Articles about: Neighborhoods - JC Harris For Des Moines, Washington

Flag Day 2022

Today I was very happy to see the City of Des Moines flying not only our nation’s flag, but also those celebrating Pride Month and Juneteenth. A dear friend of mine is going under the knife today. (People my age don’t have surgery. We go under the knife.) Another expression people of my age have

Engagement, Neighborhoods

And the Spirit Of Des Moines Award goes to…

1 Comment

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?

Parks, Recreation and Senior Services Master Plan 2022 (Final) PRSS

04/06/2011 – Animal Control Ad Hoc Committee

Following the shooting of a dog by DMPD that had gotten out of its yard, the City Council created an Ad Hoc Committee to do a lessons learned and establish policies going forward. The story of ‘Rosie the Newfoundland’ got national press coverage and led to a legal settlement with the owners. https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/des-moines-to-pay-51000-over-fatal-shooting-of-dog/

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.

Neighborhoods, Public Safety

Animal Control: Officer Magnuson 2.0

March 25, 2022May 1, 2025

There is an upcoming discussion about outsourcing Animal Control Officer (ACO) services to Burien CARES. For people new to Des Moines, this may seem like not such a big deal. Frankly, the service has not been great the past couple of years for a couple of reasons I won’t go into here. Suffice it to

Engagement, Neighborhoods, Public Safety

A letter to Selena Taylor

Selena Taylor is the mother of a young man killed at La Familia Sports Pub on Pacific Highway September 26, 2021. Hi, I am writing you today to (hopefully) respond a bit more clearly to your public comment last night. Just as you and Betty were speaking it dawned on me that this weekend is,

Neighborhoods

Future Cities, Pacific Middle School, Sandy Gady

Comments to the Highline School Board in support of Design/Engineering at Pacific Middle School

1 Comment

This is a lightly edited version of my comments to the School Board on October 6, 2021. At that meeting I urged the School Board to restore the wonderful Design/Engineering program at Pacific Middle School, which had been cut at the last minute. My prepared remarks were about ‘equity’ and ‘the importance of the program

Airport, Economic Development, Marina, Neighborhoods, Transportation

My six ARPA proposals

1 Comment

Update 08/31/21: Since this original post, I have added two other proposals for a total of six. I’ve added them below. As I said in the Christmas in July post on spending our $9M in stimulus money, after the July 22 City Council Meeting, Councilmembers were given an application by the City Manager to fill

Economic Development Committee Meeting Presentation 07.29.2021

HB1220 presentation from Eric Lane and Matthew Hutchins

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.

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.

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.