18 February 2009
Highline Amateur Radio Club
Federal Fiscal Crisis
06 February 2009
Emergency Preparedness Fair
Critical Areas Ordinance
When we all agree (or at least four of us) and pass this ordinance, this will complete an almost three year activity to update our existing (and very old) ordinance and bring the city into compliance with the Growth Management Act (if the state approves it.)
Since I have not been as intimately involved in this process as some of my colleagues, I am concerned that there are some other "stakeholders" (the consultant we hired, a technical committee of local residents with subject knowledge that worked on it originally, and the Planning Commission members,) who have an interest in it but may not have seen the final result of their long and arduous efforts. I am not sure what to do about my concern other than the e-mail that I sent this morning to the City Manager suggesting that they also get copies.
04 February 2009
Emergency Mangement
Normally, for an emergency, if the first responders need help they call on their neighbors (e. g. Normandy Park Police would call on their buddies in the Des Moines Police or the sheriff''s office in Burien or SeaTac.) Our firemen in the Burien/Normandy Park Fire Department would call on South King Fire in Des Moines, SeaTac Fire Department, or the North Highline Fire District. All of those entities have "Mutual Aid" agreements which say not only would they respond to help us, but we will respond to help them, as for example, we send Rocky, our tracking bloodhound (and his partner, Officer Morella) to help them if they need to track someone.
If the problem becomes larger than what first responders can handle, a disaster is proclaimed and we would ask the county (and state) for help. If the problem is larger than the state can handle, the Governor can also proclaim a disaster and request help from FEMA and the federal government. The President, in turn can declare a disaster and offer assistance. Note that the ultimate responsibility for the safety of our residents resides in the local officials (City Manager, Mayor, City Council.) The County Executive, county Office of Emergency Management, Governor, state Emergency Management Division, FEMA, National Guard, etc. do not come to help us unless we ask (and ask in the proper way and on the correct forms.) That was a major problem during Katrina. One rarely hears about the problems in Mississippi where the hurricane actually came ashore and completely devastated the coastal area, because the Governor of Mississippi actually used the correct procedures to request help from the federal government. He also told them what he needed so the feds could send the needed help to the correct places at the right time. On the other hand, the Mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of Louisiana somehow thought that going on TV and saying "we need help" would get a government bureaucracy to provide exactly what they needed, when and where they needed it. Going on TV and looking pathetic may be good public relations but filling out the proper forms and sending them to the right officials is what gets help for residents of a devastated area.
(Note: Notice that I stated above that the local official (more about that later), the Governor (and the County Executive) each proclaimed an emergency or disaster while the President declared one. That is my understanding of the correct terminology. Only the President "declares" a disaster; lower levels of government "proclaim." I am sure that there is a reason why that is so but I don't know it. It is just another of life's little mysteries.)
In a catastrophe, the whole country and maybe even the world comes to help but it will take time. While we can fervently hope that we never experience a catastrophe on the order of Katrina here, Emergency Managers must plan what they would do when (not if) a disaster occurs and how to help people in a catastrophe. The first thing that each and every person in Normandy Park must realize is that each of our first responders has family and those are the first people he or she is coing to think of in a disaster (or catastrophe.) In fact, this is as it should be. What kind of a person would a police officer or fireman be if he (or she) didn't think of his/her spouse, children, and parents first. This has two implications: first, they may not be able to get to help you as quickly in a disaster as they would normally so you need to be able to take care of yourself and your family; and second, the city needs to have a plan to ensure the well being of their families so they can get back to their jobs without worrying about their families.
You may have heard of the Three Days/Three Ways program, which basically would show you how to help you to take care of yourself (with food, water, medications, etc. for the first three days after a disaster.) Unfortunately, as we saw during Katrina, three days is insufficient in a catastrophe or even in a major disaster. The City of Normandy Park is asking that you consider how you might take care of yourself for up to ten days before you could expect help in terms of getting to an open grocery store or gas station, etc. (Remember during the Hanakkah Eve windstorm in 2006 when not only were homes without power but also the grocery stores and gas stations could not provide service because they also did not have power. That was a relatively minor disaster but was still very disruptive to all of our lives.) If a major disaster interrupted our infrastructure, we might need to have potable (drinking) water trucked or barged in from outside the area. Our grocery stores have about a day's worth of food readily available to them. They depend on resupply from outside the area. (The recent snowstorms that closed the passes and floods that closed I-5 caused a fear that we could have run out of food here in the Puget Sound region.) Again that was a small disaster (to most of us if not to those affected) but the lessons are that a larger incident could have serious consequences if you are unprepared. Please make sure you have an emergency supply of everything you need to last for a minimum of ten days.
After you take care of yourself and your family, consider checking on your neighbors (as you would like them to check on you.) The City has a program called Map Your Neighborhood which is sort of a Block Watch for disasters. (Block Watch or Neighborhood Watch as it is also called, if you don't know, is a program to get to know your neighbors and call the police to check if you see something strange going on at your neighbor's house while they do the same for you.) If you are interested in either of these programs (in Normandy Park,) call Officer Dave Bond during normal business hours at 206-248-7600. Outside of Normandy Park, call your local Police Department.)
Now, finally, I am going to get on my soapbox for the reason that I started this particular posting in the first place. In a time of disaster, a local official must start the ball rolling to get outside help. The mechanism to start that (under state law,) is the Proclamation of Emergency. Besides being an official call for help, it authorizes certain actions by the city government. It authorizes the government to suspend normal bid procedures that would be required to purchase supplies and services for the response to the disaster.
State law says that the Chief Executive Officer of the city (or his designee) is the one authorized to proclaim an emergency. The City of Normandy Park runs under the "council/manager" form of local government (i. e. the City Council is a legislative branch and hires a City Manager to actually run the executive portion of the city (as opposed to a strong mayor form, in which the Mayor is elected directly and is the chief executive with a city administrator to help.) Mayor McEvoy was elected from among the seven city council members by the council to serve as or but his duties are limited to running city council meetings and being the ceremonial head of the city. (I was elected as Mayor Pro Tem to perform his duties if he is unavailable. Sometimes we do allow him to go on vacation.)
State law does permit one exception to the concept that the City Manager is the Chief Executive and that occurs during a disaster. The Mayor may be tasked with proclaiming the disaster, if the council so chooses (and enacts an ordinance to that effect.) I would like to see the council do precisely that primarily for two reasons. First, as I learned in junior high social studies, we Americans like to have a separation of powers. Since it is the City Manager who would acquire the power to operate without the bid laws, etc., I would like to see someone else authorize him that authority rather than having him both authorize and exercise that power. (I must state that this is a philosphical reason because I have no doubts that our current city manager would not abuse this authority; perhaps a subsequent one could.) My second reason is that if the City Manager were not available (we also allow him to go on vacation, although infrequently), the next people whom he has designated to act in his stead, do not live in (or even particularly near) the city and thus might be difficult to reach in a major disaster when transportation and communications are disrupted. The Mayor (and his successors) all live in the city (by law) and are, therefore, much more accessible.
Several of the counter arguments that I have heard are that it might be possible that a future mayor might have some conflict with the City Manager (who would be advising the Mayor that a Proclamation of Emergency is needed) and that conflict might delay (or even prevent) a necessary proclamation. Another argument is that, since the City Manager's advice to the Mayor is highly desirable before a Proclamation is signed, two people are necessary to agree when time is of the essence. Also, if the disaster occurs during working hours (think Nisqually Quake,) the City Manager is likely right at hand in City Hall, while a Mayor might be at work outside the city.
31 January 2009
Urban subsidies
This is one of the reasons that some Burien residents are not eager to annex portions (especially residential portions that have no sales tax base) of North Highline. The residents of North Highline that are annexed will lower the per capita revenue of Burien. In additon the infrastructure of North Highline is not as well maintained as that in the city of Burien so will take an intra-Burien subsidy to raise its standards for years.
A reason that North Highline residents might like to keep things as they are is that cities have ceratin other taxes that they are allowed to add to their residents' tax bills (e. g. utility taxes) that the county is not allowed to charge the residents of unincorporated county areas. As long as they stay unincorporated, they keep their tax bills lower and keep receiving the urban subsidy (but of course, they have little say in a county government gerrymandered to give Seattle a disproportionate vote.)
What is the answer? There probably isn't one that is desirable for all, but if the state would mandate that the county keep separate budgets for its local government rsponsibilities and its regional responsibilities, at least we might be able to figure out what they are up to.
As an example, I was disheartened to learn that King County has (only) two sets of Emergency Management Plans, one for the residents of unincorporated county and one for county government agencies. They have no plan for what services they plan to offer on a regional basis for all residents of the county, both in and outside of cities.
Make the county do its job(s) - swim pools
Legislature: House Bill 1823
It is a sad state of affairs when the legislature has to spend its precious time forcing a recalcitrant county executive to do his job.
08 January 2009
RCAA Issues Fact Sheet on 3rd Runway Use
How did the FAA and the Port of Seattle say that the third runway would be used: The following RCAA Fact SHeet (no. 19) quotes from the official documents.
REGIONAL COMMISSION ON AIRPORT AFFAIRS
19900 4th S.W.
Normandy Park, Washington
98166-4043
Telephone: 206.824.3120
cell phone: 206.3104873
E-mail: rcaa@earthlink.net
www.rcaanews.org
RCAA fact sheet no. 19
SOME RELEVANT MATERIALS ABOUT THE PLANNED USE
OF THE THIRD RUNWAY AT SEATTLE-TACOMA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
All materials mentioned below are found in the Final EIS for the third runway (& other Sea-Tac Airport expansion projects). All quotations are from a library copy of the FEIS in the library of the Regional Commission on Airport Affairs. Formal title: “Final Environmental Impact Statement for Proposed Master Plan Update Development Actions at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (February 1996)”; cited in the form, [volume] FEIS [page number]
1. The [stated] purpose of the third runway was to alleviate arrival delays during certain poor-weather conditions (instrument flight rules) at the Airport.
Here are some representative quotes from the main text of the FEIS:
“ … primary purpose would be to enable two separate arrival streams to Sea-Tac during poor and good weather” I FEIS I-17
“ the proposed new parallel runway is needed to address existing poor weather
delays.” Response R-3-15, IV FEIS (Appendix R) R-35
“The fundamental problem addressed by in this FEIS is the aircraft operational delays [sic] caused by the lack of dual approach procedures under certain weather conditions.” Response R-3-21B, IV FEIS (Appendix R)
2. The use of third runway would be primarily for arrivals; departures would be a very small part of the use.
“Because the proposed new dependant parallel runway is proposed to reduce poor weather delay, which is primarily arrival related, the runway would be expected to
be used primarily for arrivals. About 12.1 percent of arrivals in a south flow would occur on the new runway, with about 2.6 percent of departures.” I FEIS IV.1-1
From IV FEIS (Appendix R) R-44 ---
Comment R-3-25 The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency suggested that the
proposed new runway be evaluated as a departure runway instead of as an arrival runway.
Response: Inefficient airfield operations occur during poor weather conditions …
Although a third runway at Sea-Tac would primarily be used for arrivals, it would accommodate a limited number of departures during peak departure periods and other circumstances … usage of this runway for departure is expected to be less than 5 percent
of the year … .
From IV FEIS (Appendix R) R-71-2 ---
Comment R-6-13: A number of commentors are concerned about the usage of the proposed third runway. …
Response: … the runway is expected to be used by 3.9% of all departures. … The use of the runway by a large number of departures would, however, defeat the purpose of its proposed construction by reducing its availability for arrivals. … .
The average annualized daily number of operations projected to use the proposed new parallel runway with a length up to 8,500 feet are [sic] as follows:
Year Landings Takeoffs
2000 80 20
2010 86 22
2020 93 24
[The authors of the FEIS assumed that the third runway would be completed & in operation by the year 2000.]
See also IV FEIS, R-10-15
See also II FEIS, App’x C, sec 3 (3) 1 (pp C-18-19) & Table C-20, p.C-48.
* * * * *
NOTE: This Fact Sheet does not include materials from other official sources, which consistently confirm that the third runway’s use would primarily be for arrivals from the north, in poor weather. We are not sure that this fact sheet includes all discussions of this topic in the FEIS. The structure of the FEIS resulted in particular issues being discussed in several different places, without cross-references. The FEIS does not contain a topical index.
© RCAA 2008, 2009
Most recent update: 8 i 09 -- discard earlier versions
I-08-3-03
Fact sheet no. 19 (rev.2)
07 January 2009
Meeting Thursday on Runway Noise
FINAL HIGHLINE FORUM & PORT PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD AGENDA
January 8, 2009 – Thursday
Highline Forum: 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm
Port of Seattle Public Comment Period: 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
Airport Conference Center, Mezzanine Level
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2:00 pm Welcome & Introduction of Topic Co-chairs
Meeting Topic: The Highline Forum will discuss the use of the third runway since its opening. In particular, the Highline Forum will address public complaints that the runway is not being used as promised.
· Data depicting how the runway has operated to date Mark Reis, POS
· EIS assumptions for predicting use and impacts Mark Reis, POS
· Current usage of runway Mark Reis, POS
2:30 pm Questions & Answers Highline Forum
3:00 pm Forum Adjourns & Opening of Port Public Comment Period
4:00 pm Port Public Comment Period Ends
---------------------------------------
Parking & directions to meeting place (Airport Conference Center)
Park in the Airport Garage, in the daily-parking section (floors 5-8) at the south end of the garage near the yellow or green elevators (rows N-U). Take the elevator to the fourth floor and walk across the skybridge #1, between the yellow elevator bank and the green elevator bank, to the Main Terminal. Take the escalator or elevator up to the ticketing level. Then take the stairs or elevator to the Mezzanine Level (these are directly behind the international and Hawaiian Airlines ticket counters). Enter the reception area though the double glass doors for the Aviation Division Offices. The receptionist will direct you to the right conference room. It is expected that the Airport will follow its usual practice of validating your parking.