Category: Uncategorized

The City of Renton has established a Real Estate Sign Kiosk program in partnership with the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties. Council had been considering this action for many months. We had provided preliminary concept approval last year.

Twelve kiosks have been installed in major traffic corridors within the city. Our intention is to provide a nice-looking wayfinding mechanism for locating residential developments while eliminating a proliferation of illegal real estate signs that have contributed to sign clutter.

As stated in our press release below, the city is interested in reducing this clutter and helping stimulate additional home-buying and development activity in order to further its economic development goals for the community. The signs will also include directional panels to major public facilities, an additional benefit to the community.

You can read the city’s complete press release here

Renton officials have been working with the developer of Southport for several years to establish regular commercial lake tours out of the beautiful docks at Southport.

We are very pleased that regular cruises will begin this spring. These are bound to be great fun for residents, and bring a lot of additional new visitors down to Southport and the Landing.

The Waterways Cruises website was recently updated to reflect the Renton offerings.

Click here to read more about the Renton Mother’s Day cruise.

View from the Water of Southport, between Coulon Park and the Landing

A family of racoons visiting my front yard last summer

Renton is one of several suburban cities that has been warned about a distemper outbreak spread by racoons. Keep your pet food inside, your garbage cans covered, and stay a safe distance from urban wildlife. If you or a pet gets bitten, be sure to seek immediate professional care.

Click here for the story

Should Renton and Fairwood get hitched?

The King County Boundary Review board recently posted it’s decision regarding the potential Fairwood Annexation. Here is the conclusion of their report:

click here to see the whole decision

Next, this issue will go the the voters of Fairwood for a decision regarding whether they wish to annex to the city of Renton. This question will be on the November ballot. The City of Renton has so far remained neutral on this issue, although we’ve heard opinions from all sides including residents from Renton and Fairwood who want this to go forward, and residents from both of these areas that do not.

If you have an opinion you would like to share with other readers on this topic, feel free to share in the comment section below.

Olympic Gold, Silver, and Bronze medalist Chad Hedrick

According to this Proctor and Gamble press release , Rentonites have a great opportunity to meet with and even skate with a US Olympic Speed skater this afternoon.

Chad Hedrick will be in town much of the day. Here is his public schedule:

10 a.m. – 11 a.m. – Third Street Safeway; 200 S. 3rd Street, Renton, Washington (with WARM 106.9)

12 p.m. – 1 p.m. – Hyland East Safeway; 4300 N.E. 4th Street; Renton, Washington (with Movin’ 92.5)

Area residents will also be able to meet and skate with Chad, for free, from 2-4 p.m. that afternoon at The Castle Ice Arena in Renton, Washington. WARM 106.9 will be joining Chad again to entertain skaters by playing today’s hits and providing great giveaway items.

(View full-size on MSNBC site here )

I’ve always been an Apple fan, so I found this cartoon amusing. It’s always fun to see what Steve Jobs will dream up next.

I also know many young men and women who work for Apple retail outlets, where they have a lot of fun and receive medical and retirement benefits if they work more than about 35 hours per week.

I’m posting one last group of photos from our trip to Japan (which ended 12 day ago). This group of photos features a suspended monorail, which whisks commuters and tourists around Chiba Japan in suspended coaches four stories above city streets.

All the pictures below that look like aerial shots are taken from this monorail. For those familiar with Disneyland, this monorail reminded me of the Peter Pan ride.

We also met up with a very good friend of our family, a former exchange student whose older sister was also an exchange student…our family’s first exchange student in 2001. Both sisters made it to Seattle again for our daughter Katie’s wedding four years ago. If you are in the right situation, I strongly recommend you consider hosting an exchange student sometime in your life. You can learn so much, and the friendships you gain are life-long. I still keep in touch with a friend in Sweden who lived with my birth family for a year when I was a kid.

View through front window of suspended monorail (the drivers hand can be seen on the left)

Typical aerial view of the city from the suspended monorail

 

The Olympian ran a nice story today about visiting Renton. Herons, Coulon Park, Uwajimaya, Jet City Espresso, the Landing, Boeing jets, and many other notable attractions and features are mentioned. Click here to read the article.

Iliana and Eric Sach, co-owners of the Balanced Athlete; they had just completed the 12K run at the Landing when I took this picture

They stock lot’s of Keen shoes; my wife says this brand is her favorite for active active days. I’ll need to give them a try.

The Balanced Athlete has opened a new location at the Landing, just in time for today’s block party and 12 K and 5 K runs.

The Balanced Athlete is owned by two athletes who are intimately familiar with the gear they sell; as runners themselves, they know proper gear. The store offers free treadmill and video foot and shoe analysis, and training advice. They can show you how to decrease injuries and run with less effort.

They will also offer group runs, to help make your training fun and motivating. Their group runs are Tuesday and Thursday at 6PM, from 2-6 miles, and Sunday at 8 AM, from 4 – 20 miles.

Be sure to stop in to say hello to Eric, Iliana, and their friendly staff, and welcome them to Renton. Take time to browse the merchandise in their bright and beautiful new store.

My wife Cathy gets her passport stamped at the Regal Cinema Booth, to make her eligible for the prize drawing, at the Seahawks Block Party and 12K Run at the Landing.

It was a PERFECT day for the Seahawks 12 K and 5K runs down at the Landing today, as well as for participants at the Landing’s second annual block party.

Almost TWO-THOUSAND runners participated in the races! Local businesses, like Caffe Felice, had been preparing for days to help cater to the record numbers of customers.

I missed the race, but made it down for the block party. There was an excellent band filling the scene with great music… Van Morrison, Commodores, and other classic rock.

The kids were enjoying chalk art and inflatables, and their parents found art exhibits, items for sale, and many other booths.

And being a Seahawks co-sponsored event, the Sea-Gals were signing photos for visitors.

The block party had grown considerably from the year before, and will no-doubt continue to build in future years.

Thanks to all who helped make this a success.

Here are some more photos:

Kelly, co-owner of Caffe Felice, reports they enjoyed a record-breaking morning as runners filled their large coffee house

 

My youngest and oldest children, Susie and Katie, pose with Susie’s birthday cake. Our girls are like the “bookends” on our brood, with three boys in between them. This year Susie reached half of Katie’s age.

The strawberry birthday cake reminded me of the one that the Mayor of Nishiwaki suprised Susie with two years ago, when Susie celebrated her birthday with our sister city in Japan.

Click here for that photo

The flood risk for this season is mostly behind us, and the Army Corps may even have a shot at greatly reducing next season’s flood risk. Renton’s Mayor Law is back in Washington DC trying to help the repairs get funding. Here is the story.

For almost 20 years, Renton has had the privilege to be home to the Northwest Mountain Region office of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA.) It’s been a great partnership. Their current home is on Lind Avenue, across the street from Wizards of the Coast.

Now, following tremendous growth in aviation over the past two decades, FAA has outgrown their existing facilities. They are looking for a place to expand.

Our economic development specialists have worked with local landowners to identify for FAA ten possible sites in Renton that we feel would be excellent locations for their new Northwest-Mountain Headquarters building.

The FAA is a very important employer in Renton, as they currently provide almost 1500 high-quality aviation jobs in our community. In their new headquarters building, this number is likely to increase to almost 2000. They are currently our city’s fourth largest employer.

The FAA also attracts engineers, mechanics and business owners from all over the Northwest and Rocky Mountain states (Washington, Idaho, Utah, Oregon, Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado) for prolonged business visits related to work on their airplane projects. Many of these visitors stay in our hotels and eat in our restaurants, adding even more to our jobs and city tax base. The local FAA office also host national meetings and conferences related to their leadership role in commercial jet transportation (in aviation language, they are the home of the national Transport Airplane Directorate).

We strongly desire to keep them in Renton.

Here are the sites that have been suggested to the FAA:

• The FAA Building: Current home of the nearly 200,000 square-foot FAA Northwest Mountain Regional Office at 1600 Lind Avenue Southwest. Expansion is possible there.

• Southport: 17.5 acres at 1087 Lake Washington Boulevard N. on Lake Washington.

• Lakeshore Landing: 16 acres (total 21 acres) of Boeing property at Park Avenue North and North Eighth Street.

• Sunset Bluffs: 36 acres on State Route 900/Southwest Sunset Boulevard on northwest corner of Renton’s valley office and industrial area.

• Hawk’s Landing: 7.2 acres at 4350 Lake Washington Boulevard N., near the Seahawks’ headquarters.

• Former Sound Ford property: 8.4 acres at 750 Rainier Ave. S.

• Stoneway: 14 acres on Maple Valley Highway (former Stoneway concrete plant).

• Triton Towers expansion: 21.6 acres on South Grady Way at Renton Village.

• Longacres Office Park: 12 acres of Boeing property at Southwest 27th Street, visible from I-405.

• Regal East Valley Theaters: 12.3 acres at 3751 E. Valley Road.

You can read some more about this competition in this Renton Reporter article

UPDATE Wednesday Afternoon:

This information has just been provided by the police department:

A single incident was reported to police. The report, which was made two weeks after the event, stated that an individual was assaulted while walking on the trail. The reporting party was unable to identify the subject in a photo montage, and has since decided not to pursue the case. There have been no other formal reports of incidents occurring on the trail.

We have been told that there have been other incidents that are associated with the same suspect, however the Police Department has not received a call. This is a common theme as citizens are hesitant to call 911 unless it is a serious life threatening issue. We encourage our citizens to call 911 whenever they observe suspicious activity.

Because of the increased community concern, we have been conducting additional emphasis patrols on the trail.

There have been no arrests of any subject in relation to the alleged incidents on the trail. A person of interest has been identified. This person has been arrested recently for criminal violations not associated with intimidation on the trail.

___________________________
Original entry:

Word comes to us tonight that a suspect has been arrested in a case that was described this morning by Renton Blogger Lady P of the Picaroon.

Lady P’s description of events can be found here, and the mayor’s email informing us of the arrest is attached below.

Anyone who has been harassed is encouraged to contact the Renton police department to provide a statement.

______________________________________________

From: Denis Law
Sent: Tuesday, January 26, 2010 8:41:37 PM
To: Marcie Palmer; Terry Higashiyama
Cc: Council; Jay B Covington
Subject: Re: Cedar River Trail safety concern
Auto forwarded by a Rule

We will get you some details. A suspect has been arrested.

From: Marcie Palmer
To: Terry Higashiyama
Cc: Council; Jay B Covington; Denis Law
Sent: Tue Jan 26 18:40:10 2010
Subject: Cedar River Trail safety concern

I was surprised to read on the Picaroon blog (http://thepicaroon.blogspot.com/) the info about the creepy weird angry man harassing walkers on the Cedar River Trail. Our family walks this all the time and now I’m scared to do so. Can you advise us of details and anything else we should know please.

Thank you!

Marcie

We received really great news today about the flood risk in the Green River Valley. Instead of a 1 in 4 chance of flooding, the Army Corp now predicts only a 1 in 25 chance of flooding. This is thanks to some significant repairs they just completed on the dam.

The risk of serious flooding in Renton is even reduced further than this. We were previously predicting about a 1-in-10 chance of bad flooding in Renton, so now we can say the odds are closer to 1-in-60 or so. This is still a concern, but way, way better.

Here is the story of the Army Corp announcement on King5.com.