Some bits of business…
Future Agendas
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.
A quick reminder that Summer Road Paving is beginning in Redondo and then McSorley Creek.
Free Trees!
Many people do not know that residents -anywhere- in the City of Des Moines are entitled to FREE TREES from Sound Transit as part of the new Light Rail. What is new this year is that Sound Transit has created a more convenient pick up system. So… sign up now and get your trees in the fall when it’s planting time. The sign up form has more information, but here are your choices…
—Bitter Cherry (~30’ at maturity)
—Cascara (~30’ at maturity)
—Douglas Fir (~120’ at maturity)
—Pacific Crab Apple (~35’ at maturity)
—Vine Maple (~25’ at maturity)
—Western Red Cedar (~150’ at maturity)
https://bit.ly/treegiveaway2024
City Manager Stuff
The City Manager’s Report July 26, 2024 featured a link to a new City web page https://www.desmoineswa.gov/departments/police/crime_statistics_data
This is a positive step that I’ve been pushing on for a long time. Because the truth is? We already had this data. It must be collected with every call for service. All we’re doing now is taking some time to total it up.
Frankly, and not to quash initiative, but there’s at least some element of salesmanship here. It’s not accident (see what I did there? 😀 ) that this coincides with the Tax Levy.
My main observation thus far is that there is not enough longitudinal data (year over year) to really talk about crime ‘trends’. Despite how it may feel some days (especially if you monitor social media) crime had been trending down over time. It spiked during COVID and now it seems to be heading down again except for property crime, which is nuuuuuutz.
There are two gaps I’d like to see, which may not be so great for supporters of the Levy Lid Lift. Response time, and true cost per shift.
- According to our last police chief, our response times– with the current staffing levels–were very good. Maybe that standard needs review, but that is for the next chief.
- The real cost per officer is something previous chiefs were loath to discuss. The incoming chief was quite good at doing so in Burien and I hope that continues. According to the Finance Director, the current cost per officer is $215,000 per year. That is twice what is on the salary schedule. And that does not include the vehicle and support stuff. The Council needs a better understanding as to why there is such a cost premium. Also, some of the shifts seem to be filled in by other types of officers (eg. detectives?) The goal is to provide better service. We may need more officers, but in my opinion the Council needs a lot more information on how all this works. Like every department, we have to figure out ways to get at least some of these costs in check.
Port Package Updates
There was a very good article in the Seattle Times on the challenges we’re facing in getting bad Port Packages fixed. If you want to help, and haven’t already? Please subscribe to Sea-Tac Noise.Info.
Tax Levy Lid Lift
I’ve written two articles to rebut what I consider to be inaccuracies in the City’s informational presentations.
- About that Tax Levy Lid Lift Pamphlet
- Did we, or did we not, have a dedicated fund for tax levy money in 2006?
Des Moines Creek West Photo Gallery
Des Moines Creek West (Barnes Creek Trail North) Photo Gallery
This Week
Tuesday:National Night Out Preview 
Block party at Steven J. Underwood. Free steering wheel locks! 🙂
Tuesday: Executive Session (City Manager Recruitment) This discussion probably went on longer than my colleagues would have liked. Guilty! In Executive Session you’re not supposed to bring in any materials. And you can’t leave with any materials. Like Lost Wages, what happens in Executive Session stays in Executive Session. But the HR Director gave us a list of about 30 selection criteria–ideas for ranking applicants 1-5. OK.
11 applicants x 30 questions = 330 data points.
What I have wanted is to make sure of was that we can score those in advance and give them to the HR Director, have her create a spreadsheet ranking everyone based on our overall ratings, and then bring that to the meeting to start the discussion. I want to find out, before the meeting, if there is at least some consensus as to who everyone thinks highly of.
Because here’s the thing: When the HR Director gave us the list of eleven semi-finalists, she did so in a ranked order. She could not speak to individual preferences, of course. But she indicated that the preferences were pretty consistent. We already had organically come to at least some consensus via scoring.
And in a rare win for data-driven decision making? That is what is going to happen. 🙂
Said it before, say it again: If you can make the decisions based on data, we actually agree on a lot of things. But the more personality gets into it, that’s where the trouble starts.
Thursday: Finance Committee 1 Aug 2024 – Agenda Highlight: We will consider raising annual Business License fees. According to this, we already have some of the lowest fees in the region. There’s a much deeper question, which, in my thirty years here, I’ve never seen us truly confront: Why do we struggle so at business formation and growth? If you watched the last City Council Meeting, the majority really seems to believe that a passenger ferry is the key. However, my predecessors said the same thing re. the Des Moines Creek Business Park.
Thursday: City Council Study Session – 01 Aug 2024 – Agenda As seasoned readers know, a ‘Study Session’ is supposed to be limited to 1-2 big issues to be… er… ‘studied’, and no decidering. Unfortunately, the lines keep getting blurrier and blurrier over time (sigh). So this time there will actually be six things discussed and two decisions:
Item 1. EMERGING ISSUES
1. Port of Seattle Part 150 Update (the airport noise studies which determine who gets sound insulation.)
2. City Manager Recruitment Update (see above)
3. Police Department Community Update
Item 2. PRELIMINARY DISCUSSION OF 2025 CITY LEGISLATIVE
PRIORITES
Item 3. NOVEMBER 05, 2024 PUBLIC SAFETY LEVY LID LIFT: PRO AND
CON COMMITTEE APPOINTMENTS
Two comments
Item 3. If the August 6 Levy Lid Lift fails, the City will put the same item on the November ballot. So, you get to vote on it again. Having it on the ballot twice was a key reason I voted against it. We will approve new committee members for that second bite at the apple.
Item 1c. If you notice, the City has done more public outreach on the police department this year than basically ever. It could just be a complete coincidence that the levy lid lift is on the ballot. 😀 My hope is that this increased level of public engagement persists–whether the Levy Lid Lift passes or not. (Of course, management will say, “How can we afford all this ‘public outreach’ if the Levy Lid Lift does not pass?” Which is not the right answer. 😀 )
Last Week
Tuesday: Port of Seattle Commission (Agenda)
Wednesday: Adam Smith’s Office on various airport issues, including Port Package Updates and air quality monitors.
Wednesday: Highline Forum at Highline College (Agenda)
Thursday: Municipal Facilities Committee 25 Jul 2024 – Agenda
Highlights: There were some fairly major changes to the Marina Steps which were fough… er… ‘discussed’ at the fulling meeting. But they did not include the piccies in the packet. I did. 🙂 There was also an update on the Field House play equipment. It will be delayed until at least September. Apparently there was confusion over measurements. Not. Kidding.
Thursday: Economic Development – 25 Jul 2024 – Agenda
Highlights:
- Middle Housing. If you are interesting in ADUs or duplex/triplex/quadplexes? This was the meeting for you!
One grouse I have is that the new State requirement is to allow for 4 units per lot only within 1/4 mile of a major transit stop. I was hoping we could expand this to the entire City. There is clearly some resistance to up-zoning on the committee.
We must increase ownership opportunities. It’s the only way to drive down housing costs. Also, it means more money for the City. What people don’t seem to get in Des Moines is that we have a very low number of housing units. And low density means that the tax burden is shared by a few people. The only way to maintain low density and service levels over the long haul is either to dramatically increase business formation or raise your property taxes. If you like low taxes you must support both. If you don’t? At some point very soon, either I, or my successor will drop the hammer on you.
- Comp Plan #12 ‘Healthy Des Moines’.
Goal HD-3 Support the efforts of the Port of Seattle to study the impacts of noise and air pollution from SeaTac Airport on surrounding communities
Asking the Port to study the impacts of noise and air pollution is like asking Exxon to study the health impacts of leaded gasoline.
July 25 City Council Meeting Recap
This Council Meeting had something for everyone. For me, one important feature was the three hour hard cap meeting length we have which no other city has. Our meetings must end at 9:00pm, no matter where we are in the process–unless there is a majority vote to extend. And the majority never votes to extend except to complete whatever item we’re currently dealing with. This is one of those ‘details’ like the filibuster at the Federal level. It really matters, it totally screws positive change, but you can never fix it because the majority likes it–for exactly that reason.
Public Comment
Several people commented on saving the Masonic Home. I’m pretty sure that the SEPA report was done a long time ago. I’m assuming it could come before the Council any time. Frankly, the owner of the property is refusing to talk to anyone, it’s zoned as IC (institutional) so…
City Manager’s Report
Update on City Manager Recruitment
There was a pretty long discussion (blame moi) on how to conduct the Executive Session next Tuesday to whittle down the 11 semi-finalists to a top 3-4 that we will invite to interview. See above.
Tax Levy Lid Lift Presentation
As I wrote above, errors of fact in this, and the flyer the City paid $6,000 for, annoyed me so much I wrote two articles about it. If you have not yet voted, at least have accurate information:
- Did we, or did we not, have a dedicated fund for tax levy money in 2006?
- About that Tax Levy Lid Lift Flyer
Consent Agenda
A bit of review: Consent items are considered ‘routine’ and thus voted en masse. But Cms can ‘pull’ individual items for separate discussions. There were two items that should never have been on consent. The City knew they were controversial and yet they put them on consent anyhoo. That’s one reason current management has gotsta go.
As I keep saying, each city has different rules. For example, both the Port of Seattle and Burien almost never discuss an item, no matter how consequential, and then vote immediately to enact it as we do. Instead, they have a discussion, then vote to put the item on the next meeting’s consent agenda. Get it? That allows them to have a complete discussion. Then, if there is agreement, the next meeting is just a final quick double check. If any Cm has last minute concerns, they can then pull the item and have a second full discussion. Otherwise, it takes only a few seconds to make the final decision. Elegant. Measured. Transparent. It’s what we should do.
Marina Float Charging Grant
I voted Hell No! The City continues to move forward on a completely unproven and ludicrously expensive passenger ferry program. I don’t think the public or my colleagues understand just how totally not-baked this technology is. There is literally no working model I can find for an electric hydrofoil passenger ferry or a floating charging platform. I mean anywhere.
Apparently, the City of San Francisco is doing the same trial. San Francisco has a budget of over $14.6 billion. With a ‘B’. About 585 times as large as Des Moines. A City as strapped as Des Moines has absolutely no business being in the R&D business on tech that isn’t even at the Alpha stage.
Why on earth can’t we simply wait to see how their system works? What competitive advantage do we obtain by being first? It’s not as though any other cities in the area are clamouring for this. We could literally wait ten years and still be ‘the first in the region’. And even if we weren’t so what?
All these grants come with strings. In this case, the grant requires a 10-25% in-kind match of staff hours. Which the Interim City Manager estimated to be $100,000. Which is the salary of a Level I Civil Engineer–one of our most highly credentialed employees. So basically we’re committing one core employee to this project! But because it’s not ‘cash’ the City is saying (with a straight face) that it’s ‘free money’. Remember: We’re simultaneously rebuilding the docks and the Marina Steps and Redondo and possibly the boat launch and dry stack facility all at the same time. With that same tiny engineering staff! When you wonder why so many things take extra time and cost more, this is one reason. There is no free lunch.
But wait, it gets even better! Next month the City will want our State lobbyist ($6,000 a month) to make it his highest priority to help King County obtain a grant to buy the boat! This is yet another soft cost that no rational planner would tolerate. Let’s say our lobbyist spends one quarter of his time lobbying for that boat. That’s $1,500 a month! And it’s time he won’t spend advocating for the core issues we actually need help with now!
Because of all these soft costs, it’s difficult to do a comprehensive project accounting of all our ‘ferry stuff’ since 2017. (That’s actually the point–to obfuscate costs and benefits.) But if I add up just the consultant fees, grant writing costs, marketing, contracts with the boat people, in-kind match fees, etc., I am certain it will be a million dollars by the time that battery gizmo gets floated.
Marina Steps Project
The Council voted on a relatively tiny portion of the project in terms of dollars, but huge in terms of substance: namely to hire a consultant to do the design work on all the play areas. The blue stuff on the left and the spray pad. I voted no. I also attempted to amend the proposal to remove the spray pad. Both were shot down like a defenseless little duck in October, baby. 😀
What truly miffed me was that the Interim City Manager injected himself into the discussion, saying that the City was bidding this as one project, meaning “all or nothing”. According to him, we had to accept every bit of the project, which was totally not true. That was the worst aspect of the last City Manager: authoritarianism. My way or the highway. That whole ethos has gotsta go!
The idea that we have to decide now and that nothing in the proposal can be changed is not only wrong, it is absolutely corrosive to politics at every level.
I want to remind the administration: It’s not your money! If the Council wants to change something? Even if it might add a few bucks to the project? That is our decision; not yours.I asked to remove the spray feature, which is waaaaaaaaaay too small for the space. And there is no technical reason why it could not be done. It has nothing to do with the structure. But the moment the City Manager said “we intend to bid this as one project” it shuts down any possibility of debate. Or compromise. It’s all or nothing.
As a Council, we haven’t actually compromised on anything in a very long time.
I think back to when I first attended City Council Meetings in 2008. Things were far from perfect. But back then, the annual budget meetings could take two hours just going over amendments. Which was a good thing.
Everyone had a pet idea. There was horsetrading. And a real sense that one should compromise. But at a certain point? Our Council became like the Federal government. All or nothing. And during my four previous budgets? There have been almost zero amendments. The budget that the City Manager presents is literally voted up or down. It’s the worst.
As much as people seem to hate County and State government? Those are places where compromise still occurs. And if you don’t think so you haven’t attended any of their meetings. There is constant horse trading. One side may tend to dominate. But it’s definitely not all or nothing.
Why can’t that happen here?