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 deep-sixed our standing committees. But for what it’s worth, each committee’s planning calendar here. 🙂
Update, update: Unfortunately, as the year goes on, items for consideration are veering away from each committee’s planning calendar. This does not make me happy. You’ll see a lot of ‘catch-up’ this year – more meetings, lots of ‘stuff’. Which is great. But until we have a long-term calendar, it will be too easy to have things slip through the cracks.
Field House admin moving to Activity Center
Effective Monday, May 5, the Field House will no longer be available for walk-in public access. The building will remain open for scheduled programs and activities only. Community members who need in-person support such as program registration or facility rental inquiries should visit the Activity Center at 2045 S 216th St during regular business hours of 8:00 am – 4:00 pm. The City is working to consolidate Parks, Recreation, Senior Services, Events, and Facility Rentals into a single, more unified department over at the Activity Center. More info here: https://www.desmoineswa.gov/news/what_s_new/field_house_access___organizational_transition
Traffic Calming Web Site Launched
As part of his update, DPW Slevin announced that the City’ Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program web site was now on line. Not to oversell this, we already have five projects booked this year and there are limits to capacity. But you should definitely put your street on the list and get your concern evaluated. Making this process more transparent is a very good step forward.
Puget Sound Gateway Toll-Rate Setting Online Open House
Yes, tolling is coming to SR-509. I keep posting this because it’s only taken 50 years, so you can be forgiven for being a bit skeptical. But as you drive down 24th Ave you’ll notice that the exit onto I-5 is nearing completion. This is happening. Learn more here:
City Manager Stuff
City Manager’s Report May 2, 2025
Since we no longer have a regular Finance Committee, here is the monthly Sales Tax Report. The news is good in 1construction – but it may be people simply pre-buying stuff. 2025.04 Sales Tax Rpt CDM
The City also produced a Cost Reductions Report. There is some very real progress and the report is much appreciated.
The City is now offering an e-mail sign up for City Manager Reports – which I strongly encourage.
It is filing week! Run for City Council
These four seats up for election on our Council and this is the week to file to run! Starting Monday May 5, 2025 at 8 a.m. and ending on Friday, May 9, 2025 at 5 p.m!
Go to King County Elections and get on it! Above all? Do. Not. Be. Intimidated. It is super-easy. And let me know if you have questions.
Currently Registered Candidates | Washington State Public Disclosure Commission (PDC)
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.
Restaurants!
There have been more restaurant 3changes in town. So this is a good time to remind you of the local restaurant guide TakeOutDM.Com or TakeOutDesMoines.Com. There is a sign-up form which emails signees when various establishments are offering specials! If you are a new restaurant owner, you should also let them know when you are having said specials so they can spread the woid.
This Week
Wednesday
6:00pm. Artemis Ferry demo. Yes, the Artemis Electric Ferry rep. will be at the Des Moines Marina and (I guess) I’ll be taking a test drive. Will it be the 150 seat version in this AI-generated image or will it be the for realz 24 seat version everyone else has seen? And when will the 150 seat version be available at a dock near you? I guess you’ll just have to show up at the Marina and find out. 🙂
Thursday
Regular Meeting – 08 May 2025 – Agenda Highlights:
Dock Replacement Engineering
This is a $74k increase in design work for the L,M,N dock replacement. $60k was already set aside as a contingency so it’s not the dough I’m concerned about. It’s that the fish window is getting near and I thought this was all done and dusted. It’s a lot of reading so I may be over-reacting. 🙂
Protocol Manual
We’re plowing through a long list of changes to our Council meeting rules. We got through a few last time – proposed by Councilmember Grace-Matsui and the discussion was spicy. I think we’re moving towards mine. I should have a review here, but I’m going over-long as it is. Frankly, our ‘rules’ are a reflection of our Council. You want better rules? Elect a Council this November that wants better rules. That sounds even snippier than usual, but note that we’ve always had rules about decorum to address all the complaints residents have about ‘being nice’ at the dais. As Dr. Phil used to say, “How’s that been workin’ for ya?”
Discussion of Appointive Committees
Des Moines currently has seven appointive committees:
– Arts Commission
– Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC)
– Civil Service Commission
– Human Services Advisory Board
– Lodging Tax Advisory Committee
– Police Advisory Committee
– Senior Services Advisory Committee
Additionally, Council has directed the future creation of two more, both of which to be monitored by our Planning Director:
– An Airport Committee
– A Planning Commission
The three committees the City has recommended go untouched must be self-reporting on efficacy because they haven’t reported to the City Council or to the public in so long, I cannot recall. Those are the good ones. The remainder all suffer from very low participation. Hmmm… I wonder? 😀
At a minimum, every committee should be transparent – recordings, public schedules, minutes. The bare minimum of open government. Many of these are not.
Regardless, if you look at the other comparison cities, pound for pound, we have 2-3x more committees. I’m pretty sure that would hold with comparisons across WA, and given that, it is wise to question their value.
The two options the City proposes are:
Expand the CAC, which currently has 20-ish members and…
– Add 7 at-large membersÂ
– Create subcommittees for Arts, Human Services, and Senior Services
Or…
– Maintain current CACÂ and
 – Create a new Community Events and Services Committee (CESC)
Neither of these proposals kill me. Ya know who used to have 27 member committees with at large members and subcommittees in a town of 33,000 people? The 3CCCP, Comrade. 😀 Creating a mega-committee for interests and expertise as diverse as ‘arts’, ‘human services’, and ‘senior services’ sounds like a recipe for regressing to a particular mean. Fun fact: the average resident of Des Moines is under 40. 🙂
Frankly, many of these committees do not represent Des Moines across any main demographic. For some that is irrelevant. But for some it is. The Citizens Advisory Committee has been highly supportive of a body that more accurately represents the residents. However, in all these cases it’s exactly like our City Council. If people don’t apply, you get what you get.
And that is a dirty little secret of almost all community organisations – and why I perpetually sound so cranky about outreach.
My job involved a lot of behavioural economics. Our city, all our committees, local groups, everything, recruit passively. By doing so we incentivise for the same people doing the same ‘stuff’ year after year. We thank the few people who do participate, bemoan the fact that so few others do, and do basically nothing to help change this state of affairs.
If nobody applies, you either pretend everything’s cool or strip back. If you want to bring in new people, you can; but not without a very different approach.
And let’s be real girlfriend, if you’re on a committee, or whatever, at least part of the reason you’re there is because you want to be, what the kids now call ‘an influencer’. But at some point, if you really want others to join in on the fun, a different mechanism has to happen that encourages others to pile in.
To get there, the recruitment process has to fit how people live today. If you just recruit the way we always have, you get the same types of people you’ve always had. The status quo. Usually, the same few people year in and year out – and also the same moaning about “Why don’t more people get involvvvvvvved?” 😀
The irony of our current system? So many people have not applied in recent years, it kinda forced something to happen. That ‘something’ may or may not be the right approach. As you can tell, I don’t think we’re actually addressing the core problem (getting more people into civic life). But perhaps daylighting the issue – and trying something different — are useful steps. 🙂
Farmers Market Agreement
On an adjacent note, we will approve the Farmers Market Agreement and wave the $50k rental fees. The City now says that this is in exchange for a sponsorship. That’s fine. But it’s no change. I only mention this because there has never been proper coordination between the Farmers Market and local business and events planning.
That is no reflection on the Farmers Market board. Wonderful group. Great service to the community.
But every year, the community aspires for more. We currently have no way to even measure the data we would need to expand participation throughout the summer – let alone get to the “profitable year-round model” that was part of the built environment in the 2017 Marina Redevelopment Plan (which nobody seems to remember now. My how time flies. 😀 )
I know this stings, but I get complaints from Food Truck owners and restaurant people every year – people who will never ‘complain’ openly. They just go somewhere else where they feel more welcome.
At some point, after spending all this effort on mission statements and logos and steps and t-shirts, someone will have to start acknowledging all this – if we’re actually interested in ‘Destination Des Moines’, that is.
Last Week
Thursday
Committee of the Whole/Study Session – 01 May 2025 – Agenda – Updated (2:35)
This was our second Committee of the Whole/Study Session combo-platter. Any concerns I had about too-long meetings? Nahh. We were out in a crisp 2:35.
City Council Committee of the Whole
Alarm Fees
(15 min) We have not been recovering our full costs when officers have to make a call. In addition to adjusting our rates to achieve better cost recovery, we’re also switching to a new 3rd party. The City provided me with a copy of the report we’ve been getting. Their collection rate was not very good and neither was the data. This was one of those boring process wins that make my heart sing.
Middle Housing
(45 min) The was looking like another win. The City recommended a simplified model for everything from 1,200 sq ft. ADUs up to a quadplex – and, And, AND suggested following a model adopted by Kent which allows for as many units as the land will allow based on geometry. That word was actually used. Wooah, I started gettin’ giddy, there. 😀
But so long as the connections to grid are OK, it’s really true. This aerial graphic illustrated it really well, I thought.
My only concern – which is suggested on one of the diagrams – was maybe to limit the number of ADUs on very large parcels, in order to encourage cottage housing.
I want to note something the Planning Director mentioned that really matters about Land Use. According to King County 2021 “there is very little undeveloped land in Des Moines.” Well, yes and no. The stat reads
- 3,696 properties between 3,000 – 10,000 sq ft.
- 2,392 properties > 10,000 sq ft.
No matter how ya slice it, there are several thousand properties that can comfortably provide another living space. If we maintain our spacing/setback requirements, this should present no problem for neighbourhoods.
We will conclude the item next week, by deciding on Parking, because the State has a deadline. The City favours adopting the 2027 State mandate now, and I agree. My only teeny, tiny concern has to do with the conflict between reduced parking requirements and on-street parking and possible environmental impacts. The City has an interest in making sure there are no unintended consequences as to loss of tree canopy, or perhaps cars moving on the street (or on people’s lawns.)
From the dais, I complimented staff on the presentation, which was outstanding, and the default options, feel right. These are always good signs. It is the will of the State to not only add options, but to streamline the process. So why not make our process as simple as possible? 🙂
But here’s the thing: this entire deal is a beta test. There is simply no way to know ahead of time what the effects of this will be because there are simply too many variables – including how many residents will take advantage of this. I have the easy part – voting for a very noble purpose. 😀 It is our staff and residents who will have to figure out what all that means.
City Council Study Session
City Logo
(40 min) I did not care. I do not care. But this was our third discussion on this and still we were not done?
Comprehensive Plan Chapters
(60 min) Discussions for Economic Development and three neighbourhoods:
-
- North Central
- Marina District
- Pacific Ridge
Most of my comments were rhetorical.
- I asked about this thing called the Innovation District – which is currently the row of homes on the south side of 216th from the Activity Center east to 24th. As these buildings are sold, they use case will change, which was, until last year, Business Park. But in one of his last proposals, our last City Manager talked up an Innovation District. I had no idea what it means either.
- I also asked about some language in the Marina District which has never been clear as to a bike path. If you recall, the City used to make much of having bike paths through the center of the City from Highline College north and ultimately connecting to the Des Moines Creek Trail – which would ultimately give one access all the way out to Woodinville.
We used to take weekend trips from Shilshole to Woodinville and a trail bike ride – especially along Lake Washington – it is one of the great family/couples trips imaginable.
Given the recent decision to give up the WSDOT Surplus along Barnes Creek, the only (sorry) path forward connecting the trail near Des Moines Elementary to the DMCT will need to go through the Marina – which was part of the original Marina Redevelopment plan. I do not want to take that for granted again.
- In Pacific Ridge, I made a rhetorical comment about wanting another play space. Midway Park has made huge leaps from its humble beginnings as a Community Garden. But 30th Avenue is looooong –Â far too long to serve the needs of all the apartment buildings south. Councilmember Mahoney mentioned that the area is zoned for the tallest, highest density in Des Moines. True. And seemed to feel that every foot of available space should be allocated to accommodate more housing. That sounds very noble, except for this… Ya know what ya call tall, high density apartment buildings near transit without high quality parks?
The Projects.
Every parent with a child deserves to be within convenient stroller distance of a high quality play space.
Logo (Coda)
(5 min) Since we were wrapping up so early, the Mayor suggested we go back to the logo. Behind the scenes, a staff member had been twiddling away to generate new previews based on the discussion. Which yielded four new possibilities.
Remember where I said that I do not care? At the first opportunity, I cast the deciding vote and end the suffer… er…. make the one at top left our new official logo.
I have two points to make here.
Here is the original recommendation from the designer. (If these look skewed differently they’re the same. That’s a problem with web/print.) If you compare that with the logo we decided upon, you may need to blink to notice the differences. We had three meetings on this, hours of time, not to mention the designer’s time. I also want to mention that we spent an equal amount of time last November arriving at essentially the same Mission Statement we already had from 2018.
There should be more than one lesson there.
The time and money we’ve wasted on these are Animal Control Money.
Road money. Technician money. It’s not just those wacky Councilmembers goofing around on Channel 21. The reason it’s so easy to waste this money is because we do not think about as real.
Here’s the sign as you
enter the Marina. I assume it was paid out of some Marina fund.
Here’s the jib, flaggy thing that forms the ‘gateway’ to the City at 216th and KDM. Back in 2010ish that version of the City Council spent ages deciding on it.
Now look at the new Redondo restroom. Which says Redondo. Not Des Moines. We paid $2.6 million dollars for that thing and nowhere is there an indication that you are using a toilet in Des Moines. Waterland City.
Then there’s the new logo – which came out of a Communications budget – left over from when we had a Communications Director. I think that fits broadly under the City Manager Budget.
And it hit me – that is why there is no consistency. ACCOUNTING! 😀
Separate bags o’ money from different departments. Each department brought forward its own decision, or that version of the Council saw it as a fresh opportunity to ‘get creative’. There was never any review for consistency because it’s not a built-in process.
Look at an agenda item. Any item will do. The opening has a section with Clearances. Each relevant department initials that they’ve reviewed and cleared the item.
Know what option is missing? Brand Governance. In a for realz company, everything, and I do mean everything, requires a sign-off from some person we used to jokingly refer to as the 2Style Council. If you want to maintain consistency, your organisation has to make sure that you have a Brand Officer who must sign-off, like legal, finance, engineering, etc. before it can get voted on.
You can develop a new logo, t-shirts, etc. You can hire a web guy and try to wrangle digital and print. But until the City makes this a discipline, it’s impossible.
And that leads me to my last point. The other reason people waste money on this is because there is no serious interest in value. I guess you can sell t-shirts. Cool. But until you can quantify how much money we spend on this stuff, it will never strike people as real money. It will simply be a sign we paid somebody at the Marina, a sign we paid another guy in Redondo, a sign we paid another guy on 216th, and a guy we paid to design a new logo. There’s no actual value.
1For noobs, we bundle construction taxes in with ‘sales tax’ which I know implies the (relatively) steady stream of taxes one expects from retail. As we’ve learned, construction is extremely variable.
2We had an employee that really liked 80’s Brit soul. ABC, Human League, Boy George, Wham, you get the idea.