Our Des Moines City Council Online Candidate Forum Position #1: Anne Farmer vs Matt Pina

In case you missed the various Des Moines City Council Candidates Forums, we here at The Waterland Blog have gone to the trouble of creating our own online forum which consists of answers to five relevant questions we emailed to each candidate.

Here are the answers from the candidates for Position #1 – Anne Farmer and Matt Pina. Please note that we have made no alterations to their text, so the words used is purely theirs, including any typos or other errors.

Each candidate is identified by their names and headshots, then initials:

1. What is the primary objective you hope to accomplish for Des Moines if you are elected to the council?  What qualifies you to lead this effort?

ANNE FARMER: The primary objective I have for Des Moines is to return cash flow to the community in the form of tax revenue.  This means becoming business friendly as quickly as possible while maintaining funding for essential public services such as police and parks/recreation.  Increased tax revenue will give the city the support it needs to pay for essentials such as parks/recreation as well as pay for upgrades to the marina and other areas that attract visitors to our community.  The whole idea is to make Des Moines a safe and attractive place for businesses, residents, and visitors.

I am qualified to lead this effort due to my experience in sales, marketing, and business development.  I also have a Master Degree in Business Administration.  In the past I worked as a Director of Corporate Development where I was responsible for making failing businesses either profitable or marketable to be sold to large corporations.  Currently, I work in a sales capacity for a large pharmaceutical company. This translates well to running a city because I am highly accustomed to dealing with government regulations.  I also have major responsibility for generating revenue and managing a budget for which I must account for every penny spent.  These skills are essential for handling Des Moines current budgeting crisis.  I feel that my background has prepared me well for this and will also help lead the effort to promote Des Moines as a destination.

MATT PINA: My main objective as a Des Moines Councilman is to focus on the city’s revitalization and redevelopment. This doesn’t mean that we should overlook the primary responsibilities of public safety, transportation and public services. What it does mean is that the council needs to work together with the community to develop a vision for the future that we can work toward. Once the vision is established, plans will need to be made, issues identified and efforts prioritized. To ensure accountability, the council will need to identify a project manager or Economic Development Manager that will oversee the effort and provide frequent community/council progress reports.

My background in finance, business, quality assurance and project management will help as the council provides direction, feedback and leadership oversight with this process. My experience and relationships in government will help as we address the many challenges that are likely to arise during this process and look for ways to solve each issue.

2. Des Moines tax revenue is down sharply, as reflected in the budget-cutting process for 2010. What will you do to increase revenue for the city without negatively impacting city residents and businesses?

AF: Not only is tax revenue down, Des Moines ranks lowest in the State of Washington for cities with populations over 20,000.  Des Moines is not business friendly, and the city needs to take action to attract investors, builders, and business owners.  To make this happen we need buy in from the council members as well as a strategic marketing plan to promote the city as business friendly.

First of all it starts with the City Council as a whole making the tough decisions that need to be made rather than spend 4 more years arguing about how to do it.  Secondly, we need to remove the roadblocks in the permitting process as well as reduce permitting costs.  Even though permits generate revenue, the city is going to have to give up something to get something.  Third, I would like to work directly with developers and current building owners to make adjustments to zoning and height restrictions.  As it stands right now, Des Moines is incredibly expensive for both commercial and residential developers to build in.   We need to make the process easy and affordable as well as provide incentives such as the option to build an extra 10ft in height on certain parcels.

All of these adjustments if done correctly can be made with little impact to residents and businesses.  Minor adjustments to height restrictions downtown will make it easier for developers to build attractive residential/commercial buildings near the water.   Also,  updated buildings will attract more local businesses to move here.  With regards to the other commercial areas of Des Moines, expediting improvements to zoning and permitting will also make it easier for large retailers such as Costco or Home Depot to move into Des Moines rather than continue to locate themselves just outside city limits.

MP: The long term solution to resolving the city’s budget challenges rests on the development of the city’s business base. In the short term the city must partner with its existing businesses and help to promote them along with the other assets Des Moines has to offer.  I will consider opportunities from corporate sponsors as a way to generate revenue and help with park maintenance and facility support.

I will also explore partnerships with fellow cities and government entities to see if there are other opportunities that make sense and help ease the cost of certain operations. Additionally, I will look for ways to increase efficiencies through automation and process improvements. Sample ideas might include an automated building permit process that will minimize the staff and effort required to process each request. Another idea is to look for and incorporate the  use of workforce multipliers like internet ready police vehicles, providing instant access to offender records and in-car remote visibility of high-crime hot spots. Finally, I will look for opportunities with Stimulus Funds and other pro development initiatives that may help to address capital infrastructure

3. Business activity downtown remains sluggish.  What will you do to position the city to encourage increased business activity and development downtown?

AF: As I mentioned in the question above, this all starts with making our commercial areas attractive to investors, builders, and business owners.  We need a strategic marketing plan as well as definable goals to accomplish these improvements.  Downtown Des Moines, can not be properly marketed until the council removes all of the roadblocks to development as well as clean up criminal activity in the area.  No matter what direction you drive in to our city, you are greeted with an unsafe feeling.  This is not only disconcerting for people who live here but also people who shop and visit here.  Des Moines is a prime location for retail businesses if we market it properly and make it easy to build here.  We are next to the water, 8 minutes from the airport, 20 minutes from Seattle or Tacoma, and easily accessible from the freeway.  Each day, thousands of cars pass through town on Marine View Dr and Pacific Hwy.  We need to give people a reason to stop, get out of the car, and open their wallets.

If the council can move forward from this mess and start working together, we can take action now and start attracting new businesses right away.

MP: Community celebrations, activities and events help to attract people to the town and create the buzz “that something’s happening in Des Moines”.  When the city sanctions a local event, the council needs to do so stating a “Des Moines first” mandate. This means that if there are food and beverage opportunities at an event, preference will be given to bids from local merchants.

I see partnership opportunities with the Highline College media and marketing programs to promote Des Moines businesses both within the community and in the surrounding areas. This will create both business and learning opportunities.

An initiative to communicate to local community about how much their sales tax contributes to the finances of the town will help to create awareness and encourage a “shop in Des Moines” attitude.

We need to engage in dialogue with the local merchants to make sure we understand what it is about business in Des Moines that is working and what isn’t. The council needs to understand their issues and make necessary changes to ensuring that we are both business friendly and competitive with the other cities in this area.

Finally, we need to reach out to successful businesses in surrounding areas and ask them to consider expanding into our city. This will help to decrease vacancies while increasing both community draw and revenue.

4. Should Des Moines promote itself as a tourist destination? If yes, what should the city do (e.g., encourage development of bed-and-breakfasts, Puget Sound tour boat cruises from the Marina, summer salmon bakes)?  If no, why not?

AF: The city should absolutely promote itself as a tourist destination.  However, that likely won’t be able to happen until the business community is brought back.  The combination of a run down city with little retail shopping coupled with crime ridden streets lacks any desirability to tourists.  If we can get the city back on track, bring back tax revenue and clean up the crime there will be plenty of money for promotion of Des Moines as a destination.  As I mentioned above, Des Moines is located in a prime location for all of this.

MP: We need to promote Des Moines as a local destination (shopping, dining, view walks, etc). However, I don’t know if all the examples given are reasonable considerations.  I believe the community supports events like car shows, salmon bakes and summer concerts. I don’t know if they will support Puget Sound tour boats. This option requires much more thought and consideration. Is our marina equipped to support these vessels without costly infrastructure development?  Additionally, (other than going to Anthony’s) what do we have at the marina for tourists (without land transportation) to do when they arrive? It’s a possibility, but it will take some discussion.  We need to work through the ideas and identify those that are a best fit for the city. We definitely need to improve the connection from the marina to downtown.

Des Moines is really a diamond in the rough, we just need to work together to help it shine.

5.  Do you support development of Waterview Crossing and Des Moines Creek Business Park? If yes, what will you do to position the city to help these projects move forward?  If no, why not?

AF: I support development of all commercial areas in Des Moines.  However, the projects must be prioritized and the council must agree on a vision for each area.  These projects have been debated and talked about for too long and it should be the council’s responsibility to set a realistic goal for development.  I would like to see Des Moines resemble Edmonds or Kirkland. These are smaller cities that have several different commercial areas.  Each city has a quaint waterfront filled with local businesses, restaurants and bars, followed by larger commercial areas near the freeway that cater to big box stores like Costco as well as office parks.  I think we need to look at what these two cities have done grow their commercial areas and model our vision after them.  It is absolutely possible for small towns to have a successful business community no matter how bad the economy is.

MP: It is clear that Des Moines needs to develop a business park in the 90 acre Port of Seattle buyout area. It will create jobs and the help to provide necessary, long-term contributions to the city’s budget. There have been many discussions and plans for how to do this. I believe the process even got to the point of developer selection before the downturn in the economy. I will use my position on the council to partner with others to get this effort restarted and moving forward again.

Hopefully this little Q&A will help you to decide on whom to vote for in the Nov. 3rd election.

Coming up next, the candidates for Position #3: Carmen Scott vs Melissa Ponder.