Some bits of business…
Green Burien Partnership
Green Burien Partnership’s 2023 Annual Report Released
In 2021, the Port of Seattle paid for a study of tree canopy in the airport communities called the Green Cities Partnership. It provided alarming information–essentially all the airport communities are losing trees and wild land at a rapid rate. It also provided targets on what constituted a healthier environment. However, it was left to each city to figure out how to get there. Burien ran with it, establishing a tree code and an organised program. It’s not perfect. But I can’t be too critical since we did nothing with our version of the program. And we really need to!
I often talk about the fact that most City Councils live in a bubble. We are often unaware of what goes on in other cities. And when we think of our peers, there are often some not great preconceptions. We have a (natural) bias to think that ‘our city is best!’ In fact, our peers are occasionally ahead of us–and that is why I stress unbiased comparisons.
Future Agendas
I’m going to start posting this link from now on, which I just refer to as Futures. It’s the closest thing the City has to a calendar of upcoming City Council topics. It’s not dynamic, ie. you have to click it every time you want to see a new version. And more than once I’ve only become aware of important events simply because I do click it obsessively. Even then it is often not accurate. But until we develop a genuine calendar (like other cities already have), this can be useful.
City Manager Stuff
City Manager’s Report March 29, 2024
There was an announcement that Cecil Powell Park playground upgrade will go to bid on April 30th. FAKE NEWS! 😀 Kidding. Although that is true, the actual completion date is set for ‘sometime by the end of 2024’.
South End Transit
Of interest to me, and I hope you, if you live in the south end is this the South Link Connections Mobility Project which will “…address changing mobility needs and improve travel options for communities in South King County.” Blah, blah, blah. 😀 Basically, we need better east-west connectivity in the south end of town. If you live near 216th, you can take the 635 Shuttle from the Marina to the main Bus lines and the Light Rail. There is nothing equivalent for the rest of Des Moines–Kent Des Moines, 240th or 272nd. And there oughta be–especially with the upcoming Highline Light Rail Station.
- Take a survey about your transit needs – survey deadline is May 10th.
- Plan to attend one of three upcoming Virtual Community Engagement Sessions on:
- Apply to join the Mobility Board (a paid leadership opportunity) by May 10th and advise Metro on community engagement efforts and the best ways to update our transit network.
This Week
Thursday 4:00pm: Finance Committee (Agenda)
- Replacement Vehicles Assessments
- Monthly General Fund Report
- Animal Control financial report
Thursday 5:00pm: Public Safety/Emergency Management Committee (Agenda) Dangerous Dog Code Update; Crime Statistics Overview (That report is in the packet. Worth a read.)
Thursday 6:00pm: City Council Study Session, 6:00 p.m. (Study Session Agenda)
- Senior Exemptions Tax Presentation by King County. This is important regardless of whether or not you support the upcoming Lid Lift. We have one of the highest percentages of senior home owners in King County, but not nearly enough of you are applying for exemptions like this which you are entitled to!
- City Council Communications Assessment Final Report. This is the meeting where we’ll supposedly decide to do something with the various suggestions from our last Study Session and the year-long consultant study.
- City Manager Recruitment. We are asked to approve SGR’s job application strategy. Since I abstained from the vote, I will have little to say.
Saturday: 10am: Release the Salmon! The Coho fry have grown big and strong and will be released. Come by. Wish them farewell. Then help disassemble the pen for next year.
Last Week
Tuesday: Port of Seattle Commission (Agenda) For us, what matters is that the airport is moving forward with Phase III of its Baggage Optimisation program. Remember: Everything that makes your traveling experience nicer translates to more airport operations over your head.
Wednesday 6:00pm: Citizens Advisory Committee
I urge you to watch this because there was some great info from SGR (the City Manager Recruiters.) It also highlighted one of the challenges of not having a good sense of what the CAC is supposed to be. The Committee spent over an hour discussing a naming contest for the Alley behind Marine View Drive–even though the City already had such a contest in October of 2022! It annoys me a little bit because that delay is not cosmetic. It has actually been harmful to local businesses who often show up as being on Marine View Drive on mapping software. People literally drive right by.
I made mention of the meeting during my comments from the dais at our last meeting, and I’ll continue to object to the format, which now includes three members of the City Council. I do not see the benefit of having any member of the City Council at these meetings–and in fact I think it’s harmful to the process. That is because the moment you have any elected acting as an active participant it turns political. I heard more than one remark from my colleagues that was not exactly fact-based. I honestly don’t think we can help ourselves.
Residents are supposed to be advising us. Electeds should definitely watch and take notes. But the information presented (and the Q&A) should be provided only by the City.
Thursday 4:00pm: Municipal Facilities Committee (Agenda) They chose Jeremy Nutting (again) as chair, despite the fact that he (literally) phoned it in, and then turned the meeting over to Councilmember Mahoney. Of note:
- There will be more activities scheduled at Steven J. Underwood Park
- A report on the Beach Park Founders Lodge Apparently asbestos has been found and an engineer has been called in to do a structural eval.
- There is also an overview of the new parking rates which are higher than in the past and (so far) provide no senior exemptions.
- Fieldhouse Playground? ‘End of May.’
- Cecil Powell Playground? ‘Sometime this year.’
Thursday 5:00pm: Economic Development Committee (Agenda) There was a long-awaited discussion on short term rentals, a topic the Council has gotten a lot of letters on recently.
Thursday 6:00pm: City Council Meeting Recap below.
March 28 City Council Meeting Recap
(Agenda)
Public Comment
There were two very good comments, both on how we need to budget better. Which I read as, “Don’t raise my taxes”, because I heard not a peep about this for many years. And I dunno what to do with some of this stuff.
- One person mentioned scrubbing the budget–which I strongly support. We’ve never done that since I’ve lived here. I mean ever. Our last City Manager would do an annual presentation on how the Council had no oversight role.
- The fact is, our last two Mayors were the biggest supporter of our last City Manager and those pay increases and that lack of oversight. That’s why we have such poor data and such poor communication and rarely any compromise on the Council and no long term strategy. We just hand over the keys.
- Last time? We did do departmental cuts and furloughs based on straight percentages. They were like trying to lose weight by chopping off 10% of each major organ. They preserved services for the most wealthy at the expense of not only the rest of the City but also our future. And we raised utility taxes which are regressive.
- The fact is, we have fewer services and fewer local business choices than we did before the Great Recession. Moving forward? We never recovered. You may not notice because every so often we build something shiny (like an FAA building or a Marina Steps) that does not make any money.
If you’re happy with the current state of affairs? I get it. I want more for the future because I remember what we used to have. And it was better.
City Manager Report
There will be drones this Fourth Of July. Long time readers will know that I was strongly against drones last year because they were super-expensive and super-mediocre. I was disappointed to hear that the Interim City Manager George had already worked out a deal with the same vendor for the same dough because–again, it’s another case of the Council not having a choice to do that ‘scrub’.
From the dais I mentioned that I had just watched the SeaTac City Council Meeting where they have contracted for twice the drones at less than half the money we paid. I forwarded him information on that meeting and I hope we can negotiate a better deal.
Consent Agenda
As part of consent we voted to make permitting the use or possession of fireworks on one’s real property a civil infraction. I did not pull the item because all my questions were answered fully.
The only thing I hope we will look at–which ties into the short term rentals thing–is holding owners of all rentals (including long term) to account. Previously, we had a policy where landlords had to register their contact info with the police so that whenever any bad behaviour was happening, we could hold the owner to account. We dumped that around 2010 and I dearly want to bring it back.
Cm Achziger mentioned having a file of people with previous warnings. And, as with animal control, that brings up another data story. Last year, I made the mistake of making a public records request for all calls for service related to fireworks. I assumed that it would be at most an hour work. But… because of the way the police computer system works, it took months and the easiest way to fulfill that was to get me PDFs of each complaint. Hundreds and hundreds of PDFs. It’s ridiculous.
OK, if you’re me, presumably a more charming me, how do you say, “This is ridiculous.” without hurting anyone’s feelings or causing an argument. I’ll wait.
Old Business
2023 Annual Budget Amendments.
The Finance Director said, that this merely an ‘adjusting entry’, which is true from an accounting standpoint, but not from a management standpoint. We were counting on a loan from the Surface Water Management fund to maintain our services. When we unwound this plan, we took a $522,000 hit to something (TBD) in order to maintain those programs. People will say “Tighten your belts!” We already are. And I wish we would tell people that.
OK, if you’re me, presumably a more charming me, how do you say, “We just went $522,000 deeper…” without hurting anyone’s feelings or causing an argument. I’ll wait.
Biennial Budgeting
I got more letters about this than almost any other topic in my first four years. Most involve ‘planning’; ie. that we need to have a ‘plan’. Girlfriend, we haven’t had a plan, I mean a strategic direction, since I can remember. At least, not one that is actually data-driven and with specific targets. And you see that in every decision we make. When we vote together it is for very different reasons. And that is because we want very different things, usually based on ideology rather than data.
OK, if you’re me, presumably a more charming me, how do you say, “We’ve never had a ‘plan'” without hurting anyone’s feelings or causing an argument. I’ll wait.
Property Tax Levy Lid Lift, First Reading
To my tremendous relief, the City’s recommended format will be Single-Year Permanent. Which means there will be a single boost to $1.40 in year one, which will generate an additional $3M/year, and then the ‘usual’ 1% increase thereafter–with exemptions for low-income seniors, vets and people with disabilities. This is much easier to explain than the other alternatives (I just did it in one sentence), and that make it easier for me to support (and sell) in a full-throated manner.
I stopped myself from telling a joke, but one of my former partners had worked in marketing at AT&T, which was a monopoly. So they didn’t have to be good at marketing, and they weren’t they had a joke which we all thought was a scream…
If Colonel Sanders had come to AT&T with his idea, we would’ve called it “Hot, Dead Bird. In A Box.”
Cities are also monopolies, and thus also not often known for great marketing skills. But this is the one time we should be self-aware enough (and good-natured enough) to recognise this. Because we need the public safety money. We’ve needed it for years.
New Items For Consideration
I moved to restore ‘Zoom’ (ie. remote participation via computer), a feature we had during the pandemic and then (unlike every other city) dumped the moment the State of Emergency was lifted. The motion was supported by Cm Grace-Matsui and Cm Achziger and will be added to a meeting agenda.
In one of those rare moments of unvarnished speech I received from staff during my first four years, I was told by a director (since retired) that many people (staff and electeds) did not like Zoom because it prevented them from speaking freely. People don’t like being recorded; simple as that.
During our Ad Hoc Rules Of Procedure meetings Mahoney, Buxton and Steinmetz objected to my making a phone recording, even though they were public meetings. So I did it anyhoo. 🙂 But… almost none of you saw it. So you did not get to see how bad it was for the City. Dozens and dozens of hours of wasted time and any number of changes to the way we run meetings that I’m pretty sure few of you would’ve approved of if you would have seen the process.
The fact is, Zoom increased public participation, especially seniors and people juggling work and ‘life’. And we should encourage as many people as possible to show up, watch more carefully and get in the game. It’s how our peer cities do it as well as every regional committee of which I’m aware. And we should also encourage electeds and staff to speak more candidly as part of improving the organisational culture.
What if anything i going on at the senior Center ?? Pathetic , there is not new Director !!
I honestly don’t know. Watch the last MFC meeting and contact members of the Committee. Jeremy, Matt, Gene. It’s deeply frustrating.