Written by SeattlePI story on Renton School District “Backpacks full of hope”
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At least Renton is paid for
Today the Seattle Times published an upbeat story about a local family doing just fine in the tough economy. Hard work, smarts, and good values were keeping them afloat. The nicest part…they are an “average” Renton family!
When I read the article it reminded me of a quip that I used to hear from Donald Custer, who is a frequent visitor to Renton City Hall and has the distinction of having been Renton’s youngest-ever mayor back in 1964. When Don is teased about Renton being less swanky than Bellevue, Don always responds “Hey, at least Renton is paid for!”
These words make even more sense in today’s economy.
Here is the story
Council has been working on Renton Trails and Bicycles Master Plan
City Council has recently been reviewing the Renton Trails and Bicycle Master Plan, as a start to implementing and funding a more unified system of trails for non-motorized transportation. Fr anyone who likes to ride a bike, this is a major step in improving the trail situation in our city.
Like in so many other pursuits, the funding is our next big hurdle. However, this Master Plan will make it easier for us to qualify for Federal, State, and regional non-motorized transit grants. That is, unless we have a unified plan with distinct projects, it is hard to get other agencies to send funding our way.
Our geographic situation, at the south end of the lake and the confluence of several valleys and transportations corridors improves our chances for regional funding. For instance, we have a good shot a getting a trail funded which would connect the Lake Washington trail system with the Green River trail system (to run parallel to 7th street through downtown, then near the railroad tracks, and connect near Fort Dent).
A better picture of Sue Carlson; her memorial is Nov 24th
A friend just provided me this picture of me with Sue Carlson, taken earlier this fall at Jess Tanner’s bench dedication. Alex Pietsch, who worked for Sue and then stepped into her position when Sue left the city in 2002, is speaking with Sue in the foreground. (I think this blog entry about Sue was written by Alex.)
Sue’s memorial will be held on November 24th, at 2:00 PM, at St. Matthews Lutheran Church on Edmonds Ave NE in Renton Highlands.
A little more about the proposed new misdemeanor jail
Our police spokeswoman told us tonight that the new jail would most closely resemble the Cowlitz County Jail, which is an efficiently designed structure that is one story, with high ceilings that accommodate two levels of cells.
I found these pictures of the construction.
I could not find any pictures of the finished inside of Colitz County, but it is probably something like this:
After discussing the issue for nearly an hour tonight, we feel our only real choice to ensure we have jail capacity is to go forward with construction. Yakima, which holds some of our inmates now, intends to increase our fees 60 percent in the next couple years. King County is going to increase our costs by 20 % next year, and evict all our inmates by 2012. There are shortages of jail bed space across our state and across the nation right now.
Bummer! Kenworth to suspend production of “on-highway” trucks in Renton
Here is the latest update from our Economic development department. We will deeply regret the loss of jobs, and the loss of prestige that comes from manufacturing the best 18-Wheelers on the highway. Let’s hope Kenworth maintains the option of restarting in Renton when the economy improves.
My sincere sypathy to you readers that are directly affected by these layoffs. The economy is really going in the tank right now. Those of us in government will do all we can to improve it.
_______________________________________________________________
>>> Alexander Pietsch 11/14/2008 11:23 AM >>>
yes. Thanks. We’ve been in touch with Kenworth. The company is characterizing it as a temporary reduction in the production of on-highway trucks. They still will make other off-highway trucks. This is a big cut though. They last reported 1,067 FTE in Renton.
Alex Pietsch
Administrator
Dept. of Community & Economic Development
City of Renton
>>> Julia Medzegian 11/14/2008 11:20 AM >>>
Ack! Im assuming Jay, Marty, Alex, etc. know, but just in case . . . . http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/387874_kenworthcuts15.html
Kenworth to lay off 421 workersBy
BILL VIRGIN
P-I REPORTER
Kenworth Truck Co. plans to lay off more than 400 workers and end most truck production at its Renton plant as a two-year slump in truck sales moves into a third.Don Hursey, directing business representative for Machinists District Lodge 160, said he was told by officials of Paccar Inc., Kenworth’s parent, that 329 union and 92 management employees will be laid off. The plant will continue to produce two of the large off-road trucks used in such industries as mining. But production of conventional highway trucks will be shifted to Kenworth’s Chillicothe, Ohio, plant.The layoffs and production cuts are effective Jan. 19.A Kenworth spokesman confirmed that the Renton plant is curtailing production and laying off workers, but did not give numbers.Kenworth said the cuts are due to a slowing economy and truck market. Heavy-duty truck sales were 322,000 in the U.S. and Canada in 2006, but fell to 176,000 in 2007 and are expected to be about 2008 this year.
Rich Zwicker
Google’s “street view” now covers much of Renton
If you haven’t played with this a little, you are missing out.
You can now get a street level picture from most streets in Renton, just by going to Google, typing in an address, and clicking the “Map” and “Street View” functions.
It’s even interactive, so you can experience traveling down the street and looking from side to side. This will certainly be helpful in advance of traveling to somewhere new.
My friend Amy pointed out to me that the “Street View” picture-taking van must have traveled down Bornson Way on the Circus Day of Renton River Days, as you can see from the picture below. But it must have been early in the morning, before the crowds formed.
I’ve also included a shot of my house.
As far as I know, Google is not taking pictures INSIDE our houses yet! Hopefully the street view is where they will draw the line 🙂
Several friends and I enjoyed the Sushi cafe on NE 4th
Several of us got together to celebrate friend Jennifer’s Birthday recently.
Being sushi lovers, we thought we would try out a new Japanese place in Renton Highlands at 4605 NE 4th, called Sushi Cafe.
The food was tasty and artistic, and the staff were very friendly and professional. There were lots of other diners when we visited, so we had to wait a bit to be seated…although we probably could have called ahead to avoid this problem. All in all, it was a very nice experience. We would all recommend it. Here are a couple photos from our visit.
The head chef talks about his craft with my wife Cathy and some of our friends
Our friend Jen, the birthday girl!
Budget agreement reached at Monday’s council meeting; also, tree cutting referred to Committee
A couple quick highlights from Monday’s council meeting.
We achieved agreement on the 2009 budget! This is the earliest budget agreement I’ve seen in Renton…having resolved all of the questions prior to Thanksgiving. We held the first reading of all the ordinances on Monday, and we will read the ordinances a second and final time next Monday…thus putting the budget into law.
Mayor Law, Council President Palmer, the mayor’s staff, and all the council members deserve credit for working through the issues early and productively to get this done in such a timely way.
While the 2009 budget is very lean, most citizens won’t notice a drop in service. Taxes have not increased either, although we have made modest increases in water utility fees and renegotiated the garbage contract which expires next year (and garbage fees will increase).
Also on Monday I referred the subject of tree cutting permits, and how we enforce them. This issue has been front-and-center with me since trees have been mistakenly/wrongfully cut now on two sides of my home in the last few months. I suggested on Monday that if people in the tree cutting profession or developers have any ideas for improving the situation, I would love to hear them. In the meantime, I will be working on some of my own, such as construction fences around trees to be saved in developments BEFORE grading or cutting permits are issued; Property ownership map submittal with letters of property owner permission before tree cutting permits are granted; agreement that police officers will enforce these provisions on weekends, and other ideas.
The Committee of the Whole will first get a briefing on this topic, and then we can decide what to do with it after that.
Sue Carlson’s Celebration of Life to be held on Nov 24th
Several readers have asked for details about Sue Carlson’s memorial service. A Celebration of her Life has now been secheduled for Monday, November 24th.
Here is a note we recieved from her husband Rune.
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We will be having a service to celebrate the life of Sue Carlson at 2 PM on Monday afternoon, November 24, 2008 at St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church, 1700 Edmonds Ave. NE • Renton, WA.
I hope you will be able to attend.
Rune Carlson
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The Cedar River is cresting the trail at Bronson; trail closed until further notice
From: Julia Medzegian
Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2008 3:16 PM
To: Don Persson; Greg Taylor; King Parker; MarciePalmer; Corman, Randy; Rich Zwicker; Terri Briere
Subject: Fwd: Cedar River update
Importance: High
>>> Kelly Beymer 11/12/2008 2:51 PM >>>
Hi Leslie,
John just called to report that the river is beginning to crest the trail. With the rain increasing up the valley I’ve requested that the trail be closed from Bronson to Logan through the remainder of the day. Crews will check the status tomorrow morning and I will provide you with an update.
Thank you,
Kelly
___________________________________________________________
Earlier Message:
>>> Preeti Shridhar 11/12/2008 11:22:30 AM >>>
I’ll keep you updated.
>>> Deborah Needham 11/12/2008 11:17 AM >>>
The latest information indicates that the Cedar will indeed experience some minor flooding with this storm. It is expected to crest at 4 am about 1 foot above flood stage. The Maplewood annexation area was mentioned as an area of concern by the National Weather Service. If citizens are displaced or lose access to their homes, this will become more involved than a Public Works response.
We are still evaluating this information, and a meeting will take place at 2 pm with field response representatives to also discuss field incident command organization and EOC activation triggers. I will provide an update to you at approximately 5:00 pm following that meeting. By then we will have also gained some more information from a National Weather Service briefing and a State conference call.
deb
Deborah Needham
Emergency Management Director
City of Renton
Bryce Nelson, Fairwood area resident, has been busy on his “Choose Renton” blog
Bryce Nelson, a Fairwood area resident and a Pierce County Prosecutor, has been keeping an active blog encouraging residents to consider annexation to Renton.
I thought his post yesterday on the “Red Mill Annexation” was well writen and accurate.
You can find his blog HERE.
As a Renton councilman, I don’t feel a strong need to have Red Mill or even the rest of Fairwood annex to the city of Renton… but in the spirit of the Growth Management Act, I would try to accomodate them if that is what they chose. Whether these areas opt to request annexation or not, I appreciate Bryce keeping the record straight on items like this.
…and may all your tanker spills be buttermilk.
This is a kinder, gentler tanker spill 🙂
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