JC Harris For Des Moines, Washington
City Council, Position #2
Non-partisan. Independent.
Next City Council Meeting is December 5, 2024
Working hard to support local businesses!
An advocate for airport issues!
In 2008 the City of Des Moines hired the UW School of Architecture 'Storefront Studio' to do a 're-imagining' of Des Moines. (Actually, we did this again in 2011 witha WayFinding project.) Here is a complete copy of their great work plus some explainers on some of the key ideas and images. If you have any interest in Marina Redevelopment, this is a must-read....
In 2008 the City of Des Moines hired the UW School of Architecture (Storefront Studio) to do a ‘reimagining’ of Des Moines. Actually, we did this twice. I keep meaning to upload these images. It covered all of the downtown as well as the Marina. It had all kinds of cool ideas–including making 223rd the
The UW CEP Marina District Wayfinding Project is a wonderful bit of history I hope you'll find useful and interesting. It's from the January 12, 2012 City Council Packet which is one of the more significant Marina-related meetings in our history. The document was a senior-class project for the UW School of Community Environment Planning which goes over their design ideas for the downtown and the Marina. It's only about twenty pages and very readable. I urge you to look at it because it demonstrates some very important ideas we should be thinking about today.
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
... continue reading.