Most Recent Article [more articles below]

Neighborhoods, Policy, Public Safety, Weekly Updates

Weekly Update: 06/12/2022

Leave a comment

This Week

Tuesday: Port of Seattle Commission Meeting (Agenda)

Wednesday: Puget Sound Regional Council Comprehensive Plan Workshop

Wednesday: Mt. Rainier High School Graduation at ShoWare Center

Thursday: King County Flood Control District

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

All throughout the week:

Tree Tours! To help explain the upcoming expansion of SR-509 and the Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP) I’ve developed a one hour walking/driving presentation.

Two thirds of our residents have flipped since the Great Recession–which coincided with the opening of the Third Runway in 2008. So most of you do not understand what’s coming. You will see separate presentations from WSDOT on SR-509 and the Port of Seattle on the SAMP, and that will make these impacts seem far less significant than they are. The two are basically one massive regional plan.The SAMP/SR-509 will have the same impact on air traffic as the Third Runway and it will re-shape northern Des Moines as dramatically as the Third Runway did Burien and the Second Runway did SeaTac.

The Tree Tour is a way to make this all simple by seeing what happened to Des Moines after the Second and Third runway projects and what’s coming next–from the ground level.

If you live in the area, if you care about things like tree canopy or airport issues in general, please get your friends together and let’s schedule a Tree Tour!

Port Package site visits: SeaTacNoise.Info keeps working on getting relief for home owners with Port Package Problems. If that’s you, please contact them, with your address and Parcel ID and schedule a visit.

Last Week

This was one of the most challenging week’s of my time on the Council. There was a shameful incident regarding something that should be routine, then a disturbing situation where I watched my colleagues collaborating with the administration about me. And finally, there was the City Council Meeting.

Tuesday: ‘Missing Middle’ Housing Seminar. This is something I’m fairly passionate about. Over the past two decades there have been two trends in ‘housing’, the McMansion and the government subsidised apartments. There’s been an ongoing argument that the public only wants 3,000 ft. homes, which is simply not true. Most of Des Moines consists of homes like mine, under 2,000 sq ft. and they have always sold like hot cakes. Town Homes provide much greater opportunities for ownership and greatly increased density.

Wednesday: Des Moines Marina Association. I listened to their concerns, which was awkward. The fact is that they have refused to support any of my attempts to reform our City Council’s process, frankly because for several years they had the City’s ear exclusively and have actually enabled things to get so far with no accountability.

It is especially unsettling to hear everyone in the room casually discussing the upcoming Ferry Pilot as a done deal, because if you recall, the Council only voted to approve $975,000 for the City Manager to do a (cough) ‘search’ for a vendor–and then the Council could weigh in on the details of the agreement. In movies, we often see scenes where characters talk about how “the fix is in”. It’s different when yer actually in that movie, playing the role of the patsy.

Thursday: 4:00 Transportation Committee Meeting (Agenda) There was a presentation on WSDOT on Stage 2 of the SR-509 project. But at the tail end there was a discussion that was so troubling I had to write about it.

Thursday: 5:00 Environment Committee Meeting (Agenda)

Thursday: 6:00 City Council Meeting (Agenda) (Video)

City Council Meeting 06/09/2022

City Manager Report

Mr. Matthias canceled his scheduled update on Summer Events. As I’ve said, the Fireworks are a go for July 4th at the Marina and the Waterland Festival will also occur the July 23-25th

Emergency Management Director Shannon Kirchberg gave a briefing on the Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan.

Then, the City Manager, switching hats to become our Economic Development Director gave an unscheduled presentation on the topic of Disposable Income. This was in response to a comment Councilmember Steinmetz made on social media which Mr. Matthias claimed reflected poorly on the image of the city he was trying to project to a potential business investor. Councilmember Steinmetz became upset but was overruled by the Mayor.

I honestly have no idea what the presentation was about–something to do with his days in Jolly Ol’ England and John Maynard Keynes. But I do know this: CM Steinmetz was simply getting his initiation spanking. The kind a lot of people seem to like (or so I’ve been told. 😀 )

A few months ago, CM Achziger was treated to a similar presentation on the wonders of Pacific Ridge after making a comment the City Manager felt was unflattering on that topic.

Me? When I dared to criticise his extremely questionable plan for a hotel at the Marina last year, I received a technicolour beat down, “The City Of Des Moines will never have a skyline like Detroit!” (What a relief!)

I tried to address this in my closing comments, but hearing his name mentioned CM Steinmetz snapped at me.

But for what it’s worth,

Dear Colleague

All those silly presentations are prepared Powerpoints. They take staff time to prepare and our valuable Council Meeting time to sit through. It wastes public money and taxes what little good humour remains on our Council. And I do not appreciate wasting either.
For some reason, a great number of people do not seem to find bullying all that problematic. Until it happens to them, of course.
Bear in mind that I’ve been putting up with this crap for many years–looong before I was elected. You took about fifteen seconds to become incensed.
Over the course of your professional career, how many people have you worked with who would do such things? Me neither. I think it says something important.
Remember that it is the Council’s meeting, not Michael’s or the Mayor’s. The City Manager is, in fact, merely an invited guest. And if you are not happy with your invited guest, you can, at any time, ask him to leave, either for twenty minutes or the evening. You may not get three more votes, but you’ll get at least one, and that’s a start. And I would hope you’d afford me the same courtesy.

Consent Agenda

Now remember that the Consent Agenda is defined as “Items that are considered routine…” They are presented as a slate because they do not merit discussion or debate or amendment. Remember, the Mayor and City Manager set the Agenda, not the Council. The Agenda sends their message as to what is ‘routine’.

Every Councilmember may ‘pull’ an item; ie. asked that it be set aside for a separate vote. It is not unusual for that to occur on one item. Here’s was the list of items on that Consent Agenda…

Approval of Vouchers: $5,757,623.05
Approval of minutes from past three months
Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan
Disposal of two abandoned vessels (routine)
Redondo Aquatic Lands Agreement
Wesley Senior Services Contract
Animal Control Officer outsource to Burien C.A.R.E.S.
Farmers Market agreement + 20k grant
Minor Home Repairs project
216th Street Undergrounding PSE payment $220,000
Housing Plan Consultant contract $75,000
LBGTQ Pride Month proclamation
Juneteenth Proclamation

Only the four emboldened items were voted on as a slate. Note to self: find out if Guinness tracks City Council Meetings. This may be the World Record that puts Des Moines on the map! 😀

In fact, it was not I who pulled the majority of these items but rather Councilmember Steinmetz. If the circumstances had been different, I would have pulled the Juneteenth Proclamation. The end of slavery is the second most important event in American History and as such deserves the appropriate recognition by our City. I wrote the Mayor saying as much and he refused. But seeing that all the ‘pulling’, I realised that the meeting was going to tax everyone’s patience so there would be no point in trying.

The Pulled Items

I pulled the approval of Vouchers: $5,757,623.05. I was bullied and harassed by the administration.

I also pulled the disposal of two abandoned vessels item after not receiving a response to a question I had about the item. My question was “Why does the City Council need to approve the sale of vessel abandoned in our Marina?” To which the City Attorney gave me a flip, but accurate answer, “because a prior City Council decided to change the code.” But that was 1993 and in reading that ordinance it just looks like the Council of that time cut’n’pasted a huge swath of general purpose language. My hope was to find out if we could tweak that bit of code so that the Council never has to screw with that sort of thing again. It’s a Harbormaster job, not a Council job. But noooooooo. 😀

CM Steinmetz asked to pull the Redondo Aquatic Lands Agreement. He wanted the item set aside for a future meeting accompanied by a full staff briefing. CM Nutting objected calling the item “as routine as it gets” which is true–from a certain point of view. I went along to try once again to make a point.

The complexity of the material you’re presented with every two weeks is nuts. And nobody comes to the job prepared for all the background material one needs. The material in every packet already assumes one knows a shit ton about ‘aquatic lands’. CM Steinmetz was essentially asking for on the job training, when instead, there should be an on-line repository new CMs can go to which gives one that kind of info one needs to get up to speed without taking the Council’s time. That’s why I keep pushing the concept of a Councilmember Information Request, so that any CM can ask a question, get a good answer and then it’s on file so every future CM can refer to it.

CM Steinmetz asked to pull the Wesley Senior Services Contract, again asking for a postponement and a full briefing. I’m honestly not sure what he wanted on that briefing. I know that I have wanted a community survey of our entire suite of senior services programs and gotten nowhere.

CM Steinmetz asked to pull the Animal Control Officer outsource to Burien C.A.R.E.S., again asking for a postponement and a full briefing. I voted no on the proposal, not only because I think it’s bad policy, but because the PSEM Committee, of which CM Steinmetz is a member, allowed it to go to the full Council without seeing the contract or obtaining any assurance as to how we will gauge the quality of service.

CM Steinmetz asked to pull the Farmers Market agreement, again asking for a postponement and a full briefing. I didn’t need a postponement or a briefing. I know people love them and they have always had my full support. I voted no because a) they are required to provide their financials to the City and I haven’t seem them. b) For the third year in a row, the City waived their rental fee, in effect a $20,000 grant, without being asked. According to all reports, their opening day was record-breaking. If they are doing well, that $20,000 should be made available to other (perhaps new) groups. But under no circumstances should the City give money to anyone who does not submit a request which can be evaluated just like every other organisation.

CM Steinmetz asked to pull the Minor Home Repairs project, again asking for a postponement and a full briefing. I supported this simply to highlight the fact that the program needs to be promoted a lot better. As with the Farmers Market, the program itself is great. And as such, the City should be getting the word out so that more people can take advantage of it!

I pulled the Housing Plan Consultant contract for a reason that seems ‘normal’ to everyone in government but to you will probably sound like it came out of a Dilbert cartoon. The contract states that the consultant will not be doing their own research. Instead, they will be creating a series of recommendations based on an analysis derived from contemporaneous sources. OK here’s the thing: there are no contemporaneous sources. There is simply no good data on anything concerning ‘housing’ or ‘homelessness’. Swear to God. Nobody can tell you how many homeless people are in Des Moines, how they got here or why they’re in their current predicament or what is the appropriate intervention. SKHHP (which Deputy Mayor Buxton and I attend) is doing an ‘inventory of available housing’ this year but it won’t be completed until after the consultant submits their report.

And just to be clear, I am not engaging in some stunt. My colleagues will roll their eyes because, again, this is a grant, it’s free money, so why are you stressing, Harris? Just take the money and shut up.

My point is that I actually do want to do something about the problems. Residents tell me all the time “nobody knows what to do about homelessness.” That is not true. There are good solutions. But we’ve made so many mistakes and done so much to obstruct the process, it just looks like it to the outside world.

This really stings for me because, in 2017, the same Commerce Dept. created a $600,000 study of the community impacts from Sea-Tac Airport, which Des Moines kicked in a few bucks on. And the consultants relied on existing studies, which were, in several cases from 1997 when the airport was half what it is today. So the final report was about as useful as [metaphor goes here].

Neighborhoods, Policy, Public Safety, Weekly Updates

Weekly Update: 06/05/2022

Leave a comment

This Week

Wednesday: Des Moines Marina Association

Thursday: 4:00 Transportation Committee Meeting (Agenda) There will be a presentation from WSDOT on Stage 2 of the SR-509 project.

Thursday: 5:00 Environment Committee Meeting (Agenda)

Thursday: 6:00 City Council Meeting (Agenda) The City Manager has scheduled an update on Summer Events, which I assume includes announcing that the Fireworks are a go for July 4th at the Marina. As for my part of the show, there will be thirteen items on the Consent Agenda but nothing on New Business.

OK, the City Manager typically spends 20 minutes on his thing. And assuming it takes five minutes to read two proclamations. And assuming we voted on all that stuff without objection. Total elapsed time? 30 minutes. Now that is efficient government, my friend.

Here’s the list of items on that Consent Agenda…

Approval of Vouchers: $5,757,623.05
Approval of minutes from past three months
Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan
Disposal of two abandoned vessels (routine)
Redondo Aquatic Lands Agreement
Wesley Senior Services Contract
Animal Control Officer outsource to Burien C.A.R.E.S.
Farmers Market agreement + 20k grant
Minor Home Repairs project
216th Street Undergrounding PSE payment $220,000
Housing Plan Consultant contract $75,000
LBGTQ Pride Month proclamation
Juneteenth Proclamation

Do all those seem routine to you? And one last thing, concerning what should be the least controversial part of any Consent Agenda. We’re being asked to vote for $5.7M in spending. The Council gets this list (which is a public document, but which you don’t see, probably because it also includes people’s pay rates–which I edited out for this post.) Since we haven’t met for a long time, there are well over 400 items. I simply asked to see the invoices for about ten. And… it’s a fight.

If you can deny any Councilmember information as basic as the bills we are legally required to approve? We’re onto an entirely new level.

Friday: Mt. Rainier High School Graduation at ShoWare Center

Last Week

Wednesday: Highline School Board Meeting. I was there to witness the swearing in of District #5 Director Azeb Hagos.

“Welcome. My neighbour Ibrahim is from Addis and he was gonna join me, but at the last minute he had to take care of his kids. My point is: people care. A lot. They may not show up, but they do care. But it’s easy to forget that after a while when you work
in an empty room. Don’t.

–HSD has a -district- based board. None of our cities have district-based councils. The Port does not—and it’s an even larger government. Some very smart people made this choice very intentionally. In contrast, almost everything you vote on will be HSD-wide. Almost every staff presentation will talk about what is best for HSD as a whole. And of course, you always want to work with your colleagues. But…. you represent District 5.

–One of Ibrahim’s kids is at Midway. The other is at Bezos. A lot of families are like that. It’s not a closed system and I hope you will learn from all those experiences.

–Always return everybody’s phone call.

–Always read the entire packet. The front will have a staff summary and a recommendation, which is fine. But read the whole thing.

Congratulations

Thursday: Public Safety and Emergency Management Committee Meeting (Agenda) (Video) This ties into my comments about Thursday’s upcoming meeting.

All throughout the week:

Tree Tours! To help explain the upcoming expansion of SR-509 and the Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP) I’ve developed a one hour walking/driving presentation.

The SAMP/SR-509 will have the same impact on air traffic as the Third Runway and it will re-shape northern Des Moines as dramatically as the Third Runway did Burien and the Second Runway did SeaTac.

The Tree Tour is a way to make this all simple by seeing what happened to Des Moines after the Second and Third runway projects and what’s coming next–from the ground level.

If you live in the area, if you care about things like tree canopy or airport issues in general, please get your friends together and let’s schedule a Tree Tour!

Public Safety Committee Meeting

I struggled to not publish this. I ran for office in 2019 to improve transparency and reduce the rubber stamping. But after almost two and a half years, I gotta say, things may actually be getting worse. But this has become truly alarming. Perhaps my colleagues are simply unaware of how business is supposed to be conducted. I urge both the public, potential candidates, and my colleagues to attend other city meetings and judge for themselves. We have become true outliers.

Today’s Publice Safety/Emergency Management Committee Meeting was the first in-person Council meeting of any kind since 2020. So hopefully you can forgive whoever forgot to activate some of my colleagues’ microphones. Getting back to ‘normal’ takes some practice. (If you’re having trouble hearing, I added subtitles.)

Although committee meetings are probably more important to the decision making process than the full meetings, I don’t usually write about them in detail because it’s just too much detail for most people. (Eg. there was a very important discussion regarding Flock Cameras which will soon be deployed to constantly scan people’s license plates in key areas.) But the process for both the issues I’ll cover was terrible. I’ve had people tell me they do not understand exactly what I mean by that and why it matters. These are two issues people care about a lot so it seemed like a good way to make the idea of ‘bad process’ concrete.

Animal Control

Background

The City and Police Chief have wanted to move from an Animal Control Officer to outsourcing the process to Burien C.A.R.E.S. The public has been unaware of this, but the Chief has been selling this hard internally for at least two years. As my predecessor said, “it was always a luxury and one we can no longer afford.”

Another reason this has been so quiet is that the administration had asked the Council not to respond to public concerns about the proposal because it might impact contract negotiations with the Police Guild. Somehow. During the update w learned that had not turned out to be problematic after all.

Lucky break.

The Chief did brief the Council on the proposal at the last full meeting. He provided a Powerpoint of cost savings and benefits, but no supporting evidence. That’s the problem before the problem: He bypassed the committee and went straight to the Council. And the Committee let him. In a better world, any of the committee members would have moved to stop him and remand his presentation to the committee–where it belonged in the first place.

Mistake #1: Never bypass the committee.

Presentation

Speaking for the Police Department was not the Chief, but rather Commander Patti Richards. And that right there is politics. Our Council rarely gives leadership a hard time. But no elected wants to be ‘that guy’ and grill a subordinate. Which is why I object to anyone but the Chief or City Manager presenting anything that might be controversial.

Mistake #2: Never bypass the committee.

So the Committee asked some perfunctory questions, but did not address the much more substantial concerns I heard from residents. I’m not sure whether or not my colleagues heard those same concerns.

The Commander indicated that the City had already worked with Legal, PD and Burien C.A.R.E.S to prepare a draft contract, but did not have that contract for review. Instead, she assured the committee that all their concerns had been addressed. The draft contract would be sent to the full Council for approval.

Mistake #3: Never bypass the committee.

In past years, the Committee would normally see that draft contract, provide notes, which the City Attorney would take back for polishing, come back for final committee approval and then send it fully baked to the Council for a vote. Despite their obvious differences, Councilmembers Bangs and Martinelli did just that on at least two PSEM ordinances in 2021.

Towing Ordinance

The committee spent a few minutes talking over Councilmember Steinmetz’s concerns over the recent 72 Hour Towing Ordinance. I voted against that ordinance for that reason and because it lacked a zoning provision which would have offered a good revenue stream and safety on certain streets. These tweaks could have easily been added and done right the first time.

Mistake #1: There is almost nothing that can’t wait a couple of weeks.

Instead, CM Steinmetz voted for it and *afterwards met privately with the Asst. City Attorney, hoping to work out some new language.

Mistake #2: Get it in writing. It’s a public process. If you want the committee to consider your idea, have an actual amendment. And print copies for the audience while yer at it. 🙂

But at the committee meeting, City Attorney Tim George told the committee that in his mind, the ordinance the Council approved was fine as is. And the other members of the committee agreed. Chair Traci Buxton suggested that we should wait and see if there is a public outcry and then it would surely be easy to fix.

Mistake #3: Nothing in government is easy to fix.

Measure twice, cut once…

Governments rarely re-visit legislation unless something is really wrong. Nor should they. It’s always onto the next thing. Think about it: we get a couple of hours twice a month. And this year? We’re four months behind schedule.

That is why I never vote to invoke ₂Rule 26a and approve any ordinance in one night.

You wanna make sure it’s right the first time for at least two reasons:

Assuming everyone is willing to stop and re-visit your pet issue again, you’re creating more work for everybody than doing it proper the first time.
We owe it to future Councils to leave things as tidy as possible for them. Because they will surely have plenty of their own messes to deal with.

If we had simply waited two weeks until the next meeting, we could have made the tweaks both CM Steinmetz and I wanted and we’d never have to worry about it again. It would be done. And in fact the ‘urgency’ is almost always artificial. We’d waited years without an ordinance, what was two more weeks?

Takeaways…

Council

This is the second time this year that the PSEM has allowed the administration to take an ordinance directly to the full Council. And both times have been a mistake. Other cities do not take these shortcuts. And in previous years, neither did we.

The whole point of having committees is to provide the hard review (and yes oversight) so that legislation is fully baked before it goes to the full Council. It is not supposed to be a rubber stamp before another rubber stamp.

Public

Over the past several months I’ve spoken to about a dozen residents who told me passionately how very much wanted to retain our own Animal Control Officer (ACO). I gave them my thoughts on how to make it happen and, as usual, they listened politely and then did something else. 😀

I love you Des Moines, but you also have to stop trying to do things in private. It’s a PITA, but you gotta start speaking up. Because every time you yell at me and then act so ‘chill’ to the majority, you send a message to the Council that they can listen to your polite complaints, do whatever they want and pay no price. And you’re making me not want to listen to your complaining either frankly. 😀

City

These committee meetings are OPMA public meetings. First the Council was told the meetings would be in the North Conference Room. (The Agenda says so.) Then we’re told it’s via Zoom, but I see no public notice. Then I get an email saying it’s in the Council Chambers and on Channel 21. But it’s not. I did find it on Youtube but it took a day for it to appear without a deep search. Then I watch it and find the mics aren’t on and there are no captions for our large number of hearing impaired residents. Come on.

Postscript

I’m sorry, but this strikes me as pretend government at the moment. We’re all so used to ‘just working things out’, we can’t even run a meeting as if it matters. Because frankly? It doesn’t.

Luke 16:10

*Something I am not permitted to do, by the way. Also known as straight up corruption.

₂Ordinances are required two separate readings (votes) in order to become law. Rule 26a is a motion that can be used to override that and pass a law in one vote. I never vote for it, not only for the above reason, but also because it gives the public almost no chance to engage on the issue.

Engagement, Public Safety

Animal Control, Flock Cameras, Surveillance, Towing

PSEM Committee Meeting June 2, 2022

Animal Control

Background

Lucky break.

Mistake #1: Never bypass the committee.

Presentation

Mistake #2: Never bypass the committee.

Mistake #3: Never bypass the committee.

Towing Ordinance

Mistake #1: There is almost nothing that can’t wait a couple of weeks.

Instead, CM Steinmetz voted for it and *afterwards met privately with the Asst. City Attorney, hoping to work out some new language.

Mistake #2: Get it in writing. It’s a public process. If you want the committee to consider your idea, have an actual amendment. And print copies for the audience while yer at it. 🙂

Mistake #3: Nothing in government is easy to fix.

Measure twice, cut once…

That is why I never vote to invoke ₂Rule 26a and approve any ordinance in one night.

You wanna make sure it’s right the first time for at least two reasons:

Assuming everyone is willing to stop and re-visit your pet issue again, you’re creating more work for everybody than doing it proper the first time.
We owe it to future Councils to leave things as tidy as possible for them. Because they will surely have plenty of their own messes to deal with.

Takeaways…

Council

Public

City

Postscript

Luke 16:10

*Something I am not permitted to do, by the way. Also known as straight up corruption.

Neighborhoods, Policy, Weekly Updates

Weekly Update: 05/08/2022

Leave a comment

This Week

Wednesday: State Archives. I don’t often talk about this, but aside from all the time I spend at various city meetings, I’m embarrassed to tell you all the time I spend at various ‘archive’ spots in Bellevue, Olympia and Port 69. There’s no other way to obtain any number of records.

I’ve gone into this a bit before but there was a seismic shift in government record keeping–or rather a tsunami. It started in the 90’s with the notion of moving warehouses of data onto CD-Rs and then really hit hard in 2006 as every city began sending all their records to the State Archives. I call this ‘the black hole’. There is this block of time (2006-2013 or so) during some of the most important events in Des Moines history–where large swaths of records (paper, video, audio) are simply gone. Or rather, they’re probably somewhere. But they’re buried in some warehouse like the end of that Indiana Jones movie. Why bother? Because if you don’t have a piece of paper, you’re just telling a folk tale.

Thursday: Transportation Committee (Agenda)

Thursday: Environment Committee (Agenda)

NPDES Program Overview (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) staff update
Source Control Program Update
CIP Updates Staff will provide an update on the 2022 SWM Projects

Thursday: City Council Meeting (Agenda)

Saturday: The big Holi Festival at Saltwater State Park!

Last Week

Tuesday: Distributing flyers for the big Holi Festival on the May 14 at Saltwater State Park!

Thursday: Meeting with Congressman Adam Smith. Mr. Smith has been working hard to obtain EPA grants to help with aviation studies. My interest is (as always) finding ways to reduce the noise and pollution and providing meaningful compensation to our City.

Thursday: 4:00PM Public Safety Committee (Agenda) (Video) This is why we need a guaranteed research. Shannon Kirchberg gave an update on our EM Plan.

Thursday: 5:00PM City Council Meeting (Agenda) (Video)

City Manager’s Report

The opening was a presentation on how to participate in the Masonic Home demolition EIS public comment period:

Consent Agenda

Councilmember Achziger pulled an item from the Consent Agenda, confirming a new appointment to the Lodging Tax Advisory Committee. It was one of those things I used to do to make a point. And it’s a good point to make: the whole ‘advisory committee’ thing has gotsta go. Every one of them is opaque and lacks proper accountability. But the reason you can’t change them is because even mentioning that sort of thing invokes defensiveness and pearl-clutching.

But if you watched and heard the name Peter Philips again, your hearing aids were not malfunctioning. Mr. Philips is also the publisher of our City Currents and our ferry consultant and our StART representative.

And the administration would argue that this creates a “synergy” which “enhances economic development.”

New Business

The one item of new business was a proposal from the City Manager to move in-person meetings to 6:00PM. Traditionally these have occurred at 7PM, but the City Manager used his “Emergency Powers”? to change them during the pandemic, basically to make things more convenient for staff. I didn’t understand this because other cities did not adjust their schedules.

Council Meeting Schedules

City Council Schedules

Burien	Monday	7:00	1st & 3rd	1990	Council/Manager
Federal Way	Tuesday	6:30	1st & 3rd	1990	*Mayor/Council
Des Moines	Thursday	7:00	1st & 3rd	1959	Council/Manager
Normandy Park	Tuesday	7:00	2nd & 4th	1953	Council/Manager
SeaTac	Tuesday	6:00	2nd & 4th	1990	Council/Manager
Tukwila	Monday	7:00	1st & 3rd	1909	Mayor/Council

*Federal Way has had a long road towards its current government. It took four attempts to incorporate, finally getting there in 1990 as Council/Manager. Voters then opted for a 'strong mayor' system in November 2009.

City Manager Matthias rightly pointed out that the Port of Seattle meets at noon (Tuesdays), King County Metro Council and of course Seattle also meet during the day. But ya know… those electeds are full time gigs running squillion dollar corporations–with multiple full-time staff to do their bidding. These are decidedly not citizen-elected positions.

What kills me is that my colleagues voted to (cough) research those start times. And I was thinking back to this scolding I received back in April when I proposed that the Council develop a research process.

If ever there was a frivolous request, that was it. Because ya know what, ladies and gentleman. Even if I had not already attended meetings in every nearby city and committed these times to memory, all anyone had to do was this:

Hey Siri! When’s the next Burien City Council Meeting?

Here are two of my recent ‘frivolous’ questions that have never gotten answered:

Has the City prepared a cost estimate on correcting the ongoing flooded area in Barnes Creek Trail? (Yes/No)
What have been the annual collections from Pet Licenses (which are not included in our budget.)

New Items For Consideration

I proposed that the City research a formal proposal for offering hybrid meetings–both for the full Council and committees. That ‘passed’. I guess? 😀

If that sounds snippy, the entire New Items for Consideration remains sloppy. It was created by fiat by former Mayor Pina as a response to my constant complaining that there was no opportunity to get new items on any agenda. But at the time, none of my colleagues would support doing it the right way (ie. creating a new item in the Rules of Procedure.) So a sloppy implementation leads to a sloppy product.

Our Rules of Procedure state that it takes three CMs to move an idea onto an Agenda. What Mayor Pina (and now Mahoney) do is survey the field and say, “OK, I see we have agreement” rather than taking a formal vote. You want a vote so that it’s in the record. Just as you may have seven votes on an item, but you only note the one second of the motion. You want it on the record: CM (x) proposed the idea. CM (y) and (z) supported the proposal and the agreement was to do (z) with it. It’s more than just a formality. If later on the item is not handled as expected, you want to be able to go back to the two others who supported the idea and say, “Hey, is that what we agreed to?” Every decision the Council makes has to have that kind of accountability.

Friday: Sound Cities Association Legislation Debrief. The 38 participating Cities got an update on the major legislation passed in the last sixty day session.

And the Spirit Of Des Moines Award goes to…

The City of Des Moines has a Spirit Of Des Moines Award for people who have made big contributions to our community. (It’s described in Appendix A of our Rules of Procedure.) There’s a “person of the year” version and a “lifetime achievement” version. It’s supposed to be given out every year? Or two years? Here is video of the last one in November 2019.

I had a bad week in a sense. I talked with at least half a dozen residents, all with real and longstanding issues. I sound like a Cassandra all the time (a really old Cassandra since who studies Greek myths, right?) but my biggest frustration thus far in elected land is in convincing residents of a few things:

You can change things.
It’s not that hard.
But there’s a right way and a wrong way to do go about it.

I’m gonna give you an example of how to do things right–a person who should get that Spirit of Des Moines Award. Then I’m gonna tell ya all things you’re doing wrong. 😀

This is what change looks like

This week, I said goodbye to a resident who is moving from DM and though I don’t know him well, I will miss him dearly.

In 2019, at the 11th hour, he learned (from somebody 😀 ) that a developer was proposing a miserably inappropriate mega-apartment complex (replete with ingress and egress of over 500 cars a day) into his neighbourhood–a quiet street where a dozen children play on any given day.

So… he organised a mailing list and got eighteen (18) people to show up to two City Council Meetings wherein the arcana of zoning is discussed. Since the usual amount of human beings who attend such decisions is typically zero, the members of the City Council a that time, seeing a genuine public will, voted down that re-zone and the developer backed out.

Two weeks ago, it was my pleasure to approve a new zoning proposal for twenty three (23) market rate beautiful town homes on the same spot. It will provide six times the home ownership opportunities and provide a ton more city revenue.

That guy changed Des Moines for the better and forever. (And the funny thing is… I’m not even sure he showed up for the meetings. 😃)

I stopped by to tell him that in my 13 years watching our Council that was one of maybe five similar events I’d seen in all that time. He seemed surprised because for him it was so straightforward.

Project Summary:
Organisation: 2hrs.
Work labour: 18 people show up for meeting @ 1hr each.
Other Expenses: $0

That’s what it took to flip a $20M transaction and change a neighbourhood for the better and forever. 18. 2. 0.

He succeeded for several reasons

He was naive to the process. The guy is super smart. It’s just that no one had told him how “impossible” it is to change zoning or fight “the City” or “developers” or whatever. He had no axes to grind.
He had someone who had watched our City Council provided him with a very simple process: “Do a, b, c.”
And he just followed the instructions. He had no one on social media talking him out of it. He wasn’t trying to be a Karen “I’ll just speak to the manager about this!”

The issue bugged him. He had a couple of spare hours. Done. Now maybe he was willing to do that because he has an involved job and didn’t have a lot of time, or maybe it was because he trusted someone who sounded like they knew what they were talking about.

But for whatever reason, he didn’t improvise. He didn’t “reach out to the City” or try to “schedule a meeting with whoever“, or do anything other than a, b, c.

And it worked.

So now he is thrice blessed:

He got to make a huge and positive difference in his community,
It was easy, and best of all…
He leaves here with a positive sense of how to change government.

From a civics standpoint that’s about as good as it gets. So if anyone ever deserved a Spirit Of Des Moines Award, it would be him.

The Moral

If you look at that video, the winners are business owners and Boy Scouts and one activist. The one activist did not get the things she wanted. So the plastic arrow looked (to me) like some sort of a consolation prize.

Which means:

No one gets a Spirit of Des Moines Award for getting the government to do something it does not want to do.
All the procedures the City has in place to help you are fantastic. But, they only apply if you want the government to do something it wants to do.
In fact, all those rules are meant to help you do things the City wants you to do. Which means that if you want the City to do something else, following their advice will actually prevent you from getting anywhere. So ignore them. If they lead to success it will only be a coincidence.

It’s not rocket surgery…

It’s that last part that totally blows residents’ minds–they simply refuse to believe it. But consider this: Why on earth would any organisation help you to do something that is contrary to its plans?

As I wrote, at our last City Council Meeting my colleagues voted for the City to ‘research’ the start times of our neighbouring cities. By the time I was elected I had already attended hundreds of our City Council meetings. In person. In addition to learning when meetings begin from Mukilteo to Auburn, I’ve gotten to see hundreds of people either get (or not get) what they wanted from local government.

And I’m here to tell ya, what it takes to get the City to do something it doesn’t want to do is not rocket surgery. If you sit by the shore as long as I have, even a complete idiot will learn how to catch a fish.

That’s the one really great thing about spending so much time watching local government–you learn what works.

But on the other hand, it’s also something of a downer watching hundreds and hundreds of people fail in the same ways. Over and over and over. And over. And over.

You can do it!

I’ll occasionally get some snippy comment about ‘not accomplishing more’ over the past 2.4 years. Look, we’ve had crappy government here for 20+ years. I didn’t expect to change people’s minds on the dais and I don’t sweat any of those votes.

My challenge has been changing your mind. If I have any regret it’s all the times residents like you could have (and should have) gotten what you wanted, but didn’t.

So at the risk of repeating myself, I’ll close by saying the same thing I opened with–in a slightly different way:

You can change things.
It’s not that hard.
But if you want to do something the City doesn’t already want to do, you’ll likely need to do something different in order to succeed. And that is where I can help.

And in the next year and a half, I hope you we can work together to help you obtain the change you would like to see.

Engagement, Neighborhoods

And the Spirit Of Des Moines Award goes to…

1 Comment

You can change things.
It’s not that hard.
But there’s a right way and a wrong way to do go about it.

I’m gonna give you an example of how to do things right–a person who should get that Spirit of Des Moines Award. Then I’m gonna tell ya all things you’re doing wrong. 😀

This is what change looks like

This week, I said goodbye to a resident who is moving from DM and though I don’t know him well, I will miss him dearly.

That guy changed Des Moines for the better and forever. (And the funny thing is… I’m not even sure he showed up for the meetings. 😃)

Project Summary:
Organisation: 2hrs.
Work labour: 18 people show up for meeting @ 1hr each.
Other Expenses: $0

That’s what it took to flip a $20M transaction and change a neighbourhood for the better and forever. 18. 2. 0.

He succeeded for several reasons

He was naive to the process. The guy is super smart. It’s just that no one had told him how “impossible” it is to change zoning or fight “the City” or “developers” or whatever. He had no axes to grind.
He had someone who had watched our City Council provided him with a very simple process: “Do a, b, c.”
And he just followed the instructions. He had no one on social media talking him out of it. He wasn’t trying to be a Karen “I’ll just speak to the manager about this!”

But for whatever reason, he didn’t improvise. He didn’t “reach out to the City” or try to “schedule a meeting with whoever“, or do anything other than a, b, c.

And it worked.

So now he is thrice blessed:

He got to make a huge and positive difference in his community,
It was easy, and best of all…
He leaves here with a positive sense of how to change government.

From a civics standpoint that’s about as good as it gets. So if anyone ever deserved a Spirit Of Des Moines Award, it would be him.

The Moral

Which means:

No one gets a Spirit of Des Moines Award for getting the government to do something it does not want to do.
All the procedures the City has in place to help you are fantastic. But, they only apply if you want the government to do something it wants to do.
In fact, all those rules are meant to help you do things the City wants you to do. Which means that if you want the City to do something else, following their advice will actually prevent you from getting anywhere. So ignore them. If they lead to success it will only be a coincidence.

It’s not rocket surgery…

That’s the one really great thing about spending so much time watching local government–you learn what works.

But on the other hand, it’s also something of a downer watching hundreds and hundreds of people fail in the same ways. Over and over and over. And over. And over.

You can do it!

My challenge has been changing your mind. If I have any regret it’s all the times residents like you could have (and should have) gotten what you wanted, but didn’t.

So at the risk of repeating myself, I’ll close by saying the same thing I opened with–in a slightly different way:

You can change things.
It’s not that hard.
But if you want to do something the City doesn’t already want to do, you’ll likely need to do something different in order to succeed. And that is where I can help.

And in the next year and a half, I hope you we can work together to help you obtain the change you would like to see.

Neighborhoods, Policy, Weekly Updates

Weekly Update: 05/01/2022

Leave a comment

As you can see, I’m making a few changes to the pages–hopefully it will make the site more useful. The PSAs are now on the right side of every page, along instructions on how to provide public comment. Also, there is a feed from the Official City Calendar. It’s good for seeing the dates, but the City is still not putting links to the content (agendas, instructions, etc.) so please continue to use the links I provide which do take you there.

This Week

Tuesday: Distributing flyers for the big Holi Festival on the May 14 at Saltwater State Park!

Thursday: 4:00PM Public Safety Committee (Agenda)

Thursday: 5:00PM City Council Meeting (Agenda) The highlight is a proposal from the City Manager to move in-person meetings to 6:00PM. Traditionally these have occurred at 7PM, but were changed during the pandemic, basically to make things more convenient for staff. I didn’t quite get this because other cities did not adjust their schedules.

I object to one Whereas which states that there have been no public complaints about the earlier start times. Not true. I’ve heard tons of complaints about it from working people.

That said, SeaTac meetings start at 6:00. Burien at 6:30. I understand why staff prefer the earlier time but apart from any tradition, my preferences would be to return to the 7:00PM because I think the later time is easier for working residents to come to City Hall. But I’m not sure. So…

It’s also probably a good time to once again mention Rule 26a. Normally ordinances require two meetings to became law. Often, however, the Council will use Rule 26a to override this and pass the final ordinance in a single night. This is exactly the kind of no-brainer for which Rule 26a should not be used. Since the start time is a key in getting people to attend, we should give them both weeks to weigh in.

Last Week

Tuesday: Port of Seattle Commission Meeting (Agenda) the big highlight is wass their return to in-person (and hybrid) meetings at Sea-Tac. Other items:

As with the Third Runway, there are a number of signs the Port is moving ahead with the SAMP. The Commission voted to issue $1.1 billion dollars in intermediate bonds.
On a somewhat more positive note, the Commission approved a test plan to determine the safety of large-scale hydrogen storage. There is a growing consensus that hydrogen cells are the only practical method for powering commercial aircraft at any point in the next 40 years. Battery development just isn’t moving ahead fast enough. There are currently hydrogen auto fueling stations, but Sea-Tac Airport measures its storage tanks for Jet-A (kerosene) in the millions of gallons.

The thing about gasoline is that it’s a wonderful energy storage device. Compared to batteries, it’s not only far more energy dense, it’s much lighter in weight. And despite what you might think, it’s not nearly as explosive as most other fuels, like… well, liquified hydrogen! 😀

Wednesday: Sea-Tac Airport Roundtable (StART) Meeting (Agenda). Different day, say ol’… The thing I keep saying over and over about StART is that all the Cities seem to have decided to team up with the Port to achieve a shared policy agenda. The practical effect has been to simply avoid any local action.

It’s all relative.

The most notable feature of every StART meeting now is the presence of at least thirty (30) commenters. However twenty nine of them will be Vashon Island residents demanding to be allowed to join the group (which is currently limited only to fence line communities.) I kinda have to smile at this because it’s like people demanding to get into a club that has nothing good to do.

Thursday: SCORE Jail. Director Devon Schrum gave me a tour and I was impressed with everything I saw. She also wanted me to know that they are hiring–and from what I can tell, for the right person, these are good jobs most people would never think to consider. But I left some brochures at City Hall or you can call them for more info

The City of Des Moines is a part owner of the facility as part of an ILA with several other near by cities. So the City Council has a particular interest in how the place is managed. (Until 2020, the City Council had a liaison who attended their meetings and reported at Council Meetings; that role has since been taken up by City Manager Matthias.)

Unfortunately, SCORE is where a lot of people finally get the services they need to tackle addiction and mental health issues and their staff spend a lot of effort on those aspects of their mission. They have a lot of skills that could be applied to people who need help outside of the court/jail system and it would be interesting to think about how that might work.

Thursday: Economic Development Committee (Agenda) (Video). Their first meeting of year, CM Nutting returns as chair with two new members: Deputy Mayor Buxton and Vic Pennington. Key item: a discussion of the Masonic Home EIS.

Thursday: Municipal Facilities Committee (Agenda) (Video) , CM Nutting returns as chair with new member: Harry Steinmetz and returning Mayor Mahoney. City Manager Matthias complimented the Committee for its wisdom in “continuity of leadership.” The group acknowledged that because the group was basically four months behind, they should stick with the staff’s recommended plan. The Mayor also acknowledged that at least two summer meetings would be cancelled in order to accommodate staff holidays. The Mayor was concerned that, being new to the committee, CM Steinmetz had not received a copy of the Capital Improvements Plan. This struck me as a bit odd considering that, like the TIP, the CIP is a public document and available 24/7/365 on the City web site? The meeting lasted eleven minutes and there were compliments as to how well it was run.

Thursday: City Council Meeting (Agenda) (Video) Perhaps the most important item was not on the Agenda. The City Manager provided the first update on the ARPA Stimulus spending since September 16 where we spent all $9M. I’ll have more on that in another article but I think the most notable item was that the business grant program seems to be ready to go.

There was also an item to accept a Port of Seattle grant to help promote that business grant program. I voted no on it for the same reason I always vote no on these. There is a sentence in there which indicates we support the Century Agenda. Saying so is not a requirement for obtaining the grant so either they just keep cutting/pasting every year or the City really does support the Century Agenda–and if so, they should find work elsewhere.

Standard Equipment

At Thursday’s meeting, I introduced an item of New Business. Basically an ‘undo key’ on Ordinance 1539 from 2012. Or to put it another way, to re-instate Ordinance 1407 from 2007.

To be less confusing: We used to have a section in our building code (Ordinance 1407 from 2007) which required sound insulation in all new construction. We repealed that in 2012 (Ordinance #1539). The operative language was as simple as this:

THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DES MOINES ORDAINS AS FOLLOWS:
(1) DMMC 14.08.180 and section 43 of Ordinance No. 1407 are hereby repealed.

That is all it took to remove the requirement for sound insulation.

I want to bring back what we had before: sound insulation for new construction.

My proposal is simply this:

THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DES MOINES ORDAINS AS FOLLOWS:
(1) DMMC 14.08.180 and section 43 of Ordinance No. 1407 are hereby reinstated.

Get it? Just put back what was taken out in 2012. Hopefully, it doesn’t require any ‘study’ or ‘analysis’. It requires no coordination with the Port or the FAA. If it worked before, it will work now. How am I so sure? Because it’s the same code that is currently in use in both Burien and SeaTac.

But before we get rolling, it never ceases to amaze me how one can be criticised for doing the right thing. In this case, I was told by three people “Dude. Know when to stop talking. They said Yes, already!” Like so many things in Des Moines these days, I fear that our love of (cough) ‘few words’ has led to an abnormally short attention span. Please note:

That discussion, which seemed so interminable, lasted a whopping ten minutes. We talk about anything airport-related about… oh… once in a blue moon. Even though it is the single most significant impact to our community.
And even with my ‘windiness’ our meeting was still able to conclude in a very crisp 1:15.

The good ol’ days…

When people talk about how great things used to be, they aren’t kidding. There was a sweet spot in the 1970’s where flights were plentiful enough to keep property values super-cheap but not so many flights as to drive people insane-o. But there had been enough community resentment after the second runway (primarily in the Sea-Tac Area) that when the Puget Sound Regional Council approved funding for a third runway in 1996, they mandated that 11,000 housing units gets those Port Packages. That’s an important detail. That happened before all the lawsuits.

(What kills me is that we all yearn for the days of flights which were “three to five minutes apart.” The people on Vashon Island show up at community meetings and their first words will always be: “The flights are now insane. They’re three to five minutes apart!”)

There were other strings attached to those Port Packages. The Avigation Easement was one (homeowners give perpetual license to fly over their property in exchange for the one-time Port Package.) That one really sucks.

But another was that each city receiving Port Packages (Des Moines, Burien and SeaTac should add a section to their building codes requiring new construction to provide sound reduction equivalent to what the Port Packages provide. In our case that was Ordinance 1407. The logic is simple: The Federal government was being asked to pay to mitigate homes that were there before the new runway. Fine. But it would not be fair to let developers continue to build homes without sound insulation and then later ask taxpayers to foot the bill for it. That would be like allowing builders to continue to build without the appropriate design upgrades after an area is identified as an earthquake risk.

I was against it… before I voted for it…

Last week I enthusiastically supported a new housing development on 216th and 12th-ish. They are the first new units in the area in a very long time and the first to use the kind of middle-market approach that makes for 23 really nice homes on a footprint where once there were four. The only fly in the ointment? No sound code. Those homes are uniquely positioned to get a double-dose of noise: landings on 34L (third runway) and take-offs on 16C. If any development should have sound insulation? That’s the one.

This is equity

How do I know it sucks? I’ve been brow beating the Port Commission to finally insulate all the remaining apartment buildings from that 1996 agreement. Because the strategy the Port employed in deploying Port packages was to begin with all the single family homes. They left the apartments for last. But in 2008, basically the moment the Third Runway was completed? They stopped the Port Package program. For the next ten years they averaged about eight new installs a year and did nothing about over 1,100 remaining multi-family buildings. Because there was no one to say “make me.”

Funny thing about apartments: that’s where a very large portion of the BIPOC community live. Not to mention lower income people of all types–but especially women with children. One may call it ‘coincidence’ but the demography is striking: the overwhelmingly white single-family homes got Port Packages and all the predominantly not-so-white multi-family homes did not.

That is what structural racism looks like today.

To their credit, the 2020 Port of Seattle Commission voted to correct that inequity. So the Villa Enzian Apartments are now being retro-fitted with high quality sound reduction; as are hundreds of similar apartments along Kent Des Moines Road. But not too much credit. Because it took 20 years for the apartment dwellers along Kent Des Moines Road to obtain the same basic quality of life as the predominantly white single family homes only two blocks away.

And one other ‘inside baseball’ politics detail: I did not support Stephanie Bowman’s bid for re-election as Port Commissioner. It was, hands down, the toughest ‘politics’ call I’ve made, because the fact is that she was, hands down, the most sincere advocate on the Commission for sound insulation–including getting those apartments done. This is what political courage looks like. Let’s be honest. Port Commissioners tend to get re-elected by doing projects about photogenic Orcas and High Schools. There is no photo-op in providing sound insulation for old apartments. Pushing that issue got her zero votes. But giving every resident the same opportunity to have some peace and quiet? That is what equity really looks like, in my opinion. And if she ran for any other office, I’d have to give her strong consideration.

You can’t fool me. I know what year it is!

Now, something may have occurred to you: If we repealed our sound ordinance in 2012, what about all those new homes built since then? Exactamundo.

It is hard to report on ‘untruth’. Using “the L word” offends people. But if one reads the “Whereases”, the Ordinance makes three main points and all of them are whoppers.

“Developers have told us we cannot build here with all these regulations!” Any yet? Both Burien and Sea-Tac residents got Port Packages, neither city repealed their sound code. And both have built lots of nice homes since 2012.
“Off the shelf products and generally accepted construction standards have improved to where one does not need any of those damned regulations!” And yet, area developers offered “optional” sound insulation packages in areas such as Blueberry Lane. Which is like having optional seat belts.
“Foregoing sound code will not prevent home owners from seeking noise mitigation in the future.” OK, that one is true–if by “homeowner” you mean Marty McFly and by “the future” you mean 1986. Because that’s the cut-off date for FAA eligibility. Every home built in Des Moines since we repealed our sound code in 2012 will never be eligible for a Port Package.

And I could not agree more with that policy.

You’re a Senator or the FAA Administrator. Your constituency is “America”, not “Des Moines”. If Des Moines comes to you in 2022 and says, “Please give us $300M in new Port Package money for new houses inside the DNL65. Here’s the conversation:

FED: Didn’t you used to have a sound code? We gave you money for every home inside that area. And you agreed to add sound to your building code.”

DM: “Well, yes we did. And gosh we tried. Really we did. But the developers said they wouldn’t come here anymore if we did that. So really, it’s their fault.”

FED: OK, but then how come Burien and SeaTac didn’t do that?”

DM: Well……. we weren’t working here then. So it’s not our fault either.”

You’re asking the Federal Government to give a retroactive gift to developers for lobbying the City to go against the whole intent of the Third Runway mitigation. In fact, you’re actually rewarding the City for circumventing the will of Congress.

It’s so annoying…

Mitigating airport impacts is hard. Since the emissions from jet engines are so different from those of automobiles, they haven’t (until recently) even begun to be understood. And noise? The idea that it is simply a matter of sensitivity is so baked into us that the technical term for the harm it causes is ‘annoyance’. It’s not annoying. It’s harmful to human health and we should start talking about it like that. It’s harmful. Not annoying.

Now, try walking into Federal Court to argue the potential community harms of airport expansion. You start whipping out decades of public health studies about the negative effects on human health of excessive noise. It’s a lock, right?

Then the smartly dressed FAA lawyer on the other table simply whips out that one single sheet of paper, Ordinance 1539, and calmly reads…

“WHEREAS, continuing improvements in State building and
energy codes are resulting in quieter homes…”

You simply cannot expect judges or electeds to believe that you care about noise impacts if you create an ordinance with the express purpose of contravening the will of the Federal Government. Your only argument becomes, “Well, yes but now it’s much, much worse.”

Uh huh.

It’s a feature…

That is why I proposed that we immediately re-instate the sound code–and why I objected to being cut-off while speaking. The Council must understand what is at stake. The issue is not as simple as “remand it to the committee.”

We must have that sound code in place in order to expand the Port Package program to every part of Des Moines. Because no way the FAA pays for it otherwise.

And everyone should celebrate–especially developers. Because if every new home really is being built with the same (or better) sound reduction as a Port Package? Developers should have no problem. If they’re already doing it, they should actually welcome it as a sales tool. From that perspective, the sound code is not a hindrance, but rather a sales feature. And proof that they really are providing a safe, quiet product.

Airport, Economic Development, Engagement, History

Sound insulation should be standard equipment

May 1, 2022November 14, 2023

3 Comments

At Thursday’s meeting, I introduced an item of New Business. Basically an ‘undo key’ on Ordinance 1539 from 2012. Or to put it another way, to re-instate Ordinance 1407 from 2007.

THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DES MOINES ORDAINS AS FOLLOWS:
(1) DMMC 14.08.180 and section 43 of Ordinance No. 1407 are hereby repealed.

That is all it took to remove the requirement for sound insulation.

I want to bring back what we had before: sound insulation for new construction.

My proposal is simply this:

THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DES MOINES ORDAINS AS FOLLOWS:
(1) DMMC 14.08.180 and section 43 of Ordinance No. 1407 are hereby reinstated.

That discussion, which seemed so interminable, lasted a whopping ten minutes. We talk about anything airport-related about… oh… once in a blue moon. Even though it is the single most significant impact to our community.
And even with my ‘windiness’ our meeting was still able to conclude in a very crisp 1:15.

The good ol’ days…

I was against it… before I voted for it…

This is equity

That is what structural racism looks like today.

You can’t fool me. I know what year it is!

Now, something may have occurred to you: If we repealed our sound ordinance in 2012, what about all those new homes built since then? Exactamundo.

It is hard to report on ‘untruth’. Using “the L word” offends people. But if one reads the “Whereases”, the Ordinance makes three main points and all of them are whoppers.

“Developers have told us we cannot build here with all these regulations!” Any yet? Both Burien and Sea-Tac residents got Port Packages, neither city repealed their sound code. And both have built lots of nice homes since 2012.
“Off the shelf products and generally accepted construction standards have improved to where one does not need any of those damned regulations!” And yet, area developers offered “optional” sound insulation packages in areas such as Blueberry Lane. Which is like having optional seat belts.
“Foregoing sound code will not prevent home owners from seeking noise mitigation in the future.” OK, that one is true–if by “homeowner” you mean Marty McFly and by “the future” you mean 1986. Because that’s the cut-off date for FAA eligibility. Every home built in Des Moines since we repealed our sound code in 2012 will never be eligible for a Port Package.

And I could not agree more with that policy.

FED: Didn’t you used to have a sound code? We gave you money for every home inside that area. And you agreed to add sound to your building code.”

DM: “Well, yes we did. And gosh we tried. Really we did. But the developers said they wouldn’t come here anymore if we did that. So really, it’s their fault.”

FED: OK, but then how come Burien and SeaTac didn’t do that?”

DM: Well……. we weren’t working here then. So it’s not our fault either.”

It’s so annoying…

Then the smartly dressed FAA lawyer on the other table simply whips out that one single sheet of paper, Ordinance 1539, and calmly reads…

“WHEREAS, continuing improvements in State building and
energy codes are resulting in quieter homes…”

Uh huh.

It’s a feature…

We must have that sound code in place in order to expand the Port Package program to every part of Des Moines. Because no way the FAA pays for it otherwise.

Economic Development, Environment, Policy, Weekly Updates

Weekly Update: 04/24/2022

Leave a comment

Public Service Announcements

This Week

Tuesday: Port of Seattle Commission Meeting (Agenda) the big highlight is that this is their return to in-person (and hybrid) meetings at Sea-Tac. Other items:

As with the Third Runway, there are a number of signs the Port is moving ahead with the SAMP. Today, the Commission will vote to issue $1.1 billion dollars in intermediate bonds.
On a somewhat more positive note, the Commission will also approve a test plan to determine the safety of large-scale hydrogen storage. There is a growing consensus that hydrogen cells are the only practical method for powering commercial aircraft at any point in the next 40 years. Battery development just isn’t moving ahead fast enough. There are currently hydrogen auto fueling stations, but Sea-Tac Airport measures its storage tanks for Jet-A (kerosene) in the millions of gallons.

The thing about gasoline is that it’s not a fuel, it’s also a wonderfully convenient fuel/energy storage device. Compared to batteries, it’s not only far more energy dense, it’s much lighter in weight. And despite what you might think, it’s not nearly as explosive as most other fuels like… well, liquified hydrogen! 😀

Wednesday: Sea-Tac Airport Roundtable (StART) Meeting (Agenda) the big highlight is that this is their return to in-person (and hybrid) meetings at Sea-Tac.

Thursday: Economic Development Committee (Agenda). Their first meeting of year) Key item: a discussion of the Masonic Home EIS.

Thursday: Municipal Facilities Committee (Agenda) Their first meeting of year)

Thursday: City Council Meeting (Agenda) Perhaps the most important item is not on the Agenda. The City Manager will provide the first update on the ARPA Stimulus spending since September 16 where we spent all $9M.

There is an item to accept a Port of Seattle grant to help promote that business grant program. Two things:

I will vote no on it for the same reason I always vote no on these. There is a sentence in there which indicates we support the Century Agenda. Saying so is not a requirement for obtaining the grant so either they just keep cutting/pasting every year or the City really does support the Century Agenda–and if so, they should find work elsewhere.
On a more pleasant note, the narration seems to indicate that program is ready to go now, which would be great news. But my understanding was that we’d be using a third party consultant to set up the program. So… as usual… I have questions. 😀

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

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

There are three ways to provide Public Comment:

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

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

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

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

Last Week

Monday: I spoke with Senator Keiser about air quality monitors and how to reduce flights.

Monday: Destination Des Moines. They’ve finalised their calendar and it’s looking good. There will be an Art/Wine Walk and a Holi Festival at Saltwater State Park May 14 and it only gets better from there.

Thursday: I met with Justin Taillon, head of the Hospitality program at Highline College and a board member of Destination Des Moines. He is an interesting person and as a former small restaurant owner I was interested in hearing his thoughts.

Thursday: I want to acknowledge the 100th birthday of Judson Park resident Alene Huntsman. Some friends of hers had hoped to have a birthday party, but it had to be postponed by COVID.

Saturday: I participated in a couple of Earth Day events, including a demonstration project on waste reduction. Waste reduction has become a big ‘thing’ with me. Dealing with ‘trash’ uses at least 3% of C02 emissions, plus the breakdown of plastics into particulates so fine they can’t be seen with the naked eye has begun to be found in everything. I’ve caught sea bass off of West Port and they’re loaded with it.

Numbers and goals

A common story I hear is that “Our downtown was always terrible! All the construction cranes since 2016? That means we’re (finally) moving forward!”

But OTOH, here are a couple of budget numbers from 2008–right before the bottom dropped out. Note the Sales Tax revenue:

Remember: that represents the money that people spend here. It’s as good an indicator as any as to the health of our business community.

OK, now here’s the 2019 Budget.

Just wait a cotton-pickin’ minute! In 2018 we generated pretty much the same sales tax as 2008. Now think about that for a secy-poo. After all the construction cranes, the new hotel, the FAA building, the big additions to Wesley. And still, people do not spend any more money here than they did before the Great Recession.

You can look at this at least two ways

I can see a certain number of saying, “You just proved our point, JC! This is exactly why we need to re-develop that Marina into “the magnet!” Because no matter what we’ve tried, we’ve never been able to get that downtown to earn for us!”

Maybe.

Or, maybe back in 2007, Marine View Drive hosted a surprising variety of interesting small business you’ve forgotten or did not know about which had things people liked to spend money on–even though the buildings were just as funky. One can bemoan “the death of retail” and speak about how “QFC couldn’t make it”. But the fact is, people were happy to use a nice local wine shop. And they were just as happy to visit Tyrone’s Rib Shack then for the same reason they enjoy Dat Creole Soul now: you can’t beat a good plate of southern cooking.

Aside from all the vast macro-economic stuff, maybe if you put out a good product and you get some basic skills at running a business, you draw customers and make money.

But the real message I want to send in this post is this: we should find out for sure, like any for realz business would, rather than just gambling with other people’s money (meaning yours, by the way) which has been our modus operandi since I’ve lived here. And since we just spent $1M on a ferry pilot project, there’s never a better time to start.

It’ll bring tens of thousands…

I keep beating on this one clip of then Deputy Mayor Mahoney because I’ve heard that same hyperbole so many times over the years. Here’s Mayor Sheckler betting Deputy Mayor Kaplan a lunch that the hotel will get built. Perhaps the reason the bet was so low-stakes is because by that point it was no longer about making a ton of money. Success had been reduced and re-defined as getting it built.

Magnetism…

The central premise of “economic development” here seems to have always had something to do with that ‘magnetism’. What has been said over and over is some variation on this:

We should build (x) because

In the short term, it will create a big ol’ bag o’ one-time money and some great construction jobs.
But in the long term, the project will be a magnet. It will draw people (and their wallets) inexorably towards the downtown. Now, if said project turns out to generate ongoing revenues? Super Green, baby. But even if it doesn’t, that does not matter. It’s the drawing power that matters.

That’s been the story here. Over and over…

We heard that with Sheckler and the hotel.
We heard that with the FAA building.
We heard that with SR3.

And now I’m hearing it with all the Marina Redevelopment. But the innovation this time is that it’s not based on a single draw, but rather it’s a team-up:

The ferry will be the magnet
The hotel will be the magnet
The Adaptive Purpose Building will be the magnet
The Stairs will be the magnet
And SR3 will be the magnet

And even if any one of them is individually is not… er… ‘attractive’ enough?

No Matter Puny Earth Man. The combined force of all those powers will generate a super-magnet that no mortal consumer can resist! Muwhahahaaa!

Sorry, I got carried away.

Because the one thing all these projects have had in common with an *Avengers Movie? That magnetism was all based on fantasy, not on any business case.

Misdirection…

In none of those projects was there a legit plan describing what the project would do for the City and how it would get us there. It was always just “Hotel on Pac Highway? Great idea, Bob!”

The only thing that actually panned out was the one-time money. And if something happens over and over, ya gotta start wondering if that wasn’t the whole point in the first place: the temporary construction jobs, the one fat check and… the photo op with the shovels.

I left my crystal ball at home…

At our recent planning meeting I beat on the idea of a sales tax by geography report. For years I’ve been told that it was illegal. It’s not illegal. Other cities have been doing it for a long time.

It’s not just the chronic misinformation, it’s the fact that we’re do damned uncurious. If you don’t want to know how much each part of the City earns, it tells me you don’t really care about how anything performs.

When anyone presents a business plan for a new restaurant or a hotel, or even an entire shopping center, they are expected to show investors (that would be you, dear voter) some revenue projections and an explanation of how they’ll get there.

Those are things we’ve never had here. We’ve never treated economic development like (wait for it…) a business; something with goals.

And that’s sad, because finance people are really good at forecasting various numbers, even highly variable items such as sales tax or red light cameras. You don’t need some ‘crystal ball’ as our City Manager is fond of saying. Most of the Finance Directors we’ve had have come very close in their projections–even during times when we were on a big rollercoaster. Well done to them.

It’s time to get serious…

My colleagues seem to have decided that we should change the entire purpose of the Marina from being primarily a place for recreation to being exactly that tourism magnet–the economic driver of our City for the next generation.

And if that’s the case? I expect it to be managed like our lives depend on it. If we’re going into the hospitality and tourism businesses, I expect to know how much money are we going to make, and how we’re going to make it. Especially if that money has to hit $50M to pay for dock replacement. This is serious. We are literally betting our future on it.

But at that strategy meeting what you did not hear is anything like, “Our goal is that by 2030 our General Fund will be at ($n) million dollars, because we want to be able to do (x,y,z). OK gang, that’s the destination. Now: how do we get there?”

I have literally never seen our City set any targets, monitor them and change direction along the way in order to make sure we hit those targets.

We have a fiduciary responsibility to maximise the return of your investment in Des Moines. That doesn’t mean, “That ferry sure looks nice.” No. If we decide that we want to get into the tourism and hospitality business, then our job is to implement proposals with the best possible earning potential. The best.

Another possibility…

Now, I have 30 years of reasons to be skeptical about any development projects here. And the current Marina plans are no different–because they have no numbers and no goals.

And that sales tax by zone report that was ‘impossible’? I’ve run across that sort of impossibility many times. Maybe we could do a lot more to improve our downtown without selling off the Marina or gambling on a ferry. Yes, even with the landlords and the funky buildings. But again, it’s impossible to say without… numbers and goals.

This is a matter of equity and justice. We don’t have enough money to do a lot of things we should be doing. Pick an area: public safety, health, education, parks, seniors, roads, transit. We have an obligation to earn the money to get there and with that comes an even more sober obligation to make economic development decisions based on hard data.

_*I know. That the magnetism thing is actually from another Marvel franchise. I just couldn’t find a shot of all the X-Men doing that combo-attack thing you see at the climax of every superhero movie. More fake news.

Economic Development, History, Marina

Numbers and goals

A common story I hear is that “Our downtown was always terrible! All the construction cranes since 2016? That means we’re (finally) moving forward!”

But OTOH, here are a couple of budget numbers from 2008–right before the bottom dropped out. Note the Sales Tax revenue:

Remember: that represents the money that people spend here. It’s as good an indicator as any as to the health of our business community.

OK, now here’s the 2019 Budget.

You can look at this at least two ways

Maybe.

Aside from all the vast macro-economic stuff, maybe if you put out a good product and you get some basic skills at running a business, you draw customers and make money.

It’ll bring tens of thousands…

Magnetism…

The central premise of “economic development” here seems to have always had something to do with that ‘magnetism’. What has been said over and over is some variation on this:

We should build (x) because

In the short term, it will create a big ol’ bag o’ one-time money and some great construction jobs.
But in the long term, the project will be a magnet. It will draw people (and their wallets) inexorably towards the downtown. Now, if said project turns out to generate ongoing revenues? Super Green, baby. But even if it doesn’t, that does not matter. It’s the drawing power that matters.

That’s been the story here. Over and over…

We heard that with Sheckler and the hotel.
We heard that with the FAA building.
We heard that with SR3.

And now I’m hearing it with all the Marina Redevelopment. But the innovation this time is that it’s not based on a single draw, but rather it’s a team-up:

The ferry will be the magnet
The hotel will be the magnet
The Adaptive Purpose Building will be the magnet
The Stairs will be the magnet
And SR3 will be the magnet

And even if any one of them is individually is not… er… ‘attractive’ enough?

No Matter Puny Earth Man. The combined force of all those powers will generate a super-magnet that no mortal consumer can resist! Muwhahahaaa!

Sorry, I got carried away.

Because the one thing all these projects have had in common with an *Avengers Movie? That magnetism was all based on fantasy, not on any business case.

Misdirection…

In none of those projects was there a legit plan describing what the project would do for the City and how it would get us there. It was always just “Hotel on Pac Highway? Great idea, Bob!”

I left my crystal ball at home…

Those are things we’ve never had here. We’ve never treated economic development like (wait for it…) a business; something with goals.

It’s time to get serious…

I have literally never seen our City set any targets, monitor them and change direction along the way in order to make sure we hit those targets.

Another possibility…

Now, I have 30 years of reasons to be skeptical about any development projects here. And the current Marina plans are no different–because they have no numbers and no goals.

Neighborhoods

Happy Easter

I want to wish all of you who are People Of The Book a very Happy Easter and Passover.

Easter in Ireland…

This image is of a typical holiday procession from where I grew up. It could be Easter, or Patrick’s Day or whatever holiday. Not too many egg hunts and rabbits with this lot. (In fact, this piccie is from 2000-something. This is after the West of Ireland had lightened up. 😀 )

Becomes Passover in America

Now almost all my American relations were very observant Jews so when I came to America in the 70’s I expected a similar degree of somber religiosity. After all, these were people who did not drive on Saturdays. Who made their kids wear funny outfits to public school. I expected we wouldn’t have much to talk about. Not so.

Every Passover, I would get invited to my Uncle’s house for the Seder and as soon as everyone was done with the Haggadah and Elijah and searching for that hidden thingie with the prizes, we’d all retire to a magical place called “the den” to watch Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner go at it for five hours on ABC.

Because it just would not be Passover for the Jews in their neighbourhood without the Ten Commandments going full blast in some other room.

So even though about half of the rigamarole was quite different from the rigamarole I grew up with, after all the parsley and horseradish, you can sit on the couch and cheer for Moses and boo at Edward G. and it’s all good.

My cousins now do this with their kids. This has been going on now for over 50 years! So it’s kinda become welded into the fabric of their observance in a very unironic fashion:

Morning Temple
Afternoon Seder
Evening Ten Commandments

Now that’s tradition. 😀

If some of you find that sort of piccie somehow ‘disrespectful’, yeah, my guess is that you’re probably one of the unfortunate goyim. 😀 (keeeeding.)

One of the many gifts my Jewish/American family gave me was the ability to see the humour in that reference. It takes a real self-confidence to be able to laugh at one’s self. You can be ferocious in maintaining your identity and not take yourself too seriously. (I also credit them with the ability to argue like a m^%@*f&%@ker. Walking away from a good debate? Sissy. Thank you for that.)

Shared References

And for a good while, I thought I was pretty darned ‘culturally aware.’ In addition to my upbringing, living in Detroit in the 1970’s, gave me some vague knowledge not only about Easter and Passover, but also Ramadan and Kwanzaa.

And that covers the belief systems of….

Maybe half the population of Planet Earth.

But forget religion. That goes for every reference I’ve got. Hee Haw, Star Trek, Wizard of Oz, James Brown, Da Vinci. I cannot take for granted any of the cultural references I thought would last for-ehveeeer. (I now routinely run into people now who have no idea the basics of ‘Easter’. Ouch.)

And that’s not about ‘privilege’. Having shared references makes it easier to connect with people beyond just “Wow. Ireland, huh? It’s so green. Love the er… castles. And the hats, right?” 😀 Back in the day, having shared references like the Ten Commandments was quite the ice breaker.

Wait, he’s not the guy who parted the Red Sea?

And forget Moses. Hell, for people who still remember Charlton Heston their most recent reference would be:

But a decade before that…

And less than a decade before that…

My father-in-law remembers Heston marching with Dr. King for civil rights legislation in the early sixties.

But you have to go back a decade before that to get to the ‘Moses parting the Red Sea’ my generation still laughs about. That’s the problem with people. They can be more than one thing.

The ice breaker…

There was a point here when I started. 😀 Oh yeah: I occasionally mention a sliver of my background only as a way to try to connect to your background. As I’ve tried to make clear, my references are now the minority. I don’t expect people to know what a Eucharist is, any more than you should automatically expect that I know what your cultural practices are.

But I want to learn about your world. And there need to be ice breakers to get to those deeper conversations. And I believe the City has an obligation to give your cultural references a prominent place in the civic life of Des Moines.

Because the truth is? Back in the day there were three channels on TV. So everyone saw Charlton Heston part the Red Sea at least once. Whether they wanted to or not. 😀

Easter

For me, Easter is the most important day of the year. I can’t tell you exactly why except to say that those somber processions I opened with must have had a profound effect on me. If you ask anyone who knew me back in the day that I’d be playing organ at Mass? The word ‘miracle’ springs to mind. 😀

To this day I recall the reverence everyone had during those slow walks along the Sky Road which overlooks the Atlantic Ocean. Forget Christmas or funerals or whatever. This was the one moment of the year where the entire town stopped; sort of a ‘group meditation’. It created a sense of awe in me, which left me with the nagging feeling that the whole story–as unbelievable as it sounded? Yeah, it just might be true. 😀

For whatever reason, that feeling never left. It waxes and wanes. But whether at St. Joseph’s then or St. Philomena now, it persists.

(And the same could also be said of those Passover meals. Because the part I left out was that, all kidding aside, there were always moments where the enormity of the story hit everybody. What it took, just to survive, to get from there to here over 2,000+ years. It’s not hard to feel something miraculous in that as well.)

Beannachtaí na Cásca, Happy Easter.
Guten Pesach. Happy Passover.

🙂