Des Moines City Manager’s Weekly Report for week ending Sept. 20, 2024
International Coastal Clean Up
Tomorrow, Saturday September 21, is International Coastal Clean-up. Started by the Ocean Conservancy, volunteers and organizations around the world come together to remove debris from our beaches and waters. Divers will be underneath the Marina’s Fishing Pier cleaning and removing items, and additional helpers will be walking the beaches cleaning up.
Fishing will be closed from 7am-3pm while the divers are in the water. The pier will remain open for people to watch as they bring up items. Travis, one of our Marina service staff members, will be piloting the barge for the divers. This event is quite unique, and the divers typically find a lot of neat items – including urns, guns, phones, fishing lures, jigs & fishing line,
All of the treasures found will be brought to a booth at the Des Moines Waterfront Farmers Market for sorting, and show and tell. Come join in the fun!
Des Moines Waterfront Farmers Market – Holiday Bazaar
The Farmers Market has two Saturdays left for the season so come join us this Saturday and next. After that, you can kick off the winter season at the Farmer’s Market Holiday Bazaar at the Beach Park Auditorium on Saturday, November 2, 10am-6pm. Find those one of a kind gifts for winter giving. Or, interested in hosting a booth? Booth applications are now open. Apply soon and sell your trinkets, goods and more to your local community! https://forms.gle/qpgKFqLcnAdLUyCw6
Des Moines Municipal Court DUI Program
Our Des Moines Municipal Court DUI Program recently welcomed its 32nd since the inception of this innovative program and will see our twelfth graduate at the next hearing. Des Moines DUI Court began in 2017 and focuses on high risk (repeat) DUI offenders who also have a substance use disorder to help prevent recidivism. Des Moines DUI Court currently has a recidivism (re-offense) rate of 0% among graduates of the program.
Trunk or Treat
Join us at Steven J Underwood Park on October 28th, 5-6:30pm for our second annual Trunk or Treat!
We would like to invite you to host a plot. Let the creative juices flow! You can sign up here: www.desmoineswa.gov/daysmart under “Special Events”. We also encourage anyone and everyone to attend!
Check out the Parks and Recreation Facebook page for more info!
https://www.facebook.com/desmoinesparksandrecreation
We need your input on King County’s Behavioral Health System
The MIDD (Mental Illness and Drug Dependency) Renewal Survey is part of King County’s efforts to gather community input on the renewal of the behavioral health sales tax. King County is passing along two opportunities for residents to share their input on the behavioral health system, including both mental health and substance use care.
King County, and counties across the country, are facing behavioral health challenges including growing need for mental health and substance use care, a workforce shortage, and an overdose crisis, impacting residents all across the county, especially children and youth. We need to hear from a wide range of community voices to bring their experiences, concerns and desires into King County’s visioning and planning process for upcoming behavioral health system improvements.
Online survey
King County recently released a new online survey to learn how the behavioral health system can better serve communities. The survey takes about 10 minutes to complete and is available in 21 languages.
Learn more and take the survey here.
You can download promotional flyers and blurbs to include in social media posts or email newsletters, available in 21 languages, at that link. The survey is open until October 31.
In-person Listening Sessions, starting September 23
King County is also hosting in-person listening sessions all across King County, including one event at each of the nine county council districts. What community members share at these listening sessions will help King County to prioritize how they invest in a system for mental health and substance use care that serves our communities.
Light snacks will be served and gift cards will be provided as compensation to those who attend.
Spanish and ASL interpretation will be available.
See dates and locations for the listening sessions, sign up and more here.
City Council Summary
There was no City Council meeting this week as the Council does not meet on the third Thursday of the month. The next Council meeting will be September 26, the agenda and materials can be found here.
The Municipal Facilities Committee will meet at 4pm and the Economic Development will meet at 5pm.
Sports Update
Congratulations to the Cougars on winning the Apple Cup. The Cougs played a great game and deserve recognition for beating the Huskies. The beleaguered Dawgs take on Northwestern this Saturday. The Seahawks remain unbeaten heading into a week 3 matchup with the Miami Dolphins and their backup QB on Sunday. Shohei Ohtani crowned himself the King of Baseball this week by becoming the only human ever to hit 50 homeruns and steal 50 bases in a single season. Really impressive stuff. And he
can pitch. The WNBA playoffs kick off this weekend with the Storm heavy underdogs against the Las Vegas Aces on Sunday. Caitlyn Clark and the Fever face off against Connecticut on Sunday as well in game 1. The Kraken are back and start their pre-season against Calgary on Sunday night and the Mariners continue to do something in Texas this weekend.
Have a great weekend!
– Interim City Manager Tim George
