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.
About the cover
So…. I’m walking past the Theatre last week, the door is open and there’s a photo shoot with a little dog, Lori from A Dog’s Dream and Santy! She sees me snoopingg at the door and tells me it’s a thing she does at all her locations–$20 for a piccie and the proceeds go to the local Pregancy Aid. And I’m like, well how can I get in on that? And she says the next appointment is delayed, so I hand over the twenty and this is what came out.
My cousin said this one looked about as festive as “American Gothic” — which I thought was an outrageous thing to say at Christmas. Two out of three participants knew where the camera was. I consider that a roaring success!
Another outrageous remark? I sit down next to St. Nick and he says to me, “I bet you use this for a re-election photo.” 😀 Wrong-o, St. Nick. I’m usin’ it now. 😀 It’s Rhonda that’s testing the waters for congress.
I want to thank Lori and Marina Mercantile for donating their time to do this. I cannot say it enough: dying is easy, brick and mortar retail is hard. We are so lucky to have merchants like these in Des Moines!
City Manager Stuff
I did not see a report from the City Manager this week.
This Week/Last Week
Speaking of taking a break, the Council doesn’t meet again until January 8. At one of my first meetings with the City Manager she remarked on what seemed like a relentless stream of meetings. I made the mistake of pointing out that this was somewhat self-inflicted. 😀 In fact, although the ‘official’ schedule was always three meetings a month–with a maximum of forty a year, I never witnessed the Council doing anything close to that. It could be a coinkydink, but since then we’ve reverted to a much more ‘leisurely’ schedule. I’m not sure that’s better, but it’s definitely more normative.
In fact, I would much prefer more meetings with less to do at each–it makes for better decisions. But clearly I’m outgunned on this. Both my colleagues and staff like the breaks. Hell, we don’t even bother with ‘committees’ anymore so in a very real way our workload is less than in any era since I’ve been watching (2008).
As always, I’m working on various airporty things. One thing I hope to get done before I shuffle off this low-rent elected office is this: a better understanding of what the airport means for Des Moines.
Whether you love it or not, the uncomfortable truth about the airport is that, its biggest ‘benefit’, by far is the ‘airport discount’ — depressed property values. We know it’s true. People scream about it! But on the other hand? It means lower taxes. That’s the discount. A comparable home near the water somewhere else is worth more and the taxes are higher. That’s a big reason people live here. We want to have it all. High property values! Low taxes! Waterfront Destination!
It never seems to occur to people that the reason our properties are assessed lower is the same reason it’s been hard to attract economic development: desirability. Frankly? A lot of people–including developers–prefer to go somewhere else. Waterfront, schmawterfront.
Which makes you a two time loser, because the airport discount robs the City from the money it should have to provide the services you have a right to expect–the services you would obtain in a similar location without the airport.
People don’t understand that the ‘airport discount’ has been harming our city overall for a very long time. Even if it isn’t bothersome to you, personally, the airport’s negative impact on the City has been a ceiling on improving the City writ large.
It’s the reason I tend to push back on things like the Steps or a Ferry. It’s not that I’m against ‘splurging’ on fun amenities. It’s just that we don’t even have money for freakin’ animal control and some Christmas Lights!
That’s the airport discount. It’s the result of years of eating away at the tax base. I keep working to get both our City to (finally) recognise this and push back.
One final thing that may also get me into trouble. There was a recent article in the various local blogs on a new bill, sponsored by Congressman Smith, to provide updates to sound insulation. Almost. But not quite. Rubbish. The bill is a potential step forward. But it’s a tiny step. It will affect only a small number of homes. And even those that do qualify won’t obtain relief for at least a couple more years. If you want to understand what it really says, go here:
I’m not picking on any local outlet. They do their best. But it’s a hard conversation because, frankly, there was about zero interest in sound insulation until STNI started working the issue. However, it begs the question in any news coverage. The issues here are just as complicated as at the state or national level. But often times it’s not even possible to get good coverage anywhere. But honestly: how do you get people engaged in complicated issues if there is no deeper coverage?
I can’t blame our local outlets. Nobody has the bandwidth to provide good coverage on most issues. But I do have to point out when it happens because if you just read those kinds of articles you’ll get the completely wrong impression. In that case, it was a press release and not ‘the story’.
If you care about airport issues, the only place to go: Sea-Tac Noise.Info
It’s all uphill from here
I guess I should end on a happy note–especially with that dour piccie. 😀 Repeating what I said a couple of weeks ago: although the shortest day of the year was technically around Christmas, here in the PNW, the time of sunset has already been increasing for a month. 😀
And since I’m watching TV 1as I write this, I gotta say: Pluribus? Best show I’ve seen in a long while. And… PBS just started doing promos for the next season of All Creatures Great & Small. Woo hoo! So, in addition to lots of stuff to be grateful for this year, I’ve got something warm and fuzzy to look forward to soon.
I hope you can say the same. And if there is anything I can do to help in the coming year? Please let me know.
It continues to be my absolute honour to serve you.
Happy New Year Des Moines!
1Don’t hate me for multi-tasking. You always have my full attention when I do these Weekly Updates! 😀
Happy New Year JC.
Thank you for all you do for all of us here in Des Moines.
JoAnn
Once again, thank you for being genuinely and fully engaged as well as an intelligent voice on the council. You make many of us grateful you are there because you represent us.
I bet many of us are also on Team All Creatures Small and Great! Can hardly wait til January 11 at 9:00.
Happy New Year, JC !
Thanks very much for keeping us so well informed. You do a great job at it.
– John H.