Get get that 3rd COVID Booster (the new ‘bivalent’ model.) Now. Deaths are slowly rising. Again, again, it takes about a month to achieve full efficacy. And the number of people who have had all four injections is now below fifty percent. Football, Thanksgiving. Christmas. I think you know where I’m going here. They’re doing walk-ins now pretty much everywhere. 🙂
This Week
Monday: Dept. of Ecology briefing on their upcoming plan to identify communities most impacted by pollution. and set up monitoring to move towards legislation which protects us. (Spoiler alert: I’m pushing for Des Moines. 🙂 )
Tuesday: Port of Seattle Commission Meeting (Agenda). The Commission will approve their 2023 budget.
Tuesday: King County Flood District. Ditto. The group will vote to approve our 2023 budget.
Wednesday: Des Moines Marina Association Annual Meeting
Friday: 11:00AM Veterans Day celebration by the Des Moines Memorial Drive Preservation Association at Sunnydale School in Burien. (Check out their web site for some great history on Des Moines Memorial Drive. 🙂
Last Week
Tuesday: 6:30PM Highline Schools Listening Session at Mt. Rainier High School, with Superintendent Dr. Ivan Duran and District #5 Director Azeb Hagos. I made a comment at the end of this week’s meeting which I fleshed out here on Facebook. This has nothing to do with the merits of Prop 1. It’s truly for information only. But the HSD ballot info on the tax implications was not exactly ‘clear’. So please read and attend this meeting.
Thursday: Public Safety Committee Meeting (Agenda) (Video)
This was a very action-packed meeting–and in fact the first Committee meeting I’ve seen in many years that actually went over-time and I encourage everyone to watch it.
The first discussion was on Code Enforcement, which is always a crowd-pleaser.
The topic shifted to Flock Cameras, which silently read license plates as people drive by them. It’s a lot like a speed camera. Basically, a computer finds that the associated driver has an outstanding warrant, it pings the Police Department. The PD is super-jazzed about the program as a force-multiplier. I always have privacy concerns because a) it’s just a matter of changing the software to do a lot more than just look at license plates. And b) unlike most of you, I’ve actually been to true surveillance states (like the Soviet Union) many times and so I am that nervous nelly.
There was also a discussion about placing a speed camera in Redondo. The City is limited by State law to where it can place speed cameras. The State can allow an special exception for a camera in a specific spot (and Mayor Mahoney and I both testified for that in Olympia last year.) But we did not get that permission.
What the City is proposing is to designate a couple of parcels as some form of park land. On the plus side, it sounds good. On the other side? The State can just also allocate us a ‘slot’ for a speed camera in the next legislative session in April, so we may not need that ‘loophole’.
Regardless, the thing that I’m impressed by is the recent organisation by the Redondo community. That is what makes things happen. And my message to readers from that neighbourhood (and others) is this: If I sound in any way ‘pessimistic’ about the City Attorney’s plan, that is not the case. I just know that things often don’t go to plan and you’ll need to keep going. We should still be testifying for those speed cameras in Olympia, just in case. And you may find that a speed camera is not the be all, end all. What matters is to keep at it.
Catch and release
I also want to say a few things about the Chief’s recent press campaign, which has included multiple press releases about quick releases of people arrested after violent offenses from King County Jail. We’re all fed up with the ‘catch and release’ vibe coming from the County. But I’m also not exactly sure how those press campaigns will improve the County court system and I think it would be better if whenever any part of the Administration does press that they explain it to the Council first.
In the second instance, where the Water District #54 employee was brutally attacked, I know the man, his injuries were even more severe than it might appear from the video going round, and I encourage everyone to send their best wishes to him via WD54.
Now, the larger picture is that civil servants like him truly are essential workers. It takes years to develop the skills and certifications to keep our drinking water safe. And if we don’t keep them safe, they can’t keep us safe.
So my interest is in seeing if there is anything the City can do to help all our essential workers avoid a repeat of that situation.
My calendar? It’s wide open.
This article has an important update today (11/07/2022)
This a snapshot from our Future Agendas Report taken today. Every City has some form of official calendar like this. I’ve written about this issue before but it’s worth re-visiting because it’s not exactly getting better.
First off, there are no meetings on November 10th. (They were moved to November 17th weeks ago.) But even more important, there’s no there there. It’s usually not filled in with anything meaningful, literally until the week of the meeting.
Also, at every meeting, the Council is blindsided with unannounced presentations and proposals, including the one at our last meeting where we were expected to vote on an ordinance with zero notice.
No other nearby City functions like this. No public corporation would function like that. Every other City Council I’m aware of dedicates at least some time periodically fleshing out their future meetings calendar. We never do. So it is the case that we have (cough) ‘planning meetings’ in April for items that never actually get on the calendar.
(In fact, there are items the Council voted on last year, which still haven’t made it to this year’s calendar.) The entire Council calendar is truly a black box.
And if the Council itself has no idea what’s coming, there is no way in hell that residents can become engaged.
At one of the first meetings I had with the City Manager, I asked to see an example of his administration’s planning calendar. He looked puzzled and said there wasn’t one. That cannot be the case. There has to be a planning calendar. It may not be public facing, but you cannot run a business our size without a working calendar.
It must be seen that the administration finds this climate of ‘need to know’ preferable. The less information one shares, the less opposition one will receive.
Wanna hear an irony? I hear from peers in other cities that doing these Weekly Updates simply helps people push back against me. I actually tell people what I think, where I’m going, what I plan to do. How stupid is that? (Or so goes the argument.) I don’t know how to respond to that except to say this: If you really believe in ‘democracy’ you cannot treat this like a poker game. You have to be open.
Democracy is information
I do not think it is a coincidence that democratic government in America has been so tightly linked with the free market. A free market provides great results–but only when all sides have access to the same information. That’s the key: buyers and sellers all knowing exactly the same things. That is how you are able to get to the fair price for anything you buy or sell.
But that is also the weakness. If one party has information the other side lacks? The game is up. The incentive to have an ‘edge’, to know something the other guy does not, to ‘play your cards close to the vest’, is almost irresistible. And that is what leads to the cynicism most of us feel today.
Politics is exactly the same. If one side has more information, of course they can (and will) run the table. But then it’s not democracy; it’s a poker game.
- We have a terrible Futures report because it is to the Administration/Majority’s advantage to have a terrible Futures report.
- We have a terrible web site because it is to the Administration/Majority’s advantage to have a terrible web site.
- We have such poor public engagement because it is to the Administration/Majority’s advantage to have poor public engagement.
But on the other hand, if you think things here are going great, than all of the above is just sour grapes. It’s only ‘bad’ because you’re not the one running the table, Harris! 😀
Look, just talking about a blank Future Agendas Report is probably too abstract for most people to care. Residents will (rightly) demand to know about Crime! Taxes! And all their other immediate concerns.
But a City Council is about planning and oversight. It’s not meant to react to events. We’re supposed to create policies to prevent crime, to make sure the roads don’t fail, to make sure there are all sorts of things taken care of in advance. And I don’t know how we can say we’re doing that properly if the entire Council (and you) don’t all have access to the same information. Without that, it’s not a free market; you can’t be sure you’re getting the best deal and there can be no accountability.
Update: 11/07/2022: At some time today, the Future Agendas Report was updated to include the preliminary agenda for the 11/17/2022 meeting. QED.
Is there anything in the city charter or other legal argument that sets requirements for the City Manager and/or Mayor that prohibits such abuse of power?
Under our system of government, the City Council polices both the City Manager and itself. The weakness is that it is 100% majoritarian. If there are four votes in support of the City Manager, there is nothing to be done. Time and again the courts have said that “the cure is an election.”
That’s the flaw in council/manager government. It was -supposed- to be for small cities to have a ‘manager’ who stays out of politics. But it took city managers about five minutes to figure out that if they have the support of the majority they can do pretty much whatever they want.
The only ‘solution’ is for the public to engage. Even with a majority, very few City Councils can ignore a room full of truly fed up residents. That is why I always encourage residents to organise. It’s often the only way to obtain useful reform.
Hi,
Sorry for the very slow reply.
First of all, I would encourage you, or anyone interested in the Marina, to attend TONIGHT’s DMMA Annual Meeting at the Senior Center at 7:00PM. A member of every HOA should be a member of DMMA until the City re-instates an independent Marina Committee.
Under our system of government, the City Council polices both the City Manager and itself. The weakness is that it is 100% majoritarian. If there are four votes in support of the City Manager, there is nothing to be done. Time and again the courts have said that “the cure is an election.”
That’s the flaw in council/manager government. It was -supposed- to be for small cities to have a ‘manager’ who stays out of politics. But it took city managers about five minutes to figure out that if they have the support of the majority they can do pretty much whatever they want.
The only ‘solution’ is for the public to engage. Even with a majority, very few City Councils can ignore a room full of truly fed up residents. That is why I always encourage residents to organise. It’s often the only way to obtain useful reform.
How do I send best wishes to the water dist. employee who was beaten? The link you posted doesn’t say anything specific. Do I call the contact number and leave a message for him? This is the first I’ve heard of this incident. Where was the info available to the public? Was it on tv news, radio, newspaper, etc.? Was anyone arrested?
I would call the office and ask the office mgr, Patty. I’m sure he’ll appreciate it. He’s a great guy. The police dept. posted images and video on Facebook. I chose not to share that out of respect for the man’s privacy. There was an arrest. I’m not sure he’s in custody atm. Apparently he has a history of mental illness.
Hi,
Sorry for the very slow reply.
And thank you for your concern for the injured employee.
I would call the WD54 office and talk to the office mgr, Patty. 206-878-7210
I’m sure he’ll appreciate your concern. He’s a great guy.
There was an arrest. He was let out after a few days which got the Chief going, but I believe he’s back in custody. Apparently he has a history of mental illness. And my view is that we need tools to prevent this kind of attack in the first place.
The police dept. posted images and video on Facebook. I chose not to share any of that out of respect for the man’s privacy. He’ll be ‘OK’ but… it will take a lot of surgery and time.
Thanks for writing.
—JC