Some bits of business…
Future Agendas is the closest thing the City currently 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 it’s not always accurate. But until we develop a genuine calendar, this can be very useful if there is a particular issue you don’t want to miss.
Update: We just deep-sixed our standing committees. But for what it’s worth, each committee’s planning calendar here. 🙂
Burien.News covers Highline Schools
Most of you are familiar with the South King Media news sites, Waterland Blog, Seatac Blog, B-Town Blog. However, if you are interested in Highline Schools, the place to go is Burien.News. They provide the only regular coverage of Highline Schools, with deep dive articles on academic performance, budgets, and all the things parents (and taxpayers) should care about.
This is not an endorsement. Every local news source has pluses and minuses – including some serious biases. And you can’t expect any micro-blog to cover everything.
To see if its for you, here is their coverage of the first board meeting with our new District #5 Director Blaine Holien: President Van Declares Literacy and Academics as Highline Priority at April 16 Meeting
Puget Sound Gateway Toll-Rate Setting Online Open House
Yes, tolling is coming to SR-509. Learn more here:
Call To Action: Port Packages!
The Governor’s proposed budget cuts the $1 million in funding that was secured last for fixing failed port packages, which were meant to insulate homes from airport noise but have deteriorated over time. Please mail key these legislators and let them know how important this funding is for our communities.
Call To Action: Save State Funding for Port Package Updates! – Sea-Tac Noise.Info
City Manager Stuff
The City Manager’s Report April 18, 2025 is back. It features a lasagna cupcake recipe and an update on construction projects at the Fieldhouse and 24th Ave.
The City is now offering an e-mail sign up for City Manager Reports – which I strongly encourage.
Run for City Council
These four seats up for election on our Council. And at least two incumbents have already decided not to run again.
Regardless, you should run. The worst outcome would be, as has often be the case, that any seat does not have a vigorous campaign. Why? Because, whether you like the candidate or not, running a campaign is how candidates gain experience. That’s the dirty little secret of City Council. Regardless of how much time they’ve spent in other aspects of civic life, new electeds usually have no idea what they’re doing for the first few years.
But first, you should find out what yer getting yerself into. Start by going to King County Elections and look at the Candidate Manual. Above all? Do. Not. Be. Intimidated. But please do study. 🙂 And let me know if you have questions.
216th/Barnes Creek Staging Area
There’s been this container sitting at the back of the 216th/Barnes Creek Trail parking lot for over a year. And then suddenly, other trucks and equipment began showing up. Given the concerns over Des Moines Creek West and the recent sale of the adjoining WSDOT surplus property, this causes concerns. Allay your concerns. 😀
The spot is currently being used as a staging area for several current projects this summer, including the Des Moines Memorial Drive storm water replacement and SR-509. Nothing you don’t know about. The silt fence is actually a good thing – part of making sure it meets environmental code. 🙂
Do I wish we had put up a sign explaining this? Yes. Yes, I do. Because I get asked a lot. Like – a lot, a lot. 😀 If you have questions, please contact Public Works Director Mike Slevin.
Airport Committee
Sign up for the 
Airport Advisory Committee. We keep putting this off and the clock is ticking on important aspects of airport expansion. For example, there is a pivotal StART meeting going on this Wednesday and we have only one community member there.
Dueling Taxes
As I’ve written before, the State is moving ahead with several proposals to raise taxes – including property taxes. The one most likely to pass will allow city councils to raise the property tax cap from 1% to 3% – every year, not just one year – without you getting a vote. Unfortunately, as usual, all the appetite people seem to have for politics at the moment is at the Federal level. I get it.
This Week
Tuesday
I will be gathering soil samples – and you should too – ahead of the free soil testing events hosted by Dept. Of Ecology on Saturday.
Port of Seattle Meeting (Agenda) The Port will receive it’s Q4 Financial Reports. They are showing slight amounts of red ink. Don’t believe it. This is due entirely to an almost $1B legal settlement over the International Arrivals Facility, which they are budgeting in time payments (must be nice 😀 ). Short explanation: they made the gates too small to accommodate newer (larger) aircraft and tried to blame the mistake on the contractor. Oopsies.
Wednesday
StART Meeting: As I said, this is the first meeting that is closed to the public. And that should not make you happy if you care about all the noise, pollution, etc., etc., etc…
Thursday, April 24
City Council Regular Meeting – 24 Apr 2025 – Agenda Highlights:
- Annual State of the Court Address, covers court operations, performance metrics, and key initiatives undertaken over the past year.
- The Public Works department will provide an overview of current projects, maintenance activities, and service delivery updates.
- And, there will be not one, not two, but three proclamations: South Sound Boating Season Opening Day Proclamation, Sexual Assault Awareness Month Proclamation, Laborers LiUNA Local 242 Day Proclamation
Whenever we have a ‘light load’ like this, some of my colleagues consider it a breather. I do not. We’ve just gone through a flurry of meetings with ultra-packed agenda. It begs the question: do you prefer having a series of meetings with gale force winds, punctuated by the occasional dead air, or would you prefer to have important issues spread evenly across each meeting, like a calm, steady 6-8 knots of wind?Kinda like this little guy – Sailin’ with pride, baby. 😀 That’s what I mean by ‘load balancing’. People make better decisions with more balanced work loads.
Saturday, April 26
SR3 Open House. This generally happens only once a year so you should do it. But maybe get there early.
Soil Testing at Burien’s Shark Garden. See above.
Last Week
Tuesday
Not Des Moines, but I attended one of the best ‘student’ concerts I can recall at the Key To Change Studios main campus in Renton. Key To Change offers string education for kids and recently opened a branch in Des Moines across from Mt. Rainier High School. The recital featured one of their success stories – a former student now working towards her PhD at the prestigious Peabody Conservatory. I’m not saying your kid will learn how to get to 1Carnegie Hall, but parents always appreciate knowing that the programs they enroll in have a track record of success. I look forward to Key To Change concerts here in the near future. 🙂
Wednesday
King County Regional Transit Committee (Agenda). We received briefings on two big issues: Public safety, and ADA.
- Broadly speaking, incidents have increased slightly on the A-Line. However, each main line, including the A-Line, cover a whole lotta territory. Several of us asked for more granular stats.
- WRT accessibility, Metro will be conducting a community outreach campaign to find out how to make it easier for people with accessibility issues to use the buses. Residents from Adriana, Wesley, Judson, et. al. will need to weigh in on this given that you represent our largest share of ridership with special needs. As they say, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. 🙂
Thursday – Sunday
The remainder of the week, I also attended several Easter-adjacent events – including playing organ for one Mass. I haven’t done this in a couple of years, and it was good to know that I could still find the on/off switch. What makes this type of performance so unique is not the sacral nature of the event. It’s that, no matter how you do? No walkouts. 😀
Praise the Lord.
1Practice.
2And the answer is, apparently, not.