Category: Uncategorized

General Manager Robert Morrow welcomes customers to the new Panera Bread restaurant at the Landing. Mr. Morrow comes to us from the Gig Harbor Panara Bread location, and he reports that he is very impressed by Renton.

Renton’s new Panera Bread restaurant celebrated it’s opening with a “bread breaking” ceremony today –instead of the traditional ribbon cutting.

The inviting and aromatic bread-sandwich-pastry-beverage business has hosted large crowds of diners from the first hours of it’s opening last Friday morning. And don’t be discouraged by the line when you go there to eat… general Manager Robert Morrow assures me his staff work to see that orders are taken within five minutes. They use a pager system that allows you to place your order and then sit down at your favorite table in their sunny dining room– the pager alerts you when your order is ready for pickup at the counter.

Cathy and I had a great lunch at this restaurant yesterday, and more great snacks there today during the opening celebration. We will be going back often. The business is a great addition to Renton and the Landing.

Susan Bressler from The Renton Patch was on-hand to cover the festivities, and has further details HERE in her latest article. I was particularly excited to hear about the arrangement the restaurant has made to donate it’s excess bread to local feeding programs… Susan will be covering this further in a future article.

Here are a few more photos from today:

Talented, friendly staff and so many bread choices!…

My wife Cathy and friends having fun today at Panera Bread

 

My Mother as a graduate student in college, around 1957.

My loving Mom, a beautiful artist, teacher and Master of history who nurtured four of us Corman kids in a home overflowing with joy and laughter, is nearing the end of her battle with Alzheimer’s.

I’ve been having dreams about Mom lately; in the latest one she was standing at an easel painting while I was on the floor building with blocks and Lincoln logs. This was a pretty common scene in our home in Livermore California in the 1960s.

My family and I are not ready to say goodbye to Mom, but we know we will have to soon. She has been having difficulty eating and drinking. Please keep us in your prayers.

Here is a little more information about my Mom and Dad. (Dad passed 15 years ago).

At last night’s Committee of the Whole meeting we went over several major topics, including garbage and recycling, a federal grant for additional fire department staffing, the Strander Boulevard Extension from Renton to Tukwila, and Economic Development updates and emerging issues.

I’m really proud of our city staff, and I want to communicate about several of these items in the near future; better still, Jenny Manning from the Renton Patch will make it easier. She was at the meeting, and she has already covered the discussion on the Landing in great detail. Among the questions answered last night, and reported in the Renton Patch, were “when will Dicks and Panera Bread open.”

Click here to read the Renton Patch article about updates at the Landing . Then keep checking back for updates here and in Renton Patch for other economic development updates, such as activities in downtown, as well as stories on some of the other topics mentioned above.

Kenny and Anastasia Corman pose in front of an old-growth stump near May Creek in Renton
Virtually all the evidence of Renton’s old-growth forests has disappeared over the last hundred years. Logging was a big part of our city’s history, and around a century ago all of Renton’s big trees were cut for lumber. It’s easy to forget that the big trees we see in Renton now, such as the 80-year old firs that tower over my backyard, are really just juveniles. Douglas Fir trees and Western Red Cedars can keep growing for 800 years or more.

There is at least one ancient Cedar stump about a half mile from Kennydale Hall, which reminds us how big our native forests were. This stump is located at the confluence of Honey Creek and May Creek.

Hikers can get there by parking near Kennydale Memorial Hall and following NE 27th St eastward to the closed “Devils Elbow Road”. Walk Devils Elbow road down to the point it crosses Honey Creek, and then follow it about 50 feet up the other side. There is a rough foot-trail which will allow hikers to generally track Honey Creek down to May Creek (the trail is on Renton-owned public land.) As you get near May Creek, the main trail turns westward; at this point look for a smaller path to the right that heads north directly towards May Creek. The stump can be found where this smaller trail intersects May Creek.

Here are a couple historic pictures of logging in our area: The top one is near Panther Lake, and the bottom one is in Kennydale. Both show how large the native trees were.

The sources for the pictures are here and here.

Mayor Law is asking King County Executive Dow Constantine to help us raise the priority of protecting Renton’s bridges when creating habitat for fish on the Cedar River. The Mayor’s letter is attached below, and it adds emphasis and additional details to a request previously transmitted by our Public Works Director in a letter I covered in this journal entry (which includes pictures). Mayor Law points out again that expensive maintenance and extremely high economic risk are being created by logjams formed of washed-out woody debris that has been intentionally chained together with logging chains by King County. In addition, removal of rock armoring in some areas upstream on the river is leading to excessive wash-outs, putting far more full-size trees in the water than we would otherwise see. The resulting logjams cause risks to the bridges which connect our city, and to the bridges which connect our local airplane manufacturer with the airport.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

Click here to see more photos from the event

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

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

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.

Doctor Evie Lawson performs an eye exam on Renton resident Amy Mitchell begin_of_the_skype_highlighting     end_of_the_skype_highlighting at the popular new “Eyes on the Landing.”

“Eyes on the Landing”, the stylish new optometry at the Landing, has been delighting its customers. One local reviewer on yelp, who has lived in the area two months, calls the shop “far and away THE BEST find of all since my move here”.

As a disclaimer, some could say that I am biased. My son-in-law mother, Donna Jones is co-owner of “Eyes on the Landing.” I was one of many who encouraged Donna and her Partner Evie to open their new shop at the Landing. I knew Donna had a great eye for fashion, a way with people, and excellent business skills, and I had heard that Evie was very popular with her patients.

The chemistry of the staff, location, and their product has blended perfectly. Their week-by-week growth in customer base has exceeded their most optimistic business plan projections, and they are getting wonderful feedback and community support.

They will be celebrating their grand opening on February 19. If you have not seen the store, I would encourage you to drop in on the 19th to look around, enjoy some entertainment and refreshments, and discover the beauty in corrective lenses. Click here to go to their website and get more information.

The following is a recent review on Yelp by one of their newest customers. I’m sharing it here because it is so vivid, and I feel the author’s observations are spot-on.

After the second photo, I’ve also posted the other review I found on Yelp. Again, I agree whole-halfheartedly with it.

____________________________________________
WOW.

Since moving to Seattle 2 months ago, I’ve been extremely fortunate to find some great local businesses (many through Yelp). Although this place wasn’t a Yelp discovery, it’s far and away THE BEST find of all since my move here.

First impressions: incredibly up-to-date, plentiful selection of frames; beautiful, light, roomy store layout; and the most knowledgeable, personable, genuinely helpful staff I’ve ever encountered in an optometrist’s office.

This place is heavy on attention to detail – from the display of frames to signage to the beverage offerings for patients to the spotless, modern restroom to the exam itself. The moment you approach from the outside, it’s obvious that nothing has been overlooked in the layouts or displays. Abundant natural light makes the place absolutely ideal to try on frames, and the staff honestly knows all of their products inside and out. This is the Apple Store of optometry.

Dr. Lawson is simultaneously warm, engaging, professional, fun, erudite, practical, empathetic, thorough, and sentient of patient needs. Donna and Christian were completely focused on taking care of every aspect of my first visit. Christian was not just versed on the vast frame collection, he had a natural eye for suggesting which frames would look just right on me. Had I been left unattended, I would have spent 30 minutes narrowing down to the 2 perfect frames he produced for me in less than 5. Donna spent a great deal of time ensuring my paperwork for my vision insurance was exactly as I needed it, and did so while making me feel like a long-time neighbor who’d stopped in to borrow a cup of flour. From the greeting-sans-pressure on entrance through the huge smile on my face as I left, seamless interactions with all of the staff demonstrated impeccable team service all around.

Getting an eye exam and contact lens fitting felt more like a spa appointment. Hit the mall for get-what-you-pay-for, quickly processed, mediocre optical errands. Eyes on the Landing is for those of us who seriously care about our vision, want to spend the time to examine every option available today, and be well cared for by a staff who cater to our kind.

I’ve been to more optometry boutiques, stores, mall locations, kiosks, and offices than I care to admit, but for the first time ever, I feel as if I’ve ARRIVED. If I ever leave Seattle, I will fly here just to get my exams, contacts, and glasses. Period.

Erik K. (38 Friends, 25 Reviews)

Renton, WA
5 star rating

Read a second review here