Alas. I didn’t invent the internet…but I met the man that did 🙂

Well, really Al Gore didn’t invent it either. But he showed up to support our SPEEA Strike in 2000, during his presidential campaign. And our baby Susie, who is now 9 years old, gave him a political photo op. I was shaking hands with him myself, so I didn’t get the photo of him shaking Susie’s hand. I thought of these pictures a few days ago when Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize.

I was SPEEA striker, and the council president, during this time. 
Al Gore visits striking SPEEA workers in 2000

My wife Cathy and daughter Susie show their support for Al Gore

I think this is a well-written editorial. The only thing I would add is that Denis Law does not claim to have all the answers to our growing pains…. but he has overwhelmingly demonstrated the skills to lead the community in the productive dialogue necessary to find these answers.

As an aside, I’m proud of the fact that the article points out that Renton’s Economic renaissance has occured over approximately the last fifteen years– these are the years I campaigned-for, and then served as a Renton Councilman (I was first elected in 1993). It was an honor and privilege to be a part of this great turn-around.

read the article here

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

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.

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.

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.