Author: Randy Corman

Here’s a recipe for more noise in our community.  Standby while Boeing begins pulling out of our Renton airport.  Then watch idly as the FAA enforces federal policy at our airport, and begins pressing for relocation of freight and business jet activity from Boeing Field to Renton. Any talk of airport closure will be met by FAA reminding Renton the airport is “Federally Obligated” and was paid for by the federal government; Renton reaffirmed its obligation with every grant that was accepted.  FAA would point to their 700-page FAA Order 5190 6 b, which is summarized in bold italics on page 1-4 “Airports should be permanent with assurance that they will remain open for aeronautical use over the long term.”  

Regardless of how you currently feel about Renton’s airport, this issue is important to you.

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After 20 years in planning and negotiations, physical construction can finally begin on the much-needed extension of Park Avenue to Southport. The final necessary document, an easement with BNSF Railroad, was approved by Renton City Council at the December 5 council meeting.

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The above map is a snapshot from cityprotect.com for the past three days, Feb 5 to Feb 7, showing five car thefts in the Renton Highlands Sunset neighborhood.  If this rate of theft somehow continued in this neighborhood, 608 cars would be stolen from this small area in a year; about one car theft for every two homes.

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In 2018 our state lawmakers asked our Washington Transportation Highway Commission to create an ambitious plan to further improve road and highway safety.  The Commission’s resulting comprehensive 296-page plan boldly set a stretch goal of eliminating ALL fatalities by 2030. They made progress at first. But then the legislature passed the non-pursuit law, RCW 10.116.060, that put us on path to instead nearly TRIPLE fatalities by 2030. If nothing changes, eight thousand Washingtonians are projected to be killed in car crashes by this ill-conceived law by the year 2030.  Tens of thousands more will needlessly suffer head injuries, lose limbs, or sustain other life-altering maimings.

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When the city or state completes a new major road or highway, the road’s final maximum speed limit will typically not be known until you have your say.  Engineers have a speed in mind during design and construction, but they will want your assessment before they can finalize and post the maximum speed limit.  No need to go online or fill out a survey– you merely drive on the road to cast your vote.

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When Washington State legislators implemented  RCW 10.116.060  regarding police pursuit in 2021, they doomed hundreds of Washington motorists to early deaths in 2022.  In two brief years, our enviable record of being one of the safest states for motorists has flip-flopped to where we are on track to be the worst.  Twenty years of safety gains in such areas as drunk driving standards, airbags, car seats, and billions in safer highway design have been been negated with one poorly thought-out new law that lets traffic offenders flee the police with impunity.  The trend is getting worse fast, as reckless car thieves and drunk drivers are quickly figuring out there is no real consequence for simply stepping on the accelerator and going ten MPH over the speed limit to avoid a traffic stop.  In a few short years we’ll all be regularly losing friends and loved ones to traffic accidents, the way some of us remember from our youth.  Even worse, for every death there are three to four serious maimings that will affect someone’s quality of life forever.

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In my previous three entries I covered the catastrophic additional loss of life on Washington’s roads and highways since the pandemic reduced traffic enforcement, and then just when things were getting better a new Police non-pursuit law curtailed traffic enforcement of our state’s deadliest drivers.

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As someone in Washington State with both a lifetime career as a transportation safety engineer (33 years), and a city councilmember (28 years), I see the importance of this analysis for the safety of motorists and pedestrians in our state. I have not seen this analysis done by anyone else.  Please share this post widely, including with media. For questions I can be reached at 425-271-6913  (please leave a detailed message).

This is the second post of a four-part series covering the ongoing damage from the 2021 police pursuit law.  Part one covered skyrocketing highway deaths.  Part three will cover the catastrophic crime wave, and part four will cover environmental setbacks from this law.

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In my previous post I showed that our state’s traffic fatalities are up dramatically since Washington’s police non-pursuit law was implemented.  Highway fatality rates which had been getting better for decades went up across the US in 2020 due in large part to police choosing not to pull people over for unsafe driving during the pandemic.  As Covid concerns diminished, other states began rigorously enforcing driving laws again, and road safety started trending back to baseline. But Washington State implemented a new non-pursuit law, and our highway fatality rates are climbing faster than ever.  Deaths on our roads and highways are 37 percent higher than pre-pandemic, and climbing fast, representing a current excess death toll of 207 lives lost per year over the baseline.

Thank you to all of you who left comments on my blog post.  I also received many great comments and questions in a private facebook forum where I shared this post. I’ll respect others’ privacy by paraphrasing and bundling their questions, but because others may have the same questions, I will share my answers here. Continue reading →

This is part one of a four-part entry about the damage caused by the 2021 Washington police pursuit law.  This entry covers the lives lost to traffic accidents as a result of this legislation.  The associated spike in drunk drivers will be covered in part two, the unprecedented crime wave and it’s horrendous impact on Renton residents and businesses will be handled in part three, and the setback to Washington State environmental progress will be covered in part four.  10/28/2023 Update:  I’ve covered this topic extensively during the past ten months, since publication of this first article. To see these later entries, click here

Last week Washington Transportation Safety Commission reported that 2022 saw the most traffic deaths on Washington roads since 1990, a total of 745 last year.

After decades of positive safety trends on Washington highways,  our lawmakers in Olympia have seemingly put Renton’s and other Washington streets on the path to becoming Fury Road.

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Dear Beloved Renton Community,

After more than 27 years of serving you on Renton City Council, I’ve decided not to seek an eighth term in this coming election season.  A shifting situation in my extended family has caused me to reassess where I want to focus my time and energy in the next few years.  Additionally, I was going to run another term to help the city recover from the pandemic, and now I’m increasingly confident that we can get the COVID-19 crisis behind us, resolve our financial challenges, and restart our businesses before the end of this term.

I am enthusiastically endorsing long-time Renton Chamber of Commerce Board Member James Alberson for my vacant position.  James has served as President of the Chamber Board for six years, and is a business owner and business development consultant who is very active in our Renton community.  I endorsed him during his run for City Council position 3 in 2019 and he came within 2 percent of winning the seat.  A few months later I nominated him as a finalist for the vacant Council 2 position and during his Council interview he demonstrated excellent preparation and readiness for a council position.  He will be an outstanding council member.  Please join me in supporting James.

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This coming Monday March 22, a seemingly small “street vacation” item on our Council Consent agenda will usher in construction of another 275 units of affordable housing for households making between 60-80% of area median income.  It’s another typical week for those of us in Renton working hard to build affordable housing.

The latest project in the Renton Housing Authority’s pipeline, Sunset Oaks Apartments, will provide homes to 60 low income families when completed later this year.

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To increase our affordable housing options, we have recently completed and approved a ground-breaking new ordinance to encourage backyard cottages.  These cottages, technically known as Accessory Dwelling Units, can be enjoyed by your family or rented out to an individual or family in need of housing.  Our new ordinance gives you a choice of beautiful, pre-approved designs and waives the building permit fees.  We’ve also dropped several other impact fees and slashed hook-up charges.   The City will soon put links on its website that show you how you can begin planning a backyard cottage.  Until the links are up, you can get started by phoning Community and Economic Development at 425-430-7200 and letting them know you would like to get started on an ADU.  As you’ll see in the presentation below, the city can get you approved in just a couple weeks.

As we approach primary election day I’ve been meeting with residents on their porches and in coffee houses. When they ask what distinguishes me in this race, I say city hall experience on top of my professional engineering and management background.

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