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Savvy Traveler Store Manager (and frequent world traveler) Alexandra Rousu (right) and a knowledgeable member of her staff inspect merchandise displays during the store’s soft opening today.


The Savvy Traveler is located on North 10th street in Renton, across the traffic circle from Caffe Felice, in the entertainment section of the Landing (near Boeing and Lake Washington.)

Rentonites planning to head out of town will want to stop by the Landing’s new “The Savvy Traveler” before their trip. Whether you are headed on an overnight to Portland or a month-long visit to Taipei, you’ll find maps, guidebooks, clothing, luggage, travel organizers, and all other items that will make your travels go more smoothly.

The beautiful new store at the Landing had a soft opening today, and will start regular hours from 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM tomorrow.

The store is the second “The Savvy Traveler” location, and expands a successful business owned by Petra and Don Rousu. Their first location is in Edmonds Washington where Petra Rousu also sits on the board for the Chamber of Commerce.

This location will be managed by their daughter Alexandra, who shares her parent’s passion and experience at world travel.

Cathy and I and our daughter Susie had a fun time browsing their bright and cheerful store today, finding many items that would have made our travel easier in the past. We will be sure to stop by the Savvy Traveler the next time we are planning a trip out of town.

In addition to a wide range of merchandise, the store will be offering travel symposiums to help customers learn skills to make their trips more productive and enjoyable; attendees will be able to learn everything from packing for the trip to planning a major itinerary from other experienced travelers. While their class offerings in Renton are still being planned, here is a list of seminars available at their Edmonds store. Their offerings in Renton will probably be similar.

Please make a point to drop by and welcome the owners and staff of the Savvy Traveler to Renton. While you are there, be sure to check out their great merchandise.

Here are some of my photos from my visit today:

Savvy Traveler owners Don and Petra Rousu. They are both extremely experienced travelers themselves.

 

The Renton Farmers Market will start a new season tomorrow. This popular market will be open every Tuesday from 3:00 to 7:00 in the downtown Piazza park until mid September. Here are more details in the Examiner.

Here a few photos I shot this weekend with an animal theme.

This is our Mustang Zeus, on Cougar Mountain.

Another picture of Zeus on Cougar Mountain, with my wife Cathy riding

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This is our friend April with our Newfoundland Dolly. April is an amazing artist, and she had just sketched Dolly in pencil. She gave us her sketch, we framed it, and then I shot this picture.

There is a stimulating discussion continuing in the comment section on my blog about proposed Cedar River Trail safety improvements. Click here to participate!

I received this press release yesterday. The Renton Reporter posted a story pretty fast which you can find here .

Shooting – Shell Station 300 Rainier Ave S 10-5846

At 2318 hours, we were dispatched to a Shoplift at the above location. The RP advised that the suspect was GOA. Two minutes later the RP called back to advise that the shoplift suspect had returned and that he had been shot in the leg. Officers arrive and find Maurice A. Harris (10/8/62) with a gun shot wound to the knee area. He said that he got into a dispute with 4 black males and 1 black female who were in a silver 4dr. vehicle parked outside the gas station. Harris said he was shot when he turned away from vehicle and he could not identify the shooter or any of the occupants. Harris was transported to HMC with non-life threatening injuries. A single .380 caliber casing was located at the scene.

There is no further suspect information. Surveillance video from the gas station is pending.

Hopefully, we won’t need to use “Top Kill” to fix this one: Here is an email I received this morning.

___________________________________________

Councilmembers:

The following press release was issued a short while ago by the Department of Ecology regarding the cooking oil spill in Renton today.

The boat launch at Gene Coulon is expected to have normal operations during this weekend.

In addition to Dept. Of Ecology and Waste Management, I will be available in the event of media calls.

From: Partridge, Dan (ECY)
To: Preeti Shridhar
Sent: Fri May 28 22:22:21 2010
Subject: FW: Dept of Ecology: Cooking oil spill near Lake Washington

Here you go

Washington Department of Ecology
May 28, 2010
Cooking oil spill near Lake Washington

RENTON — The Washington Department of Ecology tonight is overseeing the cleanup of a cooking oil spill that was reported this afternoon near Lake Washington.

Ecology is working with a contractor hired by Waste Management to vacuum up as much of the spill as possible before it flows into storm drains which empty in Johns Creek. The creek flows through Gene Coulon Memorial Beach Park into Lake Washington. A crew with the City of Renton public works department was also on the scene tonight.

A Waste Management truck caused the spill when it knocked over a 140-gallon waste oil container about 5:15 a.m. today behind the Panda Express restaurant at 750 Park Ave. N. in Renton. The driver replaced the container and placed absorbent pads around the area, as required by Company policy. Ecology spill responder Brad Martin said the spill wasn’t reported to Ecology until 3 p.m. but Waste Management is cooperating with Ecology in getting the spill cleaned up.

It is unknown how much of the oil made its way into the storm drains before a vacuum truck arrived but some of it may make its way to the creek and into Lake Washington.

“We’re doing everything we can to keep as much of the cooking oil out of the water as possible, “ Martin said. A catchment area will be set up to collect the oil as it flows down the creek overnight and the contractor will return early tomorrow morning to collect the oil with absorbent pads.

Oil not trapped in the catchment area may be visible on Lake Washington over the weekend, Martin said.
Martin said there has been no evidence of adverse impacts on fish or wildlife. Cooking oil is of low toxicity but can stick to fish or birds who come in contact with it.

City of Renton officials said boat launches this weekend from Gene Coulon Park are expected to proceed as usual.

CONTACTS:
Dan Partridge
Department of Ecology
360-480-5722
Katie Salinas
Waste Management

206-962-1673

This is a cute video. (Thanks to Ryan on Facebook for pointing this one out)

Here’s proof that even if your name is Young Boozer, you still have a chance to win public office. I tried going to this candidate’s website, but I received the message that his bandwidth was exceeded.

 

A friend took this photo today as a black bear stopped by her back yard in Newcastle. It seems like bears are getting more common in our area.

Here is the official city press release.

The Renton Reporter recently ran this interesting story about a beaver knocking out electrical power at the Landing.

I have not seen any photos of the Landing incident, but it reminded me of this previous close call on the east airport access road in 2008. In this earlier case, a power line and a road were both in jeopardy.

Beaver damage to a Cottonwood tree near the Renton Airport in February 2008

Last week, the man who murdered our police specialist Bretta Hawkins was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The killer was sentenced to a second life term for killing Ms. Hawkins mother, Barbara Nettlebeck, a King County corrections officer. Both women were loved by their colleagues and their communities.

Bretta and her mother Barbara
An estimated 700 people turned out fourteen months ago to tearfully celebrate the lives of the two women who were taken from us. I described the service here.

Last week, the killer was handed two life sentences by the Pierce County Court. Here is the full story in the Seattle Times.

With the trial over, it’s time to try to forget the killer and focus on remembering the two lovely women who worked so hard for Renton and King County.

Here are some comments I saved from an online guest book a year ago:

Continue reading →

Boeing 737 Airplanes line Renton’s Clayton Scott Field as they are readied for final test flights and delivery to customers all over the world

Renton City Hall was abuzz tonight as Renton City Council put it’s formal approval on a new airport lease agreement with the Boeing Company.

The agreement covers a new 20 year lease term, followed by two ten-year options. The agreement comes after Boeing and Renton real-estate experts have been finalizing details for many months. Per the agreement, The Boeing Company will pay a market-based lease-rate plus a through-the-fence airport access fee for Boeing-owned property. The lease payments will increase through the term of the lease following the consumer price index, adjusted with market appraisals every 6 years.

The more complex lease terms revolved around the buildings that Boeing currently owns on the property. The buildings will convert to Renton City Ownership, per a turnback agreement in the old lease, similar to buildings owned by other leaseholders at the Renton airport. The maintenance and future upgrades of these buildings is the subject of additional lease language.

Like all lease money collected at the airport, all the funds will be used by Renton to operate and improve the airport.

Residents of Renton and our region should celebrate this commitment by the Boeing Company to the Renton facility. The company annually delivers many billions of dollars of airplanes out of it’s factory here in Renton. Our community gets thousands of high-value jobs from Boeing’s presence, along with tax revenues and generous contributions to local charities. The 737 is astoundingly popular– we’ve recently been told that the 737 airplanes on order today would stretch about 47 miles if they were parked nose-to-tail.

General aviation users have an additional reason to celebrate. Boeing’s presence at the airport ensures the airport’s long-term viability, and gives the FAA plenty of reason to keep investing in it.

This is on top of today’s national news that Boeing is increasing it’s 737 production rate in Renton starting in 2012. Today’s picture looks bright for Renton’s aerospace sector.

This agreement helps assure general aviation users that Renton’s airport is viable long-term

Boeing has several buildings on Renton airport property, including a state-of-the-art aircraft paint hanger. The new lease ensures these building will continue to function to their highest and best use.

Our friends Gina and Jon maintain beautiful gardens at their home in Skyway. Yesterday, the flowers seemed especially pretty when Cathy and I dropped by.

I’ve always loved this little number from Guys and Dolls.

 

A new Facebook group has recently sprung up, called “City of Renton; Behind the Curve on Prostitution” Here is a link.

The new group is sharing information about suspected locations of prostitution activities, and pushing for increased resources to combat them.

We do take prostitution crimes very seriously at city hall. While some may mistakenly believe that this is mostly a victimless crime, there is actually a great deal of sexual/physical abuse and human trafficking associated with it. In addition, violators run down neighborhoods and set-back economic development efforts.

I’ve addressed this in previous journal entries, such as this one here

The city has been addressing prostitution in a number of ways. Our police have been raiding locations where the crime occurs, and arresting prostitutes, their pimps, and their customers. More recently we’ve been testing some new tactics such as contacting all the parties with financial interest in real property where this crime occurs, such as mortgage holders (banks), to let them know when their properties have become sites for prostitution and subject to police actions, code enforcement actions, or other litigation; we are working with these stakeholders to get repeat-offenders evicted from their locations and from our city.

We are open to any other ideas on how to combat this problem, and perhaps some will come from the new Facebook group.