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Good coverage of Mayor’s race in Saturday Renton Reporter…please leave your reaction
Update:
I’ve added the link to the article. I also wanted to add that I disagree with Mayor Keolker in the strongest terms regarding her characterization of the Highlands being the fault of the city council. (I think Dean Radford did a good job reporting on Mayor Keolker’s comments, but I don’t agree with her comments. ) It has been well established that I wanted action on the highlands, but with public input. I especially wanted input from the rightful owners of the property we were discussing, as well as the residents in the immediate area. You can read more about the highlands history by clicking here.
Also, I am surprised that she is now denying that she wanted to use the pavilion building for a carousel horse museum. She promoted this idea to the council, and even took a trip to Oregon to work on the details with a company that owned the wooden horses (as was mentioned in a comment below). The idea was quaint, but too expensive, as it would have required a city subsidy in setting it up and running it. Council also doubted whether such a museum could retain popularity unless it had a lot of operational and fresh attractions. So the council eagerly supported Eric Temple’s Event Center proposal, and the mayor was upset by this.
Original entry:
There is a very detailed, comprehensive story about the mayor’s race in the Saturday Renton Reporter (I got my copy delivered tonight). I was impressed by the amount of information Dean Radford managed to cover in the two full pages. The photos are good too. There is a lot there to digest and comment on. Here is the Link.
Meanwhile, I would love to start getting your reaction to it….please let everyone know what you think about the coverage.
kindly leave your comments below!
Thanks,
Randy
This morning’s KCSARC Breakfast breaks last year’s record for fundraising….
Thanks Susan for suggesting this item for my blog. I agree, this was a real achievement for our community, and a strong showing of support for KCSARC’s important work. Denis did an amazing job chairing this fundraising event. The fundraising committee broke the record they set last year (when Denis was also chair). Kirby Unti did an excellent job of motivating the givers too. He is so dedicated to this community….what a great choice for citizen of the year.
Here is Susan’s note:
Randy,
An item of interest, perhaps, for your blog…..Today, we had our wonderful King County Sexual Assault Resource Center breakfast. “Kids are our Business” is doing the most important work in this community, for a cause that many years ago was never talked about. Today, KCSARC is making a difference for the most vulnerable citizens in Renton and the state. For the second year in a row, we have hit record numbers toward this incredibly worthy cause. This year, over $49,000 has been raised. I had the privilege of serving with Denis Law for the last two years on this committee. He’d be too humble to tell you, so I will, that our success as a committee on this fundraiser is directly as a result of his leadership. As usual, Denis quietly goes about doing his business for this community in a professional manner. He defines servant leadership in my mind. No one deserves to be mayor more, nor is more qualified.
Susan Bressler
PS-Yes, you may use all of this on your blog.
A diversion from Renton Politics– True-Crime Writer Ann Rule’s Blog
Many people do not realize that our nation’s foremost author of true crime novels lives right in our area, and has had significant contact with King County and even Renton police through the years. (Wikipedia actually says she lives in Renton, but I think she lives closer to Puget Sound than that. Maybe I am mistaken about this.)
Ann Rule got her start as a short story author, writing about police cases in King County. As an author, she experienced the bizarre coincidence of serving as a crisis councilor on the Suicide Hotline with Ted Bundy, while she was writing a story about the unsolved “Ted” killings. Her story “The Stranger Beside Me” launched her national recognition, and also made her a leading expert on the psychology of serial killers.
One of her short stories covers the Gary Grant serial killings in Renton in the 70s. Victims were left in the Honey Creek Ravine (not far from my home), down by the Main Library, and on Benson Hill. Some amazing police work by the Renton police solved this series of killings. They managed to find the murder weapon in a deep woods with the aid of explorer scouts. The weapon was a knife with electricians tape around the handle. When the peeled the tape off the handle, they found initials on it. They then connected the initials to the knife’s original owner, who insisted he had traded the knife to someone else. When the “someone else” was contacted, he explained that he had left the knife in another person’s truck (if I remember the story correctly), and the owner of the truck was contacted. When interviewing this man, the police put it together that the man’s 19-year-old son had committed the four sex-related murders. This story is in her book “Empty Promises,” and is titled “To Kill and Kill Again”.
When I read this story last year, I mentioned it to my council colleague Don Persson, who had been a police officer in Renton at the time this serial killer was captured. Don could recall names and details as if the crime spree happened yesterday. Don said the events happened early in his career, and left some strong memories.
Ann Rule has an interesting website that includes a blog she updates every few days.
Over a thousand visits since the Dave Ross show yesterday!
Dear Readers,
Thank you all for your interest and participation in this website. Visits are on a record-pace, and there are many interesting new reader comments (be sure to check these out). The Dave Ross show was a perfect info-mercial yesterday….the mayor and I debated right though a couple of station breaks, then ended with some teasers for listeners who wanted to read more. I’m grateful that Dave Ross let me plug my website at the end of the show. Keep checking back, and tell your friends to visit! With the election on top of us, I would like to see every Renton voter stop by at least once.
Thanks,
Randy
Former Mayor Jesse Tanner was a brilliant transportation/aviation engineer
Many people have heard me compliment the late former Mayor Jess Tanner for his executive management abilities. He made it look easy to run a city.It helped that he had been in charge of a Federal workforce of four-thousand FAA personnel before Renton voters wisely put him into service as our mayor in 1995 (for about $64,000 per year).
But many people do not know about Jesse Tanner’s extraordinary technical skills, which added to his ability to get amazing projects accomplished. For your amusement and enlightenment, I have attached 5 patents that Jess was very proud of, all of which he was the sole inventor. They all saved lives and/or made travel more comfortable. The last one below he invented in his “aviation retirement” years, during his mayoral campaign of 1995. I remember going to his home to talk about the latest campaign mailer, and he would literally say “forget about that, let me show you my latest invention.” Then he would take me through computer diagrams and text to show how he was continuing to make air travel safer and more efficient.
We are really missing his technical and management skills at the Renton Airport right now, as more and more tenants are lawyering-up as they understandably become frustrated and combative about leases and expansion issues. This was extremely apparant at yesterday afternoon’s transportation committee meeting. I’ll cover this topic in more detail when I get an okay from the city attorney. Meanwhile, suffice it to say we really miss Jess Tanner right now.
Read more about Jesse Tanner by clicking the link below.
Seattle PI covers Renton’s crazy politics in today’s edition
The Seattle PI ran a story about the crazy politics in Renton these days. Click here to access the story. I noticed there is a sound-off section for public comment after the story… if you have strong feelings about what has been going on, you have an opportunity to express them there.
Renton’s largest employer keeps our city humming
We have diversified our empoyement base, and redeveloped some of Boeing’s surplus property, but that has in no way slowed down our city’s record airliner output. According to this article, at todays production rates, it would take more than FIVE YEARS for the Boeing Renton plant just to produce the 737’s that are already on order! And NEW orders are coming in strong! Click here to see the Tacoma Tribune article.
Councilman Dan Clawson put a hold on the city’s entire email system, and then went on vacation
(I wrote this mid-week but held off publishing this until Dan returned from his vacation, to keep his home safe)
Dan Clawson halted routine processing and management of email last week in his futile effort to find an email supporting a secret meeting that never occurred.
After placing this hold on the-city wide email system, he failed to follow-up with a detailed public records request to inform the clerk what she was looking for. Instead, he took a vacation while the clerk struggled to determine what to do next.
Proposition 1 Tax data; trying to make sense of the numbers
Interesting tax-collection analysis for Proposition 1. I can’t personally guarantee the numbers, but the format is good, and the person who prepared it identified himself as a professional engineer. Click here to see it.
Two men injured in Renton drive-by shooting
Two men were injured in a drive-by shooting on 167 down near Vally Hospital. Click here for the story.
Target Grand Opening is tomorrow!
The new Renton Target Store has been open for a few days in a “soft opening” warm up for their big day tomorrow. Renton residents are reporting that they are really enjoying the convenience of having a Target so close to home.
In the top picture below, new Target Employees are getting some last minute coaching as customers enter the store for the first time. In the lower picture, mayoral candidate Denis Law and Renton Technical College CEO Don Bressler are checking out the cool stuff in the Halloween aisle for the first time. You can see how large and bright the new store is.
Everyone is invited to the formal ribbon cutting tomorrow at 8:00 AM sharp. If you attend, be sure to look for me and say Hi!
New comments I am proud to have received. (Thanks readers!)
Somebody in Received from a Renton citizen…
You’re welcome sweet_panda!Anyone who reads Randy’s blog (except for Mayor Kathy, perhaps) can probably tell that he’s exactly the kind of person we need on the city council. I have also been incredibly impressed by Denis Law’s responses to my concerns. (Link) (Reply)
Sombody inWe did the right thing to open up our email to everyone (Entry Link)
Dude, you rock
Greg Overstreet mentioned this on his blog today. I give you a big two thumbs up for doing this. Missed the original Times article, sorry I am belated in congrats.
If only more public servants did so, it would be a much better place.
The Geezer
Formerly an elected official, now part of the solution, instead of part of the problem, generating more light, than heat, I hope.
I’m catching up on my responses…
If you left a comment that needed me to respond, please check back where you left it. I’ve been trying to catch up!
Thanks, Randy
If anyone considers my thinking difficult to follow….
My father was a nuclear physicist. Here is a report he wrote the year I was born (recently declassified and posted on the web). I studied physics in college, but um…when I read this abstract, I think airplane design is a little easier to understand.
My dad was the sweetest man you could ever meet, but he was also a bit of a mad scientist.
Optical-Model Analysis of High-Energy Neutrons Scattered by Deformed Nuclei
Authors:
Corman, E. Gary
Affiliation:
Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, University of California, Livermore, California
Publication:
Physical Review, vol. 125, Issue 1, pp. 359-365
Publication Date:
01/1962
Origin:
APS
Abstract Copyright:
(c) 1962: The American Physical Society
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRev.125.359
Bibliographic Code:
1962PhRv..125..359C
Abstract
This work investigates the effects of target nuclear deformations upon the high-energy differential elastic and rotational excitation cross sections for neutron scattering. An optical-model potential of cylindrically symmetrical ellipsoidal shape is used to represent the target nucleus. The deformed potential is first oriented parallel to each of the coordinate axes. The differential cross sections are evaluated and averaged over such orientations. Next, the potential is oriented at an arbitrary angle. The differential cross section is evaluated and averaged over all possible orientation angles. The foregoing averaged cross sections are compared with the cross sections obtained by assuming spherical nuclei for the cases of aluminum and lutetium. Third, differential cross sections with the simultaneous excitations of the target nucleus to higher rotational levels are investigated. Results of calculations are shown for a nucleus having the dimensions of lutetium in initial I=0 and I=7 spin states. Fourth, the cross section and polarization are investigated by assuming a spin-orbit interaction added to the central deformed potential. It is found that for an arbitrary nuclear orientation the polarization generally has a component parallel to the scattering plane. However, such a component vanishes upon averaging over orientations.
Somebody in Boeing may expand at Renton Airport
Lack of honesty is an ongoing issue apparently with our city government. Is this the trickle down from Kathy? Randy, I’m going to hold you to giving an honest answer here and not political no-speak. I was just reviewing various meeting agendas for th (Link) (Reply)
Somebody in Pat Miller, Renton local 2170 , just insulted many city leaders and citizens in a mailer he sent out
But does Kathy even have a track record of taking care of those who supported her? What was Pat Miller thinking?!! (Link) (Reply)
Somebody in Learn more about Council Candidate Greg Taylor in this three minute video
I have known Greg for 6 years and count him as one of my best friends.I think the best word to describe him is “genuine”.He is an honest, trustworthy, and honorable person with a genuine interest in improving Renton, unlike his opponent who reflexive (Link) (Reply)