Some bits of business…
City Manager Stuff
City Manager Report February 9, 2024
Last week I warned you. This one is basically a Super Bowl puff piece. 😀
OK, I also watched the Super Bowl, too. In fact, this is the third American Football game I watched this year, which is two more than usual. I watch the Super Bowl, because whether you like it or not, I think the show says a lot about where the country is. And… said it before, say it again: After working in about 40 states, I’ve come to the conclusion that Des Moines is a remarkable cross-section of  ‘America’. Despite our country’s overall diversity, most six mile plots of land tend to be fairly homogenous. Not DM, baby. 😀 For such a dinky piece of real estate, Des Moines contains multitudes.
This Week?
Tuesday 12:00pm: Port of Seattle Commission. For us there will be an Order to implement a Port Package Update program, meant to complement the State bill SB5955.
Tuesday 6:00pm: Marina Steps Community Meeting Beach Park Auditorium. Not sure how it will be better than the last Marina Community Meeting, but I’m about 100% certain it will be. However that lack of certainty, in itself, does not make me happy. Sorry, not sorry. Of course it will be better. But one goal I think we should have for improving ‘communication’ is to know what to expect.
Saturday 2:00PM: 33rd Legislative Town Hall with Sen. Karen Keiser, Rep. Tina Orwall and Mia Gregerson, Highline College. Not enough people show up for these, basically because they are perceived as partisan. Got it. But regardless, of party affiliation, I encourage everyone to show because, frankly, if you don’t? They only get softballs. 😀
Last Week
Wednesday: State Of The Port Breakfast in Bellevue. My interest in these is simply to hear not only what ‘the Port’ thinks, but how various regional electeds view the Port. There isn’t one ‘Port voice’. Commissioners have different points of view, and so do local electeds. Often the biggest challenge we’ve had here is that most of King County loves what the airport is doing.
Wednesday/Thursday: Association Of Washington Cities Action Days! in Olympia.
AWC is basically the lobbying group for WA cities. This event is the annual ‘convention’ of councilmembers from all over the State to discuss legislation and to try to help get various laws passed. But almost everything about it was slightly off . So, as usual, I spent most of my time lobbying for airport stuff. The highlight was dinner at our lobbyist’s home with fellow DM councilmembers Traci Buxton and Yoshiko Grace-Matsui. Rep. Orwall dropped in for some popcorn. 😀
Thursday 4:00 Transportation Committee Meeting (Agenda) First meeting of the year. As with last week’s Finance Committee, a chair was not chosen due to the absence of a Cm. They did review the work plan.
Thursday 5:00 Environment Committee Meeting (Agenda) First meeting of the year. I was chosen chair. Recap below…
Thursday 6:00Â City Council Meeting (Agenda) Recap below…
February 8, 2024 City Council Meeting Recap
Public Comment
There were a couple of comments on the Masonic Home. This has become so confusing that the Waterland Blog even ran an article with the headline (since revised) “Des Moines City Council Discusses Masonic Home”. DID NOT. DID NOT. DID NOT. 😀 Even though Interim City Manager George spoke directly to this, everyone keeps promulgating this notion that by speaking to the Council (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) it will help the situation. No it won’t. Do not try to engage with the City Council on this issue.
Instead, go here and comment on the Masonic Home demolition permit. Please. 🙂
City Manager’s Report
There was a presentation on the 1South King County Housing and Homelessness too damned long Partnership name. 😀 AKA SKHHP. See below.
Consent Agenda
The only business on the meeting were the two consent items. Both are very relevant to meetings from last week discussed below. One was to buy a used police vehicle, which we really need.
SKHHP Funding
The other concerned funding SKHHP. Basically, we pay $30,000 a year to be in a consortium of cities funding various ‘ projects’. To my mind it has three big ‘features’.
- First, the super-long name is somewhat intentional. The idea is to combine about five related, but often separate issues into one ‘group’. It sorta makes sense, but the message is as confusing as the name and I think that often scares a lot of people who would be allies with a simpler message (and brand.)
- On the plus side, since we’re one of the smallest partners we will always come out the winner financially–ie. we’ll get more money than we pay in.
- However, the other (cough) feature is that it shields us from various King County policies on actually building housing. It could be used to do more. But members can also use it to do almost nothing. In other words, some member cities are in it explicitly to build housing somewhere else. Get it? Councilmember Mahoney praised SeaTac for finally ‘stepping up’ by joining. While I’m happy to have their $300,000 contribution, actually they’ve been building waaaay more housing than Des Moines- without being in SKHHP.
Net? We’ve been at this five years now and the only project that is on the board for Des Moines is the renovation of one apartment building–in 2025. Nice. But renovation is not building; it’s simply holding the line. In fact, it’s falling behind. You have to be willing to build new at a certain rate even to hold the line. Des Moines was meant to be a place for working families. We stopped fulfilling that mission decades ago.
Committee Reports/Councilmember Comments
There were interesting comments from Councilmember Mahoney with regard to transportation. He was appointed to the Puget Sound Regional Council Transportation Board as an alternate. Well done. However, one of his stated goals is to keep pushing on the idea of a passenger ferry. I strongly support a passenger ferry–in principle. So long as someone else pays for it. What I do not want is a redux of the last two years, where we throw our resources into something that loses money.
My comments concerned the need to pass a Port Package Update bill and re-instate the sound code–as essential components of our housing policy. Again, SKHHP is all very well. But unless we protect the existing home stock (which is what quality sound insulation and better indoor air quality do), we’re literally moving backwards on our housing goals.
February 8, 2024 Environment Committee Recap
I may have picked the wrong week to quit sleeping…
I vaguely remember being chosen as chair. (Thank you Cms Achziger and Grace-Matsui.) And then forgetting to nominate a vice-chair. 😀 (Congratulations vice-chair Grace-Matsui.) I also seem to recall attending the City Council Meeting a half hour later. Sort of.
I mention this because it’s the first time in 4.2 years at this ‘job’ where I should have called in sick. Frankly, I was exhausted. Work on a couple of State bills involving the airport (eg. that Port Package Update bill SB5955) has been non-stop. I did not call in sick because the Environment Committee meeting is so essential to the reasons I ran for City Council five years ago.
It’s a cliché, but we are blessed with this unique mix of environmental wonders. Hell, that’s the reason so many of us moved here: raise a family and enjoy the beauty.
But as a city, we’ve kinda been on auto-pilot for a very long time on so many issues–and especially our environment. We’ve often tended to treat environmental issues as regulations to be complied with, and problems to be managed, rather than as essential assets to be nurtured.
The Storm Water Utility Committee
Until now the Environment Committee has basically been The Storm Water Utility. It’s been a place to set storm water utility rates; review a water quality permit; occasionally work on urban flooding. All super important things. And with my ‘engineer bias’ I would argue that these are as important as public safety. It’s just that we never think about them–until there is a Boil Water Notice of course. It sounds flip, but people don’t bake cookies for civil engineers the way they do for police or fire fighters.
As important as these tasks are it was always my view that the Environment Committee should be far more: a place to consider all environmental issues–including Sea-Tac Airport, which just happens to be embarking on an 2expansion as large as the Third Runway this autumn.
But in addition to exhaustion, one reason I sounded so vague at this meeting is that I honestly do not know how to operationalise this change at the moment. However I do believe there is agreement amongst all three members that airport, trees, water quality, soil to be an ongoing part of every decision the City Council makes; not afterthoughts.
105% on the reactor
As you keep hearing at our meetings, our staff have challenges that I joke about as 3“105% on the reactor” In terms of this committee we’ve had some major (I would say generational) turnover in engineering in recent years. For example, we’ll changing Public Works Directors for the third time in five(?) years. To add to the fun, 2024 is a year that requires us to do multiple big Federal, State and regional compliance reports. The committee needs to understand how much bandwidth is available if we’re to expand the vision towards being a true ‘environment’ committee.
The only specific thing I mentioned was education, which staff are already talking about. We have all these wonderful educators at Highline MAST, King County, Saltwater State Park, etc. Personally, I want to find ways to get both the public and every kid in Des Moines (both Highline and Federal Way Schools)Â more opportunities to appreciate and engage on these issues. Some of that may be as (cough) ‘simple’ as bringing educational events to the City Council. Or getting kids transport to the beach for StormFest.
Your Role
Although the Environment Committee is a standing Council committee, this is also your chance to help re-create it with the expanded vision so many of you have asked about for so many years. I know there is strong agreement among all three of us to bring the public into this discussion.
To that end, if you have an interest in environmental issues, including beaches, parks, trees and especially the airport, I encourage you to attend Environment Committee meetings–first Thursday of every month @ 5:00pm–and bring your ideas with you. If there is any free time, we will welcome public comment.
1Sorry. But it’s as if the good people of King County stay up nights trying to see who can come up with the longest word-salad committee names.
2The Sustainable Airport Master Plan, aka ‘the SAMP’. The SAMP will increase airport operations by 2032 as much as the Third Runway did from 2008 to 2019. Long story short: we got zilch compensation for that and the results have been devastating to our finances, our educational system, and our overall quality of life. We must do better this time around.
3In books like The Hunt For Red October, the engineer is always warning that the nuclear reactor is already at 100% capacity! So, of course the captain insists they increase speed to 1o5%. And the engineer gives him a look that says, “Dude. The engine only goes to 100%. Don’t they teach percentages at captain school?” 😀
Thank you for your hard work and communication!