Weekly Update 05/17/2026

Some bits of business…

Calendar Nerds

And for those of you who, like moi, plan your entire life around our meetings, I put the City’s updated calendar of official meetings in the sidebar. You now have no excuse for not showing up!

About the cover

It’s been over a decade since we got red light cameras. They were controversial at the time. But let’s be real, girlfriend, we were going through yet another financial crisis at the time and the instant hot cash injection was pretty wonderful. However, they also caused a ton of disruption for the court. The money has gone down a lot. Some of them really have improved safety. But at least one (you know the one I mean) is still just a cash machine. And still cash we need. 🙂 We implemented a ‘park zone’ in Redondo, it took forever, cost a ton, and the complaints still keep rolling in. Same with any number of interventions where what we do doesn’t have the intended effect. We are now eligible for three more locations. And the recommended ones seem reasonable–they will write tickets. But honestly, are they the spots that will improve public safety the most? Tune in Thursday and find out. 🙂

Memorial Day

I hope you’ll join me in honouring our veterans of foreign wars at Sunnydale School  in

Transportation Survey

This is actually pretty good. Please take 5 minutes to fill out. But only if you like bike lanes and transit. jk. 🙂

Transportation Survey – City of Des Moines, WA

Detention Center Policy

According to the Waterland Blog , at our last meeting “Local officials put anxieties about potential detention facilities to rest by highlighting the city’s strong zoning codes…” I read that and thought, “Oh yeah, that’ll definitely do it.” 😀

I asked the City to make that statement–and then write the following–and I appreciate it. Can anyone find it without a geiger counter? No. But hey… Baby steps.

I know this sounds weak, but I actually did not want ‘the Council’ to ‘do’ something like a proclamation or moratorium. I’ve been hoping we could make it clear that is already illegal. Does that make sense? I think it makes us look better to simply tell the public. We’re already doing the job. 🙂

But that obviously isn’t particularly reassuring. I. GET. IT. Talking about ‘zoning’ doesn’t sound firm. The City has to be calm and legalistic. Not me!😃

Those places are despicable and you have every right to feel anxious or outraged or both. In fact, the lack of shared, unanimous outrage is, in itself, outrageous.

City Manager Stuff

City Manager Reports!  May, 15 2026

Quite similar to last week’s. The highlight for moi remains  the updated Construction list. I know a lot of you are upset about various construction projects and I want you to know how much it sucks to be you! 😀

Just wanted to make sure you were paying attention.

The detour around 16th Ave is particularly rough. I’m told it will be over in a couple of weeks. But I know that is cold comfort atm.

This  Week

Thursday

City Council Meeting May 21, 2026 City Council Agenda Packet Highlights:

National Public Works Week Proclamation

I know I say I don’t like proclamations, but I am a fan of every person who makes the trains run on time, keeps the water safe, the parks clean, and so on… 🙂

Presentation by Nelson\Nygaard on the Findings from the Ferry Pilot Evaluation and Alternatives.

I should call this the “I was right and you were wrong presentation” But it is, at best, a pyrrhic victory. There will never be accountability for the entire approach to ‘Marina Development’ that was, at bottom, corrupt, and wasted millions of dollars. More than one head should have rolled.

Website Update

This is a big deal and perhaps another pyrrhic victory. The web site has been so terrible for so long people took it for granted. The new beta site is much better visually. However, mechanically it is not what I had hoped and some parts (the document part) are actually worse. I know most of my colleagues will be thrilled, but we only get one shot at this every decade or so, so this should be mobile-first and it isn’t. On the other hand, given our budget, it may be the best we can do and that is another reason to continue stewing over that ferry thing.

Update on SB6002 Implementation

This is the state flock camera law. It is much better than what we would have ever done ourselves. But the City should also add its own last-mile of protection by disallowing any off-line storage. Flock deletes its data after 21 days. It should also be clearly illegal for the City to download and retain any image on any other device for future use.

Here is a link to the City of Des Moines Flock Portal

Recology Annual Update

If you have issues with your service? (And I know many people do) this is your moment to show up and be heard. This is also something of a victory. We never did this when I first got on the Council. I used to be told that we did not get complaints. Keep complaining. (And sending in compliments the other 99.9% of the time when the service is fantastic!) See what I did there? 🙂

Des Moines Farmers Market 2026-2028 Agreement

As usual, we will be offering the Farmers Market free use of the Marina. What is a bit different is that this is a three year agreement.

Residential Conversions Ordinance – 1st Reading

This is interesting. A recent state law requires the City to allow conversion of mixed-use properties to fully residential. The classic 5-1 (business in front, party in back)  — wait that’s a mullet 😀 try again — (commercial first floor, residential above) has often been unsuccessful. We like the notion because theoretically storefronts generate more revenue. But given the chronic need for more housing, this addresses reality. It’s much better to have places to live now than theoretical business revenue.

Resolution No. 26-050, City of Des Moines Opportunity Zone Application

The federal Opportunity Zone program was established under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to promote private investment in designated economically distressed areas through federal tax incentives. Portions of the City of Des Moines have been designated as potential Opportunity Zones, presenting opportunities to attract private capital for redevelopment, infrastructure improvements, business expansion, housing development, and job creation.

From your mouth, to God’s ear. 🙂

Last Week

Monday

4:00pm Airport Committee (Agenda) My friends at STNI have become increasingly alarmed with the upcoming SAMP. When we all began STNI ten years ago, we had  hoped to create a more informed community on airport issues. Instead,

Wednesday

Emergency Management Advisory Committee (EMAC): We will got our final briefing on FIFA. Things they are trying to get to:

1. A complete list of road closures and regional traffic impacts. They are just all over the place. Not just the stadium, but I-5, 405, I-90, Light Rail, Tukwila, Bellevue. And… the president is rolling in to add to the fun.
2. Live information sharing—including positive messaging. Just in case something weird happens, the goal is to have a shared source of truth.

Some FIFA info re. events (watch parties) and how to get around using transit. Highly recommended. You can use yer credit card

• Event Calendar | Seattle FIFA World Cup 26™
• SEA26 soccer – King County, Washington

Thursday

Recap below.

Recap

May 14, 2026 City Council Meeting Agenda Packet Highlights:

• Surplus Property – We go through a surprising number of vehicles every year and this was our first year with a truly budgeted approach to replacement. We will soon see how well it worked.
• Collective Bargaining Agreement Teamsters Local No. 763. This is fairly routine, but it’s worth watching because the City’s policy is to (try) to offer similar packages to non-represented employees whenever possible.
• Vision Zero Resolution – This is one of those state things we do to get grants. I have no idea what it’s supposed to ‘do’. But Seattle has had one for a while and it’s getting audited because Rob Saka on the their city council also wanted to know what it does. So, I guess that will give me a clue. 🙂

Photo Enforcement Program Update – 35 Minutes

• The City recommended three new red light cams and making one extension of a school cam to 24/7 (16th at Woodmont Elementary) Councilmember Blosse seemed to want school cams at every school. I am less jazzed. I favour as few cams as necessary. But changing this one is a good idea. My only concern is that drivers may get confused between when it is in ‘school mode’ and ‘regular mode’.
• Noise Cameras. These are not yet legal in WA. The tech is not quite as fully-baked as people think. I also think it will be interesting when people riding their Harley Sportsters get the same tickets as the people driving the BMW3s with ground effects. If you know what I’m saying. 😀 But noise is noise.

I spent some time in Redondo today and was struck by two things:

• The same crews are responsible for most of the noise.
• How willing and able they seem to be to try to circumvent any intervention

We’ve spent a boatload of money recently to address the issue and it’s never ‘the thing’. I get how desperate people are. But I’m also tired of giving people the wrong solution. Do I have ‘the solution’? Am I a traffic engineer? 😀 But all I had to do was hang out on the corner of 272nd and 16th today to see a ton of not great activity.

End Comments

Cities vacillate between where to place public comment vs. elected comments. Here they are at opposite ends–so nobody sticks around. But I appreciate the people who show up to speak about detention centers and ICE. I am fortunate enough to fit in, but when I first came to this country I did not. What is going on now is horrifying, and I think we often come off as flip and indifferent.

And the same thing with Flock — part of entitlement is basically, “hey man, if you ain’t done nothing wrong, you got nothing to worry about.” That’s entitlement by definition.

A lot of times people will get 99% of the details right, but that don’t mean their concerns are not legit. I appreciate the City putting something straightforward on the website about that detention thing.

I attended the last airport meeting. There’s this thing called the Overton window in politics — things move in a certain direction, and even after you change, there’s no going back. I watched the last airport meeting, and people were still talking about a Third Runway usage agreement that never happened. If you have to pay people to relearn things every two years or so, of course you’re going to screw up continuously.

We don’t make mistakes when it comes to land use and the things we really care about. That TIP. That’s the magic wand that should be in every department and in our own strategic plan.

And it is interesting to me that the state makes us do six-year magic wands for the departments that really matter. You have to have a plan for certain things. The things you don’t are things you obviously do not care about.

Regardless of what happens with the airport over the next couple of years, the best thing that could possibly happen would be to have some kind of system in place where people four or five years in the future don’t have to reinvent the wheel — because what we’re calling ‘the SAMP’ is actually just phase one. There’s an LTP coming in 2032, and that’s where the real fun begins. And we haven’t even talked about it. Which is why it is likely to be even worse then.