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.
Who is running?
| Position | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | *Harry Steinmetz (206) 387-1333 hsslaw@me.com https://www.steinmetzfordesmoines.com | David Denino (206) 414-8569 david.denino@gmail.com https://www.electdaviddenino.com/ | |
| 3 | *Gene Achziger (253) 941-3785 gene4DM2025@gmail.com | ||
| 5 | Pierre Blosse (346) 298-1984 pierre@pierrefordesmoines.com pierrefordesmoines.com | Lloyd Elliott Lytle Jr. (323) 605-5548 lloydelytle@gmail.com lytlefordesmoinescitycouncil.com | *Matt Mahoney did not file for re-election |
| 7 | Robyn Desimone info@desimonefordesmoines.com www.desimonefordesmoines.com | *Traci Buxton did not file for re-election |
City Manager Stuff
City Manager Report – September 12, 2025
The Marina dock replacement is on schedule! You can watch videos of progress in action here: https://www.youtube.com/@CityofDesMoinesMarina
There is also a new Community Survey. Yes, we did a parks survey and a communications survey just a couple of years ago, but well… new management, right? 😀 This one also asks for your ideas on a broad range of stuff like event planning and programs for kids and seniors and it”s all great. 🙂
And… since you can never take too many surveys, this is my personal fave, this concerning some big improvements at the Beach Park. Take the Beach Park survey!
Light Rail Opens December 6, 2025!
https://www.soundtransit.org/southkinglink
Restaurants!
There have been more restaurant changes 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
Monday
Visit to North SeaTac Park Air Quality Monitor station. This is the model for an upcoming air quality monitoring station here in Des Moines.
Tuesday
6:00pm Burien Airport Committee
Wednesday
King County Council Regional Transit Committee (Agenda). We’re considering Metro-Flex for next year. This is an on-call program to get people to bus stations and light rail in areas with no bus service. Notice something missing? Des Moines! This is my number one transit issue atm. What is the point of having new Light Rail at 240th and 272nd if you can’t get to the stop?
Last Week
Monday
4:00pm Des Moines Aviation Committee (Agenda). Coverage at STNI, including agenda and video.
6:00pm JFK Airport Community Roundtable (there are airport roundtables all over the place. 🙂 ) and as a member of Sea-Tac Noise.Info we take turns checking ’em out to find out how we can improve our situation.
That’s how I got so anti- ‘consultants’. The JFK group just hired the same aviation consultants we had for a couple of years. Airport communities are currently at about the same place cancer patients were 30 years ago — before there were some real breakthroughs. Everyone used to try the same therapies that were excruciating, expensive and did not work. That’s what desperate people do, of course. Thankfully, people did not just give up and today there are much better options. That’s where we should be here at Sea-Tac.
Tuesday
Port of Seattle Commission Meeting. The highlight was where the Port Comms voted to further dilute what used to be the Airport Community Ecology Fund and is now basically just another ‘economic development grant’ program. Shame.
Thursday
City Council meeting (Regular Meeting – 11 Sep 2025) Recap follows.
City Council meeting recap
Regular Meeting – 11 Sep 2025 – Agenda – Pdf
Zoom…
One highlight: this was supposed to be the return of Zoom participation for the public, which ended in 2023! Unfortunately, no one showed up! Well, except that now we have not one, but two Cms, so it’s getting stress-tested. 😀
But seriously, we’re so out of practice with true community engagement, it will take a while to get the public on board. And to grease the wheels of progress…
FCS Financial Analysis
Another highlight was the long-awaited FCS Financial Impacts Study
I had previously seen their work in Burien. This was not at all ‘comprehensive’ but still it was very valuable. Especially because of all the Marina nonsense, I urge you to read it carefully. Personally, I give it 50/50 on the bullshit meter. That has nothing to do with FCS – again, I am a fan. They do what they do with (x) dollars. My concern was and is us. Does the Council have the will to act decisively. Plus the fact that it doesn’t take into account so much either the Marina or the Airport – the two biggest impacts on city finance for decades. Literally acting as though they don’t exist.
It’s like not having a plan for dealing with the SAMP, and choosing not to develop numbers on a dry stack (or any other capital projects at the Marina) simply because “We don’t know which direction the Council wants to go in.”
There’s this old joke about the man searching for his car keys under a lamp post — instead of where he lost them. “Because the light’s better over here.”
Also: as a recovering consultant, one might say something else about the purpose of this study. At the next meeting, the City will provide a series of ‘revenue enhancement strategies’. Again, more City action even before we get a ‘strategic plan’.
My partner and I would attend various board meetings. And afterwards, he would sometimes do a fake golf swing–like Johnny Carson. It was his way of saying that our presentation was not being used as a decision tool. It was a way for the CEO to tee up something they already had planned. 😀 He was more cynical than moi. 🙂 We will find out on September 25.
Steven J. Underwood Park Management
There is also a proposal to outsource management and maintenance of SJU to a firm that organises baseball and softball. I am not saying it’s a bad idea on its face. I’m just saying that I wish we didn’t have to do it — especially given some previous attempts in other contexts (Wesley).
The place has recently been used more and more for soccer and I am hopeful that we maintain the ability to schedule that kind of thing as the game has become so much more popular with Des Moines residents.
Mt. Rainier Pool 50th Anniversary
Has it really been fifty years? Yes, yes it has. Which is great. Unfortunately, it is also time to start thinking about a new pool – for the same reasons we need to replace the docks and roads and everything else we don’t realise need replacement every generation or so.
Skate Park
There was also a ceremony thanking Legacy for funding the new skate park murals. They do look fantastic. But IMO, the spotlight should have been almost solely on Benji Pierson. This has been his project and I hope both he, and other local artists, get more opportunities to do their thing throughout the City. Public art like this can look great, be extremely creative, and not cost a fortune. Again, I’m grateful to Legacy for funding this. But on the other hand, this is the kind of thing our City should be able to do, on our own, and without years of back and forth.