Weekly Update: 02/19/2023

This Week

Thursday: Economic Development  Meeting (Cancelled)

Thursday: Municipal Facilities Committee Meeting (Cancelled)

Thursday: City Council Meeting (Amended Agenda) You can find out how to provide public comment in the right sidebar. Some highlights include:

• Future Cities project from the Pacific Middle School Design/Engineering program. I hope there is a student presentation. Must see TV! 🙂
• We’re going to vote to approve new police cars. Unless I see evidence that we’ve researched EVs, I will vote no. I know they’re a bit cheaper to buy and I recall hearing complaints that some models are not as roomy, but other cities are going EV and it’s time. We’ve gotta stop with the fossil fuels.
• Apparently, we’re to vote on a ‘Communications Consultant’ for $6,000/month. I will vote no for the simple reason that, I did not ask for a communications consultant. When I was elected I promised residents I would work on providing the following off the shelf products that I felt would provide measurable value for all residents:
  • A better web site with a properly functioning calendar, notifications, search and SEO
  • Mobile apps for things like public safety, emergency notification, customer service, permits, bill pay, surveys, and events

This is yet another in a long series of misdirections. And what really irritates me about the Agenda Item is the fact that, in the recommendations, there is no ‘none of the above’ option.

Last Week

Tuesday: 12:00PM Port of Seattle Commission Meeting (Agenda)

Wednesday: 5:30PM Protect Poverty Bay event on Water Quality Highline MAST Redondo. And I learned the good news and bad news about Dog Poop.

Basically, our beach closures are about fecal coliform bacteria. And FCBs come from two kinds of poop: humans and dogs. If you have one, King County will pay you to clean out yer septic system. But picking up after yer dog? That’s on you. And the really crappy thing about FCBs (see what I did there? 😀 ) is that they live up to 30 days. So if yer dog leaves a steaming little bacteria treasure on the ground, it has a full month to find its way into the storm drain. Learn more here: Do the #zeropoo challenge for people, pups & the planet

Thursday: I testified at the House Local Government Committee on HB1644 (more money for cities to hire police officers) and then the House Transportation Committee on HB1791 (siting a second airport.) Neither bill made it out of committee, but both are necessary and both will be back next year.

Thursday: 6:00PM A new group called the Redondo Community Association has organised and the Mayor gave a sort of ‘State of the City’ event at Highline MAST. I ain’t gonna lie, with each passing year I become less and less enthusiastic about these presentations because they’ve become as biased as the President’s State of the Union. But you want to see this regardless of where you live because you deserve to get a sense of how/where we’re devoting so much of the City’s time/attention.

Friday: 30th Legislative District Call

Friday: South King County Housing and Homelessness Partners (Agenda)

The Hard Fork