JC Harris For Des Moines, Washington
City Council, Position #2
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,
... continue reading.This is Page 21 from Ferry Demonstration Project Scoping and Reconnaissance Report dated 08/31/2021. To my knowledge this has not been brought to the Council or any Committee. It does not appear on the City web site until Friday, December 2, 2022.It predicts that a six month ferry program will lose between $997,000 and $1,450,000. But
... continue reading.There is currently no vehicle for electronic public comment. Some may want to argue that point (and why wouldn’t we, in an era when people can’t seem to agree on much of anything.) But my definition of “public comment” is… “Communications meant to address the City Council as a body and where both the person
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