I was out and about on Monday and went to see our satellite city hall office on Highway 99. This is what I found:
A closed office (at noon), with someone’s belongings in a shopping cart in front of shades-drawn windows with numerous haphazardly posted fliers on the inside. And another flier slid under the front door. No office hours were posted. Once home, I looked for the office hours on the city’s website. Couldn’t find anything. You can’t make this stuff up!
What are we paying for? It’s about time we started to hold someone accountable for this waste of taxpayer’s money. Do we start with the mayor, or should we start with our city council?
There’s been discussion about the need for a police substation in this part of our town. Let’s immediately repurpose this farce of a neighborhood city hall for a needed police substation. We don’t need to buy or rent more property, just reuse what we’re already paying for.
— By Jim Ogonowski
Jim Ogonowski lives in Edmonds
Mike Nelson is a joke… Taxpayer dollars or Salmon stream… He’ll screw it up..
Curious, I to wonder what is going on haven’t heard anything about the mayor’s great idea for quite some time you would think we would be getting updates about this project and its great success. It was made to sound like there would be a line of people seeking help every day, sounds like a manufactured problem sold to the people as a need at great taxpayer expense. This is a problem with government in general and this mayor and administration in particular they literally go out of their way to find more ways to spend our money and increase the size of government, fiscal responsibility is foriegn language to these people. The approved budget in 2012 was like 33 million what is it now north of 100 million? Please tell me what all this extra spending has got us in the last decade are the potholes filled do our neighborhoods have street lights and sidewalks? I can tell you what we do have is a much bigger bloated city government and little measurable improvement for our hard earned taxes.
Posting on behalf of Alicia Crank, who is having technical difficulties commenting:
I wanted to respond to Jim’s post about the neighborhood city hall:
You are correct that it’s hard to find simple information about this on the city’s website. They can certainly do better with that information.
That being said, the nitpicking of any spending outside of the Bowl is getting tiresome. I’m sorry that the one time you visited, no one was there. Tabatha Shoemake, who I believe is stationed out of that office, has been connecting with stakeholders across the Edmonds community and running programs like the community police academy, so she isn’t there all the time.
Edmonds Community Court is also held there: https://www.edmondswa.gov/cms/one.aspx?portalId=16495016&pageId=19579115
You can also find it’s uses from an article that was written here just over a year ago (though I’d certainly welcome an update, maybe with Tabatha, as she is the Community Engagement Coordinator) : https://myedmondsnews.com/2022/04/city-limited-hours-for-new-hwy-99-neighborhood-office-until-front-desk-employee-hired/
So there is use for the space as it’s currently set up. Maybe a call to city staff would have been warranted (before posting this, but maybe you did but didn’t mention it).
In the name of civic engagement, how cool would a monthly column called “Ask the City” where readers can submit questions and have them answered by Community Engagement Coordinator and/or other staff person.
Alica, I have been in that shopping center at least three to four times a week for the past year (Hundreds of times) and have never seen that office open ever. Never, never, ever. It may not feel good or be politically correct but sometimes you just gotta call things the way they are and this location is a waste of money at that office. This is not even close to being nitpicking, unless your totally out of touch. ‘Limited hours” should not be doublespeak for never or rarely open, and rationalizing otherwise is complete nonsense.
My question still stands: did anyone call City Hall to ask what the deal is? I don’t disagree that it’s been sporatic seeing it open, be it due to short staffing or whatever the reason it. If you did, and there was no response or follow up, then that’s bad on staff’s part. If it hasn’t been brought to their attention, start there first, as well as find out what other services are there and when. I didn’t know Community Court was held there until I looked it up, and followed up with a phone call.
And posting on behalf of Jim Ogonowski:
Thank you, Alicia, for letting me know about all the good that is coming from this site because I couldn’t find any information anywhere. And without hours posted on the door, how would anyone know when services are available (whatever those services may be)?
Guilty as charged relative to not mentioning other pieces of information. This was not my first visit to the neighborhood city hall. My other attempt yielded a similar result.What made this stand out was the shopping cart outside the door. I did not reach out to the mayor because I have NEVER received a response to any previous inquiry. Before posting, I did reach out to our city council and only received a reply from CM Buckshnis.
As far as “nitpicking”, if you’ll notice I provided an alternate use which fits a current need “outside the bowl”. In fact, something that could be done sooner than any of the other proposals that I’ve heard. I will also say that I couldn’t agree with you more that the city needs to do a better job at communicating. It would be nice if they would add to this commentary so we know that they’re listening.
Thank you Alicia. I’m so tired of the Mike Nelson bashing. At least he is trying to do something outside the “beloved bowl.” I’ll definitely be voting for Mike Nelson.
I agree with Mr. Ogonowski’s observation and comments. We often shop at the Safeway, near the satellite Town Hall storefront, and have made similar observations, as noted by Mr. Ogonowski, affirming his observation is not a one-off instance.
I further agree that our money would be better spent using the current site as a police substation and passing on the Burlington Coat Factory property. That property was never very accessible and with the recent installation of the center roadway barriers the access driving south on SR 99 is nonexistent. Further, we can’t afford the 38 million dollar property and even if we could there are many more important priority projects to tackle for Edmonds and it’s citizens.
The City Hall Neighborhood Office hours are Tuesday-Thursday 9:00am-4:00pm. While the hours seem limited, there is often staff behind the doors working with people in need.
Each time I visit this office, there is a resident there who needs services in one form or another. Our dedicated staff use the space to:
Connect people to funding to help them through hard financial times.
Conduct Community Court and connect attendees with non-profits which provide people with food or services.
Meet with members of the community who need referrals to other social services.
Conduct classes to reduce domestic violence.
Provide aid to community members.
Conduct community engagement work.
We’ve completed work which makes the space more effective for police use, which you may not see from the front doors. With respect to the need for a police substation, the bottom line is that there are many needs for space in the area. We are using this space to meet basic needs while researching other opportunities.
This office has opened up a different window into the needs of our residents, and to hear it called a farce is – quite frankly – hurtful to those who engage daily in helping people meet their basic needs. Please feel free to reach out and schedule a coffee, walk, or visit to talk more about this topic.
I happened to run into Tabatha last night and she explained what you mentioned above. I was happy to hear about how the space is being used and the confidentiality needed in helping some of our residents. I do think more info should be available on the city’s website, and maybe even a follow up story from last year’s initial reporting. I still think an “Ask the City” column on here would be a good idea.
Agreed, where is the communication? Past Mayors even wrote columns regularly about what was going on from their perspective. City Directors took turns writing columns in MEN and the Beacon about projects they were working on. Indeed what happened to communication with citizens?
Seems the only way to get answers from this mayor and administration is to make a public stink about questions. I give the mayor a failing grade in what in my opinion is the most important part of his job.
Alicia, I have to ask how people worrying about spending millions of dollars to buy the 10+ acre Landmark property with no absolutes established for use and funding sources established is somehow “nitpicking?” I guess you can see Jim’s concern about the Hwy 99 area not having an actual police station, manned 24/7 with both law enforcement and community service functions well established and running smoothly is “nitpicking” but I think that was a poor use of semantics on your part and not helpful to getting more and better city services into the Hwy 99 area, which in reality we all need.
Getting out of the world of politics and into the world of just good city management. I think it is time to consider some sort of trade off of all the current city offices being transferred to the Hwy 99 corridor and that might be accomplished by trading value for value in terms of land use and not driving us all into never ending property tax debt. We need to get away from the meme that “the Bowl” is the oppressor and “Hwy 99” is the victim or we will never stop just spinning our wheels.
Expanding a little bit on my thoughts above, it just seems to me like we have some things in the wrong place now. The public safety and other Municipal buildings are relatively old and on what has become extremely valuable property in the Commercial Sense. Why not sell those off to the highest bidders for the highest use and use the money to buy cheaper land and state of the art buildings in or at least more toward the Hwy 99 corridor. Nothing would be better for the 99 neighborhood than being the seat of government with a nice big park area on or near those new facilities. The same goes for the new Boy’s and Girl’s club. Put it where the greater need and easier access is. Preserve the old building as maybe “the Bowl” area police precinct and mini-town hall. Just thinking out of “The Bowl.”
The need for a police station can easily be handled by a Mobile Police Precinct vehicle…It can be moved to wherever it is needed.
…just sayin’
Thank you Jim, I so agree with you. I live a few blocks from the City Hall storefront and have never seen it open. I will begin to go purposely to see if I’m wrong. Most of us around here were very happy when the facility was announced since much of the crime is in the area. More police presence would be welcome. Nothing seems to have come from he investment however. I hope I’m wrong.
The idea of a mobile police station is great. It should be explored before dropping a bundle of our taxpayers money on a 10 acre site that looks like a dump.
I have no connection to law enforcement, but I’m one hundred percent certain the real police do not want to work all the time out of a mobile unit. Nor should they have to. Nor would it be feasible.
I’d say the first thing we all need to do is to quit arguing over resources we don’t have and figure out the best and least expensive ways to make the resources we do have work to the benefit of the most people that actually live all over in our town (not the tourists and not the homeless and disadvantaged – which are other issues entirely).
The first step is to get one more Council Person to wise up and give the Landmark deal the boot ASAP. The second step is to elect a Mayor who will welcome and encourage citizen volunteer groups and commissions to have open and transparent meetings about how to actually run a town efficiently, rather than a Mayor and Staff constantly selling politically motivated projects we really can’t afford. As long as it’s “The Bowl” vs. “Not The Bowl” we will continue to have bad government here, and a bunch of expensive pet projects like the “Missing Link.”
I live near the 99 Safeway and have been really pleased with the investments the city has made in the area. The new Welcome to Edmonds sign, the cleaned up/beautified traffic median, and the proposal for the city purchase and use of the Burlington Coat Factory location are all investments that amplify each other. Like others, I’d like to hear some concrete ideas about how the city would like to use the Burlington Coat Factory property (even generally), but I still value the investments made as they reinforce each other. I’d personally like to see a mixed use building of a police station and community center that would foster a neighborhood policing mindset. As well, if there was also space for a small park, that’d be icing on the cake. I think these kinds of investments would make this area, which is the physical and visual entrance to Edmonds, an aesthetically pleasing and safer area. Without the additional investment, the previous improvements only serve to beautify, but not resolve the safety issues on 99. I think the city needs a visual reflection of the city’s investment in the Whole of Edmonds instead of just the Bowl of Edmonds through the acquisition and transformation of the Burlington Coat Factory property.
CC: Council Member Chen, Council Member Nand, Council Member Tibbott and Mike Rosen.
The CC: was For Clinton’s post. It’s funny because I’ve yet to see any proponent of the Burlington property purchase that has yet a clue how to pay for or where that money’s going to come from, certainly they don’t talk about any risks or any other pressing needs for the community. They seem for it long as somebody else pays for it. Then they are all in.
Brian, I think we all pay one way or another for everything to do with running our town government and governments in general. The concept of using someone else’s money is just a myth and a political game. Land owners pass higher property taxes to renters in the form of higher rents. Public/private partnerships to create business opportunity and entertainment are paid for by everyone in the form of higher prices for goods, athletic event tickets, concerts etc. Our city currently is involved in the entertainment business up to it’s eyeballs. We all subsidize the Center for the Arts, Driftwood Playhouse, Waterfront Center, Francis Anderson Center and all our Parks. Everyone in town uses these facilities; or at least can use them if they can afford it and choose to. Politicians continually promote this “us” vs. “them” meme to try to keep control and feed their over active egos. We get fooled into bad investments and poorly thought out projects (Connector and Missing Link, for two examples; one wisely shot down and one that needs to be).
I’d just like to follow up here and comment that I took Director Tatum up on his offer to meet and discuss. Not only did we discuss the merits of the neighborhood city hall, but a broader range of topics. A worthwhile conversation. Thank you, Mr. Tatum!
Jim, that sounds like a conversation that might be beneficial to summarize with the entire MEN readership family; if it wouldn’t be violating any gentlemanly agreed upon confidentiality? Open, direct citizen/staff/city council communication seems like a good thing to promote more of in Edmonds; especially if the conversation is an honest exchange of ideas and viewpoints, as opposed to staff and/or politicians just telling the citizens how things are and that we have to accept it.
It’s totally obvious that the need for more official city government presence outside of “The Bowl” is critical and getting worse by the day. Our public safety and human services personnel offices just aren’t where they need to be now. If one can believe the rampant rumors, our city budget will soon be in major deficit which will exacerbate all of our community resource issues. Rosy predictions, biased surveys and some public officials hiding out in their offices aren’t going to cut it much longer.