Some bits of business…
- June 4, 2026 — Committee of the Whole, 5:00–5:50 p.m.
- SAMP Update
- Crime Stats Presentation
- June 4, 2026 — City Council Study Session, 6:00–10:00 p.m.
- Infrastructure Project & Funding Discussion
- June 11, 2026 — City Council Regular Meeting, 6:00–10:00 p.m.
- LGBTQIA+ Pride Month Proclamation
- Juneteenth Proclamation
- SKHHP Presentation
- Port of Seattle Presentation
- 2027 SKHHP Work Plan and Budget Adoption
- Adoption of Strategic Plan
- Airport Committee Workplan
- June 25, 2026 — City Council Regular Meeting, 6:00–10:00 p.m.
- 2025 4th Quarter Financial Report
- 2026 1st Quarter Financial Report
- August 6, 2026 — Committee of the Whole, 5:00–5:50 p.m.
- Check in on Committee of the Whole
- August 6, 2026 — City Council Study Session, 6:00–10:00 p.m.
- 2026 2nd Quarter Financial Report
- August 13, 2026 — City Council Regular Meeting, 6:00–10:00 p.m.
- Capital Improvements Plan - First Reading
- August 27, 2026 — City Council Regular Meeting, 6:00–10:00 p.m.
- Capital Improvements Plan - Second Reading
- Capital Improvements Plan - First Reading
Future Agendas is the closest thing the City currently has to a calendar of upcoming City Council topics. It’s not always accurate. But until we develop a genuine calendar, this can be useful if there is a particular issue you don’t want to miss.
Paul Dorpat, RIP
Good article in Seattle Times on the passing of Paul Dorpat, longtime Seattle historian, dies at 87 | The Seattle Times
If you’ve read the Seattle Times over the past 400 years you know Paul’s work. In addition to authoring some of the best local history ever written, he began the very popular Now and Then columns in every Sunday Pacific Northwest magazine — passed onto Clay Eals and Jean Sherrard several years ago. I was lucky enough to know Paul and I am certain his influence will be felt for decades to come.
I can honestly say that Paul had a lot to do with my starting this goofy web site — for two reasons:
- Because I needed to be able to track things. The City’s web site was originally very good (which you probably don’t know), and then became so terrible over the decades, you likely also didn’t know what it a Civic website is supposed to be able to do.
- I wanted to have that before/after. That’s why I take all the piccies of places instead of people.
He did not invent it, but I believe strongly that having that ‘before/after’ view of place is a key to its success. Change is essential. But if you don’t know how things really used to be, you can’t measure how things are really going now. Anyone can sell you anything because you have no objective yardstick. Sometimes ‘now’ is better. Sometimes not.
I encourage everyone to visit PaulDorpat.com Seattle Now & Then.
Website Update/Contest Extension…
Speaking of web sites, please help beta-test the new site! It is a big deal. The front end of the new beta site is much better visually. However, mechanically it is not what I had hoped for. And some parts (the documents part) are actually worse. It caused notable friction during the last meeting because, frankly, no one else is noticing or even testing properly.
I got five responses to my last contest to test the web site. And this is where it gets awkward–it’s probably my fault. The instructions were to test the Agenda portion — because that’s the part that is totally broken, terrible, blech, BARF, DISGUSTING. 😀
How’s that for being subtle? 🙂
No one did that. Everyone tested the front end of the site. Which is fine. But that’s not what I care about. And it was my contest. 😀
So, I’m keeping the contest open for another week. 🙂
This is the deal: As I just wrote, I started this web site to be able to find things. I knew the ferry was total rubbish because I could easily find copies of all the documents. Ditto things like finance, Marina, Des Moines Creek Business Park, etc. Sometimes I’ve been successful at changing obviously bad things, sometimes not. But you can’t improve anything if the only information you get is at a City Council presentation or from some third-hand rumour. You need to be able to see for realz documents.
Here is my prob with the current search system. I hope people will try it for themselves, win a prize, and (hope against hope) the City fixes it so that other electeds can find things. 🙂
About the cover
In keeping with the ‘history’ theme, the cover is the Field House repainted. Which may not seem like a big deal, but it is. We have not one, but two, examples of this kind of construction here in Des Moines. The other is the Ranger Station at Saltwater State Park. To understand what a fresh coat of paint can do, go check out the Ranger Station. Oy, it needs serious help and love.
Both were built as part of an inexpensive work-projects program during the Great Depression. Neither was some fancy pants deal. In fact, there were hundreds and hundreds of them built all over the US. But the design is so wonderful — it’s something everyone responds to with overwhelming positivity. That’s the value of preservation — the design has a quality that binds communities together in a way that very few new buildings could.
City Manager Stuff
City Manager Reports! June, 5 2026
The highlight for moi was a list of summer events — concerts!
This Week
Monday
4:00pm Airport Advisory Committee: a joint meeting with Burien’s airport committee to discuss the SAMP/SEPA/DEIS and perhaps the future of StART?
Tuesday
12:00pm Port Commission: Coincidentally, the Port will give its annual StART report. And in example #327 of how tone-deaf we are to airport issues, it never ceases to kill me how nobody else but STNI actually watches this stuff. You could walk into an ‘airport committee’ meeting on Monday and hear people wondering aloud how the Port ‘thinks’ about x,y,z. Or, one could just watch the commission meeting on Tuesday. 😀
That’s a major reason I helped create STNI 10 years ago. The Port watches everything we do. It struck me that there might be value in someone watching them. 😀
Thursday
City Council Meeting Thursday: June 11, 2026 City Council Meeting Agenda Packet. Some Highlights:
- Review and Confirmation of the Strategic Priorities for Adoption
- 2026 4th of July Event Update – 10 Minutes
Staff Presentation by AJ Johnson-Newton, Assistant City Manager - Port of Seattle SAMP/SEPA/DEIS Presentation – 40 Minutes from our former Mayor Dave Kaplan, Port of Seattle Local Government Relations Manager
- 2027 South King Housing and Homelessness Partners (SKHHP) Work Plan
and Budget Presentation. I generally vote ‘no’ on these, ironically because we they have been incredibly ineffective at… wait for it… building housing here.
Last Week
Wednesday
1:30pm Stormfest! at the Beach Park. This is sort of a science field trip for middle-schoolers organised by the science center in Burien (Seahurst Park), but often held here? Anyhoo, basically the entire SWM team helps wrangle the students, everyone learns about ‘Benthic Sediment!’, and DV, they grow up caring a bit more about the environment.
Thursday
City Council (#recap)
June 4, 2026 City Council
5:00pm COW
- Sustainable Airport Master Plan (SAMP) Update – this was something of a non-event.
- First Quarter 2026 Police Operations Update – 20 Minutes.
My questions focused on current staffing levels and the average response times (under 10 minutes.) Chief Boe is usually great with stats, but in general, crime stats do not kill me. There is not much standardisation between PDs in WA or across states so it’s really hard to honestly compare. And since most ‘safety’ is such a visceral thing, I don’t see leaders racing to do something about it. At least two chiefs we’ve had here avoided stats, telling me that they only ‘riled up’ the public (“residents refuse to believe that crime is ever going down.“) I dunno what to do with that.
One takeaway is that, although major crime is down (basically everywhere), there has been a steady struggle with code enforcement and domestic violence. Another is that, although ‘crime’ is down, so is our officer count — which actually reached its height during COVID. The officers we have continue to run a lot of overtime, which concerns me in terms of long term wellness, but if you’re young and strong, I guess money is good. But this is telling for me. We voted down a public safety tax increase and as expected… nobody seems to have noticed. But the cost is only being able to respond, not do more things to prevent and improve.
6:00pm Study Session
Infrastructure Project and Funding Discussion – 60 Minutes
Staff Presentation: Public Works Director Michael Slevin and Psomas. This was an important presentation with a ton of ‘details’ on what
In the highly unlikely event the presenters read this, what was going through my head as I listened was very similar to that of the Ferry presentation a few weeks ago — Duuuuuuuuuuuh. 😀 And also, “I can’t believe we’re paying for this…” 😀 😀
If I agree with someone too much, it could mean I’m drunk, in love, or missing something. But the messages we’ve been getting recently, while great, are ones we should have been given about a decade ago.
I felt very strongly that this was the wrong time to have these kinds of meetings because the conclusions are obvious and instead of dreaming of the future or revisiting the past (with zero accountability) we should be attacking the real challenges we face now. Which are airport and financial planning, neither of which the Council has taken seriously thus far.
There is a real danger that by appearing to ‘act responsibly’ we’re actually avoiding acting responsibly. It’s like having a meeting with a retirement planner while searching for a job. Nice. But maybe not your highest priority.
The SAMP is the most important decision process you haven’t heard about. It’s like telling people COVID is coming years in advance and getting a big shrug. Other cities are already having budget meetings. We haven’t even closed out 2025. Cleansing breath.
Takeaways: One-way streets bad. Undergrounding utilities, expensive but good. Developing a unique purpose for each main street is essential. Parking should be well-planned. The transfer of SR-509 to local control will be an x-factor. Money is a ‘mosaic’ of funding sources that all have to be channeled towards a unified message to maximise opportunities. These are not 4-D chess.
For me, a good example of that money-mosaic: The original Marina Fishing Pier was a combo-platter of grants (no out of pocket!) from multiple agencies. It took a lot of negotiation, but ultimately the proposal was successful because it addressed several needs with a coherent story: fishing, recreation, parking.
