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Weekly Update 03/30/2025

Posted on Last Updated:April 1st, 2025
1 Comment on Weekly Update 03/30/2025

Some bits of business…

I updated this article slightly to coincide with a mailing list update to highlight the two Committee of the Whole items on ADUs and Traffic Calming. (See Thursday meeting @ 5:00pm.)

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.

Update: We just deep-sixed our standing committees. But for what it’s worth, each committee’s planning calendar here. 🙂

Puget Sound Gateway Toll-Rate Setting Online Open House

Yes, tolling is coming to SR-509. Learn more here:

Puget Sound Gateway Toll-Rate Setting – WSTC Online Open House – Washington State Transportation Commission

Fare Inspection

King County Metro is re-instating fare inspection on buses. There will be teams of two individuals who will (gently) help people make payments. If you recall, this was put on hold during COVID.

One-week countdown: King County Metro restarts fare enforcement

Dow Constantine named Sound Transit CEO

Speaking of transit, I heard about this shortly before I learned that Angle Lake Station was shut down ( because of the huge storm that did not happen. 😀 ) I was asked a few times this week why they chose that ‘insider’. And the real answer is that we tried several ‘outsiders’ and the results have not been exactly tip top. 😀

I whinge because I use transit and I love trains. But when people talk about ‘rail’ as the alternative to Sea-Tac Airport? I struggle to not roll my eyes.  Everywhere I go – from Mukilteo to Angle Lake, the results are nowhere near as reliable as (gasp) an airplane. People on all sides of ‘transit’ should be fed up. If we’re serious about transit we have to stop giving it unconditional love. You’ll know that trains are for real when it isn’t just the haters who are sick of paying 2-3x what trains cost elsewhere.

Call To Action: Port Packages!

The Governor’s proposed budget cuts the $1 million in funding that was secured last for fixing failed port packages, which were meant to insulate homes from airport noise but have deteriorated over time. Please mail key these legislators and let them know how important this funding is for our communities.

Call To Action: Save State Funding for Port Package Updates! – Sea-Tac Noise.Info

Contest Winner: Camp Khaos!

Last week, I offered an exceedingly fun-filled prize for the answer to “Why is it spelled ‘Camp Khaos'”? Gift card on the way for the correct answer. 4Which is…

Kids. Having. An. Outrageous. Summer!

In years past, I remember that being plastered on signs and banners. Haven’t seen it in a while. But it has been an award-winning program and I would love to see that slogan displayed more prominently. Because the program is outrageously good. I also wish we had trademarked it. 😀

City Manager Stuff

The City is now offering an e-mail sign up for City Manager Reports – which I strongly encourage.

It’s also giving the Mayor her own separate e-mail sign up – which I do not support. That is no reflection on any mayor. There should be only one communication channel for the City and it should be the City Manager’s Weekly Updates — which continue to be great. Anything else is just politics and should not be supported by the City.

City Manager’s Report March 28, 2025 The recipe this week involves Turkey Burgers. I am skeptical. However, as an elected official, it is important to keep an open mind. 🙂

Ms. Caffrey also noted the retirement of long-time Marina employee Pat Wolfrom. If you spend any time at the docks you’d see Pat doing more jobs than a farmer. And I mean that as a high compliment – ‘jack of all trades’ doesn’t begin to cover it. Pat has been such a fixture for so long it will be hard to imagine the place without him. I mean that literally. Whenever a long time employee leaves my first thought is the immense amount of knowledge he takes with him.

Run for City Council

The City Manager’s report also beat me to the punch in noting that this is election season. These four seats up for election on our Council. You should run. But first, you should find out what yer getting yerself into.

Tuesday, April 1 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Register for the April 1 session
Monday, April 7 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Register for the April 7 session

You should also go to King County Elections and look at the Candidate Manual. Above all? Do. Not. Be. Intimidated. But please do study. 🙂 And let me know if you have questions.

Dueling Taxes

And if you need an issue to run on? Taxes! 😀

Every year, there is at least one bill at the State hoping to give city councils like Des Moines the ability to raise property taxes automatically up to the rate of inflation – without giving you a vote. This year, there has been a particularly strong push including a letter by our Mayor in the Seattle Times. The idea, of course, is to obtain support from the large populations of wealthier, more tax-friendly communities like Seattle.

I believe it is a terrible look for our city to promote this so aggressively — only a few months after Des Moines voters decisively said ‘No’, twice, to more property taxes.

I am not anti-tax. I simply because that property tax is the one tax people expect to have a say on. Taking that sense of choice from voters is wrong.

If you agree, I hope you will click the link and Sign In ‘Con’ on SB5798. https://app.leg.wa.gov/csi/Senate?selectedCommittee=456&selectedMeeting=33213

This Week

Thursday 4:00pm: Finance Committee – 03 Apr 2025 – Agenda Highlights:

Long-Range Financial Plan and Development Impact Analysis. I’ve grown so cynical about ‘studies’ I can’t afford to gush. But this is something I’ve been talking about since I ran for office. If the results are what’s on the tin, this would be (I can’t believe I’m writing this) a game changer.  😀 Sorry, couldn’t help it. But these are some great looking bullet points and City Manager Caffrey deserves big ups for proposing this.

  • Analyze historical budget trends
  • Model the impact of up to four development types
  • Estimate recurring and one-time revenues
  • Calculate service costs for each development
  • Evaluate financial risks and opportunities
  • Recommend sustainable revenue and cost strategies
  • Analyze financial impact of new developments

Thursday: 5:00pm City Council Meeting

This feels weird. We’re having the first ‘Committee of the Whole’ deal at 5:00pm, followed by a ‘Study Session’ at 6:00pm. Is it just me, or is this basically two Study Sessions in one? Like those two-sided breath mints. However, I promised our City Manager to give this a sincere try. But speaking broadly? This is a lot of ‘stuff’ for one evening.

Traffic Calming initial pilot program

5:00pm Committee of the Whole

  • Neighborhood Traffic Calming Procedures: this looks really interesting!
  • Contracting Alarm Management
  • Accessory Dwelling Units
Proposed ADU summary

6:00pm Study Session

  • City Logo Discussion (see header image) All this fluff – which people cannot help but care about, could be a time-waster. My main comments:
    • 1Look familiar? 😀
    • People love to stress about ‘how to pronounce Des Moines’. Wanna know something else people obsess about? Making sure everyone knows we’re not in Iowa! 😀 If you’ve traveled around the US a bit, you’ll see the same city name in a dozen states. I honestly don’t see why we need ‘Washington’ on our logo. But, as my kids used to say, what-evehhhhr. 🙂
  • Comprehensive Plan Update: This should be a big deal. I honestly don’t know if it will be. Frankly, it has been presented over the past two years as (mostly) a huge PITA compliance procedure. I’m probably being unkind; it is a ton of work. But my concern is: what can we do with it? What tools will it give us to build more places for people to live? To encourage more productive business formation?
  • City Council Protocol Manual Review

The City Council follows two ‘books’, the Municipal Code – which has all the ordinances (laws) that govern the City, and then a separate Council Protocol Manual (CPM) which, as the name implies, concerns the City Council. It’s based on something you may have heard of called Robert’s Rules of Order. The CPM doesn’t have the force of ‘law’, but it’s important because, in the immortal words of Michael Matthias “He who controls the agenda, controls the meeting”. Where it goes outside the ‘standard’, it’s generally to do with extending the authority of the Mayor. In other words, in RROO, the person swinging the gavel has very limited authority. They run the meeting in a fair manner and that’s basically it. In fact, you don’t need a ‘mayor’. You could have basically anyone do it.

When the City was incorporated in 1959, we created a bog standard rule document, according to the State’s recommendation. We tweaked it every so often, but it was basically the same. The tweaks were often to do with extending the mayor’s authority in certain ways we now take for granted.

In 2023 three members of the Council (Buxton, Mahoney, Steinmetz) formed an Ad Hoc Rules Committee and decided that it didn’t just need a few tweaks, it needed to be completely re-written as a Protocol Manual, based on the one from Bothell. It was a terrible experience. It unnecessarily wasted enormous amounts of time, City Resources, and actually made the Council process worse than before. To give you a sense of the political ugliness…

  • Meetings were held with 24 hour notice (the bare legal minimum) at the Police Station – not at City Hall – and unlike any other Council committee – were not recorded.
  • Committee members objected to me wanting to record these public meetings; which is illegal.
  • Draft versions had language like “…public expression of dissent and protest outside the open public meeting is inappropriate unethical behavior.”; which is unconstitutional.
  • Required  attire specifically excluded ‘hats’.

To prepare for this item, I simply need to bring my list of (common sense) failed amendments from that debate.

A big part of City Council is ‘process’ – which no one cares about. That’s what makes it so tough to improve local government. My metaphor is manufacturing. People don’t care about ‘the assembly line’, they just want their car to work. If they get what they want, they think the process was great. If they get a lemon, they just want that product fixed. Either way? People generally don’t give a hoot about the assembly line that made the product. I do. Because if it isn’t working right, not only is the quality hit or miss, everything is a lot more expensive than it needs to be.

That has been my ‘thing’ since running for office.

Better process = better decisions.

 

Last Week

Every week seems to have a theme. And last week’s was virtue signaling.

Wednesday: Highline Forum in Federal Way

There was a briefing on the SIRRPP (ie. Port Packages) which was covered by Sea-Tac Noise.Info Their Port Package Update program is terrible. Total virtue signaling – the Port wanted to look like it was doing something, without actually doing something. I had hoped that Councilmember Mahoney (our official rep) would speak to this during his end comments at the City Council meeting, but he chose not to.

Thursday: Economic Development Committee

There were two big deals…

Sound Code

Sea-Tac Noise.Info covered this and you should read it.

Des Moines currently has no active sound code after repealing its 2007 ordinance in 2012. Over a year ago, Council agreed to have the EDC revisit the issue. The staff memo (which was excellent) discussed hiring a sound engineering consultant to draft a more modern version of that code – and put us back on par with Burien and SeaTac – the two other cities with Port Packages.

But the entire discussion ended up being through the lens of a builder. Not one word as to public health or what it means for the community. After more than a year of dithering, the Committee was still divided – asking staff to come back with maybe a scaled back proposal? We had absolutely no business dropping sound code. As STNI said in its scathing coverage:

“Budgets are moral documents… Why should the Port, or the State or the FAA invest in any programs if Des Moines shows no willingness to spend anything?”

Harsh. But fair. At the moment Des Moines does not care about airport issues. Just more virtue signaling.

Short Term Rentals

The City presented a draft ordinance regulating short-term and “amenities” rentals (e.g., pools or sports courts). The City Attorney made it clear that we were new to this. I’ve said previously that I support this (in general), which I do. However, in reading that draft, I was struck by all the ‘detail’. My initial reaction was “Why do we need all these rules? Can’t we simply rely on some existing code and the common sense of our code enforcement?” In software, the more rules (if/then/else statements) you need to make a thing work, the more things there are to worry about.

And then there was the City Council meeting… 😀

Thursday: City Council Regular Meeting

City Council Meeting Recap

City Council Regular Meeting Agenda

Public Comment

I think the word to describe this section of the meeting was ‘awkward’.

The meeting opened with a presentation from King County Councilmember De’Sean Quinn. Quinn was on the Tukwila City Council for a long time and was appointed to the seat left open when Dave Upthegrove went off to pursue his 2dream job as Commissioner of Public Lands. However, the seat is up for election in November so there may well be someone different in the seat next year. It was awkward for me because, while I very much appreciate him showing up, he was presenting new information verbally, which is still in flux. And then he split and the Council discussion, which was based on different information, happened 2.5 hours later.

We then heard one comment from a resident who wants to utilise the Short Term Rental Ordinance discussed at the EDC.

We then we heard a passionate ‘No’ from the next door neighbours. And as I’m listening, I was thinking about Jurassic Park. “Oh. That’s why the ordinance is about two million lines of code.” 😀

Sorry. It’s no joke. I’ve been a landlord for a good while. It’s a two-way street with neighbours. You have to live together. As an engineer, if you need a lot of ‘code’ it probably means you’re expecting errors – in this case people not being able to work things out amicably. I’m not sure the specific conflict the Council heard can be resolved by any ‘code’. Regardless, we do need code and it was important to hear both sides of the story. In fact, I’m sure there aren’t two sides. I’m pretty sure there will be a many ‘sides’ – and if you are interested in the topic, please reach out to me with your perspective.

Consent Agenda

Item of note:

SKHHP Funding Allocation South King County Housing/Homelessness Partnership pools resources from 12 cities to fund affordable housing across South King County. Des Moines has already contributed the funds; this resolution formalizes how they’ll be spent. We’ve been at this since before I joined the Council. And it has yielded no new construction in Des Moines and only a few remodels. As with the airport, it is simply more virtue signaling. We pay a (relatively) modest amount every year into this fund, to look like we’re doing something – rather than actually building housing here.

New Business

2025 Poverty Bay Blues and Brews Festival Proposal

My colleagues voted 5-1 to accept Rotary’s three year proposal to put on their Blues and Brews event. The event was not the reason for my ‘no’. And I want to be clear that the event is fantastic and 3their proposal had some very good aspects which are much better for the City than in previous years.

However, I encourage you to watch this portion of the meeting. Any notion of parliamentary procedure broke down – with members of Rotary literally joining in on the discussion – something I have literally never seen in any other local government. That’s a ‘process’ problem in Des Moines. It tends to happen here because we’ve normalised councilmembers having such personal interests in various issues. Get it? We simply cannot be objective about these kinds of decisions.

Why does this matter? Last November the Council spent thousands of dollars to decide (this time) to really, really, really, really, really, really, really commit the City to becoming “the Premiere Waterfront Destination in the Pacific Northwest”. Other than the Fourth of July, and the Waterland Parade, Blues and Brews is the only reasonably well marketed event we do. And we don’t do it – they do.

So I didn’t call it a ‘partnership’. I called it a leveraged donation. Basically, we are donating $10,000 – and that helps Rotary do $40,000 in fund raising towards good organisations we also support in our Human Services Budget. One of our dollars yields four. Great.

But the argument seems to be that this event drives repeat business – helping to make the City a ‘destination’. I have absolutely zero doubt that it drives repeat business to this event. People who like various niche musics show up year after year. Blues here. String Quartets in Kitsap. Ukuleles in Astoria. Fantastic. But that is not the same thing as leveraging the City.

Long-established groups are great. But they receive preferential treatment that would be unavailable to any potential new group. It’s already hard enough to stand up a new organisation. This sort of thing ends up discouraging the formation of new initiatives that might broaden possibilities for Des Moines.

Fact: since I’ve lived here we never had a marketing plan that increased our reach. It’s completely unrealistic to ask the City Manager to develop one this year. So instead of doing a one year agreement – and letting the City, have time to at least start figuring a better system – one that encourages other groups to engage in various events – we’re now locked into the same approach we’ve tried for decades. “Premiere Waterfront Destination” is more virtue signaling. We want to look like we’re doing something new and improved, while actually doubling down on exactly the same things we’ve always done.

All that said, I have absolutely no doubt the event will be a success.

Executive Session

POTENTIAL LITIGATION RCW 42.30.110(1)(a)(i) – All I can tell ya is that this was 20 minutes of my life I wish I could get back. It’s only worth mentioning because it came in the middle of the meeting, which meant we emerged from the Cone of Silence to an empty room. A lonely feeling, my friend. 😀

King County Parks Levy

As I wrote, the meeting opened with County Councilmember De’Sean Quinn making a presentation about this item. This discussion, 2.5 hours later was the reason for his appearance.

Your property tax bill includes a bajillion slices. One of the smaller ones is the City of Des Moines – which you vote for. However, there are several levies which are automatic. The Port gets one. County Parks is another. The Deputy Mayor had expressed concern as to a possible rate increase and whether or not Des Moines was getting a fair share of that slice and wanted the Council to do something. But it was hard not to feel like the discussion was premature because we don’t yet have a clear idea of what the County’s proposal is.

My comments were

  1. To ‘automate’ the process. That’s shorthand for developing a simple annual formula for cities like Des Moines rather than having a project-based grant system. Grants are great. But they lack certainty. If we knew every year that we were getting (x) dollars for parks, it would make it a lot easier to plan for park space improvements.
  2. I’d like the City to have a more defined ‘wish list’. Yes, we have a Parks and Rec Master Plan. And a Comprehensive Plan (see above). But realistically, we focus almost all our energy on grants (what seems doable in the moment) rather than acting like ‘plans’ actually make a difference.

New Items For Consideration

I asked the Council to direct the City to prepare a letter in support of the  Municipal Research and Services Center. MRSC is a non-profit organisation that provides educational resources to all cities and their electeds in WA. Much of the information is available to the public.

One proposal in the State budget is to gut their funding. Whoever thought that was a good idea should be… hang… er… lose their employee parking spot. 😀 What makes it so annoying is that the legislature threatens this every few years. But cutting access to educational resources for lawmakers? Seriously?


1A NP friend calls this ‘the sailing trees’.

2That’s Dave’s quote. I actually agree. The job completely aligns with his personal interest in the environment going back decades.

3In previous years, the event would be allowed two days for set up and break down. So the City will have one more available day of rental. It will be a mighty long day for Rotary to set up and break down in one day.

4Who says I don’t put in the work on graphic design?

Previous Articles

Say ‘No’ to automatic property tax increases. Say no to SB5798

Leave a comment on Say ‘No’ to automatic property tax increases. Say no to SB5798

Friends. Usually I don’t bother you more than once a week. But this is time-sensitive.

Please click this link and sign in ‘Con’ for SB5798 if you do NOT want your property taxes raised automatically beyond 1%. Do it by Monday. https://app.leg.wa.gov/csi/Senate?selectedCommittee=456&selectedMeeting=33213

Background

You probably have not heard this. There is a big push in Olympia this year to give city councils the ability to raise property taxes not by 1%, but up to the limit of inflation – and without giving you a vote. There has been a LOT of promotion to make it happen, including a letter by Des Moines Mayor Traci Buxton in the Seattle Times. https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/mayors-to-wa-lawmakers-lift-the-local-property-tax-cap/

Speaking only for myself, I do not support this. I believe it is a terrible look to promote this — only a few months after voters decisively said ‘No’ to new property taxes in not one, but -two- elections!

I am not against property tax increases so long as voters get to choose. And I believe voters will feel betrayed if they find out in a few months that the City Council can take that choice away — increase their property taxes — in spite of not one but TWO elections in Des Moines last year!

Take Action: Sign in Con

If you do not want your city council to be able to automatically raise your property taxes beyond 1% without your vote, I hope you will click the link and Sign In ‘Con’ on SB5798. https://app.leg.wa.gov/csi/Senate?selectedCommittee=456&selectedMeeting=33213

If you haven’t done this before, here are some instructions.

1. Select the bill 5798 (Property Tax)

2. Select ‘I would like my position noted for the legislative record’

3. Fill out the form. (Be sure to choose ‘Con’!)

Let me know if you have questions!

Trust

One last thing. These groups take pains to say that this is not ‘automatic’; that the bill only gives cities a choice. That is completely disingenuous. The key element of SB5798 is to allow property taxes to rise automatically based on inflation. If inflation rises, the ability to tax you, without a vote, also rises.

Senate Bill Analysis

Currently, cities also have a ‘choice’ to take the 1% allowed by State law. How many cities say ‘no thank you!’? Basically, none. If this bill passes, it is a certainty that most cities will take advantage of the extra taxes. It’s easier to blame inflation than ask voters for help. If not, why would they be pushing so hard? That lack of sincerity is almost as bad as a new tax you don’t get to decide on.

To me, the strategy is clear: people in wealthier, more tax-friendly parts of King County are far more numerous so lobby them for votes they cannot get in their own cities. State lawmakers, with their huge deficits, cynically can see this as a way to ‘help’ small cities get more money – without actually giving it to them. If we do not push back, this may pass.

The other side

To be fair, here are links to some of the groups in support of this new taxing authority, including that letter from Mayor Traci Buxton in the Seattle Times.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSet1p06LHMeWq9O7p3yq6ZWWEh_BubExNMHjODDKI8syYnbyA/viewform 

https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/mayors-to-wa-lawmakers-lift-the-local-property-tax-cap/

Weekly Update 03/23/2025

3 Comments on Weekly Update 03/23/2025

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.

Update: We just deep-sixed our standing committees. But for what it’s worth, each committee’s planning calendar here. 🙂

Highline Schools

The board has appointed two new directors, one for our own District 5. Welcome, Des Moines resident Dr. Damarys Espinosa and District 5 Director Blaine Holien!

While I’m at it, this Federal Funding Data Display is worth a gander. Note that both HSD and FedWay obtain some of the highest levels of Federal (and State) funding in the State of WA. I mention that for two reasons:

  1. Any disruption to that funding stream (as keeps getting talked about in the news) would not be good for us.
  2. School quality rankings, however you define them, tend to run opposite to those funds. The schools that rely least external funding (ie. more on local taxes) tend to be higher quality. Many are in wealthier cities – but not all.

It’s something we paper over, but both HSD and FedWay are struggling. Said it before, say it again: you cannot have a healthy Des Moines without better education opportunities.

With all that cheer, I really want to do everything possible to help Dr. Espinoza (and both school districts) succeed. 🙂

It’s Spring. Time For Critter Guilt Trip!

I’m preaching to the choir here, but… it’s Spring. Critters are running around having baby critters. And that means a high number of unnecessarily smushed varmints. Not sure what to do about it, except to employ my Ninja-Like Jewish Grandmother Guilt Superpower.

“So, you were texting and driving. Again. You heard a small thump? Don’t worry so much. Probably it wasn’t a totally defenseless opossum. Trying to feed her children.”

Call To Action: Port Packages!

The Governor’s proposed budget cuts the $1 million in funding that was secured last for fixing failed port packages, which were meant to insulate homes from airport noise but have deteriorated over time. Please mail key these legislators and let them know how important this funding is for our communities.

Call To Action: Save State Funding for Port Package Updates! – Sea-Tac Noise.Info

City Manager Stuff

City Manager’s Report March 21, 2025

The City is now offering an e-mail sign up for City Manager Reports. Other than that, two highlights are Camp Khaos and a note that the Des Moines Activity Center is available to study, work, have lunch, and basically just chill Monday through Friday.

New Contest: Camp Khaos!

Speaking of which: there is an exceedingly fun-filled prize for a non-random answer to this burning question: Why is it spelled ‘Camp Khaos’?

This Week

Wednesday: Highline Forum in Federal Way

There will be a briefing on the SIRRPP (ie. Port Packages), as well as (perhaps) an update as to where the status of the SAMP Draft EA.


Thursday: Economic Development Committee – 27 Mar 2025 – Agenda

Highlights:

Sound Code

Des Moines currently has no active sound code after repealing its 2007 ordinance in 2012. The staff recommends creating a modern sound transmission code to address aircraft noise and align with evolving building standards. Key recommendations include:

  • Hiring a sound engineering consultant to draft the code, advise on cost-effective solutions, and define noise zones.
  • Developing both prescriptive and performance-based compliance options using pre-tested wall and window assemblies.
  • Focusing on major remodels for existing buildings, especially where external walls or systems are altered.
  • Incorporating lessons from Burien and SeaTac, such as multi-zone frameworks and modern ventilation standards.
  • Anticipating future impacts from Sea-Tac’s expansion under the SAMP (Sustainable Airport Master Plan).

The goal is a balanced, cost-feasible code to protect residents from airport noise while not hindering development.

Short Term Rentals

A draft ordinance regulating short-term and “amenities” rentals (e.g., pools or sports courts). The ordinance includes Permit requirements, annual renewal, business license, and designation of a 24/7 local property representative. Neighbor notification and a posted Good Neighbor Agreement to promote accountability and reduce complaints. Occupancy limits based on number of bedrooms and a ban on overnight amenities rentals. Strict parking and garbage rules to reduce neighborhood disruption. Noise restrictions with escalation: after three verified complaints, owners must install noise monitoring systems.

I support this, however I will note that this does not apply to long-term rentals – historically, a much bigger problem. Since ending its mandatory landlord partnership with King County in 2011, Des Moines has had a history of problems with absentee landlords and these same standards should apply to all landlords.


Thursday: City Council Regular Meeting – 27 Mar 2025 – Agenda

Highlights:

Redondo Boat Launch

We’ll vote on an ordinance to create a new parking infraction for unattended vehicles left on the ramp, allowing officers to ticket and potentially tow them without locating the driver. The ordinance aims to protect recreational access and improve operational clarity.

SKHHP Funding Allocation South King County Housing/Homelessness Partnership pools resources from 12 cities to fund affordable housing across South King County. Des Moines has already contributed the funds; this resolution formalizes how they’ll be spent.

The key financial points:

  • Des Moines has already contributed the $39,811 — this vote doesn’t approve new spending. It just permits SKHHP to spend it on specific regional projects.
  • The only Des Moines project ever funded in 2023. And that was restoration, not new construction.
  • Funds are pooled with other cities to support regional affordable housing — meaning Des Moines is subsidizing housing development elsewhere with no guarantee of future return. The SKHHP structure allows wealthier or better-organized cities to pull in more funds than they contribute, depending on project readiness and advocacy. While Des Moines retains the right to vote on how its funds are used, there is no prioritization mechanism ensuring proportional geographic return over time.

For me, this has gotten perilously close to virtue signaling. We pay a (relatively) modest amount every year into a regional fund, to look like we’re doing something rather than building housing here.

2025 Poverty Bay Blues and Brews Festival Proposal

Des Moines is being asked to partner with Destination Des Moines for the 2025 Poverty Bay Blues and Brews Festival, held at Des Moines Beach Park. The goal is to raise money to support their non-profits.

Some key points:

  • A $10,000 discount of rental fees, plus in-kind support (police, parks?) Rotary also wants a three year agreement.
  • In exchange we get to be corporate sponsors.
  • Tourism value: organizers expect the event to draw 31500-1800 people, anecdotally boosting local business visibility.
  • While Rotary emphasizes the event’s tourism benefits and charitable goals, the City forgoes rental income for this event during prime summer weekend use.

Frankly, girlfriend, this one is giving me the blues. And I don’t mean like Albert, Freddie or B.B. I’ve worked with many organisations that do sponsorship deals and they were all structured very differently. For one thing there was a lot more accountability, ie. a corporate sponsorship implies imparting obvious value – one that would not otherwise pertain.

Think of it like this: Alaska Air sponsors an event at the Marina. They plaster their logo on everything. Their VP of Marketing gives a little speech. But that logo means something because you’re not on their corporate campus. Get it? What is the value add of having a Des Moines logo on an event at the Des Moines Marina where the 2City is already 100% guaranteed to give a speech? 😀

Why three years? Where is the prior evidence to merit three years instead of a trial period of one. There is no requirement for tracking that event benefit going forward. And no accounting to compensate the waterfront zone for the loss of revenue. It’s not a ‘sponsorship’. We’re just giving the same off-the-books discount we’ve always done. Which is not like any corporate sponsorship I’ve seen.

Also, we just implemented a two year budget system; in part as a response to concerns over fiscal responsibility. There’s no accommodation for this in that budget. We deep-sixed our finance committee – which would have been the logical vehicle to start a policy revision like this. As a professional musician, I understand better than most that ‘the show must go on’ 😀 But what is the point of implementing a new budget system if we end up doing exactly the same things we did before?

Bottom Line: I would much prefer we offer a standard, competitive grant budget every year; no more ad hoc anything. And frankly, it might be better evaluated by an independent body (and by that I mean like the way we hire an independent hearings examiner to evaluate property decisions.) It’s really hard for any Council to look at decisions like these objectively. They’re just too personal.

As a City we can’t call doing exactly the same thing ‘new and improved’ if we hope to actually achieve the goals we’ve laid out for ourselves. As Little Milton liked to testify… sometimes you need to have the blues for a while in order to get to a better place. 🙂

Executive Session

POTENTIAL LITIGATION RCW 42.30.110(1)(a)(i) – 20 minutes “To discuss with legal counsel representing the agency matters relating to agency enforcement actions, or to discuss with legal counsel representing the agency litigation or potential litigation to which the agency, the governing body, or a member acting in an official capacity is, or is likely to become, a party, when public knowledge regarding the discussion is likely to result in an adverse legal or financial consequence to the agency.”

Last Week

Tuesday: Burien Airport Committee. Coverage from our friends at Sea-Tac Noise.Info

Wednesday: Regional Transit Committee. Essentially, this group advises the County Council on bus services. 20250319-RTC-packet. The Council gets occasional letters on transit safety and I want to assure everyone that not a meeting goes by that ‘safety’ is not number one with a bullet. I ride the bus and take the Light Rail several times a week and I definitely do.

 

At this meeting, we also got a presentation on a new Fare Inspection program. Since COVID, Metro has not been enforcing fares. This has been controversial as the service does really need the money. For some, it also created a perception of lawlessness. The irony, of course, is that adding back fare enforcement leads to concerns over unnecessary friction – which no one wants. The 2-person teams are not police – they are more like drivers (although they will have emergency training like CPR 🙂 ). To my mind, this is a good experiment.  When you see them, I hope you will show your appreciation and support. Personally, I love Metro, because where I live, it’s super-easy. For me, the biggest problem is that there is not enough of it for the rest of Des Moines.

Some bills passing through Olympia

As I’ve written, this is lawmakin’ season in Olympia and there were/are a ton of bills that will affect us. The problem is that, although the hearings are transparent, the actual process is super-convoluted and sometimes the furthest thing from it.

Over-Simplication Alert: there are rules that allow certain bills considered ‘important’ to basically bypass the hearing process entirely and get worked out in truly backroom deals.

One rationale being that if an item has broad funding concerns it cannot easily be worked in a single committee.

Property Taxes will likely rise, whether you like it or not. But the main thing I’m beating around the bush on is: property taxes, which voters want capped and almost all cities desperately want  increased are coming. So I’m punting to the Seattle Times which has a pretty good summary of the situation. Read it.

Senate Democrats release tax proposals as budget debate heats up | The Seattle Times

We will likely have more property taxes and more business taxes. Which should assuage whatever guilt you may have had in voting against Prop #1 last year. 🙂

The population of Washington State has been declining for many years now. I used to be one of those who joked, “Great! Move to Oklahoma!” or like that movie Mars Needs Women! 😀

I was being facetious. And entitled. I used to travel to OK, AR and KS a lot for work and noticed that Walmart spent a millions of dollars on community amenities to attract workers – the kinds of parks and community centers we could never afford here. Still, what I noticed was this: all things being equal, people seemed to prefer Puget Sound to the reclaimed 1swamps of Rogers, AR. 😀 Maybe that’s just me.

But this also has to do with taxes and it is a real problem for Des Moines. People are getting priced out of Seattle, which may be OK for ‘Seattle’ since they have the wealth to keep chugging. It’s also largely irrelevant to lucky geezers like me – retired and sitting on that absolutely bitchin’ 3% mortgage.

But if families don’t just require two incomes, but perhaps two six figure incomes to raise a family here, what does that mean for the ongoing value proposition of Des Moines? Said it before, say it again, 30 years ago, that was easy: low cost of ownership, decent schools, waterfront, easy access to the airport, downtown, and basically everywhere. Today, the incentives appeal to a much different demographic and we need to confront that. Because, just between you, me and the wall? Us AARP types are not exactly big spenders. 🙂

  • HB1923 the Mosquito Fleet bill, ie. Passenger Ferries will likely pass. As it stands, I support it – as does basically everyone in the region. However, like the tax bills, it has also undergone a few ‘backroom’ changes outside the strictly public process. After removing the following provision in the House, the Senate re-added this: the possibility of dinky cities (like Des Moines) of creating their own ferry district. That is a completely sensible idea for some small island communities — and also as completely insane for Des Moines as our previous pilot program.

1Rogers, AR is Where Possible Lives. All joshing aside – in addition to ‘possible’ over 70,000 people also live there – and it’s growing fast. I think most people in Des Moines would absolutely kill to have their main street, low property taxes, and various services.

2Just tryin’ to lighten the mood. 🙂

3Semi-fake news. The packet actually says 1,200 – 1,500. I think the absolute max for such an event could be 1,800 so I’m being extra-generous. If ticket prices are in the $50 range that’s $90,000, which would be great. But that still not does answer the question the City should press on if it’s a true ‘sponsorship’. What would those 1,800 people do for the City? It’s not just semantics. If it’s a grant, that takes away any false pressure.

Weekly Update 03/16/2025

1 Comment on Weekly Update 03/16/2025

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.

Update: We just deep-sixed our standing committees. But for what it’s worth, each committee’s planning calendar here. 🙂

Call To Action: Port Packages!

The Governor’s proposed budget cuts the $1 million in funding that was secured last for fixing failed port packages, which were meant to insulate homes from airport noise but have deteriorated over time. Please mail key these legislators and let them know how important this funding is for our communities.

Call To Action: Save State Funding for Port Package Updates! – Sea-Tac Noise.Info

City Manager Stuff

City Manager’s Report March 14, 2025

The highlight is that the City is now offering an e-mail sign up for her City Manager Reports. Hopefully, this is only the first step towards a complete suite of better recip… er… on-line services. 😀

This Week

Wednesday: Regional Transit Committee. Essentially, this group advises the County Council on bus services.

As the 800lb regional gorilla, ‘Seattle’ gets a lot of grief. But as with so many things, there are two sides to every story. In terms of regional planning, Des Moines is considered a ‘transit oriented community’ – the idea is to provide workers for the region. But for the past several decades, we’ve shown very little interest, either in building housing or more transit. So, bus service naturally focused on Seattle – where there is more obvious interest and demand.

Everyone, include moi,can argue that we need more routes. But we struggle to provide actual evidence that they would get used. How do you model demand for areas which not only have no service, but also do not show evidence of providing more housing to fuel that demand? As we approach our upcoming Comprehensive Plan, we need to have serious discussions on this. Transit depends on housing.

Every election cycle, candidates for County Council always tell me how great our Marina is – which is not where the need for transit or housing) are. Since this is an election year, my hope is that the new batch will visit the areas where the County can actually help.

Saturday 9:00AM – 3:00PM: Recycling Event (Marina)

Unlike other events, the list is specific so check carefully. Batteries. Electronics. Wood. Mattresses. Appliances. Scrap metal. 4Nuclear waste.

Last Week

Tuesday: Port of Seattle Commission (Agenda) This meeting included a summary of the Port’s various grant programs — including the FAA-funded sound insulation plan for the year. Spoiler alert: once again, nada for us.

Wednesday: Emergency Management Advisory Committee The group had a very interesting after-action report concerning last November’s 1bomb cyclone. What we experienced as mostly some fallen trees and a day of power outages was a true regional emergency up on the north and east side of the County. Several cities activated their Emergency Operations Center. What I found fascinating is that when they opened their warming centers, they laid out tables with rows of power outlets to let people charge their phone. Which they could easily do because proper emergency centers have tons of backup power. This was brilliant! A zero-dollar way to provide a real community benefit. When we have our next genuine emergency, the one thing everyone will need is a way to keep their cell phone charged.

Thursday: Transportation Committee – 13 Mar 2025 – Agenda

Highlight: Review of capital project progress, including the Memorial Flag Triangle and 24th Ave. projects. (Why the Memorial Flag Triangle is a ‘transportation’ project? ‘Vanity Project Politics’ as one of my colleagues put it. See below. This was a much deeper dive on both projects than the full Council got so watch this meeting.

Thursday: Environment Committee – 13 Mar 2025 – Agenda We did a review of our NPDES permit, which included some recent enhancements worth talking about. But first, a grouse and a compliment.

  • Last month, Councilmember Mahoney and I were the lone votes against ending regular meetings of our standing committees. I can’t speak for him, but for me both these two meetings demonstrated why it was premature. Each of these allowed for much deeper dives than any ‘committee of the whole’ will do — especially with our stupid ‘meetings must end by 9pm or we’ll all die!’ rule. One only develops fluency on complex issues by visiting with routinely.
  • The compliment is for our surface water team. When I first moved here, the engineers I got to know (sorry) seemed to view environmental regulations as ‘a pain in the butt’. That’s a quote, btw. At the time, a common view was that surface water management was literally that – managing the flow of water to maintain the built environment. Anything ‘environment’ was something of an add-on. The current team has never given me that impression – in fact, having consistently demonstrated a desire to go above and beyond in improving environmental processes. Or, they’re much better actors than the civil engineers I used to run into. Either way, I’m sold! 😀

The NPDES process now includes trees and wetland restoration as integral components. I’m over-simplifying here. The City has a Federal permit to manage all the waters in the City. And that permit requires us to demonstrate various ways we’re improving that environment. But now, Now, NOW! We can get credit not only for ‘water’ but also the inter-connected tree canopy and surrounding land as one holistic thing! You have no idea how happy this makes me. I’ve heard over and over from planners that one needs to consider the entire system.

One reason I watch the airport is that (literally) everything environmental is downstream of the plateau on which it sits (prox. 400 ft above us.) For example, the City is just beginning to study and test PFAS chemicals now. As users of tens of thousands of gallons of the stuff in firefighting operations, the Port of Seattle started freaking out about it (and shutting down their water wells) a decade ago.

I have no idea how an airport committee (see below) can work this kind of issue better than our own engineers in tandem with a properly functioning environment committee.

Saturday: 33rd Legislative District Town Hall, Highline College. The crowd was almost entirely supporters of our representatives so there was none of the ‘heat’ you might have expected on issues like ‘homelessness’ which has garnered so much local media attention. Still, worth watching for answers from all three.

One thing I try to get across to residents is that our State electeds often focus on issues of personal interest to them, as much as, if not more than, the interests of Des Moines. That’s not a slam. One works hard to get elected and one should further issues of personal importance. However, we (the City) have to fight for their advocacy just as hard as anyone else because, if an elected is passionate about (x)? That is what they focus on. And frankly? Thank God. As just one example, if our electeds only responded to what their city councils proposed, there would have been none of the airport legislation passed during my tenure. Fact.

The other thing? The 33rd Legislative District should be the poster-child for ‘diversity of opinion’. The district stretches from Kent to Normandy Park and the opinions are often night and day based on neighbourhood. If you disagree with their position on any issue, you may not like it, but rest assured there is just as large (or larger) constituency for that position elsewhere in the 33rd. Most legislative districts in WA are homogenous — not the 33rd.

Council Meeting Recap

Once again, we hit the three hour limit, and once again, due to poor time management. And once again, the presentations the Council saw were not included in the packet. These ‘details’ happen so often it’s no accident. Sorry. Not sorry. But if there is a ‘theme’ it was Councilmember Mahoney’s night. Regular Meeting – 13 Mar 2025 – Updated Agenda

Public Comment

Des Moines Yacht Club announced the upcoming Opening Day. More soon.

Des Moines Memorial Drive Preservation Association (DMMDPA.org) showed up in support of the Memorial Flag Triangle. Check their web site to learn more about their great work in support of World War I Veterans.

There were several Redondo divers who showed up to support the Sixgill Shark thing below.

City Manager

K4C

We voted to join the King County-Cities Climate  Collaboration (K4C), a County group that helps identify projects to help with climate change (duh, right? 😀 )  Joining was something I first proposed back in 2020 so I had no comment. The annual cost was always 1negligible. The opposition was “we can attend meetings for free.” And I was like “Yes, but we can’t actually get in on any of the programs for free.” 😀 It was code for “we don’t care about that climate-changey jazz.” It’s a good thing, and yes I know I sound like a broken record, but being five years behind schedule gets old. (Conversely, that’s also why I gush so hard when our surface water team gets ahead of the curve on environmental issues. 🙂 )

Sixgill Capital of the world

Councilmember Mahoney has championed making Des Moines the Sixgill Shark Capital of the World. Apparently, these sharks are a highly prized sight for divers in Redondo.

There was the notion of some sort of commemorative sign – akin to ‘Waterland Way’. And some sort of event on July 6. And then something to do with helping some other (perhaps private group?) create some ‘swag’ (t-shirts, mugs, etc.) I found it all pretty vague. And puzzling… because those sharks are off-shore of Redondo – nowhere near Sixth Ave. But he insisted. ‘Sixth Avenue’ it must be – and the rest of the gang went along with it.

March 13 Attachments Sixgill Shark

I’ve said it before, and it bears repeating: we don’t compromise. Rather than simply proposing the idea, then having the City bring back a specific proposal, he insisted that it had to move forward tonight. Forget that.

This all sounds harmless, but it was 40 minutes of the Council’s time. And it follows a long string of promotional ideas like Cape Cod In Des Moines, Men In Black, Burning Boats, Premiere Waterfront Destination, FIFA, etc. that also add up to fun for a small number of people but never seem to create that ‘destination’ magic. But perhaps one reason it does not happen is because we constantly indulge in this kind of ad hoc jazz rather than developing a for realz marketing plan.

Passed 6-1.

Consent

I pulled an item asking for an additional $130k contingency (ie. ‘just in case’ money) for the Redondo Restroom. Basically everything to do with the 2023 bond money is going over budget — except the one project I support borrowing money to fund (dock replacement).

I also want to briefly note an item that, unlike that bond stuff, and with my complete agreement, floated under the radar – as consent items should. However, I do have to acknowledge that it could come off as kinda sneaky – being added to the agenda on Tuesday. There is always a fine line between ‘transparency’ and not having people go absolutely mental whenever anyone mentions the word ‘homelessness’. But this is that line for me.

The Council voted to fund a $75,000 cleanup of a homeless camp behind Parkside School. If you live in the area, you know it’s already been cleared. The money is for environmental remediation. $75,000 seems like a lot, but in fact, is nothing as these things go. The (cough) ‘low’ cost is the signal that it is not some crisis. It just costs a lot of money whenever you have to hire cleanup specialists. As to the former ‘residents’, they are human beings, and in my opinion nobody should consider living in a wetland to be their best option. I will be asking for more detail soon and I’ll report back — but only if there is actually something worth reporting beyond this. We provide people with services. We provide the environmental cleanup. Thanks to the City for doing all that. Moving on. 🙂

Items/Votes

Flag Triangle

Pro tip: Always. Bring. Piccies. 😀 I’m on my third City Manager now and for whatever reason this is still like pulling teeth. But despite the fact that this has been going on for years, I don’t think any of us (including the public) has a clear understanding of how this thing will look.

Like the Sixgill thing, this began as a personal project for Councilmember Mahoney, back when he was mayor. But in this case, it was originally funded with the same bond money as the docks and marina steps. Terrible. We have absolutely no business borrowing money (with interest) for a public park when there are grant funds to be had. (Ironically, Councilmember Achziger seemed to have objections to using park grant funding. 😀 )

The original design was crazy expensive and it should never have been trotted out as a ‘park’ or talked about as a place for people to picnic. Anyhoo, the City did not provide a presentation, so here’s a reminder from the January Municipal Facilities meeting, where the cost was $424k and got no bids.

It’s since been scaled back several times, but it’s still gonna be crazy expensive because every not-a-park project now costs a fortune. And the flag pole needs replacing. But here’s the winning bid of $453k. I guess. 😀

Despite the improvements, I remain skeptical because there are also three proposed parking spaces (not in the piccies, grrrr….) I did not express it well at the meeting, but in my opinion, there should never be parking anywhere near that triangle. I don’t want to encourage parking or congregating anywhere near such a traffic-intensive spot. It should be a place for special events and that’s about it.

But this constant pressure to “get ‘er done” by Memorial Day only adds to the heartburn. After all, the traditional celebration of World War I is not until November. Perhaps because Mr. Mahoney’s seat is up for election this year. Who can say? 😀

I also wanna throw in another grouse about ‘committees’ and ‘compromise’. With a properly functioning committee,  and two tablespoons of compromise, this woulda been sewed up a long time ago and before it got to the dais. The absence of piccies, the lack of clarity, the failure to compromise, has turned what shoulda been a simple, elegant monument to veterans into an unnecessary, years long kerfuffle – including this meeting. No one will remember the cost overruns or the animus; they’ll just enjoy the monument. And that’s why we’ll keep doing projects in this verkachte manner over and over. All’s well that ends well!

The Des Moines Memorial Drive Preservation Association (DMMDPA) have been trying to get the City to do this for over twenty years! They showed up to show appreciation for finally getting their plaque placed — the one artifact which directly celebrates the history of the road and its significance for our veterans. But instead of doing the polite thing and handling the item up front, they were forced to sit through two hours of other stuff before we got round to this pointless 4-3 vote. I cannot speak for my colleagues, but I was embarrassed and I am sorry whenever that happens to honoured guests.

Airport Committee Structure

Last October, Councilmember Mahoney asked the Council to support resuscitating our airport committee. Despite rumours to the contrary I was not a fan because airport issues – including the Sustainable Airport Master Plan are not something any citizen group can tackle effectively. Not to mention that the Federal portion of the permit is likely to be approved even before the committee meets. Oops.

This was our fourth meeting on the topic and my colleagues have narrowed it down to five residents, or business owners, who may or may not know anything about the airport, or may or may not have interest in the topic, so long as they are not a member of a group, but definitely not a member of our City Council. Oh, and it may be temporary. Or permanent. Although it will definitely include the one remaining StART member. Because everyone else quits.

You can’t make this stuff up.

This is is yet another attempt to appear like we’re doing something useful to respond to the negative impacts of the airport – while actively making things worse for our residents. It is contemptible greenwashing. My colleagues and our staff know about as much about airports as I do about sixgill sharks.

One thing I can tell you: like warehouse taxes, dry stack, and it’s money we left on the table years ago in favour of rubbish ideas that have left us poorer in health and economics than 20 years ago.

If you care about the airport: Sea-Tac Noise.Info

24th Avenue Budget

Having run out the clock, rather than extend the meeting properly, we voted in 12 minutes to spend $1.2M extra to get the 24th Avenue project moving by October. 40 minutes to market a fish. 12 minutes for a $1.2M cost overrun. That money will come from next year’s road budget. Hopefully, we will recoup that money from Puget Sound Energy, who we appear to blame for everything.

March 13 Attachments 24th Ave

This lack of regard makes me even more nervous about dumping standing committees. I encourage you to watch the Transportation Committee meeting above for a (slightly) deeper dive.

But the overriding sentiment seemed to be, “Hey we have to spend it, so why talk? We can ‘finger point’ later.” Rubbish. As with the airport, or flag triangles, if you never look back you will keep making the same mistakes. Over. And over.

And ‘blame it on PSE’ is simply incorrect. The project began in 2020 – when I was on the Transportation Committee. There have been many issues along the way. Here’s just one. Over my strong objection, Councilmember Mahoney rallied support to override our 3own ordinance, which requires us to underground utilities like that. It was a cost saving measure – instead choosing to give over that money to – wait for it – underground the utilities behind the Theatre. (now known as Backstage Alley). Long time readers will remember that the completely bogus rationale was that by so doing it would turn the alley into an entertainment spot, something like Post Alley in Seattle. Does this look it’s going to become Post Alley any time soon? Whenever anyone tries to tell you how un-developer-friendly we are here? Point them to Backstage Alley. We should have simply done what our own ordinance specifies – underground those utilities and provide the benefit our children.

I only voted ‘yes’ on this as a measure of faith in our new Director of Public Works. If this were twelve months ago, I woulda voted Hell No.

But this, “It happened before my time” business has already started to get old.

Passed 7-0.


1You know it’s a significant weather event because it has its own Wikipedia page.

2Even a micro-park like Cecil Powell will run close to $1M these days. And that’s without ‘tariffs’ on steel and lumber.

3By ordinance, uilities are supposed to be undergrounded. It basically takes two votes of the City Council to override that. But as with so many ordinances meant to provide some form of consistent ‘discipline’, if you look at our track record, we always seem to find ways around it. In this case? It was exactly what it looks like: valuing a commercial alley more than school children.

4Just wanted to make sure you were still awake. 🙂

 

Weekly Update 03/09/2025

Posted on Last Updated:March 11th, 2025
Leave a comment on Weekly Update 03/09/2025

Some bits of business…

Updated with new March 13, 2025 meeting agenda

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.

Important change: City Manager Caffrey has adopted a new format. Good news? Much more colourful! Bad news? Short-term.

Update: We just deep-sixed our standing committees. But for what it’s worth, each committee’s planning calendar here. 🙂

Water District 54 Open Commission

News Flash • Looking for Candidates for Vacant Commissioner

This is an unexpired position expiring in 2029. Individual must live within the District boundaries. Two monthly meeting a month are required. Meetings are held at the District Office at 922 So 219th St. in Des Moines at 4pm on the first and third Tuesdays of the month. Position is currently paying a per diem rate of $161.00

If you have questions regarding this position please call 206.878.7210. Please send letters of interest to patti.clayton@kcwd54.org before 3/14/2025.

Highline Schools District 5 Open Seat

HSD has re-opened applications for the School Board Director #5 position left open by the recent resignation of Azeb Hagos. This is a big deal for us as District #5 covers most of Des Moines. Please apply here by March 13, 2025!

https://www.highlineschools.org/about/school-board/school-board-vacancies

Call To Action: Port Packages!

The Governor’s proposed budget cuts the $1 million in funding that was secured last for fixing failed port packages, which were meant to insulate homes from airport noise but have deteriorated over time. Please mail key these legislators and let them know how important this funding is for our communities.

Call To Action: Save State Funding for Port Package Updates! – Sea-Tac Noise.Info

City Manager Stuff

City Manager’s Report March 07, 2025

In her most recent report Ms. Caffrey included a bit of history regarding the proper pronunciation of ‘Des Moines’. I used to think it was a bit of a joke that the City went through all the trouble to pass an ordinance making the ‘French’ pronunciation official. It is not a joke. I cannot stress how seriously some of my predecessors felt/feel about this. Coming from Ireland, where basically every place name has gotten butchered over time, here is the final word on how to properly pronounce Des Moines.

Mea Culpa

In my last Weekly Update, I stated incorrectly, that there was no recipe in Ms. Caffrey’s February 28 City Manager’s Report! For my sins, here is that recipe, 1in full, for what she claims are ‘the BEST chocolate chip cookies’. Bold statement. 😀

3Wea Culpa

I also got several messages last week following the (cough) ‘fit up’ cruise of the King County Water Taxi MV Sally Fox, covered in a video by the Waterland Blog. (Having used the Water Taxi system many times, I did not attend.) A couple of problems.

  • Our consultant was coaxed into implying that a passenger ferry might be docking in Des Moines in time for FIFA (June 2026). I do not think that was a great thing to say on camera, to a media company that relies on clicks, and especially given the obvious passions about the issue.
  • Members of the Council stated that the City had spent $1,000,000 of ARPA money on our previous pilot program. Not to be that guy, but I’m pretty sure we’ve spent $45,000 of federal dollars on anything ferry-adjacent.

But that does not mean we have not paid. According to the City our hard costs for the pilot program were $445,000. That’s too low, but whatever. One way or another it was all your money.

  • And no one talks about the original (cough) Ferry Demand Study or the consultant fees we’ve paid since 2020.  5If you total all our ‘ferry’ costs and bake for 10-14 minutes at 375 degrees until golden brown, I’m pretty sure it’s several hundred thousand more. 🙂

But why quibble over a few hundred grand? 😀 For me, the real question is this: regardless of where that money came from, did we need to spend anything? And the answer is: No. If you learn nothing else following this issue? It is that passenger ferries are something that the entire region has been pulling for – and for a very long time. When the conditions are right, it will come to us without these tactics, for the simple reason that we are a logical spot. In addition to working for us, Mr. Philips does regular (paid) regional conferences to promote ferries and we should encourage him to keep doing them.

But once and for all, we should admit that we were wrong and stop acting like we ever had to spend any of your money on this.

This Week

Tuesday: Port of Seattle Commission (Agenda) This is an important meeting for Port watchers. Anyone watching the City or contemplating a run for office should also take note in light of our strategic plan (see below.) All that aside, it also includes a summary of their FAA-funded sound insulation plan for the year. Which is, once again, nada for us.

Thursday: Transportation Committee – 13 Mar 2025 – Agenda – Pdf Highlight: Review of capital project progress.

Thursday: Environment Committee – 13 Mar 2025 – Agenda – Pdf Highlights: Review of our SWM and NPDES plans.

Recently, the City Manager quipped “We really take salmon seriously here.” 😀 Actually, we like the idea of salmon – which have been in a catastrophic decline for decades. It’s the reason we’re redeveloping the marina. The entire north half of the marina was all about fishing. If the salmon hadn’t gone away? We’d still have a sling launch and there’d have been no talk of ‘hotels’.

We spend an inordinate amount of money on various techniques that either do or do not help bring back salmon, depending on who you ask. But these requirements do provide substantial revenue opportunities, and responsibilities.

My interest is water. If you walk around Des Moines, there is water, water everywhere. Creeks, creeklets, creekletitos… 😀 You can’t go a block through most neighbourhoods without finding some body of water or active wetland we’ve built on or next to or underneath. Most of it comes from the airport plateau. All of it ends up in Puget Sound. Regardless, although you take it for granted, it costs a stonkin’ fortune to maintain – and that is why, if you look the balances of our Surface Water Enterprise Fund (which I oversee for six more days muwahahahaahaa!) look so massive.

So, our fishy friends really do drive an awful lot of decision making here. They connect with money, tribes, culture, land.

I had a talk with a Seattle Times reporter about this years ago. I was bemoaning the fact that you can get millions of dollars for fish culverts but it’s like pulling teeth to get even $10 to do anything about air pollution from airports. Her reply, “You need someone to do a study to prove that aircraft pollution is harmful to salmon.” 😀

Thursday: Regular Meeting – 13 Mar 2025 – Agenda – Updated Tuesday

Highlights:

  • A budget amendment which will add over a million dollars to the cost of the 24th Ave. project. ow, ow, ow, ow, Ow, OW!
  • We we also will discuss the structure of our upcoming airport committee.

There will be a notable update to the packet on two items on Tuesday. I will re-post this article with that update when it is released.

Last Week

Monday

SAO Audit Exit Conference. The State reported the results of its 2023 audit of our books. Obsessive watchers will note we’ve had a couple of ‘dings’ that I don’t get exercised about. What does annoy me, and I say the same when we do it, is when we gather for an ‘exit conference’ and some of the referenced materials are not ready to go.  The more obvious question is “Why are they still reviewing 2023?” To answer these burning questions, the SAO people will make a short presentation to the City Council. On the other hand, we just won a GFOA award for excellence in budgeting. Frankly, I don’t pay too much attention to that either. 😀 I know people want some sort of shorthand (good or bad) as to how well we’re managed. But it doesn’t work that way. If there was a shortcut, you wouldn’t need electeds. 🙂

Thursday

Washington Climate Action Plan Public Feedback Session

This is one of those long game things. Every year the Dept. of Ecology does a survey to help implement climate change into the planning documents it imposes on cities based (HB1181).  Here is the 2024 results. It took a looooong time to get the areas under the flight path recognised for what they are: among the most polluted and heavily impacted in the entire state. The next step is to convert that recognition into legislation that helps mitigate and compensate us for those harms. Bills like HB1303 (see below) move that even further.

Finance Committee (Cancelled)
Public Safety Committee

Public Safety_Emergency Management Committee. Several very interesting items you should check out, including crime stats and an overview of South King Fire.

2023-2024 Crime Stats Preview

South King Fire Overview

Although he’s still in his first year as Chief, Ted Boe’s data presentations to the Burien City Council were always excellent – and this presentation to our PSEM brought the same value.

As to the data. It’s a complex picture. The cover story, that ‘overall crime is falling’ is too simple. Certain types of crime are increasing and these worry me because they seem to be of the kind you can’t ‘automate’ with cameras and tech. Those will require more officers to prevent and enforce. And as these much better presentations become more ‘the norm’, and if we can just add in that ‘human factor’, ie. the toll the workload takes on the force, I think the public will understand and be more willing to help us get there than during last year’s Prop #1 not-so-great-sales-pitch.

Study Session

Study Session – 06 Mar 2025 – Agenda – Updated These are some biggee items and I had some (cough) concerns. 😀

Discussion on Developing a Strategic Plan.

We’ve never had a strategic plan before. We do ‘goal setting’ every year but frankly it’s never been about much for the simple reason that we do not agree on a lot of things. This will take time to develop. And I sure hope we can put aside our differences enough to make it something we all agree on – otherwise it will be like so many previous wastes of consultant money.

(Sorry, the really tragic thing is that, down deep, we actually agree on a lot of things. We just don’t compromise well. There’s no reason we can’t make this a historic and productive project. 🙂 )

Anyhoo, the Council gave a bunch o’ feedback to the City Manager and I encourage everyone to watch this portion of the meeting carefully. My comments:

  • Start from the money we need and work backwards. I maintain that we currently need at least $5,000,000 every year more than we currently take in, to achieve the goals we talked about when I took my seat in 2020. If you think that’s wrong? Give me a number.
  • Don’t use a consultant we’ve worked with. We’ve tended to choose people who’ve had previous (and tenuous) connections with the City. Eg. the communications study we did in 2023 was $75,000 and was done by an engineering company.
  • If you can, choose a consultant who has worked with cities like ours. The examples chosen bear little resemblance to Des Moines. Maybe it doesn’t matter. Or maybe we can’t be that choosey. But if we have a chocie? We should choose a firm that knows about marinas and airports and our demographics.
  • Watch the Port of Seattle. They are so frickin’ complicated. So they take great pains to provide their electeds all sorts of ‘check-ins’. They don’t use an expensive ‘dashboard’. Instead, they follow the old sales maxim, “tell ’em what yer gonna tell ’em, tell ’em, then tell ’em what ya told ’em.” This Tuesday’s meeting is typical. It gives an outline of how all their committees did last year as a springboard into what they plan to do this year. The entire Commission is given a summary of how each committee did and what it plans to do. It’s relatively inexpensive, low-tech, and for such a complex beast it works surprisingly well. I think one reason our committees have languished is because we never created this kind of structure.
  • ChatGPT. Not. Kidding. $20 a month and some elbow grease can create our own model containing every City Council document going back to 1959. Use that as the starting place for everything. I know this may sound like ‘space magic’ to some, or ‘ya gotta walk before you can run’. However, this is tech that high schoolers are now fluent with. As I said last week, we have a ton of great planning info that would be impossible for someone other than moi to ingest without help. The Council has also had every discussion as to “Why the downtown is what it is?” you can ever hope to have. And I’m kinda sick of all the myths and rumours that get endlessly recycled. Get it? It’s that ‘fog’ – that wilful avoidance of all the things we’ve already tried – that allows each new City Council (and administration) to come in and avoid dealing reality.
Discussion on City Council Committees and Appointive Committees.

This is really two discussions that should have been separate. The first went very poorly. The second a lot better.

  • The end of Standing Council Committees in favour of a more ‘Burien’ style approach. Passed (2-5). We ended a system of committees that has been in place since 1959 on a single vote. I voted ‘no’ along with Councilmember Mahoney, who opined as to whether or not hell may be freezing over. 😀
    • Frankly, we’ve both spent a certain amount of time developing expertise on various issues. And I stand by my contention that Cms – especially new Cms, need committees, if for no other reason, than to learn at least some specific area.
    •  At a minimum, we should have had the City Manager consider our feedback and bring the item back for a second reading. For this reason alone, it was a mistake to end our two-readings policy in 2023.
  • Revisions to all the appointive (resident) committees. I moved that this be brought back for a second reading. And in this case, the Council agreed. That alone tells you something as to what the Council values.

At the end of the day, I understand why the City grouped these together – and what they get out of  it: more time for their daily tasks. Good. But there was no mention of how that balances with the benefits. The packet made it out like committees are mostly a pain that takes staff away from ‘the real work’. Not. Cool. And we will regret their passing.

Executive Session: Performance of a Public Employee RCW 42.30.110(1)(G) –30 Minutes

This was the second of a two-parter review of Ms. Caffrey’s first three months. Last week was 45 minutes of – I have no idea. But this one included Ms. Caffrey. I can’t divulge the contents without having to join the Foreign Legion, but after the councilmember comments, I asked Ms. Caffrey to take the floor. She was candid with us, and I hope this will become a regular part of her review process.

Don’t think I’m going soft here. If anything, this has been the 2honeymoon period. 😀 But she knows that. 🙂

If you sit in just the right spot in the audience, you’ll see the ‘Watch Your Step’ sign appears over the head of the City Manager. Me being me, I always found that slightly amusing.

I’m going to riff on something the current and recent interim city managers have both said to all of us. A colleague of mine in another City said something about her Council – which is just as divided as ours. “We disagree well.” That was smart. As I said above, and will continue to say, all seven of us actually agree on a lot of things. The problem is, we don’t compromise. The best we can do is vote cordially. But that is not compromise. People sometimes gag at the thought of being ‘transactional’. But in local government horse-trading is really just being productive. If all seven of us would simply give in 15% here and there, I can’t think of an issue we could not reach true agreement on. See that’s the thing – you can ‘win’ all these divided votes. But all that friction prevents genuine progress. If we had a ferry program, tax program, marina program, airport program, whatever program that all of us (grudgingly) were on board with? We’d get a lot more done. Look at all this bond stuff? By being so divisive, and having every vote be like pulling teeth for years it’s (literally) adding millions of extra dollars to those projects. When you can disagree well, reduce that friction, ie. compromise, you may have to swallow hard sometimes, but the net benefit to the City is massive.

Some bills passing through Olympia

As I wrote last week, this is lawmakin’ season in Olympia and there were/are a ton of bills that will affect us. Here are the ones I’m watching…

  • HB1334 Almost every city, including Des Moines, officially supports giving City Councils the ability to raise property taxes up to 3% without a public vote.
  • HB1380 is a ‘homelessness’ bill sponsored by our own Mia Gregerson. Basically, every City hates it. I share some of the same concerns. But the topic is so radioactive I dunno what I could say to convince you that, whether it passes or not, the sky will not fall. Read the amended bill summary. And show up at Highline College this Wednesday @ 11:00am to ask questions.
  • SB5757 would take 50% of the speed camera revenue back to the State. Ouch. If this does not thrill you, click that link and comment. 🙂 Ironically, it was proposed by a Spokane representative whose city benefits from them. His objection – and he has support, is this: It’s a fugazi. All these automated speed enforcement cameras are supposed to be about ‘safety’ but they’re really about cash. He’s not wrong, of course. Every agency testifying against spoke about the hole it would cut in local budgets. No one spoke about how it would devastate public safety. We’ve had the Redondo cams for a year and frankly, if we knew this might be a possibility, I’m not sure we would have bent over backwards to installe them. It is about the money.
  • SB7575 (no you don’t have dyslexia) is one of two bills that would enable the City to increase our local sales tax .1 cent without a vote specifically for the purpose of increasing public safety. It also allows the County to add a similar tax. Normally, I would not be thrilled for the same reasons I always give: I try to avoid tax increases without giving voters a choice. But this one has a twist. If the law passes and we change our ordinance before the County does? They have to credit us back the amount with no out of pocket to you, the voter. 🙂
  • HB1923 the Mosquito Fleet bill, ie. Passenger Ferries. The bill just passed the last hurdle (an amendment to avoid routes used by orcas) before getting a floor vote. So, it looks like smooth sailing. 😀  Does not mean we get a ferry right away. But it means the places that have the proper infrastructure and truly need passenger ferries will be able to get them. The thing I keep trying to say is this: Everyone wants a ferry.

 

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

The BEST chocolate chip cookies
Okay, okay—I know—that is a big statement to make…but these
really are the best. They have a crunchy outside and chewy inside…
and are perfectly round. I also got a question about how you make
cookies that aren’t flat—I swear by fresh baking soda and fresh
baking powder, and 4good butter at the right temp. The butter
should be at room temp, but not insanely soft…or then the cookie
won’t rise

Ingredients
  • 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • 14 tablespoons unsalted butter (1¾ sticks)
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • ¾ cups packed dark brown sugar (adds more flavor)
    • Use fresh, moist brown sugar instead of hardened brown sugar, which will make the cookies dry
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 1 bag (10-ounces) of chocolate chips or chunks (preferably 60% cacao)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
  2. Whisk 1¾ cups flour and ½ teaspoon baking soda together in a medium bowl and set aside.
  3. Whisk the ½ cup sugar, the ¾ cup brown sugar and the teaspoon salt together in small bowl and set aside.
  4. Divide up the butter, put 10 tablespoons into a 10-inch skillet.
    • Note: Avoid using a non-stick skillet to brown the butter; the dark color of the nonstick coating makes it difficult to gauge when the butter is browned.
  5. Put the remaining 4 tablespoons butter into a large heatproof bowl.
  6. Heat the 10 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat until melted, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking, swirling pan constantly until butter is dark golden brown and has a nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes.
  7. Remove skillet from heat and, using heatproof spatula, transfer browned butter to the heatproof bowl that holds the 4 tablespoons of butter. Stir the butter together until completely melted.
  8. Add the sugar and salt mixture plus the 2 teaspoons vanilla to the bowl with butter and whisk until fully incorporated.
  9. Add in the egg and the yolk and whisk until mixture is smooth with no sugar lumps remaining, about 30 seconds. Let mixture stand 3 minutes, then whisk for 30 seconds. Repeat process of resting and whisking 2-3 more times until mixture is thick, smooth and shiny.
    • NOTE: This whisking and waiting time is an important step and really makes a difference with the texture of the cookies.
  10. Using rubber spatula or whisk, stir in the flour mixture until just combined.
  11. Stir in the chocolate chips, giving the dough a final stir to ensure no flour pockets remain.
  12. At this point, put the batter into the refrigerator for about 5 minutes, as it can sometimes be too soft to handle.
  13. Divide dough into 8 portions per cookie sheet. If you want to add a bit of Maldon or flaky sea salt crystals to the tops of the cookies, you can do so at this point. Just sprinkle a bit on the top of each dough ball.
  14. Bake cookies 1 tray at a time (or both trays if you have a double oven) until cookies are golden brown and still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft, 10 to 14 minutes. Rotate the baking sheets halfway through baking (after 5 minutes).

1She’s far too young to remember, but back in the day, even a recipe for Beef Wellington would be like six sentences in cookbooks. 😀 It stuns me that anyone ever got any decent results with an any of those Joy Of Cooking books.

2Which is like taking yer honeymoon at Niagara Falls. Back when people used to go over in a barrel.

3Yes, it’s Nostra Culpa. I went for the cheap Catholic School gag. 😀 But the Brothers would have me hide for not putting in this footnote.

4Now see if she were really ‘Irish’ she’d insist that the real secret is: Kerrygold.

5It also does not include the $160k grant we’ve got for more ferry economic impact studies and another $1,000,000 for some sort of electric battery dock. You can call those ‘free money’, but… said it before, say it again… every grant you get for fluff, is money that could have gone for something worthwhile. We get (x) amount of grant money every year. But let’s say that the battery dock does get used five years from now? Is that really what we most needed in 2024?

Weekly Update 03/02/2025

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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.

Important change: City Manager Caffrey has adopted a new format. Good news? Much more colourful! Bad news? Super short-term. However, thanks to moi, you can track each committee’s planning calendar here. 🙂

Call To Action: Port Packages!

The Governor’s proposed budget cuts the $1 million in funding that was secured last for fixing failed port packages, which were meant to insulate homes from airport noise but have deteriorated over time. Please mail key these legislators and let them know how important this funding is for our communities.

Call To Action: Save State Funding for Port Package Updates! – Sea-Tac Noise.Info

ADUs

Good article in Seattle Times on Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs). We’re redoing our zoning and building codes this year so if you’re interested, please let me know how we can help you make yours come true.

City Currents

There’s a new Spring 2025 City Currents Magazine. I collect the PDFs, which are easier for me to read, but also fun to look back at to see where the City has been.

City Currents Magazines

 

City Manager Stuff

City Manager’s Report February 28, 2025

No recipe, but a reminder of the most excellent…

Indoor Tot Time!

Keep your little ones active with exercise and play!  We will have fun tumbling mats, ride-on-toys and age appropriate sports equipment available in the gym.  Join in the fun and watch them make new friends along the way.  Check out dates and times here.

This Week

Monday

SAO Audit Exit Conference. The State reports the results of its 2023 audit of our books.

Thursday

Finance Committee (Cancelled)

Wasn’t my idea. But you know I got yer back on some numbers, anyhoo. 🙂 February Sales Tax Report

I generally don’t follow month to month stuff like this, but if you haven’t seen it before, this is a good thing to browse to get a sense of the money we bring in from various businesses.

Public Safety Committee

Public Safety_Emergency Management Committee – 06 Mar 2025 – Agenda – Pdf No detail. But several items you should check out…

  • Substation Closure
  • BWC Upgrades And Grant
  • 2023 Vs. 2024 Crime Statistics
  • South King Fire 2024 Statistics
Study Session

Study Session – 06 Mar 2025 – Agenda – Pdf These are some biggee items and I have some (cough) concerns. 😀

Discussion on Developing a Strategic Plan. Examples from Other Cities
One problem I have is that the City Manager previously proposed doing a revenue potential analysis. It seems to me that we should get that done first — learn what is possible, first. Second, we actually have a number of ‘plans’, including a parks and rec plan and a marina master plan and soon a new comp plan and a ‘ferry economic benefits study’. So, why not get those together and leverage them into that strategic plan?
Also, there’s this: none of these cities are much like Des Moines. Nor will we ever be. Why use them as our model?Finally, in 2023 we spent $75,000 on a Ccommunications Study which yielded nothing, but ‘looked like we were doing something’. A refreshing new strategy would be to ask for ‘return on investment’ statement before embarking on this. Frankly, I’m weary of doing things just to check off a box.

Discussion on City Council Committees and Appointive Committees.

This is really two discussions that should be separate.

    • The end of Standing Council Committees in favour of a more ‘Burien’ style approach. Spoiler alert: I had no idea this was being proposed.
    • Revisions to all the appointive (resident) committees

The packet lays out some valid problems with Current Council Committees: There is a ton of redundancy for both the Council and staff.

Recommended Changes to Council Committees:

  • Modify the monthly Study Session (first Thursday) to begin at 5:00 PM. The first hour would act as a “Council of the Whole” where all Councilmembers receive staff reports on items typically handled by committees.
  • Standing Council Committees would only meet when an issue requires more detailed discussion.

However, this can also be perceived as a power grab based on the never-ending theme “staff are over-worked!” That has gotten ooooooooooold. Not because it isn’t necessarily true, but rather because there has never been a way to quantify it. I’ve been hearing this since I started watching and no one ever lays out proof to demonstrate how changing would benefit the City. Sorry. Not sorry. But just giving people back a few hours is not the same thing.

Another downside is this: New Cms (and even not-so-new ones) are sometimes not exactly the most well-prepared people. And the City is so complicated, it’s not realistic to expect every elected to bone up on every area. Sorry. Not sorry. Committees give Cms a chance to ‘earn while you learn’ – to gain experience and specific expertise on various issues. As they say ‘practice makes perfect’. One ‘committee of the whole’ could end up with more ‘democracy’ from seven equally clueless people.

Appointive Committees

The City currently has seven citizen advisory committees, with plans to add two more (Airport Committee and Planning Commission). Again, there are valid problems: Infrequent meetings. Lack of agenda items.  Unclear roles. Underutilization. Heavy staff workload. All true.

Recommended Changes:

  • No changes to: Citizens Advisory Council, Civil Service Commission, Lodging Tax Advisory Committee, Police Advisory Committee
  • Merge the Arts Commission, Human Services Advisory Board, and Senior Services Advisory Board into a new Community Enrichment Board. Existing members with unexpired terms would be offered positions on the new board.
I have real problems with this. Many are not representative of the community and many are black boxes. You have no idea who are on most of these and neither do I. Also, their work product is non-existent and… some members like it that way. They like having ‘private’ meetings to speak ‘candidly’. Every committee worth keeping should be recorded and maintain minutes.
Executive Session: Performance of a Public Employee RCW 42.30.110(1)(G) –30 Minutes

This is the second of a two-parter review of Ms. Caffrey’s first three months. Last week was 45 minutes of – I have no idea. But this one will be with Ms. Caffrey.

Last Week

Wednesday: StART (Agenda). The highlight was a report on the Port’s SIRRPP survey of Port Packages. As expected, it was a sham, claiming that none of the homes they tested seem to merit an update. Of course, they hand-picked 30 out of 9,400 for testing. Follow Sea-Tac Noise.Info (STNI) for coverage – and contact STNI, if you have bad sound insulation.

Thursday: Municipal Facilities Committee (cancelled)

Thursday: Economic Development – 27 Feb 2025 – Agenda

Economic Development Committee Meeting 02/27/2025

Highlights:

  • Charm Factor. This is a beautify the downtown idea – it specifically mentions using decorative screens to cover ‘the Pit’ and the Des Moines Yacht Club boat storage on MVD and getting it done in time for FIFA 2026. Councilmember Nutting raised some concerns. In fact, he really went to town, so I urge you to watch just for that. 😀 We disagree on those reasons, but I too am concerned. His concerns seemed to be more about ‘money’. Fair point. Mine are more about strategy. We have this nasty tendency to promote trial ideas, which either waste a lot of money or turn into permanent features – whether they make sense or not. We use the plucky small town volunteerism as a substitute for doing something long term. Frankly, it’s the reason a trial project like the Quarterdeck can end up becoming the centrepiece of the entire waterfront. I am suspicious of anything ‘Let’s try something!’ because once it gets in? You ain’t never gettin’ rid of it.
  • Woodmont Development. The City has received interest from a developer on the area that (in ancient times) was called ‘Rosie’s Diner’, but was last referred to as ‘Oh no, the drug rehab clinic!’. A primary reason I want the planning commission re-instated was to prevent that sort of blindsiding from recurring. In this case, I think the City will be able to daylight the developer’s proposal in a way the public will find acceptable, but it still puts the onus on one public hearing to obtain public engagement.
  • Sound Code?: This topic was moved onto the next meeting. Call me what you will, but this indicated where the committee’s priorities are.

City Council Meeting Recap

Shortest. Meeting. Ever. 🙂 No public comment. No items of business beyond a short consent agenda. I picked the right meeting to telephone in sick. 🙂

North Conference Room, next to City Manager’s office. Executive Sessions are held here. Zoom works great. 🙂

Parenthetically, my first phone-in meeting was not a great experience, tech-wise. Ironically, I was able to Zoom in for the private Executive Session and that went great. Lesson learned? Let’s move City Council into the North Conference Room where all the plumbing works! 😀

City Council Regular Meeting – 27 Feb 2025 – Agenda Highlights:

City Manager presentation on Flag Triangle

  • Apparently, we got no bites from the three expected bidders. But there is still time. Our DPW says he’s still aiming for a Memorial Day (May 26) completion and that the all-in cost will be $376k – a lot less than previously mentioned.  I will not hold it against anyone if we don’t make that date and I’m still going with the previous estimate of $472k because:
    • I love that can-do spirit (seriously)
    • It’s local government. 🙂

Consent Agenda

There was an item to approve a grant to put a solar roof on the Senio… er… ‘Activity Center’. Woo hoo! If I had been IRL I would’ve put forward an item to see if we can’t redo the awning while we’re at it. The place was never ‘just’ the Senior Center. It’s the Des Moines Activity Center, not in name, but in terms of mission. It’s time to have that consistent brand throughout the City.

Executive Session

ES is supposed to be subject to the cone of silence. But again, again, the law requires us to mention the legal purpose. And whenever we do a ‘review of a public employee’ that means ‘City Manager’.

The following Executive Session was twice as long and it was the first of two evaluations of our new City Manager.

I said last week that I thought the review might be premature. Part of the reason is that the council does not have a unified view of what ‘success’ even means. I feel like we’re focusing too much on optics and not substance. For example, we’re doing two executive sessions just for her first three months. Woo hoo! But the second review, occurs the same night that Ms. Caffrey unveils two huge items (see above). Sure glad I have time to really take it all in!

The problem is this: the City Manager has a multi-layered fiduciary responsibility. She works for ‘the Council’ but she also works for ‘the City’. Those are the legal responsibilities and they are all about the present. But great leaders also represent ‘the future’, ie. not the people who live here now, but the people who will be here 10-15-20 years from now. That’s tricky. Shareholders… er… ‘voters’ only care about now. The law only cares about now. Councilmembers tend to only care about now. But the future is where the real opportunity happens.

Here’s the problem: the future doesn’t get a vote. I watched one previous city manager go on for years catering to the needs/wants/desires of councils that could not make up their minds. And another take exactly the opposite tack in order to manifest a grand vision we could not afford and that will be a boat anchor on the City for a decade.

At some point, any CEO has to establish their own destiny. Hopefully it is one that focuses on the people and businesses we want to be here for the future; because the people and businesses who do live here are not only not ‘enough’, time and again have chosen not to make room for that future.

Some bills passing through Olympia

As I wrote last week, this is lawmakin’ season in Olympia and there were/are a ton of bills that will affect us. Most of the goofy ones (redesigning the State flag) die the quick deaths they deserve, but many do not. And in the ones that affect us there is a recurring theme, which I keep bringing up: overspending. When the State was ‘flush’ (ie. last year?) it overspends. Then this year it’s cut, Cut, CUT! Sound familiar? 😀 What I object to is that it is cities which always seem to take it in the neck. And, ironically, it’s often the most ‘progressive’ lawmakers that are the worst in that regard.  We’re given all kinds of mandates (most of which are great ideas, btw) but no money to pay for them. Or we’re offered the fabulous opportunity of taxing our residents without a vote in various ways. What we’re almost never offered is, you know, State money.

  • HB1334 Almost every city, including Des Moines, officially supports giving City Councils the ability to raise property taxes up to 3% without a public vote. But don’t hate the playa, hate the game. Over time the State and County have reduced the amount of money they share with cities like Des Moines and keep more of it for their own needs and especially education. All worthy endeavours. However, as with housing, one could also see a system which kicks back more of existing State and County money to cities like Des Moines. But since that will never happen, cities like Des Moines are left to try anything they can to raise taxes — including this. Desperate times, and so on… Speaking as one person, I do not support these bills. I think most voters find anything like this (including the 2023 bonds) a bit sneaky. People like to have a vote. They like to be sold.
  • SB5757 would take 50% of the speed camera revenue back to the State. Ouch. If this does not thrill you, click that link and comment. 🙂 Ironically, it was proposed by a Spokane representative whose city benefits from them. His objection – and he has support, is this: It’s a fugazi. All these automated speed enforcement cameras are supposed to be about ‘safety’ but they’re really about cash. He’s not wrong, of course. Every agency testifying against spoke about the hole it would cut in local budgets. No one spoke about how it would devastate public safety. We’ve had the Redondo cams for a year and frankly, if we knew this might be a possibility, I’m not sure we would have bent over backwards to installe them. It is about the money.
  • SB7575 is one of two bills that would enable the City to increase our local sales tax .1 cent without a vote specifically for the purpose of increasing public safety. It also allows the County to add a similar tax. Normally, I would not be thrilled for the same reasons I always give: I try to avoid tax increases without giving voters a choice. But this one has a twist. If the law passes and we change our ordinance before the County does? They have to credit us back the amount with no out of pocket to you, the voter. 🙂
  • HB1923 the Mosquito Fleet bill, ie. Passenger Ferries. In a win-win, the bill passed out of committee. But it was amended to remove the portion I objected to – ie. the possibility of dinky cities (like Des Moines) of creating their own ferry district. One of the speakers said, quite sensibly, he was getting a bit tired of offering cities more ways to tax themselves. Agreed! The thing I keep trying to say is this: Everyone wants a ferry. We never had to ‘sell’ anything. Let the people who actually need it, and can afford it, pay for it. When we’re ready, our great location will bring the ferry world to us.
You may have seen that the County did a ‘test run’ of the MV Sally Fox Water Taxi on Saturday. This was more pointless salesmanship. There’s nothing to ‘test’ because, as with the ‘pilot’ program we squandered so much money on three years ago, they are not the boats that would come here. If the City Manager wants an ‘Easy A’ on her first review? Commit now to never renewing Peter Philips’ contract again — something that was supposed to happen a year ago. How can a City with so many budget issues continue to waste so much money?
I stole this pen from the Governor’s desk when no one was looking.

The next ‘key date’ on all this is around March 12th when the Governor weighs in with his response to all these items. WA is somewhat unique in that we give the Guvernator a line-item veto. That power kinda acts as a check on legislation. Who wants to put in all the work to pass a bill the Governor can de-fang with a stroke of a pen?

Weekly Update 02/23/2025

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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.

Important change: City Manager Caffrey has adopted a new format. Good news? Much more colourful! Bad news? Super short-term. However, thanks to moi, you can track each committee’s planning calendar here. 🙂

Traffic:

As part of the SR-509

I-5 lane closure information

  • Monday, Feb. 24 through the morning of Friday, Feb. 28: 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. – Up to three lanes of northbound I-5 will close nightly between SR 516 (Exit 149) and South 200th Street/Military Road South (Exit 151).
  • Wednesday, Feb. 26 through the morning of Friday, Feb. 28: 11:59 p.m. to 6 a.m. – Up to four lanes of southbound I-5 will close nightly between South 200th Street/Military Road South (Exit 151) and SR 516 (Exit 149).

I-5 ramp closure information

  • Monday, Feb. 24 through the morning of Wednesday, Feb. 26: 9:30 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. – The northbound I-5 to SR 516 off-ramp will close nightly. A signed detour will be in place.

SR 516 lane closure information

  • Monday, Feb. 24 through the morning of Wednesday, Feb. 26: 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. – One lane of westbound SR 516 will close nightly between SR 99 and Military Road South.
  • Wednesday, Feb. 26 through the morning of Friday, Feb. 28: 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. – One lane of eastbound SR 516 will close nightly between Military Road South and SR 99.

South Link Metro Survey

As Link light rail expands farther south with three new stations in Kent Des Moines, Star Lake and Downtown Federal Way, the South Link Connections project aims to improve transportation options for communities in South King County. Please take this Survey!

City Manager Stuff

City Manager’s Report February 21, 2025

When will the recipes stop? 😀 Hopefully after I run out of new piccies to take of this place. OK, it’s Slow Cooker Beef, so what’s not to love. 🙂

Parks and Recreation is hiring referees for the upcoming Youth Soccer
Season. These positions would start in April through Mid-June in evenings and weekends. https://desmoineswa.gov

The calendar of events is also good. Although it’s a band-aid.

No, I’m not. Every one of these weekly updates seems to have a theme and this one is: band-aids. The City will be getting a new web site at some point soon. What it always needed was a truly integrated calendar. I guess that’s considered a ‘big city’ feature. But it’s not. It’s also something we can do for cheap that will set us apart. There are more cool things going on than any City employee can track or distribute. What the City should do is pay the dough once to create a ‘feed’ – an automatic way to capture events from every organisation that matters. For example, King County Library has interesting stuff going on all the time. We simply need to work with them (and anyone who gets a grant with the City), to make sure their web site automatically posts stuff to the City calendar.

We coulda done this years ago. And I’m snippy because we need our next web site to be better than everyone else-something that will save everyone time, not simply playing catch up and creating more work for staff.

This Week

Wednesday: StART (Agenda). The Port has already completed its SIRRPP survey, ie. its evaluation of Port Packages. As expected, it was a sham, claiming that none of the homes they tested merit an update. Of course, they hand-picked 30 out of 9,400 for testing. Follow Sea-Tac Noise.Info (STNI) for coverage – and contact STNI, if you have bad sound insulation.

Thursday: Municipal Facilities Committee (cancelled)

Thursday: Economic Development – 27 Feb 2025 – Agenda Highlights:

  • Charm Factor. Apparently, this is a beautify the downtown idea – it specifically mentions using decorative screens to cover ‘the Pit’ and the Des Moines Yacht Club boat storage on MVD and getting it done in time for FIFA 2026. In principle, I have no objection. The design has echoes of the very cool 2008 UW Storefront Studio project ideas. However, I do have several concerns. This issue follows the band-aid theme. Over the years, we’ve done these sorts of beautification deals several times and they are not major economic drivers. Sorry. I know how much people want to believe that, but if you look at regional neighbourhoods that really have transformed themselves, it happened inside-out, not outside-in. In other words, people show up for the business, not the wrapper. Based on the Special Meeting the Council had a few weeks ago, I saw no evidence that FIFA will provide economic benefits no matter what we might do. My hope is that my colleagues will look at our limited resources and really think about giving the City Manager time to come up with something long term. I’d rather save up as much dough as possible for that discussion. Or to put it more directly: the problem we should finally address is not how to cover up ‘the pit’. It’s the pit.
  • Sound Code: The City is tackling the subject of re-instating a sound code, ie. building requirements to reduce the interior noise level from the airplanes. We dumped that in 2012 for political reasons. This gets me into hot water with our building people, but re-instating it is not rocket surgery. And I’ll use the golf/computer/ analogy. You buy even el-cheapo golf clubs or TVs or computers today and they’re objectively better than golf clubs or TVs or computers from twenty years ago. Building materials have improved — including windows. Construction practices have improved. So even without a sound code a new house is likely gonna be ‘quieter’ than a house built in 2000. And you won’t get help from the FAA because, despite tens of thousands more flights they think the entire area is getting quieter! So much so they’ve scaled back the area eligible for sound insulation by two thirds. Problem solved!
    • Not really. The FAA’s metrics, based on ’65db were always rubbish. The numbers were based on what was affordable given the technology of the 1970’s. Now that building materials are better/cheaper, no waaaay should that still be the standard.
    • Every scientific study done since then makes it clear than the noise we endure is unhealthy. Not ‘annoying’, bad for your health.
    • There is also this: by ending our sound code, we essentially took ourselves off the table from future FAA funding. And to explain why in one sentence, here is a real question I got from a congressman five years ago.

Why should any member of congress vote to spend more money for sound insulation, when your city voluntarily decided it did not need it?

Thursday: City Council Regular Meeting – 27 Feb 2025 – Agenda Highlights:

  • City Manager presentation on Flag Triangle. Unfortunately, there is no preview in the packet, so I refer you to last Municipal Facilities meeting. (Video). Obviously, we gotta fix the flag pole. And the Des Moines Memorial Drive Preservation Association has long wanted a plaque commemorating DMMD’s role in World War I and veterans.  However, there has been some tension on both the cost and what the site should ‘be’. At that last MFC meeting, the Director of Public Works referred to it as a monument and I think that’s a much better way to view it than as a ‘park’.

The cost is currently $474k-ish? Probably a lot more. But it does not bother me as much as perhaps it should. After a while you start to get numb because the cost of anything ‘park-adjacent’ these days, is ridonculous. But if you say, “Hey, can’t we get something on DiscountFlagPoles.com?” one sounds insensitive. Just know that, in the back of my mind there is a little voice wishing that were the case. My real grouse is that we haven’t been consistent in presenting the costs or the idea or the purpose to the public. As I said last time, the new DPW started referring it as a ‘monument’ rather than a ‘park’ and IMO, that’s the right vibe.

  • There will also be the first of two Executive Session evaluations of our new City Manager. Which is two more than we often got in a year with our last one. 😀 One sentence: the Council wanted a good communicator. Ms. Caffrey is a great communicator. 🙂 But speaking of band-aids, in one sense, this review may be perhaps a bit too early. Ms. Caffrey was immediately confronted with work more akin to an ER Surgeon than a day to day ‘manager’. She got smacked in the face with some time-sensitive, big ticket issues like the Marina and the airport SAMP, neither of which she had any background on – and neither of which were mentioned in her job interview.If I were ‘the boss’ I’d ask her to write her review of Des Moines, if not now, at the six month point.I’m also curious what you, Dear Reader, think of how things are going at the moment. Some of the initial joy in hiring Ms. Caffrey is wearing off and the realities of a tighter budget is starting to sink in. Please let me know what I should be asking about in this review process. 🙂

Last Week

Tuesday/Wednesday/Friday: I testified on behalf of two airport bills, including Senator Orwall’s SB5682 in the Environment Committee Tuesday @ 1:30PM and Rep. Sharlett Mena’s HB1303 in Appropriations on Wednesday and in the Senate Environment on Friday.

Wednesday/Thursday: I attended Association of Washington Cities Action Days! Which isn’t as exciting as that sounds. But I did get to hear some interesting takes on housing and public safety. And here are three quick takes.

  • There are two bills working on giving a teensy portion of the sales tax back to cities explicitly for public safety. I totally support this because it’s not a new tax. It’s the State giving money back to cities. 🙂
  • I used to have real arguments with the last police chief over organised crime involving teens – which he swore was not a thing. I hate being ‘that guy’, but anyone from Ireland would  be skeptical because the shoplifting and auto theft here is suspiciously like what one sees in Dublin. A boss gets a bunch of 13 year olds to do the crimes – because they won’t do the time – even if they have a gun. It’s big business. But we’re behaving just like my home. A certain percentage of legislators will not put teens behind bars no matter how many times they get caught. I’m not sure what the answer is, but I’m glad to hear police and legislators calling it for what it is.
  • It used to be that AWC could present a unified lobbying position on most issues. That is no longer the case. For example, every year the state puts forward new legislation to encourage more housing — which I strongly support. But the legislation never comes with what we actually need – which is M.O.N.E.Y. or at least building code reform. Instead, it graciously allows cities to provide developer discounts (which reduces our revenue) or lets us create local taxes. More affluent cities (like Redmond) find these useful. Cities like Des Moines? Not so much. We must have money because the fact is, developers struggle to build stick frame houses at anything like an affordable price point. We either have to start allowing for pre-built housing (which is cheaper, better constructed) or we get funding to make up the difference.
  • There was also HB1334. Almost every city, including Des Moines, officially supports giving City Councils the ability to raise property taxes up to 3% without a public vote. But don’t hate the playa, hate the game. Over time the State and County have reduced the amount of money they share with cities like Des Moines and keep more of it for their own needs and especially education. All worthy endeavours. However, as with housing, one could also see a system which kicks back more of existing State and County money to cities like Des Moines. But since that will never happen, cities like Des Moines are left to try anything they can to raise taxes — including this. Desperate times, and so on… Speaking as one person, I do not support these bills. I think most voters find anything like this (including the 2023 bonds) a bit sneaky. People like to have a vote. They like to be sold.
  • While I had time to kill I stumbled into a hearing on HB1923 Passenger Ferries: House Transportation – TVW which absolutely blew my mind. Check out the bill summary. Both our lobbyist and our paid ferry consultant (who did not identify himself as such) testified in favour.

HB 1923 would allow a city like Des Moines to establish its own ‘ferry district’, apply for money to buy boats (you need at least two) and create a taxing authority (ie. tax residents to cover the cost!) And it provides no feasibility study or proof that the agency can actually afford to run the thing.

What killed me were the number of people testifying that how we must get this passed in time for FIFA World Cup in 2026 or we’ll miss out on all the economic development opportunities! No one seemed to notice that there is literally no such boat in the water anywhere. Not. One. The first delivery in the US, is not expected until 2027.

Look, I understand how gaga people get about ‘ferries’. But when America started building roads, there were at least a few, you know, functioning automobiles in service at the time.

I want to applaud Representative Julia Reed. Even without knowing a thing about our experience, she asked all the right questions. I hope she, and the Transportation Committee, investigate Des Moines before passing any such bill.

Weekly Update 02/16/2025

3 Comments on Weekly Update 02/16/2025

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.

Important change: City Manager Caffrey has adopted a new format. Good news? Much more colourful! Bad news? Super short-term. However, thanks to moi, you can track each committee’s planning calendar here. 🙂

Of note, both on February 27:

  • The Economic Development Committee will consider restoring our Sound Code, ended in 2012 (right in there with the Planning Commission, btw.)
  • The City Manager will provide an update on the Flag Triangle project.

Police Dept. Policy memo on immigration

I strongly endorse the policy, the statement, and the measured tone of this statement.

February 4, 2025 DMPD Policy on Immigration

Passenger Ferry Article in Seattle Times

Despite a fairly exaggerated headline, this Seattle Times article provides a very realistic state of electric passenger ferries in Puget Sound. I grew up using ferries in Ireland. Big fan. However, I’ve been opposed to using Des Moines tax dollars since we began doing so five years ago. We wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars and it is still insane. While trying to strike a hopeful tone it also completely validates all my concerns. This thing is nowhere near ready for prime time. There is mention of Artemis (the vendor who visited Des Moines last year, but zero mentions of Des Moines – despite the Council approving a $1,000,000 grant for a ferry battery to attract service. What?

On a semi-related note: Eviation, the top local contender for creating passenger-electric aviation, just went belly up. Eviation has been holding on via squillions in State and Federal funding. It’s exactly like the fake news of ‘second airport’ as the path to ‘quiet skies’.

Both passenger ferries and electric aircraft may be wonderful things some day. But for the present they are simply greenwashing. Small cities like Des Moines have no business putting stock in either of them.

City Manager Stuff

City Manager’s Report February 14, 2025

In addition to a quasi-Greek Chicken Noodle Soup recipe there’s this:

After each of the past three Council meetings I’ve walked out needing a shower because the information was so biased — which inevitably led the discussion towards a bunch of blather, including many (sorry) plainly incorrect comments from my colleagues. As Michael Matthias used to say, “He who controls the agenda controls the meeting.”

However, Ms. Caffrey’s follow-up reports generally provide a more straightforward result, which is fine, but it’s also starting to give me whiplash.

There is an inherent tension in the role of City Manager. At best it will always be a slightly schizophrenic tightrope. At worst it is subject to terrible political manipulation – both intentional and unconscious. You’re both the ‘servant of the Council’ and  the source of 95% of the policy. You’re simultaneously the ‘executive’, whose job is to present every decision made by the City Council, you and your team, in the most positive light possible. But you’re also ‘the source of truth’ for the Council – a body of part-timers with no independent research. Who wants to be the CEO who tells any city council “bad idea”, “we’ve made mistakes”. Every discussion. At every meeting. And thus every decision… is based on the information in ‘the packet’ and ‘the recommendations’ the City Manager puts forward. My guess is that even George Washington would find this situation a bit of an ethical challenge at times. 😀

This Week

Monday: Presidents Day. Hope you got the day off, although I’m betting most of you did not. Legally-speaking it’s still Washington’s Birthday, which is good because I’m starting to think there are only 2-3 presidents a majority of Americans will ever think of again in a positive light.

Tuesday/Wednesday: I will be testifying on behalf of two airport bills, including Senator Orwall’s SB5682 in the Environment Committee Tuesday @ 1:30PM and Rep. Sharlett Mena’s HB1303 in Appropriations on Wednesday.

Wednesday/Thursday: I will be in Olympia for Association of Washington Cities Action Days. Why? 1For the continuing education credits, dude!

One major function of AWC is lobbying. They do research and suggest positions on various issues. That’s not really the value for me because there are over 200 cities in WA and there’s often no one ‘correct’ position. For example, they constantly advocate for giving city councils the authority to raise property taxes more than the 1% cap without a public vote. (That’s been Des Moines official position for many years, btw.) I could not disagree more.

However… before I ran for office, I was already attending other government meetings and noticing how different they can be. Many Cms (and staff) participate in various regional groups, which is great. But that doesn’t teach one how other cities conduct business. We all seem to assume that they all work the same. They. Do. Not. But many have at least one idea we can learn from. For me, that’s the value of AWC. Free research. 🙂

Last Week

Tuesday: Port of Seattle Commission (Agenda). The most important issue is the one that did not get mentioned. The Port has already completed its SIRRPP survey, ie. Port Package Updates. As expected, it was a sham, claiming that none of the homes they tested merit an update. Of course, they hand-picked 30 out of 9,400 for testing. Follow Sea-Tac Noise.Info (STNI) for coverage – and contact STNI, if you have bad sound insulation.

Wednesday: Olympia for lobbying on airport bills. Coverage from Sea-Tac Noise.Info

Thursday: Transportation Committee (Cancelled)

Thursday: Environment Committee – 13 Feb 2025 – Agenda – Pdf Highlight: Capital Improvements Plan update (projects paid for using the Surface Water Enterprise Fund) and the Estuary Project update. As with last month, although you will also see the same consultants in the main meeting, I strongly encourage you to watch this video which contains a much more detailed explanation of changes coming to the Beach Park area over the next decade. This will be a big deal and pretty exciting stuff for salmon, the park and all our residents. And best of all? So far, it is 100% grant funded. None of your taxes. 🙂

Here is a higher res video. To give you a sense of how one needs to take ‘wins’ where they come, this is the first such animation on any project during my tenure. There should be no going back. Remember: the Council voted to do this for the Marina Steps back in 2021. And… of course it never happened. I urge you to step through it carefully. Although a lot of it is subject to change, as I said from the dais, the more I look at it, the more elegant it appears. One note which I tried to highlight at the meeting: some of the doodads (trees) may be cosmetic and subject to change, but many are functional. Elements like the location of the bridge, the excavated rivulets, and the giant log are there for a reason – to help with flow control and salmon habitat.

February 13, 2025 City Council Meeting Recap

Regular Meeting – 13 Feb 2025 – Agenda – Updated

Public Comment

There was only one, concerning the discussion on dry stack from the long time secretary of the now defunct Des Moines Marina Association (DMMA) Bill Linscott. His argument seemed similar to one made by DMMA a few years ago: Dry stack is a very good thing, but it should be held off until the next round of dock replacements — which are scheduled for at least five years out. Their desire was to provide a ‘first-call’ opportunity for their existing slip holders whenever that happened.

City Manager Presentations

  • King County Metro South Link Connections Mobility Project. Long story short: during COVID, Metro shut down several (primarily east/west) routes in Des Moines. This presentation describes some new routes, which do not thrill most of us because they continue to focus on north/south and not ‘the last mile’. And this begs a real question: ‘haves/have nots’. As I often say, I am extremely fortunate. I live near the 635 Shuttle which takes me right to Angle Lake and then bam I’m at a Sounders Game or downtown. But the east/west ‘last mile’ the City needs is south of Kent Des Moines Road. The 635 did not happen until after Angle Lake opened. My hope is that, once the Kent Des Moines Station opens, it will help us get an analogous east/west coverage.
    PS… I’ve had this ongoing back and forth with Metro over their dashboard. It’s not just our City I spar with over ‘data’. 😀 A lot of these ‘dashboards’ look super-cool, but don’t provide the information you actually want. And then they look at you like you’re being ungrateful. 😀 You cannot guilt me! In this case, they make is super-easy to look at ridership on the main routes – but not the smaller routes – the ones residents need to get to the main routes. 🙂
  • Des Moines Creek Estuary Project (see environment committee meeting above.)
  • Black History Month Proclamation (more on this soon.)
  • Field House Playground Equipment Upgrade Project Agreement. The Giant Slide Of Doom (which I love, btw) has been complete since last year. However, it’s been kept locked up over safety concerns! Outrageous. 😀 Sorry. That leaked out. However, in a move I am told is both prudent and practical, the City is adding some sort of hand hold/tow rope along the sides to make it safer and easier to get back up the hill — OK, I didn’t think about that – and Reason #327 why 3I am not a parks director. :)But the only question you have is: “When will my child be able to brave the Giant Slide Of Doom?” What with all the concerns over safety, the question of actually having fun was not exactly emphasised. But the contract completion date seems to be June 30, 2025. 🙂

Discussions

I’m calling this section of the meeting ‘discussions’ because for whatever reason, we’re not so much conducting ‘business’ as just sorta, you know, ‘discussing’ things more. It’s bad and you should not want it.

boat launch or Dry Stack?

As with the last meeting, apparently the Mayor and/or Deputy Mayor were caught off guard by the presentation. I’m struggling with that since the Mayor is in charge of agenda setting and because we were presented with a draft two days before the meeting. If they were surprised, as the originator of the topic, imagine mine. 😀

Background: I’ve been trying to get the City to replace the small boat launch, which was declared unsafe in 2022, because every marina needs some form of small boat launching system. One important use case (but not the only one) is called Dry Stack which I explain here. And as the explainer says, Dry Stack was supposed to replace the Dry Sheds as early as 1999.

But instead of simply discussing replacing the boat launch, a manageable task, somebody decided we could not have that discussion without also discussing the much, Much, MUCH larger topic of dry stack facility. I call bad faith on the City. It’s like someone saying “We can’t decide on building a stop light, unless we’re ready to commit to building a shopping mall across the street ten years from now.” It’s ridiculous. As I said from the dais, this will be at least the eleventh ‘study’ the City has done since 1999. The entire discussion was designed to fail.

What was not discussed was why we need a dry stack – which is simple: the Marina has been losing money for as long as I’ve lived here. We’ve papered over that fact by not including replacement and maintenance costs in our financials. And by the Marina’s own estimates, these costs are now over $100,000,000 by 2040.

When Michael Matthias began promoting a new ‘Marina Redevelopment’ starting in 2016 (based on a hotel and steps), he relegated dry stack – the only true money maker – out to 2032. Why? Politics. A small number of stakeholders have every reason to slow walk dry stack. Forever.

  • Michael’s previous Skylab Grand Vision included an All Purpose Building as one portion of the grand re-development: 223rd Street bio-swales, hotel, steps, retail, permanent waterfront market, etc. Hypothetically, a dry stack would go in that APB. But, it was all rubbish because when you actually looked at the artist rendering, a dry stack simply would not fit inside! As was the entire proposal – 4including fitting a hotel into the side of Cliff Avenue. Oy.
  • Less than 200 boaters (Over 80% of whom do not live in Des Moines) could ever hope to benefit from putting off dry stack. What they wanted was for us to put off this important revenue in order to guarantee them a spot years in advance! No Marina business provides that kind of guarantee! Michael’s grand vision enabled doing nothing by making this revenue ‘nice to have’ rather than necessary.
  • A very small number of people (probably fewer than 50) who live over the Marina Floor, might have some portion of their view impacted. But again, the plan, going back to 1999 was this: north/public zone, center/retail, south/marina business. Again, Michael’s grand vision went against that, because it enabled doing nothing.
  • The Council was been able to put off this discussion every two years or so – with another ‘study’ to decide “What do we want the Marina to ‘be'” Again, again, Michael’s grand vision took off any pressure the Council because it put any ‘pain’ for nearby residents so far in the future.

But every time we put off the discussion, it takes another half million in annual revenue off the table — the money we always needed to fund dock and seawall replacements.

As a practical matter, the Council has been indulging about 250 people in total, for 25 years. Everyone acts like this kind of revenue is optional, instead of representing the budgetary needs of all 33,000 residents. La di da…

No one running a business (and the Marina is a business) should be allowed to be this irresponsible. If it were a for-realz business, if you don’t maintain reserves to handle repairs and maintenance, you fold. But since it’s public money? La di da…

It’s also a pattern. Rather than budget, and do what it takes to optimise revenue, we wait until something really expensive breaks and then use the privilege of putting it on the credit card – meaning all residents pay these bills into the future. Even if it puts the vice grips on other necessary services. Even if takes our rainy day fund to zero. And if those projects go millions over budget in the meantime? La di da…

Two new commissions

The Council moved forward (with ‘head nods’) to have the City Planner take on two new Commissions.

Apparently we’re calling them both commissions. I’m honestly not sure if it makes any difference, but a ‘commission’ usually has some authority/decision making, whilst an advisory ‘committee’ does not.

Anyhoo… the Airport whatever will take off (see what I did there?) around March, whilst the Planning Commission process is planned (see what I did there again?) for the end of the year. The practical scheduling is that the City Planner came on board just in time to complete our State mandated Comprehensive Plan.

For me, there really is no rush with the Airport whatever you call it. The work they could do, really won’t be helpful until next year. One bill going through Olympia might.

But the SAMP is happening right now. If you truly wanna do something meaningful about the noise, pollution and economic harms from the airport? Please subscribe to STNI. And participate in the Burien Airport Committee. Turn that into a shared committee that works for both cities.Des Moines City re-establishes an airport committee. Sort of. – Sea-Tac Noise.Info

But a planning commission can provide some form of nexus for concerns residents have about everything ‘planning’, including what we now refer to as ‘municipal facilities’ – ie. the Marina, Redondo, etc. Whether it is part of the official mandate of the PPC, residents should have visibility on all planning across the City; not some artificial boundary between City-owned and public/commercials. Residents, potential residents, realtors and developers need one place they can go and see our vision over the next twenty years. (Like the one that included a very profitable Dry Stack system in 1999. 🙂 )

New Items For Consideration

Councilmember Mahoney proposed that the City do something in concert with the Highline MAST center to help make Des Moines the Six Gill Shark Capital of the World. They want to draw attention to the fact that Six Gill Sharks are endangered in Puget Sound. Setting aside the logic of promoting a place with almost no Six Gill Sharks as the Six Gill Shark Capital of the World, I have no objection – so long as it’s a relatively zero cost campaign. 🙂

However, if 5my cousins were here, they would tell you that these animals are nice, but probably only about 85% as good as Seven Gill Sharks. 😀


1JK

2Seriously. That phrase was used at the last meeting.

3But still batting two for two in not killing small children on play equipment! 🙂 In my defense, I did not feel quite as stressed about the design as-is because it seems identical to the other two working slides – which are very safe. (Having three slides is tres cool, btw).

4What gets on my last nerve is that the Parcel A proposal was 2022. And yet many people, including our own staff, seem to be unware of its existence!

5Although Six Gill Sharks were common where we fished, to my knowledge there are no Seven Gill Sharks in Ireland. That’s just my family’s sense of humour.

The Marina’s Financial Future: A Path to Sustainability

1 Comment on The Marina’s Financial Future: A Path to Sustainability

When we talk about ‘the Marina’, we’re really discussing two things: a core business serving boaters since 1970, and the larger public space that business makes possible – including our Beach Park, Fishing Pier and every other waterfront amenity both now and into the future. I want to address some important questions about that waterfront as a whole, particularly regarding a Dry Stack proposal that may be new to you, but was planned many years ago, and our City’s overall financial sustainability.

First, one way or another, the Marina has always had a significant impact on the entire City budget. Yes, it’s a standalone business, but for many years, it actually provided a large source of ongoing revenue to the City – at the expense of maintaining its own reserve for future repairs and upgrades. Think of it like taking profits from a business without saving for equipment replacement. That was irresponsible. Worse, over time, revenue opportunities were avoided.

Small boat launch. Identified as problematic in 2018. Declared unsafe in 2022

The net effects are two-fold:

  • It left the business vulnerable. When repairs are needed, like the small boat launch which failed in 2022, there is no money.
  • It also created an unnecessary financial burden on all our residents, starting with the north bulkhead replacement in 2017, continuing with the 2023 bond purchases and, still over $81,000,000 in work left to do by 2040! And with the current rate of inflation that real cost, which is only fifteen years away, will be well over $100,000,000. Unfortunately, the City has no more borrowing capacity for many years to come. Oops.

But we can’t simply walk away from the Marina, we can’t give it back, and with those kinds of maintenance costs, we likely could not sell it. (Nor would we want to, of course.) Our challenge is making that business, which is really the source of the entire waterfront, truly sustainable.

Let me explain what I mean by sustainable. Think of the Marina like your house. Just making the monthly payments is not enough. You need to save for that new roof you’ll need in 15 years, or the stove that will eventually break down. If you can’t save for these predictable expenses, or are unable to borrow in a manner you can afford to repay, you’re living beyond your means. That’s exactly where we’ve been with the Marina for decades.

Something to think about: In 2017, the City formalised the long term planning vision by creating a separate Waterfront Zone (orange). This might seem like a technical detail, but this separate ‘public zone’ meant that we were taking out a line of credit to pay for the north bulkhead replacement — debt paid by all 33,000 residents – not just boat owners. While some might argue that a ‘public’ seawall should be everyone’s responsibility, with proper revenue generation, the Marina could also have paid for a lot of that — and freed up millions of dollars for services all residents need – including police, roads, parks, etc.

This brings us to Dry Stack. The term may be new to you, but it was actually first planned for in 1999 as a replacement for the current dry sheds – all of which are now past end of life. Dry stack is not just boat storage. Think of it like a valet parking service for boats. There’s a climate-controlled building where your boat is stored, and when you want to use it, you call ahead and it’s waiting for you in the water. Better for boats, better for owners, and significantly more profitable for the Marina.

Some people will be concerned as to aesthetics. Perhaps this bit of Marina history might put this in perspective. Remember the ‘Sling Launch’ we removed in 2008? Because it had always been there, and because it was clearly performing a core Marina function – launching boats for money – people accepted and embraced it as part of the landscape. When we removed it, that was the right thing to do because so few people were using it. It was losing a ton of money – not because of aesthetics. Since it’s been gone now for fifteen years, some people would probably scream if it suddenly reappeared. People get used to things being a certain way.

Dry stack would likely be located where the dry sheds are now. Yes, it’s a change, but like the Sling Launch, it’s a core Marina function – storing and launching boats for revenue. And we’re talking about a lot of revenue – enough to generate some of the sustainable income we desperately need. We simply need to reset expectations to what the Marina was always meant to have. The entire community needs and deserves this revenue. Full stop.

The Marina Plans from 1999 until 2015 made sense because they balanced public access with financial sustainability: keep the north section (orange) public with its amazing views, develop the center (green) for commercial uses like the Quarterdeck, and leave the rest (gray) – where the dry sheds are – for the core business – boating revenue. The dry stack would only replace the existing sheds, in an area always set aside for boaters, not impinge on any other uses or public space.

Instead, the Council has repeatedly delayed the dry stack in favor of other possibilities – a hotel, the Marina Steps project, etc. These alternatives are often promoted by promising tens of thousands of tourists. Maybe someday. But meanwhile, Marina infrastructure continues to deteriorate and we have no plan to pay for it. And that will end up affecting every resident of Des Moines for years, whether they use the Marina or not.

I’ve used the Marina for three decades. I brought my kids to the Beach Park countless times. No one has derived more enjoyment from this space than my family. That’s precisely why I’m fighting so hard to protect its future. We had a good plan 25 years ago. It’s time we finally follow it.

If I had to sum this up in one key point, it would be this:

Everything the Marina can pay for it absolutely should pay for. The business must be optimized for the revenue it needs to be sustainable – not because we don’t value beauty or public access, but because the more money the Marina makes, the less taxpayers will need to pay — and the more services we can provide for everyone in Des Moines.

Our failure to implement that strategy has cost all our residents millions of dollars over the years. If we change course now, we can make those same millions available to benefit every service we provide, from police to parks to roads – and we can do this forever.

This isn’t a choice between boats or views or tourism. It’s about balance – making responsible decisions that benefit our entire community for generations to come. Thank you for your attention to this crucial issue.


1With fair rates to customers, of course. Our rates for all services have been among the best on the entire West Coast. Don’t start. 😀

Weekly Update 02/09/2025

2 Comments on Weekly Update 02/09/2025

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.

Important change: City Manager Caffrey has adopted a new format. Good news? Much more colourful! Bad news? Super short-term. However, thanks to moi, you can track each committee’s planning calendar here. 🙂

City Manager Stuff

City Manager’s Report February 7, 2025

No recipe. Just a piccie of some kid being forced to shred paper. However, this is, hands down, the best Des Moines City Manager report since about 2012. Not. Kidding. I highly recommend you read it carefully. It is far from perfect. However…

  • It even-handedly presented the current status of ‘the bond projects’ which you would not get by watching the last meeting, or by reading the mayor’s, or anyone else’s social media. Well done.
  • Also, getting into the weeds, this version is a better ‘piece’ as they say in the print biz. In addition to the useful content, the graphics, typography, presentation, are all improving. I can see these letters moving towards a consistent and usable template for our City’s digital presence. To be clear: Ms. Caffrey is neither a brand or logo or communication specialist. But one thing you don’t want is ‘design by committee’ and this is a good interim step. In my opinion, the longer she works this, the more she gets to know the City, the likelier these pieces will get to where we need to be — organically.

This Week

Tuesday: Port of Seattle Commission (Agenda)

Wednesday: Olympia for lobbying on airport bills.

Thursday: Environment Committee – 13 Feb 2025 – Agenda – Pdf Highlight: Estuary Project update.

Thursday: City Council Regular Meeting – 13 Feb 2025 – Agenda – Pdf

Meeting Highlights:

City Managers Presentations King County Metro South Link Connections Mobility Project Engineering, Presentation on The Last Mile, Des Moines Creek Estuary Project

Black History Month Proclamation
Barnes Creek Trail – South 240th Street Consultant Contract
Senior Center Roof Contract Amendment
Field House Playground Equipment Upgrade Project Agreement

Boat launch: In the packet it’s listed as ‘sling’ launch, which was extremely unfortunate. I don’t have to tell all you 1master boaters out there that there are many types of launch systems. A ‘sling’ being the common term for the dual system the City removed in 2008. That is not what we’re talking about. Anyhoo, the Council will consider rebuilding something on the spot of the current small boat launch, which was flagged for review in 2018, then removed from service in 2022. I have proposed a different type, which is necessary for a dry stack system. Yes, it’s complicated. Hopefully all will be explained next week — including the fiscal urgency.

Last Week

Wednesday: King County Flood Control District (Agenda)

Thursday:  Finance Committee – 06 Feb 2025 – Agenda

Highlights:

We established our planning calendar. I asked that we put a specific Marina Plan of Finance in there. Kinda like this. A funny thing about our Marina. In 2023 dollars, the equipment that needs upgrades is over $81,000,000 and we have no way to pay for it. And yet, your Council does not see that info. (A tiny detail for the five people who watch. 😀 I always ask staff to consider time. They often stare. 😀 But I’m always considering ‘load balance’. I have no idea what people have on their plates, so it’s easier to ask for a block of time or a date rather than “Sure we can fit that in there. Somewhere.” 😀

We also discussed Ordinance 1561 – the ‘one-time money fund’. In 2012, the Council wanted the City to start setting aside a portion of the taxes from large projects (over $15,000,000) in a separate account. This is not the same thing as the general reserve we need for operations and emergencies. Part of it was to discipline the City not to depend on one time money, ie. unpredictable revenue. Part of it was to be able to save for some special items (‘wants’). I highly endorse this conceptually. However, we’ve never been able to enforce the discipline because, as I’ve quoted my father-in-law so many times…

You have to have money in order to save money.

As I said, Ordinance 1561 was always a great concept. But if we knew all along we wouldn’t have the money to follow such a policy, maybe that shoulda given more people a clue as to our finances. 😀 Anyhoo…

The committee voted to have the City research ways to improve the ordinance. The dollar amount will likely shift. I also asked the City to reconsider the purpose. As you’ve likely heard, the Marina, as well as a number of other City facilities will require a crap ton of money in the near future. So, the purpose of this fund might shift more to like ‘saving for retirement’ (ie. needs rather than wants.)

Thursday: Public Safety Public Safety_Emergency Management Committee – 06 Feb 2025 – Agenda

First meeting of year: Planning Calendar, Code enforcement update. Apparently Code Enforcement Officer Kory Batterman is out for surgery and should be back soon.

Council Meeting Recap

Thursday: Study Session – 06 Feb 2025 – Agenda – Updated

Public Comment

There were actually two sets of public comment. A very good move by Mayor Buxton. A bajillion people showed up to support rebuilding the Redondo Fishing Pier. Zero people showed up in support of Marina Steps. The Mayor noticed this as well. We agree that this is in no way a stastistically value analysis… but not on much else as to the events of the meeting. 😀

Four Options

This was a heated discussion. It was also unbelievably complicated. I want to apologise in advance for ‘vagueness’. There are a lot of loose ends that will be tied up (hopefully) at the February 13 meeting. I have already read a few compliments to both the City and the Mayor for the meeting and before even trying to explain what happened I will say that this praise is misplaced.

Whenever a meeting and presentation is this chaotic it must be seen as a fail and the process flagged for review. There was simply too much information to prepare on short notice, too many unclear options, trying to fit into too short a time-period, both for electeds and the public. In fact, moving the discussion on ‘the bonds’ forward to February 6, from February 13, far from being ‘responsive’ or ‘transparent’ actually made the process worse.

I am certain that will be super-disheartening feedback to all concerned. There is always the notion of ‘praise in public, criticise in private.’ However, the public needs to understand these process issues because they are so chronic here.

Some of this had to be decided on February 6. But at least some of this was possible to control for. In the previous regime there would be absolutely no doubt as to the bad intent. In this case, perhaps it  is just that Ms. Caffrey jumped on board a freight train of decisions.

At the risk of leaving a ‘cliffhanger’, I’ll provide just one example and have a separate note on this soon because this article is already running long.

As I said, the City offered four broad decision options in addition to one requested action to spend $100,000. So, of course, the Deputy Mayor argued with the City Attorney, not once, but twice, that making any decisions other than the $100,000 action was out of order. This despite the packet item’s explicit instructions to the contrary. It was ridiculous. How does one say nicely, “Read the item. Go back to parliamentary school.”

I’m being harsh for a couple of reasons

  • If you’re confused as to the above, get in line. But the material was already complicated enough without having repeated distractions.
  • The current Mayor has included the Deputy Mayor in agenda setting meetings, which no other Cm gets to do. So the DM should know what’s coming. In fact, the new City Manager has already noted the followings: in other cities, to at least some extent, every Cm is involved in Agenda Setting. As with a planning commission and in so many other ways, we are outliers.
  • People running for office very rarely understand any of this. Most new Cms have no idea how parliamentary procedure or our budget works, let alone in other cities. Instead, they ‘learn by osmosis’, by watching a few meetings, and just assuming that the process they see here is ‘standard’ — like a Starbucks. When in fact, every city is run more like its own boutiquey coffee shop.

I’ve received half a dozen letters this weekend asking about the meeting, the dry stack, the Marina finances, the bonds, and they all read like this:

Great presentation! But… I’m confused!

That sums up Des Moines politics and what made this meeting a fail. I don’t care how ‘great’ the presentation seemed. Any meeting where so many people — including decision makers — walk in and then out more confused than when they walked in? Fail. Sorry.

That said, you don’t care about that. All you care about is Redondo Fishing Pier or Marina Steps, right? 😀 The Council voted, as expected to try to have it both ways. The majority voted, 4-3, to spend $100,000 to redesign the Marina Steps in a process called ‘Value Engineering’. This week’s cover image kinda says it all. “Take away the sprinkles”. We also voted to spend the lion’s share of the money to prioritise the Redondo Fishing Pier — which may (or may not) begin construction this year. But that is the current top priority of the Council. If the Marina Steps design (minus the ‘sprinkles’) fits whatever money is left? It moves forward. If not? I guess there are more food-themed discussions ahead.

I voted against everything in a vain attempt to get the Council to pay attention to the fact that the Marina still needs $81,000,000 by 2040 for repairs. One tool to pay for at least some of it, without going to the taxpayers, is called ‘dry stack’. The Council will discuss that, this Thursday, which is another reason I did not want any of this discussed until the 13th.

Sound confused? I get it!

But watch this Thursday February 13 at 6:00pm. Things can only get clearer. 😀

Circling back to the Fishing Pier. Apparently, the piccie of the deck is not as I depicted last week! It will, instead be ‘see through’ across the entire width. The Director of Public Works has promised to bring a sample of the deck material to show us what it actually looks (and feels) like. 🙂

Planning Commission

The Council moved forward (with ‘head nods’) to have the City bring back an ordinance to re-establish a planning commission 5-2? (With head nods, who can tell, right?) Thanks to everyone who showed up and wrote in support!

Again: it should never have gone away. However, the packet narrative was entirely accurate, if somewhat limited in options. A planning commission is no panacea. But it can provide some form of nexus for concerns residents have about everything ‘planning’, including what we now refer to as ‘municipal facilities’ – ie. the Marina, Redondo, etc. The residents show have visibility on all planning across the City; not some artificial boundary between City-owned and public/commercials. Residents, potential residents, realtors and developers need one place they can go and see our vision over the next twenty years.

What I never want to hear again is someone screaming “If I had known (x) was coming I never would have moved/opened a business here!”

Airport Committee

In the worst decision of the night nobody stuck around for, the Council voted 6-1 to create an airport advisory committee with literally five seconds before time ran out. 😀 What could possibly go wrong?

Having this on the same agenda, after three hours, with a Council that struggles to stay awake past 8:45 was part of the terrible.

But Sea-Tac Noise.Info has full coverage here.

I would much prefer that interested residents help create a joint committee with Burien – the city we share interests with when it comes to Sea-Tac Airport.

Each committee takes staff resources. If this actually moves forward, the same person who runs the Planning Commission would also be tasked with running this. She is a highly paid planning expert, but someone with zero experience around airports — and she is the official voice of the City now on airport issues with the Port of Seattle. Oy.

I am 100% certain that the community supports having a highly regarded professional planner supervising a Planning Commission in her area of expertise. I doubt they would support using any City staff for any task that is so far out of their depth. Sorry.

If you truly wanna do something meaningful about the airport? Please subscribe to STNI. And participate in the Burien Airport Committee. Turn that into a shared committee that works for both cities.Des Moines City re-establishes an airport committee. Sort of. – Sea-Tac Noise.Info