let me know how I can help give you the answers you need.

1. Attached is an application for the City to re-join National League Of Cities. The annual cost is $2,004. If you haven’t looked at them recently, please do. My individual interest is that they are the nexus of all FAA-related legislation. They have graciously allowed me to audit some of their meetings with FAA and congressmen and a lot of what is proposed does not take into account the unique nature of the Port Of Seattle (not accountable to City or County.) We need to be at that table if only for that reason alone. They also offer some amazing classes on everything from infrastructure to budgeting. Some of this is light years ahead of AWC.

2. I propose that we join with the King County – Cities Climate Collaboration (K4C). This requires an inter-local agreement (see attachment). The annual cost is $1,200. Here is a presentation describing the program and there is a short video here. The main benefit is, in some ways, similar to Sound Cities Association. They put forward an idea is to have a shared agenda on climate-related legislation that will benefit our City and help us identify climate-related grant opportunities. Some of this we are already doing (Greener Cities with Forterra/PoS) but some of this is money we’re surely leaving on the table. Some of the grants have involved improving public buildings to LEED standards, solar panels, street lighting. I’m sure with all our various water and forest systems we can find many opportunities. As anotherr example, as the summers get hotter we should be looking for opportunities to help residents find options to help keep their living spaces cooler. This discussion becomes even more important as aviation traffic increases and more homes have some form of sound insulation–we have to make that issue part of the climate agenda.

3. I would like to provide a maximum $1,000 annual fund for shared digital subscriptions available to CMs for key publications. Other Cities do this by getting a print subscription which is available to visitors in the lobby and then the digital subscription credentials which are only shared with the Council. I’m sure there are others, but my initial suggestions would be:

Seattle Times

Everett Herald

Federal Way Mirror

Puget Sound Business Journal

Daily Journal Of Commerce

4. I would like to provide a $7,000 annual travel budget for CMs of $1,000 per CM. I’d like each CM to spend that however they choose (so long as it is an obvious Council-related item). This is at least partially necessary because various organisations (such as NLC and AWC) hold conferences that the City pays for but the travel expenses are currently not. There are also special interest conferences (eg. aviation, marina, building trades, etc.) that I found very useful in the past year.

Expenses to be limited to receipts for airfare, fuel, hotel, food and only for the CMs

CMs would submit their expenses quarterly to be included as an item of a Council Meeting Consent Agenda with the title Travel Expenses

If the Travel Expense item is pulled from the Consent Agenda, any individual reimbursement could then be denied, but that denial would need to affirmed by a unanimous vote of the Council

Approved items to be paid at the following check run

5. I propose budgeting $5,000 one-time for hybrid conferencing equipment in the North Conference Room. Recorded Committee Meetings have become popular and we should maintain that practice after the State of Emergency is lifted. Budgeting the money moves that process forward. I have been assured that there are no technical limitations. I have asked MRSC and they see no legal issues, but I would defer to our attorney of course because there is at least the -expectation- that on public meting video each speaker is targeted. The $5,000 is a guesstimate and is probably too high. It is based on estimates I’ve seen for providing hybrid conferencing for hotel conference rooms–where there is no such guaranteed speaker-targeting.

6. I propose investing $25,000 for the City web site. Nothing is permanent in life, but my thinking is that this amount should be considered structural and not a one-time expense. We should start budgeting for a robust and ongoing digital presence–meaning communications and outreach–and that includes schools, businesses, faith and senior communities. -We- have to start finding ways to make them all aware of each other’s activities and connect them. We should especially give some marketing assists to extend the reach of our retail businesses.

A. Functionally, the #1 priority is Search. It’s terribly broken and it matters not just to find a Council meeting or Animal Control. It’s the key to public engagement on -anything-… and not just on the site. Any Des Moines-related search term across all our domains (beach park rental, marina) has to rank properly in Google. Everyone who wants to find -anything- we do needs us to be the first thing they see on their phone. Since we’re small we have to be -better- at this than other cities.

(However, the new Council Meeting Center has a very thorough search (but apparently limited to council meeting agendas?), but it’s buried down 3-4 links.)

B. There’s all these other things having to do with usability for people with various disabilities. And that includes how we look on various phones and tablets–which is the primary way people reach us now. Given our demographic, it is unconscionable to me that we aren’t better on this. There are add-ons that Civic-Web offer to deal with this.

C. Along the same lines, we need to develop a mechanism for accommodating at least Spanish, Vietnamese and Somali/Amharic… especially when it comes to major press releases.

D. There is content that desperately needs to be updated. We need stories and imagery that match our diverse community and are relevant to -today-. Attached is a screen cap of the home page of our web site as it looked in 2014. I would argue that this version was more appealing. Now one might argue that it is the underlying functionality that matters most. But the visuals are not nothing. We use buzzy phrases all the time about ‘racism’ and ‘inclusion’ and ‘business friendly’. OK, we can do something meaningful with all that -now- simply by telling visual stories about our residents, our business successes. The 2014 version was basically just ‘colourful’ But there is a reason Instagram took over the planet. It really -does- tell stories… and everyone under 45 responds to that.

E. CivicWeb offers tools to do push content to phones–including the kinds of surveys we hired out for the PRSS Update. This is a carrot we can use for everything from billing reminders to calendar invites to emergency notifications. Eg. we offer residents the the ability to get Council Meeting Calendar Invites on their phone as the incentive to get them to sign up for the Code Red Emergency Notification system. This crosses cultural barriers. People who do not speak English -do- have an Android phone. We get their phone number for any number of small services they find useful and then we can start engaging with them on an ongoing basis for emergencies, public engagement, etc. Our highest priority must be: mobile first.

E. With all that, the key challenge with our web site is human: one-time vs. ongoing labour. We should automate as much of the content generation and syndication as possible with the goal of reducing ongoing staff time. Eg. there should be a mechanism to post a press release on the site and have it automatically syndicated to every social media account. Same with the calendars and any number of ‘busy work’ documents. Law offices and newspapers have been automating this process for decades. We’re doing this with the new accounting system–reducing duplicative entry. Again, CivicWeb already has options to help.

F. But after all that one-time effort at process improvement, there is probably too much ‘stuff’ to be done to provide all the timely content necessary for the community. Again, this is nothing to do with current staff. It’s just that the site requires both a TON of ‘busywork’ -and- fresh content generation to connect with businesses and residents. So part of this process should be evaluating the need for an-call service to provide for content generation and maintenance–just as we now do for specialised engineering services like Excel-Tech. There are firms that provide a pool of talent for everything from graphics, animations and videos to specialised press releases. We should identify the right partner and start building a trusted long term relationship. We already allocated money for the Marina Redevelopment Tour at our ARPA Stimulus meeting so this could tie into that discussion.

Thanks for your consideration.

—JC

Engagement, Marina, Transparency

Reject all three

1 Comment

The central premise of the Marina Redevelopment (land side) has always been that 223rd Ave should be brought down to the Marina Floor in some way. The current plan is to have a set of windy Steps that switch back and forth in front of the South Shores Condo. OK, that part -could- be great.

But for reasons passing (my) understand that is not where we are starting.

At our November 18 City Council Meeting, we will choose a developer to do ‘something’ with this parcel on Dock Ave. Here is pg 187 from that packet (extracted from the MarinaSteps web site, but the entire RFQ is in the packet.)

Which is basically at the foot of 223rd in that empty area to the south of Cliff House and to the north of the where the Steps will go.

We’re voting on a developer, not a plan

We’re not voting on a ‘plan’ we’re voting on a company.The way this works is that we specify some constraints (the proposal says we do not want any more residential, but we’d kinda/sorta like a ’boutique hotel’. Once we choose the developer it is their call from that point. I cannot emphasise that enough. We choose the developer, give them our desires, but then we give up control.

My challenges in not screaming begin with:

The Council got this information at 4PM last Friday. We’re making this decision with literally 5.5 days of prep.
Please look at our agenda. https://www.desmoineswa.gov/common/pages/DisplayFile.aspx…. We reached out to 2,500 firms. What you see in that packet is everything the Council has to go on in making this choice.
Now, we’re (cough) ‘selecting’ from three possible suitors which were whittled down by our senior staff over a two week period.
Look at pg 187 of the packet. There is an averaged scoring system. The preferred option is 91. The other two are 43 and 39. So the winner is an A- and the other two are ABJECT FAILURE. Outreach to 2,500 firms. Three responses that are worth presenting to Council but only one passing grade? Go back and re-take the test.
Remember: we are selling off a piece of the most valuable piece of real estate in the entire City. We will -never- control that property again. And -whatever- we put there will become one of the most VISIBLE things people see when they visit DM. Forever. And if we vote as the City prefers, that Independence Hotel is kinda/sorta what it will be.

The epic view

Back up for a sec. Here’s the thing. I just suck. I’ve lived here 27 years now and in allllllllllllllllll that time, it never occurred to me to take a single (I -struggle with how people find profanity annoying here ) picture of the Masonic Home from the water—the image I absolutely -live- for. And Google sucks too by the way because I can’t find any other shot like that on the entire WWW.

So… I need you to use your IMAGINATION!

It’s 6AM, you’re on a boat at the centre line of Puget Sound heading in from Point Robinson. That means you’re looking at a) the sun b) Mighty Mt. Rainier c) the Masonic Home.

That is your view heading southeast into the Des Moines Marina. That, my friend, is epic. That should be the standard for any development.

The skyline

In fact, that is our skyline. All great cities have a great skyline. Seriously. As you view any great city from the water it looks memorable. Think about Seattle. Or New York. Or, hell, even rusted out Detroit:

And that is what we want the Marina to be for the next 50 years. Any person who is on the water, heading into the Marina should see something totally magnificent as they head into the Des Moines Marina on that fancy schmancy ‘ferry’. Not a serviceably nice hotel. TOTALLY EPIC.

Remember my Google Search? There are almost no images of the Des Moines Marina from the water. Here is one that must be from before 2011 when the renovations were done.

I find that a bit odd. We’re the ‘Waterland City’ but obviously, we don’t think of it like that. If we really want to be a ‘destination’, we must demand a stunning view from the water.

Now, you think I’m overdoing it? As I’ve stated before, if you haven’t done so recently, go by Parkside Elementary School at 247th and 21st. Built by TCF in the 2010. It is beautiful, practical architecture. And that’s ‘just’ a public school! (Hell, I’d like to know if TCF made a proposal!)

There is simply no reason to accept anything less than classic for any development on the Marina. So we should be patient.

The train has left the station?

My colleagues and their supporters (like the Des Moines Marina Association) will acknowledge various ‘challenges’ with every aspect of the Marina Redevelopment. But whenever one asks about anything the reply tends to be ‘the train has already left the station.’ As if there is some law of physics that prevents us from stopping that ‘train’ at any time to make adjustments as necessary. Another metaphor that comes to mind is that notion of the shark: it must keep moving or it will die. That is simply untrue.

I understand the desire to “get ‘er done” after all these years of frustration. But this is not the best we can do. We are literally selecting from one legitimate choice on five days notice and with no opportunity to interview the developer and follow up before choosing. That alone is irresponsible. We should be patient, put out another RFQ and wait for the right choice. There is absolutely no reason to rush this.

Please take action

Please attend this meeting via Zoom. Please make public comment. https://www.desmoineswa.gov/cms/One.aspx… Please write the City Council at citycouncil@desmoineswa.gov.

However you do it, please tell the Council to reject all three current proposals . That will tell the City to offer a new RFQ , be patient and obtain the right proposal. We only get one chance. And there’s no reason to settle for anything less than epic.

PS: Speaking of which, it’s always a good day to show off the wonderfulness of the Masonic Home: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2MXFaLFkSM

Engagement, Transparency, Weekly Updates

Weekly Update: 11/07/2021

5 Comments

Public Service Announcements

This Week

Monday: SR509 briefing with WSDOT. I’m expecting some graphics detailing how it will affect Blueberry Lane, Des Moines Creek Trail and the bridge over 216th. What’s also pretty keen is that WSDOT will be creating a 1.8 mile bike lane as part of the Lake To Sound Trail and redoing the kinda ‘hidden trail’ from Kent Des Moines Road to 223rd. On a side note: the project will include several roundabouts. I’ve been advocating for these in Des Moines for a while (like 200th and Des Moines Memorial Drive would’ve been ideal.) I’m hopeful that once people see how useful they are, we’ll be more open to using them in Des Moines.

Tuesday: Maritime High School Grand Opening!

Wednesday: Des Moines Marina Association Meeting

Thursday: Des Moines Memorial Drive Preservation Association 100th Anniversary, 11:00AM at Sunnydale School in Burien

Last Week

Wednesday: Salmon Counting at McSorley Creek with Trout Unlimited and Friends Of Saltwater State Park. We saw six salmon!!!!!!!!!

Thursday: Budget Meeting with Finance Director Beth Anne Wroe and COO Dan Brewer. So, this was great in the sense that it was the first one-on-one I’ve had with any staff since about March of 2020. And second of all, well, it was good to get some feedback on at least one tension–that darned web site.

Thursday: Public Safety Committee Meeting (Agenda) The Guild is still negotiation on the body camera policy. There was a really good presentation by Code Enforcement Officer Kory Batterman. He is just raking in the dough. I bore people with the story of my first City Council Meeting about Code Enforcement and I am a big fan. But since 2009 I have changed my tune a bit. Good neighbourhoods shouldn’t need much Code Enforcement. And you can’t create a good neighbourhood just by fining people. So hopefully the big collections are just a part of COVID and not the start of a trend.

Thursday: City Council Meeting (Agenda) (Video) The biggies were:

Public Comment by Selena and Betty Taylor, the mother and grandmother of one of the victims of the La Familia Restaurant homicides last month. They announced their intention to to work on violence prevention programs. I mentioned in my comments how my family had also been damaged by a repeat offender. We have been in touch since and I hope to help them in their efforts.
Censure of Councilmember Martinelli. See below.
2022-2027 Parks, Recreation and Senior Services Master Plan Update. See below.
Surface Water Management (SWM) Comprehensive Plan rate update. This is 99% of the work of the Environment Committee. We voted on a rate increase which averages $.079/month and extends the work plan from 2026 to 2029. I was not a fan. As I wrote before, I would have preferred the more expensive plan (a whopping $2/month!) but keep to the 2026 schedule.

There’s a point in there somewhere

Every elected has this dance with ‘the corporation’. You’re supposed to be ‘oversight’ of the corporation, but they actually run things. They have no earthly reason to want or need your help or insight on a gosh darned thing. Their task is to tolerate you with as little friction as possible so they can get back to doing some real work. (OK, that was my approach when I was on the other side of the fence. 😀 )

But as a low-rent elected one does have to try to find out what’s going on, if for no other reason so that you can understand what is possible legislatively.

My career… one long bitchfest…

This blog, which seems so (cough) ‘controversial’ is basically how I lived out my professional life– one big, unemotional confrontation. You’re constantly debating ideas every day when you’re developing products. And then? The beta test program! Hundreds of outsiders constantly sending you bugs. Just bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch, bitch, BITCH. 😀

And then you have drinks. 🙂

The entire process (up until the drinking) is completely open. Really open. And it’s based on the notion that everything you’re saying is constructive. I guess some of you might say that it requires a thick skin, but I would beg to differ. I always found it very safe because regardless of the volume in the room, everyone assumes that every word is not an insult or an indictment of one’s abilities; it’s just trying to get to a good result. And in fact, in many engineering discussion groups “thank yous” and “I appreciate yous” are frowned upon. No one is even thinking about how people “feel”. You just assume everyone is fine. Really. No, really.

It took me a long time to figure out that all the “thank yous” and “I appreciate yous” in politics are not an irritating waste of time. In fact, they’re kinda necessary. Because there is not that implicit trust–at least, not in Des Moines. 😀 Politics is not business.

Circling back to that meeting with the Finance Director and COO, we talked a bit about the web site. And what was great was that they told me they have felt picked on. I love that stuff. I wish they had been even harsher. Of course, the problems I’m upset about are real, but my concerns are never about ‘blame’ or ‘shame’. It’s just about correcting the problems.

Virtual Community Center

This is the web site as it existed in 2014. I think it’s a bit more colourful, but under the hood it is quite similar to what we have now. And that’s my first beef. We went through all this meshegoss in 2021 for what?

But… the new site does have a Council Meeting Center gizmo, which is a big deal. It’s the same system used by Burien. But it’s not out front. And it should be. Now. It has a search system that is an order of magnitude better, a calendar and links to all the videos, agendas, etc.

Beyond that, part of the problem is that I refer to all this as ‘the web site’. In my world, we’d actually call it a ‘digital presence’, but if I use that term nobody knows WTF I’m talking about.

Part of it is that we do not have a community center and we desperately need one. But we’re not likely to get one for a while. So until we do I want a better web… er ‘digital presence’. A much better digital presence. We need a virtual community center. Yes, we need the basic functionality of the ‘web site’ to be corrected. But beyond that we need that digital presence to do a whole lot more. Now. It’s as high a priority as any road, whether the staff or the current council gets it or not.

I want the City to be able to reach everyone if we need to for emergencies.
I want information, all our information accessible.
I want us to be able to do surveys at the drop of a hat on any issue.
When something newsworthy happens, I want all the answers people will have available immediately. (When CM Martinelli was arrested, everyone had similar questions. We could have and should have had an FAQ.
I want activities to be pushed out to people, even if they’re not in Des Moines. And I want all that stuff to be automated so our staff doesn’t have to do any of that busy work.

The City has been going through a long overdue IT re-structuring. But part of updating any mission-critical system is inertia. And this is one of those very few situations where I do know better than the staff because customer engagement is not their world. It was my world. I’d like their trust and never conflict. But I also want an environment where I can figure out a way to get three more votes, we hire a specialist to get ‘er done, and nobody gets upset. That’s not ‘harsh’. It’s just the way elected government is supposed to work.

Letters, process…

So far the Council has received maybe six letters re. Councilmember Martinelli. All six have been ‘resign’ but five were obviously partisan (campaign donors for the majority.) But there was one other which also mentioned him briefly and then went on to this very detailed and cogent critique of the parks and rec master plan update. And it put me over the edge about some stuff that I’ve been trying to figure out a way to talk about for a while during the campaign.

Her critique was wonderful. But there was really just one line that mattered. She is the first person to write the Council in my time who noticed a particular ‘play’ that gets run over and over. And she deserves a tall mocha pumpkin spice latte whatever for pointing it out.

The consultant started talking about data sets and materials he will get to us after the meeting. And then we vote on the plan at the next meeting. Now if that sounds vaguely familiar, you also deserve a tall mocha pumpkin spice whatever. With sprinkles. It’s how we did the budget process, the ARPA spending, basically everything.

And just to review:

Meeting #1: Presentation, but no data
Data shows up. But there’s no way to ask questions
Meeting #2: Final vote.

In the real world, if a consultant shows up and starts talking about reference materials that he doesn’t have with him, I or my colleagues immediately say, “Gee, that’s unfortunate. The secretary will show you out and help you reschedule. After we have reviewed those materials, we’d love to have you back.”

I’ve actually tried that once or twice here. And it feels like… you know those National Geographic movies where a pack of hyenas jump on a straggler from the herd? It’s like that. “Well, how dare you! I have all the information I need!” Which sadly, is actually true. But it shuts down any meaningful inquiry or editing function. Which is the entire point: move things forward as quickly as possible.

In my world (and every other local government), you show up with all the materials. You give people time to review it. You have two meetings where you can really dig in. You can be as as firm as you like and you get answers. There is a lot of red-lining and editing and nobody cares because, hey, I get paid by the hour. 😀

You also want as much of the public involved for the same reason that a software benefits from beta testing: you want all the eyes you can get on the process. That’s what this is all about.

And we just don’t do any of that jazz. Speed, congeniality and the absence of confrontation are seen as evidence of good government.

Censure

As I said, her letter opened with a call for Councilmember Martinelli’s resignation. And I understand her feelings completely. I actually started thinking about this over a year before his arrest.

I made a comment from the dais about “shunning” because my colleagues and the City Manager have all treated me in miserable ways that would get anyone fired from a ‘real’ job and cause many a lawsuit. I am not kidding. You think I’m ‘direct’ here? I dial it down. A lot. And just to be clear: this is not whining about how “the other kids don’t like me!” These are ethics violations that prevent government from working properly. Despite that, every week I work with constituents who are supporters of those so-and-sos in a cheerful and sincere fashion.

And my point is this:

Councilmembers have no control over who they get to work with. That’s not a dodge. The law says that the voters choose us and only the voters can remove us. So very early on I made my ethical decision on this sort of thing: Quit in some truly gothic fashion or start looking at everyone strictly as a vote.

I will never avoid giving my full professional cooperation to anyone based on personal animus because ultimately that screws the 32,000 people I was elected to serve.

Some of you will find comparing the treatment by my colleagues and DV an outrageous form of ‘whataboutism’. I respectfully disagree. As a practicing Catholic and the spouse of a domestic violence survivor, the position I just articulated is, for me, the most ethical position. I was elected to further legislation and provide oversight to the greatest benefit if 32,000 people. That is all the RCW says.

However, again, my feelings are totally irrelevant. You will make the difference. If there is enough public support I am about 100% certain Councilmemember Martinelli will resign. The mechanism is to write the City Council: citycouncil@desmoineswa.gov.

But you’ll need more than those current six e-mails. And that’s after Mayor Pina did a press release to major media and the Waterland Blog and prepared a motion of censure.

ABP

Now lest you think I’m some apologist, I’ll leave you with this: the irony of the current situation is that Councilmember Martinelli tried his darnedest to ‘always be positive’ (ABP as they say in sales school.) He witnessed many of the same ethics violations I have. But if you look at his public writings since taking office they become increasingly positive in describing the City, the City Manager and especially the police.

I also believe in credit where credit is due. But I felt (and feel) that it is never a good idea to overlook ethical lapses, especially because by now the public has no idea what is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ when it comes to official conduct.

Let’s just say we disagreed.

Engagement, Neighborhoods, Public Safety

A letter to Selena Taylor

Selena Taylor is the mother of a young man killed at La Familia Sports Pub on Pacific Highway September 26, 2021.

Hi,

I am writing you today to (hopefully) respond a bit more clearly to your public comment last night.

Just as you and Betty were speaking it dawned on me that this weekend is, to the day, the 50th anniversary of my sister's death in 1971.

She was 17 and wonderful and her only problem was that she had a boyfriend who had already had -many- run-ins with the law before they met.

The young man killed her. And at his trial, my parents became obsessed to learn that he had already been in 'the system' so many times. They could not understand -why- he had been able to continue after so many arrests and court appearances and so on. They felt let down by -everyone-. And they never got past that... the -unfairness-. It just nagged at them and over time it made them bitter.

My takeaway from my sisters' death was that the problem had started -years- before. Perhaps if that young man had been given some other options, things might have gone differently. I don't say that out of any great sympathy for him. I'm just being practical. Clearly trying to arrest people and lock them up was ineffective.

So since joining the City Council, my particular focus has been on youth programs and education. Des Moines has had areas associated with violent crime and much of it was at the middle and high school level. We implemented a program called Reach Out Des Moines that does just a few things: it encourages kids to show up for school and it provides them with activities after school and on weekends. Those very simple things have reduced teenage crime by as much as 75% in the most affected parts of Des Moines. My hope is that helping those kids -avoid- getting into that system will help prevent tragedies like you are going through now.

Obviously we need to do a LOT more.

So I applaud your ideas, which sound great. I think they will help move the needle and I would like to help in -any- way I can.

In closing, all I was trying to say last night was that this is not a new problem. It's been going on -far- too long. And it will never make sense.

But I think you will eventually find healing and grace.

I want to thank you again for sharing a part of your story. It meant a lot to me and my colleagues. And I hope we can both find ways to use that energy to solve this problem.

Below is my cell phone. Please call me -any- time if I can be of service.

---JC

Campaigning, Transparency, Weekly Updates

Big Ideas

Big Idea Number One: Cape Cod

There have been at least three vaguely serious attempts to ‘redevelop the downtown’ just since I’ve lived here. Here’s one I recall from around 2012. ish?

I’m operating from memory here so if anyone wants to call me a big fat liar, great. Please do. Just do a public records records request for the videos. I would love it. One of the main reasons I want to shore up the Des Moines Historical Society is to have a section that keeps City events updated for posterity.

Anyhoo, if I recall correctly, Mayor Sheckler was raised in New England. And he (or someone) got the notion that it would be a fine idea to re-theme the town in sort of a ‘Cape Cod’ motif. So the plan was to incentivise new construction to conform to that–with the plan to eventually retrofit the rest of Marine View Drive at some point. To get a sample of the dream, take a look at the Doghouse Restaurant. Or what used to be Madi’s. Imagine all of Marine View Drive like that.

Get it? Cape Cod? Nautical?

Your City Council and staff spent a certain amount of energy on that idea in order to make Des Moines a ‘destination’.

Are we triggered yet?

(Oh crap, I forgot the best part. There was the one meeting where letters to the Council were read aloud from people congratulating the City on such a fantastic marketing idea. If you’ve attended any meetings in recent years, you know that letters are never read aloud.) Here is an example of the level of rhetoric.

Also–and yes, I’m going off on a tangent here: Mayor Sheckler was also the big driver behind getting the ‘Hotel Artemis Project’ (now known as the Four Points Sheraton Hotel on Pacific Highway.) On the one hand, it’s another project that was sold as a ‘complete game changer’. On the other hand, we got some one-time money, it’s a useful space, looks OK and compared to a lot of Pac Highway? That ain’t nothing.

Big Idea Number Two: Moving SR3

There are simply not enough ways I will ever be able to say how tots adorbs I find seals, OK? But the hate mail I’ve gotten for raising very reasonable objections to the siting and grants? Oy, you would not believe.

But again, I was at the various meetings and the Beach Park presentation in 2019. And you were not. Originally SR3 was going to lease a property far away from the water. That was their choice. And that is because the seals are supposed to be kept vewy, vewy quiet (that’s my Elmer Fudd impression) and have no human contact. Thus the very inviting fencing you see now, which invites the public to… well, you know… stay away.

And yet, here are my colleagues describing the benefits to the City of the building’s re-siting to one of the busiest spots on the Marina Floor:

It’s great about our eco-tourism. This alone is going to bring tens of thousands of people into our town. They’re going to eat at our restaurants. They’re going to get educated about our community. It’s a complete win. And… we get to help some of our sea life in the Sound… and… uh… that’s very important as well.

I attended that meeting. And apparently my objections to this sort of rhetoric make me the enemy of all our furry friends.

OK, now multiply that by about a hundred other examples of irrational exuberance since I’ve lived here.

That is why I get a little cranky sometimes.

OK, but there’s gotta be a nicer way…

Sure. In all these ideas lots and lots of people said they were really upset.

Vewy, vewy quiet.

I have never seen that approach stop a single bad idea from moving ahead.

*C’mon. You really thought I do this kinda thing?

†Dear Editor,

For many years now Des Moines has been “My Cape Cod” and every day it seemed farther away until just recently. Our city council has finally seen the resemblance and need for something to ignite a tourist attraction in the form of a “Cape Cod on the Sound” theme. I am all for this concept having shed (S-H-E-D) my last diaper on the cape in Sagamore and finishing the first grade in Onset School. It is with great pleasure that I send my congratulations to all on the council who voted in favor of this proposition but particularly to the new leadership which we are enjoying in Dave Kaplan, our new mayor. He was quick to identify a long awaited action and brought this issue to conclusion with favorable results.

*Dennis Lathrop has finally seen the potential of tourism at a sister city to a Cape Cod entity, identifier. This insight may propel our city into greatness unexpected. Thank you Mr. Lathrop! Not for the talk, but for your action and dedication.

Dave Kaplan has seen and is acting on the need for new direction, dynamic, leadership and change of application of our building codes. His words, “Having guidelines makes sense this discussion has been in committee for the last couple of years” summarizes the new leadership style we have sought.

Tony Piasecki has also backed up the softening up of our building codes with the notice of words like “you should” in lieu of “required”. Under his management there will be no diminishing of public safety or common sense.

Matt Pina was really on top of this scenario and, as a New Englander myself noted that Cape Cod is anywhere along the New England Coastline. He missed Buzzards Bay, Wareham, Sandwich and; up in Maine, Belfast Harbor.

It was interesting to read Bob Sheckler’s comment, and he spoke from my heart with, “Cape Cod is a relative term and most people identify with it as a welcoming style”, because it was this resemblance to where I grew up that instigated our relocation to Des Moines.

Finally, I did enjoy Mellissa Musser who said it all and in few words, “We’re not going to be another Leavenworth; it is a concept identifier, not instructions”. She is so right here! Cape Cod cannot be duplicated any more than Bavaria can be here in the USA but it can be what attracts interest from people “away”*.

Now, I would invite you all to go to Wally’s on Marine View Drive in Des Moines and “feel” Cape Cod. Then, say something nice to and about our council for a change. Also ask, “What can we do to help?” *”Away” in New England refers to anyplace away from those six states.

– Pat Nardo

*Actually, I think Mr. Nardo is referring to Senior Planner Ms. Denise Lathrop

Campaigning

Nov 2nd 2021 Election Endorsements

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Port of Seattle

Commissioner No. 1: Norman Z. Sigler

Commissioner No. 3: Hamdi Mohamed

Commissioner No. 4: Toshiko Hasegawa

As you know, I watch the Port pretty closely because, in many ways, it is the most important government in our region. My recommendations are based on Des Moines. In general, you want to keep incumbent Commissioners if they seem sympathetic because, frankly, the job is ridonculously complex (why it’s a part time position is beyond me) and it takes years to learn how to be effective.

But we are at a turning point now that the public is not seeing. With COVID-19, the Port had a real chance to think hard about making a permanent shift in fighting pollution by thinking in terms of true demand. Many people were not flying. And yet? The economy kept on spinning. That was the moment to re-think the mission. But instead? They decided to focus on returning to business as usual with all deliberate speed.

The incumbents will resent that. And they have done some good things. But frankly, after several years of genuine progress, some Commissioners are doubling down on greenwashing and others are backing the current Des Moines administration with more promises of ‘economic development’ instead of dealing with the noise and pollution. We have to make sincere attempts to address the core problem of Sea-Tac Airport: too many flights.

There is a moment in the career of every Port Commissioner where the sympathetic tone shifts into “flights are inevitable“–which is code for “economic growth at all costs.” Sorry. The job should be managing traffic, not ginning it up. And we should keep working to identify Port candidates who actually believe that.

King County

Charter Amendment No. 1: Yes

Charter Amendment No. 2: Yes

Executive: Joe Nguyen

Council District No. 5: Dave Upthegrove

Dow has had twelve years. The economic prosperity of King County has been unprecedented. But if you look at the amount of that wealth that actually returns to Des Moines? Pathetic. And the inequity is only getting worse. Joe has campaigned on heart. But I wish he had campaigned more on skills, because he has them for sure and you’ll be able to trust his management.

First off, I’ve met with Shukri–and I believe she has a bright future. But as with the Port, people don’t really get just how ginormous King County is–as large as some States. As with the Port, you keep experience unless there’s a really good reason not to. And there isn’t. Dave Upthegrove has a proven track record of ‘bringing home the bacon’ on a lot of stuff that should get more notice. The irony is that Dave gets it from both ends of the spectrum now. But truly? He has bent over backwards to try to represent everyone and he is the best fit for Des Moines right now–which is far more centrist than much of the rest of District #5. Room for improvement? For sure. Ironically, he hasn’t been nearly as aggressive on aviation issues as some of his colleagues. But that can be fixed. 🙂 His combination of experience, skills and knowledge of the area deserves your vote.

Des Moines City Council

Position No. 1: write-in

Position No. 3: Gene Achziger

Position No. 5: write-in

Position No. 7: Soleil Lewis

Normally an endorsement says nice things about the person you’re endorsing. 😀

I wanted to make a point here: Despite what anyone thinks, I started this job with a clean slate and no long term ‘replacement project’. If my current colleagues had been willing to communicate, cooperate and compromise, I would be endorsing them right now. Straight up. They haven’t, so I’m not.

Des Moines needs councilmembers who are willing to communicate, cooperate and compromise. I need to keep making the point that transparency and oversight is the way forward. I don’t expect my colleagues to vote with me every time. But it would be better for the City if they were willing to compromise some of the time. And I do expect a fair process all the time.

If the next Council works like that? Keep those people. If not? Keep trying until we get it right.

Communicate. Cooperate. Compromise. It’s not some high-falutin’ ideal. It’s how one navigates any successful operation (including your marriage, I might add. 😀 )

Highline School District No. 401

Proposition No. 1: No

Director No. 2: Jennifer Fichamba

For decades I have voted, almost reflexively, for Highline Schools–far past my personal interest as a parent. Quality schools are a must for any successful City. Unfortunately, I feel like Highline Schools is no longer listening. As a taxpayer, you have very few ways to redirect HSD if you see problems. Saying ‘no’ to what is essentially, retaining an existing levy is like using a sledgehammer when a ball peen hammer should be all that is necessary. But that is where I’m at. HSD has received over $4,000 per pupil in ARPA Stimulus money and has shown no clear plan yet on how it will be allocated. All I can see are Des Moines schools, especially those at the southern end of town getting less attention than the northern end of the district. And you should be sick of it. The ending of the Design/Engineering program at Pacific Middle School was, for me, the last straw.

HSD is going through a big shakeup now. My hope is that, when this levy fails, the message will not be misunderstood. This is not about some generalised ‘anti-tax’ sentiment. Nobody wants to support HSD more than Des Moines. But it’s time to refocus.

I saw Ms. Fichamba speak at the North Hill Community Club Candidate Forum and was impressed.

Transparency

Councilmember Martinelli arrest

Friday October 22nd, I was informed by Chief Of Police Ken Thomas that Councilmember Anthony Martinelli had been arrested and booked into SCORE jail. That night I issued a statement on Councilmember Martinelli’s arrest. I did so to respond to what I felt was a politicised press release by the Mayor. I’m not trying to hide anything, but if you have not heard about this, forgive me if this is one time where I’ll leave it to you to search around for specifics as to the allegations. And you can get the police report from the City by doing a Public Records Request.

On Tuesday October 26, Councilmember Martinelli was released on bail.

Look, I seem to drive everyone nuts at some point, but I insist on a fair process–not just when it’s convenient. The story was “Mayor Calls For Resignation!” and it should have simply been “Councilmember Arrested…”, followed afterwards by Mayor Pina’s reaction.

Just for context:

The City Council has no authority to remove a Councilmember in this case.
The only possible related grounds for removal would be if a Councilmember misses three consecutive meetings.
There are four remaining meetings this year.
The next meeting is November 4, which will be after the election.
We are holding meetings via Zoom so a Councilmember can legally attend a meeting from any location. Normally, a CM is allowed only a couple of ‘remote attendances’ per year, but these are not normal times.
When a DM Councilmember was arrested in 2015 on one of the same charges, that person immediately resigned.
On the other hand, a CM in Burien was arrested also on the same charge in 2019 and is still on that City Council.
So, I leave it to the reader to ascertain how much of Mayor Pina’s press release was motivated by politics versus passion.

But in this ‘all or nothing’ culture, I assume that anyone who reads this will assume that I am somehow defending Mr. Martinelli. Not at all. I just want people to understand that whatever outrage anyone feels? The rest of the Council has no control over the situation. And I don’t feel like my personal feelings (trust me, I got ’em) should come into play. As I always tell people: this is a professional relationship and until events change? He still has a vote.

I’m just trying to let people know what happened, but without sensationalising or politicising the matter.

Public Safety, Transparency

Many years ago…

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Many years ago my wife survived an abominable domestic violence. It took her two years to escape that relationship and during the entire time no one suspected.

What many people do not understand is that there are many, many reasons why a person can become so completely trapped that they will never reveal their true situation. Often, they themselves are not fully aware. My wife would refer to that time in her life as a ‘prison of the mind’ and ‘slavery’. There were never any bars on her prison because none were needed. When she finally did leave, it turned out to be not nearly as difficult as she had imagined. It was taking that first step that always seemed so impossible.

I shared a bit of my family story simply to tell you that you are not alone.

You can find the courage to take that first step. There are resources available right now to help get you to a much better place.

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. If you or someone you know is in crisis there is help. Here are some ways to get started:

Seattle: (206) 477-1103
Kent: (206) 477-3758
http://www.protectionorder.org/
protectionorder@kingcounty.gov
New Beginning 24-hour helpline: (206) 522-9472
Lifewire 24-hour helpline: (425) 746-1940
DAWN Advocacy Line: (425) 656-7867

Public Safety, Transparency

#327 on the list of things I did not expect to have to deal with

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Hello Des Moines,

At 1PM today the City Council received a ‘Significant Incident’ email from Chief Of Police Ken Thomas. These messages are typically two sentences describing an event that may attract public notice. We do not get detail because that is not our role. Today’s message informed us only that Councilmember Martinelli had been arrested on a charge of Domestic Violence and would be booked into the SCORE jail facility.For about two seconds, I thought that our email system might have been hacked. But when I realized this was for real I wrote an email asking for more information with the subject line: #327 on the list of things I did not expect to have to deal with in this job.
At 4:15PM I spoke by phone with City Attorney Tim George and he offered to explain details of the situation. However, I cut him off, saying that I wanted to know nothing that was not a matter of public record. He suggested I obtain the police report. I received it a few moments ago and it is 134 pages.We ended the conversation with my asking if Councilmember Martinelli’s partner was safe. He informed me that she had been provided with temporary housing and a no-contact order arranged by the City’s Domestic Violence Coordinator Rochelle Sems. Knowing that she had been provided for (and that the City has such a resource), was the one bit of good news in the conversation.
At 5:30PM my phone started ringing with calls from residents that the story had been picked up by the media. Apparently Mayor Matt Pina had already issued a statement calling for Councilmember Martinelli’s resignation.

My immediate reactions…

These charges are extremely serious and if proven true, heinous. I completely understand the Mayor’s desire to get out in front of the story because frankly, a Councilmember getting into trouble is far more common than we’d like to admit. Also, the public frequently takes any delay in response as some sign of insensitivity.

However I am not ready to call for Councilmember Martinelli’s resignation today. I still have reading to do and questions to ask. Mayor Pina is fully entitled to give his opinion as an individual, as are we all, but despite the carefully worded press release, the Council has not voted to speak on this as a body.

Every member of the City Council puts the City and its residents first. But Councilmember Martinelli still holds the same office we all do. I will not rush to judgment. And that should not be interpreted as my feelings regarding the allegations or the politics or the person. Rather it is out of respect for the office the people of Des Moines elected him to.

It has only been a few hours and already I am seeing attempts to politicize the situation. Trying to connect this event to any candidate or elected is absolutely disgusting and should be condemned the moment anyone tries it. That is not how politics should work. As I said when I ran for office: “We can do better, Des Moines.”

One last thing. Until last week, I had only met Councilmember Martinelli’s partner twice—and then only in passing. I phoned her after she had taken me to task for something I had written on social media. (I do that a lot. 😀 ) Her tone appeared to me to be that of any mildly harried young mother managing a fussy toddler. I heard nothing indicating anything serious might be going wrong. And that is not uncommon. And since this is a personal matter and I have no business assuming anything.

I have spoken directly about my family’s personal experience with domestic violence. There is no issue I could possibly take any more seriously. But I also take my office seriously and in this case, I ask for your patience.

Normally, I close each post with an offer to contact me with your thoughts. But this is one occasion where I hope you will understand if I do not do so.

It is my honour to serve Des Moines.

—JC

Economic Development, Environment, Public Safety, Taxes, Transparency, Transportation, Weekly Updates

Weekly Update: 10/10/2021

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Public Service Announcements

This Week

Tuesday: Port Of Seattle Commission Meeting (Agenda)

Tuesday: North Hill Community Club Candidate’s Forum

Wednesday: Aviation Town Hall with Rep. Adam Smith and Rep. Tina Orwall

Wednesday: Des Moines Marina Association Meeting

Friday: Ultra-Fine Particulate Advisory Group

Last Week

Tuesday: State Legislative Redistricting Public Comment. Over 300 people signed up for this first of four sessions. Only a few were from our area.

Wednesday: Highline School Board Meeting. (Agenda/Comment) I provided public comment in support of restoring the much loved MS/Design Engineering program at Pacific Middle School. I am shocked that the District cut the program as it provides wonderful opportunities for hands-on learning. Here is an example of a presentation they do annually before City Council as part of the Washington State Future Cities competition.

Thursday: Public Safety Meeting (Agenda) (Video) There was a discussion of the Draft Body Camera Policy. This is everything I love and hate about Des Moines politics. Councilmember Martinelli rightly brings up the idea that there are all these “may” instead of “will” throughout the document. Eg. “The officer may turn off the device when…” The officer may turn on the device when…” And Councilmember Bangs is just scrupulous in digging into the document and asking to see examples from other cities. Well done. Love it!

My problem… and the reason I did not vote to approve Body Cameras originally was that all this should have been resolved before we approved them. I have no problem with Body Cameras. I do have a problem with “We’ll fix it in the mix.”

We’ll Fix It In The Mix

When I was a musician (back in the Dark Ages), if you did a recording session you basically got it right the first time or you were never called again. There was an expectation that the recording session was about 95% finished product. The recording engineer might do a few tweaks but it was quite common for a recording I did to get on the air within a day or two.

Nowadays, you’ll hear about artists taking years to do a record and a lot of it comes down to the phrase “we’ll fix it in the mix.” As the recording technology improved, it became possible to completely re-shape any performance. Not just bad notes, I mean the entire performance. Even before the Internet, the recording industry was falling apart because albums were taking too damned long. And part of it was simply that musicians got out of the habit of “play it right the first time”.

In the case of Body Cameras, they’ve been on the horizon for a couple of years. It’s great that Councilmember Martinelli pushed for them, but they would’ve shown up here eventually either way. We could afford to be patient. Now when the Council approved the plan the initial price was estimated at $140,000. After the initial ‘beta’ it suddenly became $190,000. Now as of September 16 it’s $250,000. And we also approved it without having the policy that’s being debated now. (And another that is not being debated involving how long the police can hold onto recordings.) But regardless, we’re going live January 1, 2022. That go live date puts pressure on everyone to “get ‘er done.”

I wish we could simply do it right before voting for things because in the end it saves time and money. And if you’re looking for another practical example, think about our Marina Paid Parking. Regardless of whether you love it or hate it, even though the discussion got dragged out over years, the actual implementation was super-hasty. And the resulting implementation was, well, you know… (We’re supposedly looking for another vendor and will come back to it in 2022.)

Thursday: City Council Meeting (Agenda) (Video) The Budget Presentation turned out to be about sixty seconds. The City Manager announced that he would be delivering the budget the next day. Here it is. This is a pattern. Deliver the document after the meeting to shorten the decision making window. How do I know it’s a pattern? Here’s how. At our ‘Budget Retreat’ (which was back in August) we received no numbers–it was all anecdotal. We spent our ARPA money on September 16 with no context as to the current state of the City’s finance. If I sound snippy? GOOD.

Stay In Your Lane

During my comment period, I went off into one of my rambles about Clair Patterson that evoke much eye rolling. The general notion being, even among people who voted for me that, “Hey dude, we need more < fill in the blank>, OK? Please just focus on that.” Got it.

And my (somewhat defensive) reply is, if you look across the board on the number of practical things I work on every week, I think you’d be surprised. But look, there are only so many hours in the week. And a bunch of people are engaged on various ‘traditional’ issues. That’s why there are seven of us. Each of us has issues they like to tackle and I let them do it. They do just fine without me. 😀

But nobody else works the issues I do. They just don’t. Or rather, they work them in the conventional ways that do not work. (Sorry, guys.) They stay in their lane as the saying goes.

Many of our government institutions go back 100 years. Counties. Cities. School Boards. The Port Of Seattle. They were designed for a completely different world. You don’t have to be some management genius to see that a lot of these systems no longer work very well in today’s world. For example, the reason we get screwed over and over by the airport is because, if you follow the rules, they lead to you getting screwed. There is no ‘lane’ that leads to a city like Des Moines having good results on airport issues.

Somebody has to do something different.

Clair Patterson

When anyone tries to describe Clair Patterson, they tend to use words like ‘oddball’ and ‘crank’. That’s the easy part. He seemed to be OCD in the way he scrubbed his lab, the way he punished his students for lapses in cleanliness and the absolutely insane lengths he went to collect data. But now everyone cleans their labs to that standard and everyone understands that climbing to the top of mountains and going into submarines was the only way to collect the data he needed. People only remember the cranky and forget that he was just doing what was needed to get the job done.

The wonderfulness of his accomplishments are harder to describe. Basically? He figured out a way to collect data on the levels of lead in the environment over time. (Because I’m old, I’m hearing Archie Bunker right now saying, “Whoop De Doo, Edith.”)

Since the Romans, people had known that lead was bad for you. People used to die all the time from lead poisoning–without even knowing it. We now know that people on the entire planet were at least 5 points lower on the IQ scale as a direct result of constant exposure to lead. We just didn’t know it until Clair Patterson came along.

As far back as the 1800’s chemists realized that lead does for most products what salt does for food–it makes pretty much every modern product somehow better. So very quickly it ended up being used in everything from paint to plastics to gasoline.

By the 1950’s so much lead had built up in the world that you could not measure it accurately because it was everywhere from the tallest mountains down into the oceans! The reason he went to the tops of mountains and down in submarines is because those were the only places on the entire planet where he could measure what lead levels were like 100 years ago. He needed to establish a starting point–what life was like before human beings started pumping lead into everything.

It took him decades to figure out how to determine how much lead people (especially kids) were being exposed to. Because without knowing that, you could never determine the effects of lead.

Unfortunately, he could never get money to do that on his own. His idea that we weren’t measuring lead accurately seemed so nutty nobody would give him money, so he was always inventing cockamamie side-projects which just happened to allow him a chance to do what he really wanted to do: measure lead. 😀 And since lead was so important to commerce, there was no great desire on the part of any business to find out about any possible health problems.

Though we didn’t know it at the time, lead was so useful to commerce that it was worth five IQ points and thousands of deaths every year. That was the cost/benefit trade-off.

When Dr. Patterson’s work was finally recognised, it made the National Environment Protection Act (NEPA) possible. That was how NEPA was originally sold : the “get the lead out bill”. Removing lead was its driving purpose because he proved that it was the single worst environmental contaminant in human history. And the fact that you don’t know any of this, shows how well it worked. But in 1973 there was so much lead everywhere that the idea of removing itfrom the world was considered almost impossible. (It’s worth reminding people who are concerned about Climate Change that we have done many ‘impossible’ things before.)

No Data. No problem.

There is this maxim in government, “No data. No problem.” If you don’t have legit data, you can’t get any legislation passed. No matter how much people cry and scream, without accurate data, you will not get anything addressed, from a traffic intersection to removing lead from the environment.

Currently there is no good system in place for managing aviation emissions. And that is because there is no good system in place for measuring aviation emissions.

See where I’m going with this now?

Now here’s the maddening part: There is currently no agency you can go to and say, “We need a system for measuring aviation emissions around Sea-Tac Airport”. And the reason there is no agency like that is because… wait for it…

There is no local agency that has the authority to regulate aviation emissions.

Get it?

So.. if you want to know about aviation emissions, you have to do it yourself. You cannot “stay in your lane.”

Somebody has to start measuring aviation emissions, neighbourhood by neighbourhood, every year, just as we now do for water. And I don’t care if that’s in my lane or not. We should’ve started decades ago, but better late than never. It needs to happen and if you wait for Congress or the FAA, you’re gonna be waiting for a mighty long time.

Ongoing concerns

Residents have been complaining about an increased incidence of various types of cancers and other health effects around Sea-Tac Airport since the 70’s. Citizen groups even self-funded studies to get to the cause. But the lack of ongoing data collection made it impossible to determine what was going on. A single one-off study just couldn’t do it.

Currently, all we know is this: Every time we do another one-off study, we find more correlations between certain health problems and aviation. These are not causalities, but they are suspicious. So the goal should be to do ongoing measurements, starting now.

Clair Patterson performed truly back-breaking work in order to gain historical evidence of lead exposure from the past to the present. You cannot do that with aviation emissions. You have to start doing ongoing data collection and move forward in order to see the patterns. And it just seems ridiculous to me that main reason we haven’t mustered the will to do something so basic to scientific inquiry is because there are no current regulations. By that standard, Clair Patterson would never have done what he did. Because when he got started the prevailing wisdom was, “Well, since there’s no law regulating lead, I guess there’s no need to measure it. Sure glad I didn’t waste my time on that!”

A gift to the future

The point is this: Ongoing air quality monitoring isn’t about today. It’s a gift to the future. If we start today, we give scientists and electeds the tools they need five years from now. But every year we delay measuring, just puts off any possibility of regulation. Every year we delay puts off research on public health one more year. Every year we delay gives the airline industry one more year to get away with not paying what they owe.

Summary

If you don’t see me at a ribbon cutting or speaking up about some more ‘normal’ City Council issue, don’t think I don’t care about it. I know you care about public safety. I know you care about after school events. And parks. And roads. Me too.

But somebody also has to work long game issues like air quality monitoring. I’ve only got so much space every week to talk about the stuff I do and I’d rather use that time to talk about things other people do not.

And if you want to give me a call some time to discuss boat launches or police or permits or chicken ordinances? Pretty much any day of the week I’m here at 10:00AM. 🙂