Do you support the city spending $150k for a big ass flagpole for America 250? Councilmember King (District 2) thinks it's a wise investment.
It's on the agenda for 5/5 Tuesday's city council meeting at 6:30pm (5th floor of city hall).
The site would seemingly be around the new 167 interchange.
Some problems I have with it:
Originally it was slated to come out of LTAC (Local Tourism) dollars. These funds have a narrow use case allowed. However, it is coming out of "Tier 3" funds aka fun money left over (Tier 1 is essential services, Tier 2 is regular spending).
150k is a lot of money, we budgeted 1/3 of that to update our downtown fixtures (benches, trash cans, etc), we could use 150k for a lot more productive purposes.
Large flags deter birds, which is why car dealerships commonly have lots of large flag poles. If our big ass flag pole is too close to the river, we would ruin part of the appeal of the Riverwalk. Personally, whenever I'm strolling the Riverwalk and I see a bald eagle patrolling the river, I cry a single patriotic tear. I would prefer to keep that feeling.
The right-wing majority (King, Kastama, Gilliam, Johnson) voted in significant tax increases over the last couple years to pay for the new Public Safety Building. Let's put it to that. A drop in the bucket sure but one bite at a time.
Gas prices will lead to increased operational costs, would be cool to hold onto those funds so other projects can be completed on schedule.
If the money has to be spent, I would personally love the city to reevaluate the cost of string lights over Meridian. I feel that the Public Works Department inflated the cost with overly strict requirements that other municipalities didn't have when they implemented string lights that spanned a street.
This item was dropped last minute from last week's city council agenda by Councilmember King.