At the Burien City Council meeting on Monday, Sept. 8, 2025, several critical issues were addressed, highlighting ongoing tensions and community concerns.
The meeting saw heated discussion regarding the DESC Bloomside building, with councilmembers and residents expressing serious frustrations over unfulfilled promises and escalating crime.
Additionally, the council grappled with the recently revealed FAA plan to remove mature trees from Mathison Park, as well as a push from the community to re-evaluate the city’s comprehensive plan.
These topics underscore the challenges the city faces in balancing public safety, community well-being, and urban development.
DESC Bloomside Accountability
Councilmembers Jimmy Matta and Linda Akey brought up serious concerns with DESC Bloomside. Before it opened, the city was assured that all residents of the permanent supportive housing would be required to follow a Good Neighbor Policy. During Public Comments, one speaker read directly from that policy, complaining that none of their rules are being enforced. Dealers openly sell drugs within and around the building, and addicts, whether residents or not, congregate there. In addition, she said Bloomside residents are panhandling around the city.
Councilmember Matta said neighboring businesses are struggling due to increased crime around Bloomside. Councilmember Akey said the community as a whole is being impacted by the increased drug activity. She said Bloomside residents are dying at a high rate, and that until the managers end all drug use in the facility, it is “nothing more than a federally funded crackhouse.” She said they currently don’t even offer support for residents who may want to get off drugs. Akey said there has been no enforcement of their promised Good Neighbor Policy.
Councilmember also Akey mentioned that the police pay a visit to Bloomside at least once a day, with more calls referring them there than any other location in the city besides the transit center. Mayor Kevin Schilling said he recently did a ride-along with the police and had an opportunity to visit Bloomside with them. He said the things he was told by DESC in person were very different from the public statement that they recently released.
King County Sheriff Defunds Co-Response Teams
City Manager Adolfo Bailon said the King County Sheriff’s Office has canceled Burien’s co-response program. This popular program paired social workers with police officers, in order to more effectively respond to mental health crises and other situations where social service connections might be helpful. Bailon said Burien will be using some city funds to keep one of the two teams active for now, but can only fund them through summer or fall of 2026.
FAA To Remove Six Mature Trees From Mathison Park
Several councilmembers expressed concerns about the news that a handful of mature trees are marked for removal from Mathison Park (read our previous coverage here). Many neighbors, incredulous over the news, spoke during Public Comments. The park is not under the flight path, but one speaker said the planned removal is part of the airport’s planned expansion, so that planes can be rerouted over the city as needed. Councilmember Matta said the city should at least require the trees to be replaced.
City Manager Bailon said the FAA has historically been very unresponsive, but that Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal has been supportive on FAA issues. Bailon added that the FAA does have to comply with the city’s tree code, so they will have to communicate their reason for removing the trees before they are actually granted a permit. The council will be updated as more information is available.
Comprehensive Plan Discussion
Several public commenters implored the city to reopen the zoning and comprehensive plan discussion, as they do not think the zoning was done correctly or appropriately. It was also mentioned that Burien’s zoning changes go above and beyond state requirements for increased housing.
Councilmember Stephanie Mora brought up her frustration with the city’s comp plan. She said the vote would have gone differently if the council had all the relevant information. The council wasn’t told there would be fees involved in changing the Plan. Mora asked for support in holding a special meeting to discuss and direct potential changes to the comp plan and zoning.
City Manager Bailon said there has been a lot of misinformation going around, with inaccurate and misleading beliefs. He seemed recalcitrant about putting together this special meeting, saying that staff wouldn’t really know how to prepare. Mayor Kevin Schilling said he felt everyone needs to be on the same page about what is actually possible, and the future pathway for change if that is possible.
Councilmember Alex Andrade said the comp plan was passed unanimously, and that people are worried about unrealistic problems. Zoning is not the same as permitting, and very little will actually change in certain rezoned areas, as regulations must still be met. There will be a study session to discuss this in depth later this month.
Video
Watch full video of the council meeting below:
Real simple Burien,
Never allow Seattle or King County to run public services in your city.. smh
Its crazy to me that a city couldn’t or wouldn’t want to enforce its own city whether thats policing or even having their own homeless rehabilitation center. I guess if your going to spin a coin.. atleast have some strong assurances in place prior, aside from the extra $$ and less work for yourself.
This is why it is so important to vote in November. Even if you don’t live near DESC or Town Square, please consider those of us who do. Burien needs to be as safe as possible for all residents. It encourages negative behavior to accept drug use and crime because it may not affect you personally. Bringing back public camping and vagrancy is similar to telling everyone to go out and buy a Model T. Let’s move forward together, not back.
It’s also important to know who the candidates are that favor overturning the camping ban and are advocates for the Housing First model that DESC uses.
Sam Mendez, Rocco DeVito, Hugo Garcia and Sarah Moore have all stated their desire and intent to overturn Burien’s camping ban. They also all stated their desire their desire to prioritize the Housing First model.
So if you want to see an increase in the problems associated to the DESC and a return of camping and open drug use in downtown, vote for those candidates. If you’d rather have Burien continue to see the improvements that started over the last year, I’d suggest voting for their opponents.
Also, consider WHO is running in November. A number of the council candidates work or have worked for King County, or have been members of the Planning Commission or other committees, who were instrumental in pushing for this facility. This didn’t happen in a vacuum. There was hard push from KC and a lot of empty promises from both KC and DESC. There were lawsuits and delays. Their reputation was widely known, and since opening here, they have done nothing to try win the hearts and minds of Burien. It is a classic case of overpromise and underdeliver.
There is currently zero accountability for the behaviors of residents, or the swarm of nefarious and illicit activity occurring in front of and very near their facility, all related to their “you’re stuck with us” attitude. They claim to have a stellar track record, but to date, have given us no measurable results. We don’t know how many residents live there, how many have died, and how, what the success rate is for rehabilitation, how many have cleaned themselves up and become productive members of society. There is a gentleman I have spoken with who works there, whose job is to clean up the filth on the sidewalk out front, as frequently as required, which tells me there is no personal accountability for the adults housed there. This is the number one destination for our police, draining resources from an already strained force. They do not pay property taxes, as they somehow qualify for an exemption.
The neighboring businesses have been targets of theft, drugs, behavioral outbursts, garbage and human waste strewn everywhere, and have been forced to fortify their businesses to stay open. It’s not an environment that encourages customers to visit, as they don’t feel safe. That affects the entire community.
It is nearly impossible to contact any admin at Bloomside, as their names are not to be found. The main number online sends you to their headquarters downtown, which leads to an endless phone tree and essentially, a wild goose chase. Yet another way to avoid contact with the public.
It’s beyond time for this community to demand accountability and solutions from DESC.
It’s quite striking how many issues can be traced back to King County and the failed leadership of Dow Constantax and his appointees, now Burien pays the price for mismanagement and those Progressive ideals. From the DESC debacle to the de funding of Co-Response teams it’s obvious they double downed on way too many other feel good measures and forgot about the affected Taxpayers and the financial engine they provide, the recent failed audit is proof enough. In order to work towards repairing all subsequent and lasting damage the voters need to keep fellow linked minions from being elected, Sarah, Hugo, Sam, Rocco and Girmay are loyal and beholden to all those KC ideals and failures.
Well unfortunately Dow sounds like a regular politician some people think he is great and some people think he sucks . Kinda depends on what side of politics your on . Like yeah you don’t want to see people on drugs high flopping around acting goofy . But these people might be on different medications to help tapering off of the hard drugs and have different side effects . That you might see as someone high . Then you attack or blame the politician you already don’t like or don’t agree with . When they had nothing to really do with the person’s reaction to the medication or their choice in life to do try hard drugs .
Jimmy – I disagree with most everything you’ve mentioned. I’d suggest you speak with the Burien police department, or the Burien city council for more information regarding DESC and its issue with drugs etc etc… This topic was discussed at the city council meeting, video is on here
Well that’s too bad Carl but that is your right as a American citizen .
Dear Council,
FYI, The first thing I learned in my City Planning Class is that Zoning is a Police Power to protect our neighbors from each other.
Zoning opens the door to the desired development of a municipality.
Increasing density around lake Burien is a bad idea.
We voted to become a city largely because we wanted control over our own destiny. Folks liked our neighborhoods and voted to preserve them.
I voted for a change to the zoning in my own personal 15,000 Square foot property from RS 7200 to RS 12,000 to keep the aesthetic of my neighborhood in tact. The new zoning proposal would allow me to put 18 units on my property.
I don’t believe either the Planning Commission or the City Council understands the potential effect this change would have on the livability of our village.
Thank you B-Town Blog for quoting Council member Alex Andrades comment about concerns over the Zoning Issues. She said:
“the comp plan was passed unanimously, and that people are worried about unrealistic problems. Zoning is not the same as permitting, and very little will actually change in certain rezoned areas, as regulations must still be met.”
And that pretty much sums up the leadership of many of the current City Council members. They spent over a million dollars in consultant fees to up zone areas to increase density where they think it cant be achieved. I dont know what is more concerning, that she thinks that is a reasonable justification, or that she actually said out loud for the record. Absolute failure of leadership.
Then why up zone those areas ? Why not use the correct zoning ?
There are actually 3 reasons:
1) Property taxes are based on highest and best use of property and that is driven in part by its zoning. So more dense zoning = higher land valuations for that property and more tax revenue for the city. They get more tax revenue without initially having to spend the money on infrastructure since it cant be built.
2) Overtime building codes will be modified to ease restrictions so density can be achieved, and since the area is already zoned for the density it will seem to be a logical argument, and our fragile eco systems will be destroyed.
3) Up zoning shorelines will appease the “equity” community who think this will provide increase access to constrained shorelines when in fact it is just an illusion. Even if a few higher density units are built they will be extremely expensive because the land is very costly and the market will command top dollar for those kind of properties.
The Council needs to show some leadership and hold the City Manager and Planning Staff Accountable for manipulating zoning to increase tax revenue and prove they can be trusted stewards of the tax payer dollars.
It could be more people are looking at putting in smaller homes in there back yards to invite family . This practice started around covid people wanted to be closer to family but not too close . These homes you can see at home depot or mclendons even has some they are a little bigger then a backyard tool shed. A lot are shipped from over seas some are cheaply built
Jimmy…. sorry bro, no… educate yourself on these widely discussed topics please. All information and statistics/data is available, coming up with hypotheticals doesn’t help facts that are already present.
Well that is your own thot and my own thot we don’t have to agree
That is fine – people can do that. The problem is the city has zoned Shorelines at a higher density than what can actually be achieved with its own building code and the Shoreline Management plan which has very strict environmental guidelines. The R1 zoning is set aside specifically for Shorelines and Environmentally Sensitive areas. Yet the City targeted shorelines at Three Tree Point and Lake Burien at R2 and R3 density which cannot be achieved. Correctly zoning shorelines of Lake Burien at the R1 level will provide for a potential increase of density on a lot of 277%. However due to wet land set backs and tree ordinances it will be very difficult to achieve even that level.