by Mark Neuman
We had the pleasure of sitting down recently with Carmen Scott, long time Des Moines resident, and member of the City Council.
Carmen holds Position Three on the Council, and has announced her re-election bid for the seat. She is completing her second four-year term.
Carmen faces one competitor, Melissa Ponder. Because only two candidates filed, neither Melissa’s name nor Carmen’s will appear on the August 18 primary ballot.
Both will appear, head-to-head, on the November general election ballot.
Carmen grew up just north of Des Moines, and has lived here for over 45 years. She attended Sunnyvale Elementary and Highline High School.
She and husband, LeLant, have been married since 1973.
“We need to make our downtown healthier,” Carmen told us. ”We need to make the Pacific Ridge a vibrant part of Des Moines. And the city needs to develop a basis of supporting itself without relying too heavily on property taxes.
“We right now are very focused on resolving the issues that have hindered healthy development of our downtown.”
Carmen is also concerned about the progress of an 89-acre business park near Sea Tac airport.
“The business park will come into play when economic conditions begin to resolve themselves,” she said. “We are working towards an eventual solution to the business park proposal which is currently hindered by the economy.
You'll often see Carmen Scott looking through her camera lens.
“Right now our transportation planning includes looking at the appropriate road improvements to serve the traffic that will be part of commercial development in that area. We want to see that any develpment does not negatively impact residential traffic on South 216th.
“And we need to get word out to tourists and our neighbors in surrounding communities that we have a jewel of a city right here in Des Moines,” Carmen said.
Carmen is a skilled photographer and has devoted her talents with the camera to fundraising for the benefit of Des Moines and its citizens.
Carmen is a board member of the Des Moines Historical Society and has long been involved with the Des Moines Legacy Foundation which was created a decade ago to support Des Moines parks, recreation, and senior services programs.
She is busy preparing the Foundation’s 2010 Calendar featuring many of her pictures.
For more information on the Legacy Foundation, here is their website: www.desmoineslegacy.org
To contact Carmen regarding her reelection bid, here is her mailing address:
Friends of Carmen Scott
PO Box 98514
Des Moines, WA 98198
Email: carmenscott2@msn.com
“And we need to get word out to tourists and our neighbors in surrounding communities that we have a jewel of a city right here in Des Moines,” Carmen said
And how does putting a JAIL in Des Moines accomplish this task?!
A recent picture in our localpaper, the one that never prints much about Des Moines, shows an offical with a big smile on his face at the questionable success of “winning” the jail for our city. What he doesn’t know, is that all the other citys that could have had this awful addition to our community were having fits of glee that Des Moines got it instead of them! Great show, council and associates, now we begin looking over our shoulders.