JC Harris For Des Moines, Washington
City Council, Position #2
Non-partisan. Independent.
Next City Council Meeting is July 11, 6:00PM
Working hard to support local businesses!
An advocate for airport issues!
A list of key events in the history of the Des Moines Marina beginning with 2007 Master Plan, which laid out the broad outlines of the current waterside and landside options. Water side topics include removing the Sling launch, passenger ferry service, dock and seawall financing. Land side topics include segmenting the floor into separate funds, public vs. commercial uses, connection with 223rd, paid parking, boat storage, retail and restaurants....
This is a shameless plug for a free program called Google Earth. People with an interest in the Marina often mention Poulsbo, Edmonds, Point Ruston, Tacoma, Kirkland, and other spots, as models we could use for our economic development. I've used all these Marinas, so I've seen them from both 'land and sea'. But I'm not sure most people have. One thing I know for sure--they're all very different from Des Moines. I tried and couldn't find a single image that adequately captures any of these places. There's simply too much 'there' there. That's why having a way to visualise places (as I've talked about with a Virtual Marina Tour here) is so valuable....
No, it's not Des Moines. This image is from the Seattle Times Pictures of the Year 2022. So. What. This is my fave image of the year. I'll tell ya why and I'll tell ya why I'm tellin' ya why. My overview of how things went here in 2022, our biggest challenges, and the legislation I hope to work on for you in 2023. Big emphasis on economic development and the airport--both of which we've been getting wrong since I've lived here. ...
At this meeting, the council received, what I considered at the time, to be a fairly sensible plan for dock replacement. It kept the dock finances and the seawall separate and did not pretend to address big 'plans'. The City got yelled at because one method of financing depended heavily on raising moorage rates and raising fuel costs, both of which had always been below market rate. But that had always been intentional; the Marina had been intended as a public marina. What the boat owners failed to acknowledge at the time was that by now most people paying for moorage did not live in Des Moines....
For me 2013 is the most useful and fascinating year in recent DM history. And if I could, I would insist that every current member of the Council and all future candidates listen to this stuff (especially the April 6, ‘all options on the table’ meeting) and take notes. Introduction As you’ve perhaps heard many times,
... continue reading.There seems to be a ton of confusion about any number of aspects of the Marina proposals. This article addresses what is arguably the central bit of real estate around which everything else revolves: 223rd Street. The Big Picture The original idea for Marina Redevelopment was to have a ‘Marina Steps’ to allow pedestrians to
... continue reading.Here are the City Council Written Comments for the 2022 City Manager Performance Review. This is a public document. You’ll note that it is divided into categories. Each question can have comments, but what really matters is the score for each question. A positive score being considered >=2. And here is a table I whacked
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This is what I call one of those ‘conversations you cannot have.’ There are many important issues that need to be discussed. But for many reasons, because they are considered so ‘toxic’, people never do. The desire to avoid appearing impolite or hurting someone’s feelings just isn’t worth the cost. And that is why they
... continue reading.On this week’s Agenda, in the Consent Agenda, will be an item to give the City Manager a 5% increase. My initial reactions upon reading this weeks’ package were: Such an item should never be in the Consent Agenda, which should only be for items that are truly routine. And regardless of one’s feelings on the matter,
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