Some bits of business…
Cold weather mea culpa
Several readers reminded me that last week, I forgot to mention the burst pipes at the Senior Center and then at Wesley. Mea culpa! OK, the cold weather has ended, but I noticed on social media a certain sniggering that such events are overblown. Not. True. We get frozen pipes here! I had to replace my service line into the house one year and even under the best of circumstances it is expensive. You know what to do. 🙂
City Manager Stuff
City Manager Report January 26, 2024
Despite a slight (cough) lack of support a couple of weeks ago 😀 the City signed a Letter of Support for air quality monitoring in Des Moines. And, I kid you not, if this things gets done, it made running for a second term worthwhile. That is how important this gizmo is for the long term public health of Des Moines. There has never been a permanent air quality monitor near the airport. Putting one here, in proximity to our schools, makes research possible.
This Week
Tuesday 8:00AM The WA Local Government Committee will meet in Executive Session to vote to move SB5955 (the Port Package Update bill) forward. Watch the meeting here.
Wednesday 6:00PM: Masonic Home Demolition EIS Community Meeting Zoom. Register here
Thursday 4:00PM: Finance Committee Meeting (Agenda) We will select a chair and then look at the staff’s suggested work plan:
Several notable things.
- Staff has meetings set for every month, which is great, because there is a lot to do.
- Staff is proposing to shift the City to biennial (two-year) budgeting, something I have long wanted us to consider since most of our neighbours already do it that way. Having a Finance Committee should allow for better financial reporting while easing the pressure on staff every summer to produce budget documents.
- March will be a big meeting. We will be taking up another item I’ve long wanted: namely a property tax lid lift dedicated to public safety. Yeah, I hate taxes, but I loooooves having more police–like we used to have. And I think you do too–enough to vote for it. What I’m less enthused about would be other proposals under discussion to fund more police without giving you a vote.
- March will also re-visit the whole Event Planning discussion, something we really need to do well in order to bring in the money and tourism we really, Really, REALLY need.
Thursday: Public Safety/Emergency Management Committee Meeting (Agenda) First meeting of the year. They will select a new chair.
Thursday: City Council Study Session(Agenda) There are two items.
One is the Hearts and Minds Fund. This is a $25 deduction taken from each Cm’s lavish pay every month–so it’s technically not public money. For some context, I’ve been watching long enough to recall that it was once referred to as ‘hearts and flowers’. It was set aside so that when a prominent member of the community passed on or was in hospital, the Council could send flowers. Just out of curiosity, after I got on the Council I asked to see the balance and it was several thousand dollars. Which seemed like an awful lot of hearts and flowers. 😀
Also, somewhere along the line it morphed into a sort of a charitable petty cash fund. My colleagues would invite charities to attend a meeting and then just happen to ask the Council for $500 for their worthy cause. Me being me, I almost never voted for those, even if it made me look like Scrooge McDuck. It always felt (and feels) simply wrong for the Council to make ‘charitable donations’ on an ad hoc basis like that. There are a ton of worthy groups and causes in Des Moines and everyone should go through the same fair process. It is my belief that Hearts And Minds should revert back to its original (and more modest) purpose.
The other is a whole other kettle o’ worms, our development calendar. And this should be of interest to a lot more people than it might first seem. If you are concerned about anything from ADUs, to upzoning, to the Marina Steps, to Airport Expansion (SAMP), to Public Art? This is a meeting you should show up for and speak to.
Last Week
Tuesday: Port of Seattle Commission Meeting. This was a big deal for anyone with a Port Package or concerned about noise. I can’t do better than to point you to coverage from Sea-Tac Noise.Info:
Wednesday 2:30pm: Highline Forum (Agenda) Since it’s a new year, a bit of a refresh. The HF was created in 2005 after the Third Runway lawsuits as a way for electeds of the six cities and Highline Schools to ‘talk’ four times a year. The main driver was our former Mayor Bob Sheckler. It’s intent was always towards finding ways to partner (usually economically), not to negotiate on the various negative impacts.
Thursday 5:00pm: Economic Development Meeting (Agenda)
This was the first meeting of the year:
- For the third two-year term in a row, Jeremy Nutting was chosen as chair.
- There was a discussion of a study we had done by our consultant on the Comprehensive Plan–which will be part of the Thursday Council Study Session. A bit more below.
- There was a fairly startling discussion where the committee was told that plans to restore the sound code is being put on hold! Again, can’t do better than to turn to STNI for coverage: Restoring sound code in Des Moines on hold – Sea-Tac Airport Noise And Pollution (seatacnoise.info)
About that survey
I voted against the contract with ABHL and this is why. As you can see, this survey, arguably one of the most important surveys we will ever do since it drives our planning, was not statistically valid. It was completely driven by people who showed up, to a limited number of events.
The survey over-represents the higher income, older, white, residents who have lived here longer. ie. retirees. That is not the 50% of the residents who are younger, BIPOC, have families, and who need housing. We were asking the people who are already settled, for their input on what to do to provide opportunities for people who are not. It is bad data science and poor policy. Worst of all, it makes us look like we’re doing something to address our future housing needs.
Thursday 6:00pm: City Council Meeting (Agenda) Recap below.
Saturday, January 27 9:00am: COHO Net Assembly! Yes, 30,000 Coho fry are on their way back to the Marina. Next step? Show up on Tuesday January 30th at 9:00AM to see the salmon delivery. More piccies here
January 25, 2024 City Council Meeting Recap
City Manager
Interim City Manager Tim George mentioned that paid parking at the Marina should be on-line by the end of February.
Consent Agenda
- There were two proclamations: One for Black History Month, and a new one for Korean American Day (see the ceremony I attended last week.)
- Appointment of new members to the Sea-Tac Airport Roundtable. On the plus side, (it’s hard to believe but) this is the first time in years that the two appointees will be non-City-employees who actually live in Des Moines. On the possible down side, there were only two applicants.
New Business (Redondo Speed Camera fines)
The only item of new business was an ordinance to codify the penalties for the new Speed Cameras at Redondo. The penalties will be the same as any speeding ticket not a school Zone ticket. The cameras are now scheduled to go online end of March. There will then be a 30 day no-penalty period–people will receive a ticket at $0. Hopefully that will shake out any bugs in the software. So by May? We should be writin’ tickets and gettin’ paid! 😀
Comments
Councilmember Mahoney spoke about the new Finance Committee, pointing out that by creating it now, we are being proactive. I agree. He mentioned that Seattle has $250M deficit. Not to be argumentative, but understand that Seattle has a budget larger than several states. So as stupendous as that amount sounds, it’s ‘only’ a 2% shortfall. And remember: they have opportunities to bounce back from various ups and downs that cities like Des Moines will never have. As they say, it takes money to make money. I’m not being snippy, but this matters: It is always challenging comparing cities.
Deputy Mayor Steinmetz talked about Korean American Day at the Highline Performing Arts Center, which we both attended. And I really did take notes. Our City Council talked a lot last November about event planning last year. Well these people are the masters when it comes to putting on events.
Mayor Buxton mentioned not wanting to use New Items For Consideration for staff research. It brings up a point I’ve raised for years. This portion of the agenda has never been well-defined and, like Hearts And Minds, really needs to be codified.
Easy vs. Simple
As Dr. King is famous for saying, “Budgets are moral documents.” Or, as my father-in-law would say, “Forget what people say. People are what they do.”
Again, I attended two meetings last week covered by SeaTacNoise.Info dealing with Port Packages: the last Port Commission and then the Economic Development Committee. In my comments from the dais, I alluded to something that will become more tense as the year goes on: the disconnect between what both the Port, and the City of Des Moines have said were values, and what they (we) have actually done.
The tactics the Port uses to halt positive change are remarkably similar to those that we use. We often say “Gosh, we’d love to help but we can’t because…” In their case, they don’t want to make our community (including sound insulation) as high a priority as rebuilding their Concourse C. Instead, they promise to do their best to obtain Federal funding (which is unlikely to come.)
In our case, we rescinded the sound code in 2012, even though SeaTac and Burien did not, to save developers money, not because it was necessary. And we push the issue onto Tier 2–meaning “Gosh, we’d love to…”
You’ve heard talk on the Council regarding state bills to increase housing options such as ADUs. Since the 80’s we’ve viewed any form of housing other than single family as as a pain in the neck rather than essential to provide more families a chance to have the same same opportunities we had.
I know it’s a pain in the neck. Nothing is easy when it comes to anything having to do with building. But it is simple. As with the Port, we either choose to make these items sincere priorities, or we don’t.
Don’t buy that? When it came to doing a survey to help us decide how to expand housing opportunities into the future? We couldn’t be bothered to spend the money to do a proper survey. We just wanted to look like we were doing the right things. A truly useful study would not have been quite so easy. But the choice to do the right thing was simple.
Like the Port, we plead staff shortages, money shortages, etc. All things that sound reasonable without giving it too much thought. But the fact is, regardless of the sums involved or the staff levels involved, really we’re expressing our priorities. We’ll say over and over, “Gosh we wish we could do more.” And then scowl at anyone who says
“Sorry, we’re not asking you to do ‘more’, we’re insisting that you do something different with the resources you already have.”
As I said from the dais, every once in a while, the State is perfectly right to lean on the Port of Seattle, and us, when we continuously fail to live up to the values we say we espouse. Because, in a world of limited budgets, you don’t improve housing opportunities, and restoring sound code by constantly wishing you could do more. You get there by by making different choices, by putting items like sound code on Tier 1.
That’s not always easy. But it is simple.