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Weekly Update: 01/19/2020

This Week Monday: Happy Martin Luther King Day! Meeting with Councilmember Satwinder Kaur of Kent. She’s on the Sound Cities Association (SCA) Puget Sound Clean Air Committee. Regional organizations like this are something Des Moines needs to get more involved with. Just one, kind of a weedsy detail: there are no pollution monitors around Sea-Tac

Weekly Updates

Weekly Update: 01/12/2020

This Week On Wednesday, I’ll be having a weekly meeting with the City Manager, Michael Matthias. All Councilmembers try to have weekly contact to go over questions, concerns. I prefer to do these face to face. I’ll also be attending a Reach Out Des Moines meeting at Pacific Middle School. This is a group of

Weekly Updates

Weekly Update: 01/05/20

This Week This is an ACTION-PACKED WEEK! 😀 Sprinkled throughout the week are short “Hi There!” meetings to various CCs in other airport communities. I kind of have a leg up in that I already know at least a few CCs in all six cities as part of my ‘airporty’ stuff over the years. But

Weekly Updates

Weekly Update: 12/22/19

My first meeting on the City Council will be Thursday January 9th at 7PM at City Hall (21630 11th Avenue Des Moines, WA 98198). There will be a brief ‘swearing in’ ceremony at the beginning. So… you know… mark your calendar. 😀 By the way, Des Moines subscribers to Comcast can watch this (or any

Weekly Updates

Weekly Update: 12/15/19

Weekly Updates

Weekly Update: 12/8/19

1 Comment

This week I’ve been very remiss in replying to messages due to some sort of virus which has kept me trapped in a spot between “Lord, take me now!” and “Lord, if you get me outta this I promise I’ll be a better person!”… for the past 4-5 days. Apologies. FYI… South Seattle College is

Weekly Updates

Weekly Update 12/1/19

This Week Monday, I’ll be meeting with Bill Linscott of the Des Moines Marina Association. The Marina is near and dear to my heart and I look forward to being a strong advocate for sailors, boaters, fisher…er… people. 😀 Tuesday will be more Salmon Counting, which I’ll talk about next week because it’s one of

Transparency

Tough Noogies

November 30, 2019February 4, 2023

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I am told that the expression ‘tough noogies’ is pretty old. I first heard it on an old Saturday Night Live skit where Bill Murray tortures Gilda Radner. It was funnier than that sounds, but judge for yourself. Every frickin’ time I write anything I get at least one person who insists I either: a)

Weekly Updates

Weekly Update 11/24/19

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A bit slow getting this done. Got like two hundred sign-ups this week! Some are trolls of course, so it takes a while to weed out the (obvious) goofballs. Anyhoo…THANKS FOR SIGNING UP! So next week will be short, of course. I’ll be meeting with our State Rep. Tina Orwall on legislation to provide relief

Transparency

Resolution 19-113

I kinda wish I didn’t have to write this, but we’re getting off to a bad start council-relationship-wise. I have tried to be as friendly as possible during this transition but this Resolution is pointed directly at Mr. Martinelli and myself and it’s exactly the kind of good-ol’-boy nonsense I ran against so I feel

Ongoing Stuff

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

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

How to attend meetings and provide Public Comment

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

There are three ways to provide Public Comment:

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

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

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

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

How to view public comments, correspondence and meeting materials

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

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