Most Recent Article [more articles below]

Categories Policy, Weekly Updates

Weekly Update: 03/20/2022

1 Comment on Weekly Update: 03/20/2022

Public Service Announcements

This Week

Monday: Destination Des Moines. This year’s calendar should be final tomorrow. Several new members and lots of new energy!

Tuesday: Port of Seattle Commission Meeting (Agenda). Highlights:  SEA Stakeholder Advisory Round Table (StART) 2021 Annual Report

Wednesday: Highline Forum (Agenda)

Last Week

Monday: Puget Sound Clean Air Agency. The EPA has unveiled a new series of Community Grants that are available to airport communities. Several local organisations have expressed interest and I’m trying to meet with all of them to make sure we’re not overlapping or working at cross purposes. My goal is to have  annual air quality monitoring reports of the entire flight path so we can track changes in air quality at the neighbourhood level. We did one set of measurements in 2017, but we need to do it every year. When SR-509 comes on line and air cargo (and truck) traffic  expands we have to know what it is doing to us so we can (finally) obtain the relief we should have gotten twenty years ago.

Wednesday: Reach Out Des Moines. This was the last meeting hosted by CHI Franciscan’s Cynthia Maccotan-Ricks. She has been a force of positive energy and I will miss her!

Thursday: Did my annual CM Training. I honestly don’t know who does or does not do these things. I watched this thing and it drove me nuts! The whole emphasis now is on getting rid of records, guilt-free, as quickly as possible. Fightin’ words, I say.

Friday: South King County Housing and Homelessness Partners (SKHHP)

Committees 2022

Below is the list of CM Committee assignments for 2022.

The Process

In Des Moines, the Mayor is chosen by the Council at the first meeting of the year after the November General Election.  Customarily, CMs send their preferences to the new Mayor and he decides committee assignments shortly thereafter. Here is my letter.

CMs do not interact with one another on this, and in fact, to do so would constitute an illegal serial meeting under OPMA. So I have no idea if some of these choices were based on my colleagues desires.

Committees are where most policy is actually decided. The City presents its ideas and the Council questions and signs off. Once that happens, it is very rare for the full Council to reject a Committee recommendation. Why should they? If you are on a Committee, you’re supposed to have studied the material in depth. You’re supposed to have developed expertise on the subject matter that the full Council does not have. For the full Council to reject an item approved by a Committee more than occasionally would mean that the Committee was not doing its job.Members of committees, both in the City and regionally, develop expertise over time. Every frickin’ thing that comes before the Council is complex. I mean everything. Why sidewalks cost $600k per block. Why Marina permits take three years. Why airplanes can’t have a curfew. Why you can build 35ft. in some places and 65ft. in others. It takes years to really learn any of this material. And then look at the regional groups where millions of dollars of grants are decided? The need to be effective is that much greater.

The Rundown

  • Mayor Mahoney is the big winner with nine assignments. He assigned himself as lead on basically anything to do with  transportation, the airport, hotel, and business schmoozing. He is also now the official rep to WRIA-9 (the County agency in charge of watershed restoration–eg. beaches in Lower Woodmont, Saltwater State Park, creeks,  and salmon recovery.)
  • Deputy Mayor Buxton remains on Economic Development. She has been the City’s lone regional rep. on various Sound Cities Association committees and has recently moved into leadership. All that makes sense. But she is also adding Public Safety which seems a bit less obvious.
  • Jeremy Nutting, who also has a full time job, remains on the Economic Development Committee and Municipal Facilities Committee. He previously served as chair on both and now adds Des Moines Art Commission Liaison, Marina Advisory Commitee Liaison and “What’s Up Des Moines?” (the business schmoozing) to that portfolio.
  • Vic Pennington and Harry Steinmetz have been made ‘official’ members of the Police Advisory Committee, which had been picked by the Chief in previous iterations.
  • Gene Achziger’s lone assignment is to the Transportation Committee.
  • There is no longer any Council presence on either the Human Services Advisory Committee or Senior Services.
  • JC Harris: I wrote a letter to the Mayor after he was chosen by the Council, congratulating him and requesting assignments, it may be coincidental but…
    • I was removed from the Transportation Committee.
    • I was assigned as the primary liaison to the Waterland Festival.
    • Mayor Mahoney assigned himself to WRIA-9.
    • Instead of being moved to Municipal Facilities, the Mayor created a new position ‘Marina Liaison’ to the Des Moines Marina Association.

Analysis

This is the biggest shake-up in committees in memory. Typically CMs stay on committees because one builds up an inventory of experience and staff appreciate having the continuity. It’s simply more useful to have had the background on any number of projects which are discussed every year, especially given the 45 minute time limit of each meeting. Coming in cold  just doesn’t make sense to me without a good reason. (I asked to be moved to MFC for specific purposes–the City web site and the Marina, both of which I have expertise.)

Because the public sees so little of what the City Council does, it’s often hard to put into sound bites, why certain topics (like committees) matter so much. But a few words come to mind: Time, Skill and above all money.

Politics

It’s reasonable to see these assignments as political choices. The Mayor put the people most aligned with the current ‘vision’ into each slot–most of all himself. This puts the lie to the notion of a ‘non-partisan City Council.’ AndHis ‘team’ wanted their people in all the key slots and was willing to go so far as to delay those assignments until April to do so.

The Council has been highly partisan for a very long time, but not along traditional Democrat/Republican lines as that word is often used.

  • Mayor Mahoney has a full-time job, which he proudly states takes at least fifty (50) hours a week. And yet, the Mayor has assigned himself to nine positions, in addition to the built-in functions of the Mayor.
  • Similarly, CM Nutting has a full-time job, which also requires 50+ hours a week and yet he has been assigned to six positions.CM Pennington, though retired, is coming in cold to five positions, including three committee assignments. Although I appreciate his previous experience on the Council, that’s a heavy load for an appointment, since, again, he will have no continuity on any of those spots.

In Council-Manager Government, mayors typically assign themselves a lighter committee load than their colleagues for three reasons:

    • First, because they already have an extra job in preparing agendas and performing tasks like commitee assignments.
    • Second because they have several regular meetings with various regional organisations that do not appear on this list.
    • Finally, because a Council is a group body. The Mayor already has a great deal of authority so the custom is to spread the responsibilities equitably throughout the body, based on CM’s talents, interests and availability.

The only logic behind having people in so many positions or with so little time or experience is to say that these committees do not drive policy. It’s further proof that, the current majority is not merely a ‘rubber stamp’ for the Administration, it actively works to block oversight which might lead to better results.

It also further reduced the ability of the committees to provide oversight and policy direction because we will now be cramming twelve months of work into no more than nine 45 minute meetings. (Actually, it will probably be eight. Staff typically cancels one meeting during the summer. And that’s one more item on my process reform list.)

And once again, it dismisses the notion that the ‘problem’ was the last Mayor. That was unfair to him. In fact, his committee assignments were far more sensible and fair.

Money

But even if one buys the argument that our own Committees can function as rubber stamps, there are those regional organisations like SCA and AWC and PSRC, which all sound like so much blah, blah, blah to you.

The fact is, the all those are the source of millions of dollars of State and Federal funding. It is beyond irritating to watch other nearby cities obtain grants and projects that we will never see, simply because their Councils engage far more effectively.

I borrowed this from a public post made by SeaTac CM Peter Kwon from the following document. I have to take a few deep breaths every time I see already wealthy cities like SeaTac get even more grant funding because they’re Council has developed more influence on regional organisations like PSRC.

Suggested Reforms

Other cities with Council-Manager Government do not leave Committee assignments solely to the discretion of the Mayor. And this is another process reform I would make for the following reasons:

  1. First because it is another ‘power’ that we just gave to the Mayor over time.
  2. I think this is something that all CMs should be able to discuss and work out as a body.
  3. We not only give the Mayor the power to decide ‘who’, we give him the power to decide when. He simply decided to not begin committee work until April. And my colleagues seemed to be OK with that. This reduces the ability of these committees to provide oversight and policy direction because they will now be cramming twelve months of work into no more than nine 45 minute meetings. (Actually, it will probably be eight. Staff typically cancels one meeting during the summer. And that’s one more item on my process reform list.)
  4. These assignments are important to the functioning of the City and to our performance in regional settings (eg. Federal and State planning and grants.)  I believe both all CMs and the public should have a transparent understanding as to how/why these assignments are made.

Previous Articles

Categories Transparency

Committees 2022

Below is the list of CM Committee assignments for 2022.

The Process

In Des Moines, the Mayor is chosen by the Council at the first meeting of the year after the November General Election.  Customarily, CMs send their preferences to the new Mayor and he decides committee assignments shortly thereafter. Here is my letter.

CMs do not interact with one another on this, and in fact, to do so would constitute an illegal serial meeting under OPMA. So I have no idea if some of these choices were based on my colleagues desires.

Committees are where most policy is actually decided. The City presents its ideas and the Council questions and signs off. Once that happens, it is very rare for the full Council to reject a Committee recommendation. Why should they? If you are on a Committee, you’re supposed to have studied the material in depth. You’re supposed to have developed expertise on the subject matter that the full Council does not have. For the full Council to reject an item approved by a Committee more than occasionally would mean that the Committee was not doing its job.Members of committees, both in the City and regionally, develop expertise over time. Every frickin’ thing that comes before the Council is complex. I mean everything. Why sidewalks cost $600k per block. Why Marina permits take three years. Why airplanes can’t have a curfew. Why you can build 35ft. in some places and 65ft. in others. It takes years to really learn any of this material. And then look at the regional groups where millions of dollars of grants are decided? The need to be effective is that much greater.

The Rundown

  • Mayor Mahoney is the big winner with nine assignments. He assigned himself as lead on basically anything to do with  transportation, the airport, hotel, and business schmoozing. He is also now the official rep to WRIA-9 (the County agency in charge of watershed restoration–eg. beaches in Lower Woodmont, Saltwater State Park, creeks,  and salmon recovery.)
  • Deputy Mayor Buxton remains on Economic Development. She has been the City’s lone regional rep. on various Sound Cities Association committees and has recently moved into leadership. All that makes sense. But she is also adding Public Safety which seems a bit less obvious.
  • Jeremy Nutting, who also has a full time job, remains on the Economic Development Committee and Municipal Facilities Committee. He previously served as chair on both and now adds Des Moines Art Commission Liaison, Marina Advisory Commitee Liaison and “What’s Up Des Moines?” (the business schmoozing) to that portfolio.
  • Vic Pennington and Harry Steinmetz have been made ‘official’ members of the Police Advisory Committee, which had been picked by the Chief in previous iterations.
  • Gene Achziger’s lone assignment is to the Transportation Committee.
  • There is no longer any Council presence on either the Human Services Advisory Committee or Senior Services.
  • JC Harris: I wrote a letter to the Mayor after he was chosen by the Council, congratulating him and requesting assignments, it may be coincidental but…
    • I was removed from the Transportation Committee.
    • I was assigned as the primary liaison to the Waterland Festival.
    • Mayor Mahoney assigned himself to WRIA-9.
    • Instead of being moved to Municipal Facilities, the Mayor created a new position ‘Marina Liaison’ to the Des Moines Marina Association.

Analysis

This is the biggest shake-up in committees in memory. Typically CMs stay on committees because one builds up an inventory of experience and staff appreciate having the continuity. It’s simply more useful to have had the background on any number of projects which are discussed every year, especially given the 45 minute time limit of each meeting. Coming in cold  just doesn’t make sense to me without a good reason. (I asked to be moved to MFC for specific purposes–the City web site and the Marina, both of which I have expertise.)

Because the public sees so little of what the City Council does, it’s often hard to put into sound bites, why certain topics (like committees) matter so much. But a few words come to mind: Time, Skill and above all money.

Politics

It’s reasonable to see these assignments as political choices. The Mayor put the people most aligned with the current ‘vision’ into each slot–most of all himself. This puts the lie to the notion of a ‘non-partisan City Council.’ AndHis ‘team’ wanted their people in all the key slots and was willing to go so far as to delay those assignments until April to do so.

The Council has been highly partisan for a very long time, but not along traditional Democrat/Republican lines as that word is often used.

  • Mayor Mahoney has a full-time job, which he proudly states takes at least fifty (50) hours a week. And yet, the Mayor has assigned himself to nine positions, in addition to the built-in functions of the Mayor.
  • Similarly, CM Nutting has a full-time job, which also requires 50+ hours a week and yet he has been assigned to six positions.CM Pennington, though retired, is coming in cold to five positions, including three committee assignments. Although I appreciate his previous experience on the Council, that’s a heavy load for an appointment, since, again, he will have no continuity on any of those spots.

In Council-Manager Government, mayors typically assign themselves a lighter committee load than their colleagues for three reasons:

    • First, because they already have an extra job in preparing agendas and performing tasks like commitee assignments.
    • Second because they have several regular meetings with various regional organisations that do not appear on this list.
    • Finally, because a Council is a group body. The Mayor already has a great deal of authority so the custom is to spread the responsibilities equitably throughout the body, based on CM’s talents, interests and availability.

The only logic behind having people in so many positions or with so little time or experience is to say that these committees do not drive policy. It’s further proof that, the current majority is not merely a ‘rubber stamp’ for the Administration, it actively works to block oversight which might lead to better results.

It also further reduced the ability of the committees to provide oversight and policy direction because we will now be cramming twelve months of work into no more than nine 45 minute meetings. (Actually, it will probably be eight. Staff typically cancels one meeting during the summer. And that’s one more item on my process reform list.)

And once again, it dismisses the notion that the ‘problem’ was the last Mayor. That was unfair to him. In fact, his committee assignments were far more sensible and fair.

Money

But even if one buys the argument that our own Committees can function as rubber stamps, there are those regional organisations like SCA and AWC and PSRC, which all sound like so much blah, blah, blah to you.

The fact is, the all those are the source of millions of dollars of State and Federal funding. It is beyond irritating to watch other nearby cities obtain grants and projects that we will never see, simply because their Councils engage far more effectively.

I borrowed this from a public post made by SeaTac CM Peter Kwon from the following document. I have to take a few deep breaths every time I see already wealthy cities like SeaTac get even more grant funding because they’re Council has developed more influence on regional organisations like PSRC.

Suggested Reforms

Other cities with Council-Manager Government do not leave Committee assignments solely to the discretion of the Mayor. And this is another process reform I would make for the following reasons:

  1. First because it is another ‘power’ that we just gave to the Mayor over time.
  2. I think this is something that all CMs should be able to discuss and work out as a body.
  3. We not only give the Mayor the power to decide ‘who’, we give him the power to decide when. He simply decided to not begin committee work until April. And my colleagues seemed to be OK with that. This reduces the ability of these committees to provide oversight and policy direction because they will now be cramming twelve months of work into no more than nine 45 minute meetings. (Actually, it will probably be eight. Staff typically cancels one meeting during the summer. And that’s one more item on my process reform list.)
  4. These assignments are important to the functioning of the City and to our performance in regional settings (eg. Federal and State planning and grants.)  I believe both all CMs and the public should have a transparent understanding as to how/why these assignments are made.
Categories Engagement, Policy, Transparency

Strategy Meeting Proposals

Submitted to Councilmembers as “information only” March 18, 2022

Colleagues,

At the 7 April, 2022 Strategy meeting I will present the following items:

  • Pg 1. Councilmember Research Process
  • Pg 2. Committee/Meeting Modernisations
  • Pg. 4. Digital Presence 

#1. Councilmember Research Process:

This is modeled on the SeaTac City Council Request Form (CRF.) The process is very simple.

  1. Any CM may enter a request for research using a secure database form. The database, which is keyword searchable, is kept for all CMs use in perpetuity.
  2. The City Manager responds within (x) of hours, either with an ETA or a cost estimate (in hours, specific staff)
    1. If the answer requires less than one hour of staff time it must be fulfilled within 5 days.
    2. If the answer is deemed to require more than one hour of total staff time, the information is remanded to the relevant committee for discussion, vote. If the vote is yes, the task commences.
  3. As a follow-up, the CM may also request a staff briefing on the topic, which becomes part of the CRF.

#2. Committee/Meeting modernisations:

Our meeting and committees should be refreshed in two ways:

  • To provide more transparency and ease of use for CMs.
  • There are also several structural changes that are needed to help oversee and establish policy in several key areas.

A. Process Improvements

    1. Adopt Hybrid Conferencing both for full and committee meetings.
    2. All Committees should accommodate public comment
    3. All committees should be generating minutes, membership lists and routinely posting ongoing public work product.
    4. All CMs should be able to attend all meetings and be allowed an opportunity to ask questions re. the operation.
    5. CMs should be able to add presentation materials to the Packet if they are part of their comments and are received within 24 hours of the Agenda being published.
    6. All Meeting Agendas should be locked in when posted and should contain all presentation materials, with one exception: Any materials submitted by the public as part of their comment will be added ex post facto

B. Structural Changes

Along with everything else, the City downsized its committee structure significantly when it was in financial crisis. We are now a larger organisation, with much bigger aspirations. We also face timely challenges such as the SAMP. All these require more policy direction and oversight than can be accommodated with the current committee system. I would like to explore the following changes to committee structure:

    1. The Environment Committee mission should be expanded to include Sea-Tac Airport. All activity relevant to the SAMP process should be channeled through there with monthly reports.
    2. Planning Commission: The planning commission which was abandoned in 2013 for cost savings. Despite the construction boom and ongoing State changes to zoning laws, we are the only nearby City that has no planning commission, and thus no public input on the process. Currently the EDC is the de facto planning commission. But land use and construction are not the same thing as economic development, which should also focus on business formation and development. Restoring this functionality would give the public more input on comprehensive planning and allow the EDC time to focus on revenue generation un-related to building.
    3. Finance/Admin Committee: I’d like to explore a committee that can oversee the changes to the city web site and administrative processes.
    4. Marina Advisory Committee: I’d like to establish an Advisory Committee
    5. Cultural Advisory Committee: We are now 45% BIPOC and yet our City has no outreach or programming to make government reflect our community. This group would be tasked with finding ways to invite more diverse cultures into City life.

#3. Digital Presence

We should begin implementing a robust and ongoing digital presence. I am not using the term ‘web site’, and you should flush that from your minds, please. I am proposing a completely new system of communication and outreach, which would also include the more traditional municipal functions commonly referred to as ‘the City web site’.

In addition to those traditional municipal functions, our efforts should focus on schools, businesses, faith, cultural and senior communities which rarely interact with the wider community. The City is the only way to connect all of Des Moines. We can develop a system to make them aware of each other’s activities and extend our reach out to Puget Sound–particularly giving some marketing assists to retail businesses.

Having a great digital presence will not only provide great value for the community, it will send a strong signal to the rest of the world that Des Moines is a place that is forward looking and stands out from the crowd.

We can begin here: at our 16 September, 2021 ARPA Stimulus Spending Meeting, we already allocated money to develop a Marina Redevelopment Town Hall. The project can provide a kick off to show the community that we are serious about having the best Digital Presence in South Puget Sound.Our primary goals must be:

    1. Mobile First. Every person in DM, from the eight year old Somali child to senior citizen at Wesley, even homeless people, have a cell phone. All our communication must lead with SMS because that is the way, and in fact the only way to reach everyone.
    2. Usability: Despite the fact that everyone has a digital device, many of our residents struggle with them. We also have a high degree of digital illiteracy that many are embarrassed to discuss. We must make our systems easy to use, especially for seniors and for people who’s first language is not English.
    3. Search: This is a two-way street
      • We must make information, programs, tasks, easy to find
      • But we must also make it easy for the rest of the world to find Des Moines has a fantastic story to tell. And our City should be telling it! Currently, the City has at least ten domains that do not connect. We should be working on an integrated communications/marketing approach whereby anyone searching anything ‘Des Moines’ see everything we have to offer and first on Google.
    4. Portal: The City should be the portal and the nexus for the entire community.
      • When any group has something of interest, the City can be that town crier.
      • We can expose far more public information, including dashboards for public safety, finance, public works projects. This improves transparency, but also improves resident satisfaction. (Just seeing all the projects the City is working on at any given time never fails to impress most people.)
    5. Notification as incentive: OTS tools exist right now which almost all residents will want. And in return, these will allow the City to reach residents when it matters:
      • Emergency Alert
      • SMS bill pay, licensing and permit reminders
      • Fixit reporting
      • Personalised calendars, meeting and events alerts
      • Public safety reporting
      • Available services
    6. Storyteller: Des Moines has a fantastic story to tell. And our City should be telling it! We need to develop a coherent communications strategy that tells people and businesses about our City. Our new system can provide the framework for consistent messaging.
    7. Automation: The ‘boring’ part. Because we have so many disparate systems and processes, there are too many inconsistencies. We can integrate any number of systems so that information is entered once and syndicated everywhere it needs to be, consistently and error-free.
Categories History

Des Moines, Washington City Council 1996-2022

Modern Des Moines begins in 1996, with the last annexation: Redondo/Woodmont.

City Councils 1996-2022 The members of the 19th-32nd City Councils of Des Moines, Washington.
There are seven positions with a four year term. All positions are at large.
Elections are staggered every two years between: Positions #1,#3,#5,#7 and Positions #,2,#4,#6
#YEARMembersMayor/
Mayor Pro-Tem		Significant
Events		Votes
Counted		Registered
Voters		Turnout
161990
1991
171992
1993
181994
1995---Don Wasson elected
191996Richard Kennedy Scott Thomasson Don Wasson Bob Sheckler Gary Towe Terry BrazilRichard Kennedy
Scott Thomasson		---23rd, largest and last annexation: Redondo/Woodmont
1997---Richard Kennedy (author of Waterland History) retires
---Dave Kapan wins by < 100 vote
---Gary Towe wins
---Terry Brazil wins
201998Scott Thomasson
Terry Brazil
Bob Sheckler
Don Wasson
Gary Towe
Dave Kaplan
Dan Sherman		Scott Thomasson
Terry Brazil
1999Don Wasson (comp.)
Scott Thomasson
Bob Scheckler (comp.)		6966
212000Scott Thomasson
Terry Brazil
Bob Sheckler
Don Wasson
Gary Towe
Dave Kaplan
Dan Sherman		Scott Thomasson
Terry Brazil
2001Wasson Takeover:
Maggie Steenrod
Gary Peterson
Richard Benjamin

---Dave Kaplan loses
---Dan Sherman loses by < 20 votes
---Susan White elected		87871488659
222002Don Wasson Richard Benjamin Maggie Steenrod Gary Petersen Bob Sheckler Scott Thomasson Susan WhiteDon Wasson
Richard Benjamin		HSD School Board President Ed Pina organises unsuccessful recall campaign over the conveyor thing...
2003Wasson resigns Dan Sherman appointed Maggie as Mayor60631607737.7
232004Bob Sheckler Dan Sherman Richard Benjamin Maggie Steenrod Gary Petersen Bob Sheckler Scott Thomasson Susan WhiteBob Sheckler
Dan Sherman
2005---Wasson crew wiped out
---Ed Pina leaves school board
---Matt Pina takes his father's seat on school board		80031516552.8
242006Bob Sheckler Mayor Scott Thomasson Dave Kaplan Ed Pina Carmen Scott Dan Sherman Susan WhiteBob Sheckler
Scott Thomasson
200767341436446.9
252008Bob Sheckler Dan Sherman Scott Thomasson Dave Kaplan Ed Pina Carmen Scott Susan WhiteBob Sheckler
Dan Sherman
2009---Matt Pina takes Ed Pina (his father)'s seat
---Dave Kaplan ran against Susan White in order to make space for Melissa		80631529152.7
262010Bob Sheckler Dan Sherman Matt Pina Carmen Scott Scott Thomasson Melissa MusserBob Sheckler
DFan Sherman
2011---Dan Caldwell takes Scott's seat?
---Jeanette Burrage
---Dan Sherman retires		79221480553.5
272012Bob Sheckler Dave Kaplan Dan Caldwell Jeanette Burrage Matt Pina Melissa Musser Carmen ScottBob Sheckler
Pro-Tem Dave Kaplan
2013---Dan Caldwell resigns due to ill health.
---Jeremy appointed w 8 applicants
---Carmen Scott retires
---Vic Pennington elected		53291589033.5
282014Dave Kaplan Matt Pina Vic Pennington
Bob Sheckler Jeanette Burrage Melissa Musser Jeremy Nutting		Dave Kaplan
Matt Pina
2015---Jeanette Burrage resigns
---Arts Commission member Luisa Bangs appointed w 2 applicants and re-elected same year
---Rob Back wins on 4th try running unopposed		58671617436.2
292016Dave Kaplan Matt Pina Rob Back Bob Sheckler Melissa Musser Jeremy Nutting Vic PenningtonDave Kaplan
Matt Pina
2017---Melissa Musser retires
---Dave Kaplan retires
---Traci Buxton replaces Musser
---Matt Mahoney replaces Kaplan		62581717436.4
302018Matt Pina
Luisa Bangs
Vic Pennington
Jeremy Nutting
Traci Buxton
Rob Back
Matt Mahoney		Matt Pina
Vic Pennington
2019Mayor Pina Deputy Mayor Mahoney Harris replaces Bangs Martinelli replaces Back Buxton Bangs Nutting79551805544%
312020Matt Pina
JC Harris
Luisa Bangs
Jeremy Nutting
Traci Buxton
Anthony Martinelli
Matt Mahoney		Matt Pina
Matt Mahoney		---Vic Pennington resigns
---Luisa Bangs appointed w 8 applicants
2021Mayor Mahoney Deputy Mayor Buxton Gene replaces Luisa (retired) Harry replaces Pina (retired) Harris Nutting Martinelli Martinelli resigns73341946837.7%
322022Harry Steinmetz
JC Harris
Gene Achziger
Jeremy Nutting
Traci Buxton
Vic Pennington
Matt Mahoney		Matt Mahoney
Traci Buxton 		---Anthony Martinelli resigns
---Vic Pennington appointed w 3 applicants
TOTAL
Categories Policy, Weekly Updates
Tags

Weekly Update: 03/13/2022

Leave a comment on Weekly Update: 03/13/2022

Public Service Announcements

This Week

Monday: Puget Sound Clean Air Agency. The EPA has unveiled a new series of Community Grants that are available to airport communities. Several local organisations have expressed interest and I’m trying to meet with all of them to make sure we’re not overlapping or working at cross purposes. My goal is to have  annual air quality monitoring reports of the entire flight path so we can track changes in air quality at the neighbourhood level. We did one set of measurements in 2017, but we need to do it every year. When SR-509 comes on line and air cargo (and truck) traffic  expands we have to know what it is doing to us so we can (finally) obtain the relief we should have gotten twenty years ago.

Friday: South King County Housing and Homelessness Partners (SKHHP)

And,,,, not much else! So why not give me a call and tell me what’s going on in your part of Des Moines! (206)-878-0578.

Last Week

Thursday: City Council Meeting (Agenda).  Watch the meeting on Youtube here. Sign up for Public Comment (here). Recap below.

Monday: Meeting with Beacon Hill Community Council, Maria Batayola

Tuesday: Port of Seattle Commission Meeting (Agenda)

Wednesday: Puget Sound Clean Air Agencyo. The EPA has unveiled a new series of Community Grants that are available to airport communities. Several local organisations have expressed interest and I’m trying to meet with all of them to make sure we’re not overlapping or working at cross purposes. My goal is to have  annual air quality monitoring reports of the entire flight path so we can track changes in air quality at the neighbourhood level. We did one set of measurements in 2017, but we need to do it every year. When SR-509 comes on line and air cargo (and truck) traffic  expands we have to know what it is doing to us so we can (finally) obtain the relief we should have gotten twenty years ago.

Wednesday: Des Moines Marina Assocation meeting (DMMA). City Engineer Khai Le gave a presentation on the last phase of the North Bulkhead replacement.

Thursday: Sea-Tac Airport International Arrivals Facility Preview.

Thursday: City Council Meeting (Agenda).  Watch the meeting on Youtube here. Sign up for Public Comment (here). Recap below.

City Council Meeting Recap

  • In the City Manager’s Report he whipped out not one but two big updates. As usual, we did not get the materials ahead of time and took few questions on either and there were no decisions to be made.
      1. On the ‘Construction Update’ there was nothing really ‘new’. But it was good information for the public. I asked for information on the exit and entrance to the new fast food restaurants south of Waterview Crossing.
      2. COO Dan Brewer gave the single most detailed explanation of the Marina Enterprise Fund as a business I’ve since in many, many years. Unfortunately, I was cut off from asking the second round of questions. I’m working on an analysis of his presentation but I couldn’t get it ready in time. Soon!
  • In New Business, I voted against a motion to add money to the new Sound View Park  (formerly known as the Van Gasken House. I did so because:
    1. I will never vote for anything having to do with the destruction of that historic property.
    2. There has been no community input on the design of the new park.
  • In the New Items For Consideration, I asked to create a Marina Advisory Committee. A lot more to say on this, but it’s gonna take a lot more time to put together.
  • There was a 30 minutes Executive Session that was extended 20 minutes.
https://youtu.be/Wy4z_Iu2eyI?t=6846

At the end of our City Council Meeting last night, we had a 30 minute Executive Session that was extended to 50 minutes. I am not supposed to divulge the contents of that meeting, but click on the above link and Councilmember Achziger has a comment as to why he did not attend.

…the Mayor has told me that the Council will shortly be going into an executive session to discuss potential litigation against the Des Moines Legacy Foundation. As a Legacy board member I have a remote interest in the topic and therefore recusing myself from the process to protect both my integrity and that of the Council.

Now, we actually could have concluded the purpose of that meeting within 30 minutes. However, the discussion veered off in another direction, hence the extension. The hard feelings have obviously not abated. There were some personal attacks. It got to the edge of ugly, but stopped just short.

And… we’re gonna have another discussion about it on 31 March. Woo hoo!

I have said over and over and over, to all sides. “Let. It. Go. We have to work together. Genuine cooperation.”

Civility

During the last campaign, several candidates spoke often of ‘civility’.  I understood why they did it. But personally, I hated it. To me, civility implied politeness; not mean sincere cooperation.

But many voters wanted to believe Gene Achziger, Harry Steinmetz and Matt Mahoney that things would be different people.  Surely the problem was the crabby Matt Pina and Luisa Bangs.

And I’m like, noooooo man. 😀 That’s so not the problem.

Phone call

So I decided to call Mayor Mahoney to protest the bad personal conduct and ask him to not allow things to devolve as in the previous Council. I also protested the fact that we have no place in our current meetings to ask questions of the City Manager, as we’ve had in the past, and as every other city has.

Before I continue. I generally maintain confidence as the default option. If you speak with me you can I assume I will keep your side of the conversation confidential, whether you ask for it or not. But conversations between electeds and staff on City business are meant to be part of the public record so I have no problem related the following, because it has policy significance, it does not divulge any personal information, and it  had nothing to do with that Executive Session.

The Mayor told me that:

  1. I am generally suspected of constantly blurting out confidential stuff. He offered no evidence. That has not happened, it does not happen, it will not happen. Most people know how to maintain professional boundaries.
  2. Mayor Mahoney has no intention of intervening to obtain professional cooperation from the City Manager.
  3. I have offended the City Manager. And therefore it is up to me, as it is the responsibility of all CMs responsibilities to get along with Michael Matthias. “You have a lot of fences to mend.”
  4. “You say a lot of bad things about us. And we’re monitoring you.”

I leave it to you to decide who ‘us’ is. And what “we’re monitoring you” means.

Email

After that conversation, the City Manager wanted to punctuate a message that came up during Executive Session by sending an email blast to all the attendees of that meeting and a few others who were not for good measure.

The contents of the emails are from ex-City employee, Sue Padden, a former board member of Legacy and a party to a litigation against Mr. Matthias.

However, the emails have nothing to do with Legacy or the lawsuit. She was replying to a blog post I wrote about parliamentary procedure. They were vacuumed up in the City’s law suit discovery process.

The insinuation being of course that, because this person responded to a blog post I wrote, that there is some connection which makes me suspect–even though the legal settlement has nothing to do with that stuff.

It’s just schoolyard nonsense: Us and Them. as the old song goes.

Aren’t you making it worse?

The only reason to post this is

  1. There’s this world that you the public cannot see. CMs and the Administration rarely say anything real on the record. The rancor the public finds distasteful in public is small fraction of the childish nonsense in private settings such as phone calls and Executive Sessions.
  2. And because you don’t see 95% of it, that makes it hard to understand what’s really going on and how petty it really is.
  3. But regardless of your feelings as to ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, it’s just a huge time suck. And time is money. The amount of hours and energy everyone puts into these feuds is ridonculous.  And for that reason alone, it’s worth getting past.

No dog in this fight…

When people discuss how hard it is to change politics in Des Moines, this is part of the reason why. People do not let things go. They make decisions based on implied ‘tribes’, whilst attempting to look as civil as possible in public.

The funny thing is? I have absolutely no dog in these fights. People constantly mistake my desire for fairness (and saving money!) with taking one side or another. Everything from the Legacy litigation to Anthony Martinelli to the recent appointment process, all I care about is the money.

Arguments and litigation about ‘my reputation!’ are all a complete waste of time because there is never any victory.

And how dare you suggest otherwise, Councilmember Harris!

Categories Transparency

Why things never die in this town

At the end of our City Council Meeting last night, we had a 30 minute Executive Session that was extended to 50 minutes. I am not supposed to divulge the contents of that meeting, but click on the above link and Councilmember Achziger has a comment as to why he did not attend.

…the Mayor has told me that the Council will shortly be going into an executive session to discuss potential litigation against the Des Moines Legacy Foundation. As a Legacy board member I have a remote interest in the topic and therefore recusing myself from the process to protect both my integrity and that of the Council.

Now, we actually could have concluded the purpose of that meeting within 30 minutes. However, the discussion veered off in another direction, hence the extension. The hard feelings have obviously not abated. There were some personal attacks. It got to the edge of ugly, but stopped just short.

And… we’re gonna have another discussion about it on 31 March. Woo hoo!

I have said over and over and over, to all sides. “Let. It. Go. We have to work together. Genuine cooperation.”

Civility

During the last campaign, several candidates spoke often of ‘civility’.  I understood why they did it. But personally, I hated it. To me, civility implied politeness; not mean sincere cooperation.

But many voters wanted to believe Gene Achziger, Harry Steinmetz and Matt Mahoney that things would be different people.  Surely the problem was the crabby Matt Pina and Luisa Bangs.

And I’m like, noooooo man. 😀 That’s so not the problem.

Phone call

So I decided to call Mayor Mahoney to protest the bad personal conduct and ask him to not allow things to devolve as in the previous Council. I also protested the fact that we have no place in our current meetings to ask questions of the City Manager, as we’ve had in the past, and as every other city has.

Before I continue. I generally maintain confidence as the default option. If you speak with me you can I assume I will keep your side of the conversation confidential, whether you ask for it or not. But conversations between electeds and staff on City business are meant to be part of the public record so I have no problem related the following, because it has policy significance, it does not divulge any personal information, and it  had nothing to do with that Executive Session.

The Mayor told me that:

  1. I am generally suspected of constantly blurting out confidential stuff. He offered no evidence. That has not happened, it does not happen, it will not happen. Most people know how to maintain professional boundaries.
  2. Mayor Mahoney has no intention of intervening to obtain professional cooperation from the City Manager.
  3. I have offended the City Manager. And therefore it is up to me, as it is the responsibility of all CMs responsibilities to get along with Michael Matthias. “You have a lot of fences to mend.”
  4. “You say a lot of bad things about us. And we’re monitoring you.”

I leave it to you to decide who ‘us’ is. And what “we’re monitoring you” means.

Email

After that conversation, the City Manager wanted to punctuate a message that came up during Executive Session by sending an email blast to all the attendees of that meeting and a few others who were not for good measure.

The contents of the emails are from ex-City employee, Sue Padden, a former board member of Legacy and a party to a litigation against Mr. Matthias.

However, the emails have nothing to do with Legacy or the lawsuit. She was replying to a blog post I wrote about parliamentary procedure. They were vacuumed up in the City’s law suit discovery process.

The insinuation being of course that, because this person responded to a blog post I wrote, that there is some connection which makes me suspect–even though the legal settlement has nothing to do with that stuff.

It’s just schoolyard nonsense: Us and Them. as the old song goes.

Aren’t you making it worse?

The only reason to post this is

  1. There’s this world that you the public cannot see. CMs and the Administration rarely say anything real on the record. The rancor the public finds distasteful in public is small fraction of the childish nonsense in private settings such as phone calls and Executive Sessions.
  2. And because you don’t see 95% of it, that makes it hard to understand what’s really going on and how petty it really is.
  3. But regardless of your feelings as to ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, it’s just a huge time suck. And time is money. The amount of hours and energy everyone puts into these feuds is ridonculous.  And for that reason alone, it’s worth getting past.

No dog in this fight…

When people discuss how hard it is to change politics in Des Moines, this is part of the reason why. People do not let things go. They make decisions based on implied ‘tribes’, whilst attempting to look as civil as possible in public.

The funny thing is? I have absolutely no dog in these fights. People constantly mistake my desire for fairness (and saving money!) with taking one side or another. Everything from the Legacy litigation to Anthony Martinelli to the recent appointment process, all I care about is the money.

Arguments and litigation about ‘my reputation!’ are all a complete waste of time because there is never any victory.

And how dare you suggest otherwise, Councilmember Harris!

Categories Transparency

Letter to Mayor Matt Mahoney re. Committee assignments

On 24 January, 2022 I emailed the Mayor Mahoney with my preferences as Committee assignments.

Mayor,

For 2022 I would like to make the following committee assignment requests:

1. I would like to be assigned to the Municipal Facilities Committee or
the Economic Development Committees. Either is fine.

2. I would like to remain on Environment. We treat it as 'the storm
water utility' but it ties in with a broader environmental discussion,
including the Flood Control District I was recently appointed to and
Saltwater State Park that is a key part of the de-armoring discussion
with WRIA-9 and Midway Sewer, etc.

3. I would also certainly like to remain on Transportation. But if
moving to either of those committees makes that necessary, that is a
slot I would give up.

4. If necessary I would be happy to give my slot on the Waterland/DDM to another colleague at this time. Obviously, Gene has a connection with that group. Same with SKHHP. I am very interested in the discussion, but am happy to give that to another to balance opportunities.

5. I would like to be named to the Highline Forum for (hopefully)
obvious reasons. Mayor Pina, you and I actually discussed my being the
alternate in 2020 but for whatever reason that did not happen.

A couple of other things:

1. I have no desire to 'hog' things. But some of us simply have more
-time- and interest. Eg. I dunno why Anthony was only on the PSEM
Committee, but apart from anything else, as far as I could tell he
performed that one thing well and I offer more time in that spirit.
Some people like Harry and Jeremy have full time gigs and may not have
the requisite -time- to dive in.

2. My main goals with Municipal Facilities are these:

    a. It's time to consider a Marina Advisory Committee be spun off
from the MFC. It's not a great look having a quorum of CMs at every DMMA meeting for the foreseeable future. The City has functionally been
conducting business in that DMMA space since the beginning of the
redevelopment process. Dan, Beth Anne and Michael have presented
information there -before- it gets to the Council. Having an Advisory
Committee would bring the DMMA to the City and offer a better
opportunity for the public to engage on the development process. No
matter how welcoming Bill tries to be, it's a bit much to ask the
general public to beg permission to attend monthly meetings--or even
know what's to be discussed. I -believe- they support that, but
regardless, it's time given the significance for the entire community.

    b. I assume the web site fits into MFC. Or it kinda should. Like any building project, to do what needs doing will be an ongoing discussion.

Sincerely

---JC

Here are the final choices posted 8 March, 2022 (after the Council vacancy was filled by Vic Pennington on 3 March, 2022.)

Categories Policy, Weekly Updates
Tags

Weekly Update: 03/06/2022

2 Comments on Weekly Update: 03/06/2022

Public Service Announcements

This Week

Monday: Meeting with Beacon Hill Community Council, Maria Batayola

Tuesday: Port of Seattle Commission Meeting (Agenda)

Wednesday: Puget Sound Clean Air Agencyo. The EPA has unveiled a new series of Community Grants that are available to airport communities. Several local organisations have expressed interest and I’m trying to meet with all of them to make sure we’re not overlapping or working at cross purposes. My goal is to have  annual air quality monitoring reports of the entire flight path so we can track changes in air quality at the neighbourhood level. We did one set of measurements in 2017, but we need to do it every year. When SR-509 comes on line and air cargo (and truck) traffic  expands we have to know what it is doing to us so we can (finally) obtain the relief we should have gotten twenty years ago.

Thursday: City Council Meeting (Agenda).  Watch the meeting on Youtube here. Sign up for Public Comment (here) There are two items on the City Manager Report and that usually means something significant. There is a  request for additional funding for ‘Sound View Park’ (formerly known as the Van Gasken House. Apparently it has to do with drainage and creating some amenities that give a nod to Native American Culture.

I’m just gonna keep repeating some of my ongoing beefs.

  1. Our next meeting after this has been re-scheduled for March 31. By then we’ll have had nine meetings and possibly gone three months without committees and with the most empty agendas I can recall. And that means a whole bunch of ‘stuff’ will either get crammed into the rest of the year or the Council will simply avoid it altogether. I understand the Council vacancy process mattered to the public, but it further reduced any chances at oversight or providing direction.
  2. Speaking of which, the whole New Business item, where CMs can ask to have new items placed on a future agenda. Notice how that went missing in action over a month ago. That’s another one of those process things. When the last Council finally gave in and added it to our meetings, they refused to change the Rules of Procedure. So it’s totally up to the Mayor to giveth and taketh away. Note to future CMs: always get it in writing.
  3. Unlike other governments (see Port of Seattle Commission above), neither the City Manager or staff ever provides presentation materials ahead of the meeting. So I have no idea what to expect.
  4. Let’s talk again about Vouchers, since this week we received the Agenda Packet, but not the Voucher Reports, which in this case is $4,758,506.45.

    1. The Voucher Report is a list of all the checks the City writes to pay bills. It is a public document, which, unlike the Agenda, the public never sees. And that too is unlike other cities.
    2. We do not receive copies of the actual bills we are approving, just the dollar amount. So if I see an item I have a question about I have to request that the Finance Dept. send me a copy. That is also unlike other cities, which provide a way for CMs to see those invoices any time they like.
    3. The City Manager has a rule that all questions must be received by 4PM on Monday. So if I have a question re. one of these bills and I don’t get it in by 4PM, I won’t get an answer.
    4. In this case, if I don’t get the Voucher Report until Monday morning, I only have a few hours to scan it and see if I have questions. Now, I’m retired so I can usually make time. But if you have a full-time job, you will likely have no chance to see that Voucher Report even if it shows up on Monday.
    5. And, the City Manager sees no obligation in reporting back. There have been many times where I’ve asked a question about a particular invoice and received the response after the meeting where I voted to approve the Voucher Report. I’ve literally had to vote sight unseen.
    6. Once the meeting is over, if I have question on one of the invoices I have voted to approve, the City Manager has told me that he is under no obligation to answer questions after the relevant meeting.
    7. So this week, as has happened before, there is a very real possibility that I’ll be voting to approve 4,758,506.45 with no way to review what the hell I’m saying ‘yes’ to.(OK, look I see ya sweating there and I’m sorry if I made ya nervous. I just want to reassure you that the law says that I can do that and no matter what happens, I won’t be held responsible in any way. Thanks for your concern. 🙂 )

Last Week

Tuesday: Chief Thomas’ Police Advisory Committee.

  1. We discussed crime stats on this report: DMPD Crime Stats 201-2021 Overview Sheet. I really want to obtain reports by neighbourhood. I also want to get reporting of the areas in Kent along Pac Highway and KDM so we can tell how those areas contribute to the big picture, but that may take some doing.
  2. We talked about the challenges in staffing up the Mental Health Ride-Alongs. This is a whole new area of law enforcement here. We probably should have been building these programs years ago to prepare for now.
  3. We’re (finally) back to ‘fully staffed’, ie. we have everyone we need to do every shift. COVID-19 has been rough on our department.  OK, now add the recent uptick in violent crime and then last year’s police reform laws. Now add a number of retirements and other leaves of absence. It’s been a lot for our Chief and our officers to absorb. I am glad to see so much public support for the force because such a stressful work environment requires a high level of morale.

Tuesday: 4Culture Heritage Grants Meeting. I’ve had a strong desire for a long time to scan every local newspaper and put it on line in a searchable format. I see all those old Des Moines News and Highline Times as the key to helping residents understand how our City began and how we got to where we are today. The Des Moines Historical Society has all those copies in pristine condition. I’m just helping get them connected.

Thursday: Sea-Tac Airport International Arrivals Facility Preview. More below.

Thursday: City Council Meeting (Agenda) (Video).  Former Deputy Mayor and former South King County Fire Chief Vic Pennington was chosen to fill the Council position left open by the resignation of Anthony Martinelli. More below…

Sea-Tac Airport International Arrivals Facility Preview

So… this is one of those things you get invited to if yer a low-rent elected. Thursday’s big reveal of the IAF was a chance to see the facility with no people. The Native American dance show was cool. You get to stand next to the Governor. (Ya know why he’s the Governor? He said he remembered me in a way that made me kinda believe it. That’s talent! 😃 )

But this is the beginning of a new phase of airport expansion. The public fear has always been about a ‘fourth runway’. What the public does not hear enough is that with GPS-based navigation, there is no need for it. The airport can expand operations almost as much as demand will allow wth the current three runways.

The limiting factor is on the ground. Getting planes out to their ‘parking places’ as fast as possible. Getting passengers in and out as fast as possible. Getting cargo off-loaded as fast as possible. THOSE are the choke points.

This is one piece of that puzzle: getting passengers processed. In a few years, SR-509 will make it possible to more than TRIPLE cargo flights.

The message I keep trying to say to the community is that the airport is complex. It keeps expanding. We cannot stand by passively while it does.

And I’m not. As I wrote above, I’m currently working on several projects to help with this, including air quality monitoring with PSCAA, Port Package Updates, and a bill to incentivise businesses and government agencies to continue and expand remote conferencing options to reduce air travel.

Re: The 2022 Council Vacancy Vote

Dear Des Moines,

I want to congratulate all three applicants for the Council vacancy, especially the winner, Vic Pennington. He was not my choice, but he ran a gauntlet of criticism that most of us would find very tough to take and did so graciously. To him, I promise my full professional cooperation.

To those of you who are unhappy with the results tonight, I understand and I am truly sorry. As I said in my comments, I raised black children here, several years of it as a single parent and… lessee… we had one black neighbour near the church and…. there was one couple over in Pac Ridge we never got to know and… ? Let’s just say, it wasn’t a particularly ‘diverse’ experience. 😀

Back then we weren’t concerned about things like stickers on a light pole. We prepared for some form of overt racism every time we went out to eat.

This puts me in an awkward position. As a politician one cannot scream about injustice. First off, you simply will not get elected, which means you can’t help anyone. Second, it sounds like one is badmouthing our happy town or ‘anti-police’ so no one listens. And then… if I appear less than thrilled about proclamations like “Racism As A Public Health Crisis”? I must be a racist.

There seems to be some ‘golden mean’ of “sensitivity” I never quite achieved, perhaps because I have so much frustration at seeing some things (like Highline Schools) actually going backwards while the City becomes more diverse.

I’ve noticed a number of the most upset comments were avid supporters of Matt Mahoney, Traci Buxton, Harry Steinmetz. My comments tonight were mostly for you. I’m sorry, but this should have come as no surprise. I’ve tried to be sympathetic all along, but since so many of you gave me hell, it’s been slightly challenging. 😀

Many of you were wondering about the circumstances of CM Pennington’s departure from his position as Chief of South King Fire & Rescue. Instead, I would ask you to think about it a different way: the majority did know what you wanted. But as I said, it was willing to go this far to make sure that big ticket projects like the Marina and airport keep sailing along. And it is for that reason I would ask your help in providing more oversight on everything they propose from now on. There is no transparency and between that problem and tonight’s vote? This should be a red flag.

I had about a dozen calls re. the appointment process. I was yelled at in every one. And that’s fine. Others I asked to speak with chose not to. Also fine. Most of the people I spoke with simply had no interest in what I was saying. You wanted what -you- wanted. But the thing is: I was -trying- to tell you what it would take, both for Yoshiko to get across the line and to achieve goals I know we both share. All it seemed to do was breed contempt and I’m sorry.

But… I do make those calls. I really do hear you. And you have my record of votes as your proof.

I often hear my writings are ‘TLDR’. You want short signals. I do get it. But it’s also kinda puzzling to me.

Because all you ever need to judge us fairly is to look at our votes. If you take nothing else from tonight, remember that. The votes are all that matter. Then it’s up to you to reward or punish accordingly. Don’t judge us by what we say or how we look or selfies at some fun event or -whatever-.

Judge us by how we vote.

Because if you vote a certain way over and over, regardless of how we vote, there can be no real ‘change’.

I’m sorry for the scolding tone, but I’ve lived here long enough to see a bad habit that has to be broken. I was willing to share some of my private life (which I really do not enjoy) because I want you to understand that I share your frustration, profoundly. And I need your help to get us where we should’ve been a long time ago.

It is my honour to serve Des Moines.

—JC
(206) 878-0578

 

Categories Policy, Transparency

An Open Letter Re. The 2022 Council Vacancy Vote

Dear Des Moines,

I want to congratulate all three applicants for the Council vacancy, especially the winner, Vic Pennington. He was not my choice, but he ran a gauntlet of criticism that most of us would find very tough to take and did so graciously. To him, I promise my full professional cooperation.

To those of you who are unhappy with the results tonight, I understand and I am truly sorry. As I said in my comments, I raised black children here, several years of it as a single parent and… lessee… we had one black neighbour near the church and…. there was one couple over in Pac Ridge we never got to know and… ? Let’s just say, it wasn’t a particularly ‘diverse’ experience. 😀

Back then we weren’t concerned about things like stickers on a light pole. We prepared for some form of overt racism every time we went out to eat.

This puts me in an awkward position. As a politician one cannot scream about injustice. First off, you simply will not get elected, which means you can’t help anyone. Second, it sounds like one is badmouthing our happy town or ‘anti-police’ so no one listens. And then… if I appear less than thrilled about proclamations like “Racism As A Public Health Crisis”? I must be a racist.

There seems to be some ‘golden mean’ of “sensitivity” I never quite achieved, perhaps because I have so much frustration at seeing some things (like Highline Schools) actually going backwards while the City becomes more diverse.

I’ve noticed a number of the most upset comments were avid supporters of Matt Mahoney, Traci Buxton, Harry Steinmetz. My comments tonight were mostly for you. I’m sorry, but this should have come as no surprise. I’ve tried to be sympathetic all along, but since so many of you gave me hell, it’s been slightly challenging. 😀

Many of you were wondering about the circumstances of CM Pennington’s departure from his position as Chief of South King Fire & Rescue. Instead, I would ask you to think about it a different way: the majority did know what you wanted. But as I said, it was willing to go this far to make sure that big ticket projects like the Marina and airport keep sailing along. And it is for that reason I would ask your help in providing more oversight on everything they propose from now on. There is no transparency and between that problem and tonight’s vote? This should be a red flag.

I had about a dozen calls re. the appointment process. I was yelled at in every one. And that’s fine. Others I asked to speak with chose not to. Also fine. Most of the people I spoke with simply had no interest in what I was saying. You wanted what -you- wanted. But the thing is: I was -trying- to tell you what it would take, both for Yoshiko to get across the line and to achieve goals I know we both share. All it seemed to do was breed contempt and I’m sorry.

But… I do make those calls. I really do hear you. And you have my record of votes as your proof.

I often hear my writings are ‘TLDR’. You want short signals. I do get it. But it’s also kinda puzzling to me.

Because all you ever need to judge us fairly is to look at our votes. If you take nothing else from tonight, remember that. The votes are all that matter. Then it’s up to you to reward or punish accordingly. Don’t judge us by what we say or how we look or selfies at some fun event or -whatever-.

Judge us by how we vote.

Because if you vote a certain way over and over, regardless of how we vote, there can be no real ‘change’.

I’m sorry for the scolding tone, but I’ve lived here long enough to see a bad habit that has to be broken. I was willing to share some of my private life (which I really do not enjoy) because I want you to understand that I share your frustration, profoundly. And I need your help to get us where we should’ve been a long time ago.

It is my honour to serve Des Moines.

—JC
(206) 878-0578