The Council used to do these Saturday morning planning retreats off-site, which means that there is only audio or no recording at all. This is Part 2 of a very significant planning meeting concerning the Marina. In the words of then Harbormaster Joe Dusenberry, “What do we want the Marina to be?”
The topics are all mainly about the Marina, but about the 1:05:00 mark, when the Mayor is wrapping it up, City Manager Piaskecki raises a final discussion about ‘Communications’, including: improving the City’s web sites, ongoing complaints regarding Comcast, the need to improve Internet options, and for the City to improve public outreach.
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 … Continue reading "Storefront Studio North Parking Lot"
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.
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 “2013 Budget: All options on the table”
