By Mellow DeTray
At Monday night’s (Aug. 1, 2022) regular Burien City Council meeting, lawmakers discussed a new “shop local” website, heard about an internal job promotion, city finances, approved a letter to the FAA, updates on parks, arts and more.
Proclamation: Guatemala Day
On Monday, Aug. 1, 2022 the Council proclaimed Aug. 6 as Guatemala Day, to welcome the nearly 400 people born in Guatemala who choose to make Burien their home.
Digital Main Street
Lorraine Chachere, Economic Development Specialist, presented to the Council on the city’s new “shop local” website. Due to the pandemic, many local small businesses have successfully pivoted to having more of a digital presence and practicing e-commerce. The Digital Main Street project will help to empower the rest of our small businesses to also have a strong online presence.
This service will be free to all participants, as a way to support a thriving local economy. The site will allow users to shop local by category or location. The project will also provide 15 youth internships to foster job skills & work experience, and will have language interpretation for business owners for whom English is not their primary language. The site plans to have 500 businesses represented by the end of the year, and eventually aims for all 2,400 small businesses to be gathered virtually on the site:
https://shoplocalburien.com
City Jobs
Heather Dumlao, after recently serving as interim City Clerk, has been promoted permanently to the position. Her former position as Deputy City Clerk is now vacant and seeking applicants.
City Finance
Finance Director Eric Christianson is seeking public comment for the Biennium Budget. The new budget will be adopted on December 5th. Community members can review the budget and give feedback at three upcoming public hearings, on Oct. 17, Nov. 7, and Dec. 5, and also at Burien’s Thursday Farmer’s Markets.
City Signs Letter to FAA
The Council voted to add their support to a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration. The letter is also signed by representatives from the Cities of SeaTac, Des Moines, and Federal Way, and urges the FAA to find more ways to cut emissions and reduce harmful particulates that impact the communities around SeaTac Airport.
Download PDF of the full letter here.
Parks Recreation and Open Space
Leit Myers presented on the recent accomplishments as well as the Parks, Recreation, and Open Space (PROS) Plan for the coming year. The plan passed unanimously to be placed on the consent agenda for the next business meeting.
Mayor Aragon received a positive vote to draft a resolution to support the City of SeaTac in negotiating with the Port of Seattle on their purchase of North SeaTac Park, to preserve it as a green space.
The Arts
Andrew McMasters, Chair of the Arts Commission, presented on the status of public arts projects in the city. They recently completed public outreach on preferences around public art. Signal boxes along Des Moines Memorial drive will be decorated in art, and there is talk of having a Youth Poet Laureate. This year, the arts commission was able to grant $20,000 in funding, but had around $50,000 in requests. The Arts plan was unanimously added to the consent agenda for the next business meeting.
Watch video of the full meeting here.
Mellow DeTray is a Seattle native who has spent the last 16 years raising her family in Burien. She has volunteered at many local establishments over the years, including the Burien Library, Burien Actors Theatre, and Hot Feet Fitness. After working for ten years at Burien Community Center, she moved on to teaching fitness classes and to work the front desk of a Burien yoga studio. For many years Mellow kept a moderately popular cooking & lifestyle blog, and she had a brief stint in political journalism during a local election. Clear and informative writing has always been a side hobby of Mellow’s and she looks forward to bringing you unbiased coverage of City Council meetings.
