JC Harris For Des Moines, Washington
City Council, Position #2
If you watch the Wesley Candidate Forum, you will hear a lot of back and forth on various issues. I'm asking you to watch a five minute discussion on the Marina Hotel proposal because I think it explains the City, the Council, and the work I'm doing on your behalf....
A brief history of the American Rescue Plan Act in Des Moines, aka ARPA, aka 'Federal COVID grant to cities', aka 'Christmas in July', aka 'that JoeBidenMoney', was/is a 2021 bill which gave prox. $9,000,000 to the City of Des Moines....
By David Kroman Seattle Times staff reporter The 2019 kickoff of Washington state’s hybrid-electric ferry program couldn’t have been more jubilant. Gov. Jay Inslee, standing inside Vigor Shipyards on Harbor Island, promised a green “revolution” that would begin right there, at the mouth of the Duwamish River, and cascade across industries around the globe. By his side
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This is the event referenced in my censure. Except that no one voting saw it. Because though the event occurred in December of 2022, I was only able to obtain it five months later. The rest of the charges were a fabrication. Employee complaints should be taken seriously for sure. But facts should more more. And this event should be taken particularly seriously because it represents the culture of the current government. We currently lack any semblance of evidence-based decision making. Council-Manager-Government, which has none of the guard rails of County, State and Federal governments, cannot work properly without it. In practical terms: this event is a microcosm of how all our decisions are currently being made. Fixing this process, making every decision based on facts and not on personalities, will make every decision better....
Here is a page from the current Capital Improvements Plan (CIP), for the ‘Marina Steps’. The CIP is the ‘bible’ for a City. It’s what the City uses to budget projects throughout Des Moines. Transportation, Parks, Marina, Storm drains, you name it. This is one of those things we are legally required to review and
... continue reading.A response to the Mayor's recent editorial in the City Currents Magazine where he again uses that forum to make the case for his policy preferences. I reject using public money to promote a political agenda. He goes on to scold the public for not being more supportive of the City's Marina and economic development plans. I offer some notes on how our downtown got to where it is and some practical suggestions for improving the downtown and Marina without spending millions of dollars....
The third Ad Hoc Rules of Procedure meeting was, in some ways, the most chilling yet. It began with an argument over recording the meeting and went downhill from there. I strongly urge people to listen to 20:00 where the City Attorney uses a recent Supreme Court case to argue that the Council has an unlimited right to censure a member for basically any reason it chooses--including displaying any form of 'dissent' following the meeting or any form of 'criticism' of staff'. Though the term 'staff' was left undefined. There was also a lengthy discussion on 'hats'. As the kids say, "Mask off."...
My thoughts on the draft version of our new Council Protocol Manual (previously known as our Rules of Procedure.) There will be a meeting of the Ad Hoc Rules committee on Thursday March 23 at 3:30PM and I strongly urge you to attend....
March 10, 2023 at 2:03 pm Updated March 10, 2023 at 3:03 pm By Kate Riley Times editorial page editor Just over 50 years ago, Washington voters approved Initiative 276, which demonstrated the citizenry’s righteous desire to keep tabs on their elected officials. With that vote, the state Public Records Act established the right of the
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