Andy borrowed my camera and managed to capture this amazing action shot of his friend Amy getting hit by a snowball. I like how, even in this still picture, you can see the snowball’s trajectory, the transfer of momentum, and the way a fluffy snowball breaks apart upon impact.
Here is a more serene picture of Amy with our newfoundland. She survived the snowball war.
Monthly archives for February, 2011
A couple of snow pictures taken by my son Andy
Snow hits Renton again; Road closures occurring throughout the region
Snow is expected to continue falling through the evening and then freeze into ice tonight. King 5 has up to the minute snow updates available here.
Meanwhile, like thousands of others, my family and I have been having fun in it. Here is a picture from tonight; my oldest son Andy and me with our Newfoundland Dolly.
Stabbing in Renton Highlands; police searching for suspect
I was passed by multiple police cars on my way home from work today. This is why…
Received from the Mayor’s office:
Sent: Monday, February 21, 2011 4:31 PM
To: Council
FYI- Medics responded to the 2800 block of NE 8th St. on a report of a stabbing. Police are searching for a suspect; and the victim, I believe a woman, has been transported to Harborview Medical Center. That’s all we know at this point.
Denis Law
Mayor, City of Renton
1055 S. Grady Way, Renton, WA 98057
Eyes on the Landing celebrates it’s Grand Opening with a festive open house and party
Renton’s newest optometry, Eyes on the Landing , celebrated it’s grand opening yesterday with a ribbon cutting, live music by one of the two singers in “Bomshel”, and a great party that went on for hours. The store has actually been open for business since the day after Thanksgiving, so yesterday’s events were partly to officially recognize the opening, and partly to simply celebrate the successful first months of the fun, new business.
Co-owners Donna Jones (center)and Dr. Evie Lawson (in yellow) and I officially cut the ribbon on “Eyes on the Landing”
Dr. Lawson’s Sister Kristy, who is half of the band “Bomshel”, with one of her newest fans.
Customer Rebecca smiles in her new specs from Eyes on the Landing
Dr. Lawson’s sister Kristy commemorates the occasion with a toast
My daughter Susie cringes as she pop’s a balloon to win a prize coupon– prizes included free frames or lenses, and other discounts on glasses.
My friend Scott helps his family try on some of the business’s colorful frames
My daughter Katie with her husband Brandon. Brandon’s glasses are from the new store.
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Jenny Manning, from the Renton Patch, interviews Dr. Lawson about the new business.
Meagan Christie serving snacks. Meagan helped her mother Debbie cater the event.
In addition to prescription frames and lenses, the store carries great sunglasses. Here, Cathy is trying some on (while I take our picture in the mirror.)
My son Andy enjoying the great snacks
Renton Councilwomman Marcie Palmer joined in the activities.
New Bus Rapid Transit could improve Renton connection to Sounder Station and Light Rail Station
Renton and nearby cities are working with Metro and the federal government to improve our bus connections to rail transit. New “Bus Rapid Transit” could begin in 2013 subject to congressional approval of the federal contribution. Improvements on Rainier Avenue (being funded in part by Sound Transit dollars) would help the new buses get in and out of downtown Renton more quickly.
Click here for more details on this specific proposal.
Click here for more information on Metro’s “Rapid Ride” program.
RTC students cooked a Caribbean feast for a full house at RTC Scholarship dinner and silent auction
Suzette Cook, Mayor of Kent and honorary chair of last night’s event (center), with RTC student speakers Annmarie Champness (left) and Anastasia Corman (right).
Four hundred community members completely filled Renton Technical College’s Campus Center last night to enjoy an “Evening in the Caribbean,” a fun-filled fundraiser for RTC’s scholarship foundation. The Foundation had to actually cut off ticket sales last week, as they were bumping into the Fire-Marshall’s capacity of the main building… a nice demonstration of the community support for the college.
This was a particularly special event for Cathy and me, as our daughter-in-law Anastasia was one of the two student speakers at the event. Both Anastasia and fellow-student-speaker Annmarie Champness shared captivating stories about the strong positive effect RTC has had on their lives.
The event was emceed by RTC’s trustee Kirby Unti, who has been a strong advocate for the college during his more than thirty years in Renton. College President Steve Hanson and Foundation President Terry Higashiyama also participated in the evening program.
Public officials were present representing Renton, Kent and Newcastle, along with State Legislator (and devoted education advocate) Marcie Maxwell. Many RTC trustees and former trustees (such as my council colleague Rich Zwicker) were also enjoying the evening. The Boeing Company was the Premier Event sponsor.
The evening was a great fund-raising success. In addition to proceeds from ticket sales and the silent auction, donors pledged many thousands of dollars to help fund student scholarships and support the foundation.
Dozens of volunteers helped put the event together, gather donations for the auction, sponsor tables, etc and I can’t name them without running the risk of leaving someone important out. But I do want to give a shout-out to RTC foundation chair Terry Higashiyama. Terry does an expert, super-energetic job of heading our City of Renton Community Services Department (covering all parks, trails, community classes, and community support services), and she still finds time to volunteer all over town including leading the RTC Foundation– which involved directly overseeing this fund-raising event this year. She makes amazing contributions to our community– it’s no wonder she was named one of Renton’s 2010 Outstanding Citizens.
I wish to express my gratitude to the members of the RTC foundation who dedicate so much time to helping students reach their potential, and to all of the volunteers who made this years fundraiser so fun and successful. My family had a wonderful time.
Here are some more photos from the event:
Left to Right, Master of Ceremonies Kirby Unti, speaker Anastasia Corman, Kenny Corman (my son and Anastasia’s husband), and RTC College President Steve Hanson.
RTC Student chefs get a well-deserved round of applause
RTC President Steve Hanson thanks the Foundation and volunteers
Anastasia Corman describes what RTC means to her
Anastasia receives flowers and a hug from Foundation President Terry Higashiyama.
RTC Student Annmarie Champness shares her touching story about RTC
Cathy and me
Possible homicide in Renton
From: Denis Law
Sent: Saturday, February 12, 2011 8:53 AM
To: Councilmembers
Council,
Commander Cline notified me that our detectives are responding to a possible homicide just inside the city limits on the West Hill. A man was found dead in an automobile. The incident was first thought to belong to the county but was determined to be inside the city. We’ll let you know more details as they become available.
Denis
Four days remaining to submit your comments on Quendall Terminals Environmental Impact Statement
Your comments are still arriving on the Quendall Terminals proposal, and I expect to keep seeing new comments up until the deadline of 5:00 PM on February 9th. Port Quendall is a proposed large mixed-use project that would occupy the shore of Lake Washington, between the Seahawks Headquarters and the Conner Homes neighborhood.
The most effective comments are those that focus on the accuracy and thoroughness of the draft environmental impact statement (EIS), including comments related to whether the project meets the zoning, the comprehensive plan, and the Shoreline Management criteria. (Note that with this and other projects, if the developer meets all the zoning and shorelines criteria and satisfies the requirements of the EIS, then the project will generally be approved as a matter of law)
The Renton Reporter recently ran a story on this proposal with links to the details, including the official documents and where you can submit your letters and email comments. Here is the link to the Renton Reporter story.
The Reporter also links to two blogs maintained by citizens with additional information resources and opinions. These blogs are http://quendallaction.blogspot.com/ and http://www.quendall.info/.
The majority of the comments so far are related to concerns about the bulk and density of the project, including the corresponding traffic issues. In addition, the city of Mercer Island made official comment asking that Renton take positive steps to ensure that lights at Port Quendall are aimed down and not out toward the water, and that glare is minimized. All of these comments are valuable, and I would encourage anyone with concerns, ideas, or support for this project to voice it in a letter or an email prior to February 9th.
I am neutral about this project. I remember discussing the site’s COR (Commercial/Office/Residential) zoning very extensively ten years ago when Paul Allen’s Vulcan Company was considering a 60-acre urban village at this location; Paul Allen’s project would have been built on the Seahawks property, the Conner property, and the Port Quendall Property. We briefly placed a moratorium on the COR zone at that time (ten years ago) to ensure we had a transportation concept that would work.
In general, Paul Allen’s proposal seemed fairly well supported by the community at the time– however, I think it was not quite as dense as the Port Quendall proposal (it had more buildings but it covered three times the area). Paul Allen’s proposal also offered a very desirable publicly-owned lakefront trail, as well as movie theater, and restaurants that gained it support from many in the area. I believe Port Quendall should provide some public access to the waterfront, but it won’t be the same long public trail (over three property sites) we would have enjoyed with the Paul Allen proposal, and the Landing now offers restaurants and movies in the area.
While I am neutral about this specific proposal, I will add that I would like to see this site cleaned up and at least partially open to the public at some point. The property is a polluted super-fund site, and a construction plan will help the owners get financing to clean the place up. And gaining additional public access to waterfront is highly desirable (at this point, this is something I want to study more about the current proposal). And of course the region needs a return of construction to reverse unemployment and help boost the economy. Lastly, since our property taxes are limited to one-percent growth, we need either new sales tax or new property tax each year to keep up with increases in the cost of salary and health benefits for our workforce.
Keep your comments coming in. And remember the deadline is 5:00 PM February 9.
Comments can be submitted to Venessa Dolbee at:
vdolbee@rentonwa.gov
(you must include your full name and mailing address with your comments)
or get them to her before 5PM on Februuary 9th at:
Vanessa Dolbee, Senior Planner, Planning Division, 6th Floor
Renton City Hall, 1055 South Grady Way, Renton, WA 98057
Chained logs placed in Cedar River by Fisheries create hazzard for our bridges
Renton’s Public Works Administrator Greg Zimmerman recently wrote to King County expressing concern about chained-together piles of large woody debris upstream of Renton that threaten our bridges during flood events. I agree with Mr. Zimmerman’s assessment that these woody masses, or at least the chains binding them together, should be removed at once. The text of Mr. Zimmerman’s letter is below the first photo:
Cedar River upstream of Renton; Chained logs, placed in the river by the department of fisheries, are visible in the foreground of this photo (photo furnished to city by a citizen).
To: Mark Isaacson and Steve Bleifuhs at kingcounty.gov
Cc:Denis Law; Terri Briere; King Parker; Rich Zwicker; Don Persson; Greg Taylor; Marcie Palmer; Randy Corman; Jay B Covington; Terry Higashiyama; Todd Black; Ronald Straka; Lys L. Hornsby; Linda Moschetti
Mark and Steve:
You may be aware that we have evidence that the recent large log jam at Renton’s Riverview Park Pedestrian Bridge was caused once again by a chained large woody debris (LWD) mass placed into the Cedar river by King County. In the process of clearing the logjam that developed during the recent Phase 4 flooding of the Cedar River, our contractor found chained LWD wrapped around the bridge support toward the bottom of the logjam. It appears that this mass caused the logjam to accumulate. Of course we had a similar situation in 2009 when a chained LWD mass got lodged under our Williams Street Bridge. I have attached a letter in this regard, and also two photographs showing our contractor removing the LWD from the Riverview Bridge. I have attached three more photographs taken by citizens showing other chained LWD masses lying along the river between mileposts 6.5 and 7.5 that could be swept into the river during the next high flow event. These masses pose serious risks to both Renton’s bridges and the two bridges that the Boeing Company uses to move all of their 737 aircraft across the river to take their maiden flight from Renton Municipal Airport. We are urgently requesting that King County identify all chained LWD in or alongside the Cedar River and remove these masses, or at least remove the chains that link the logs together and present a greater hazard. This work should be done before the next high flow event in the river. Please see my attached letter and the photos for more information.
I can be reached at (425) 430-7311… I am requesting a timely response to this pressing issue. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Gregg Zimmerman, P.E.
Public Works Administrator
City of Renton
Above: Removal of the most recent log-jam last week at our Riverview Park Bridge. In a major flood event these log-jams can be very dangerous, as they will tend collect more and more logs and ultimately threaten the bridge and property downstream.
Above: The removed logs from the Riverview Park Bridge.
Above: In the above photo is from 2009, county workers cut the chain holding a logjam together under our Williams Street Bridge. Photo from this city newsletter.
The two photos below are other piles of “Large Woody Debris” chained together to form fish habitat by the Department of Fisheries. Renton worries that piles like these could be the next material to break loose in a flood and threaten one or more Renton bridges.
