Renton’s 300-seat Carco Theatre was flooded in December, after Renton leaders initially downplayed the NOAA forecast that predicted we could see the worst flooding ever (see screenshots below). Nearly a year after the flooding of Carco, nothing has been done to reopen the theater. A local non-profit that leased space from Renton and helped community groups prepare programs for public access TV, Puget Sound Access Television, has also been displaced by the flooding.
Renton residents that would like to try Tai Chi walking can enjoy doing so for free in the heart of downtown Renton. Art Commissioner and Tai Chi instructor Scott Douwes has been leading some fun and well-attended sessions every Sunday morning at 9:00. Everyone is welcome to join in, and no experience is necessary.
You can find more information and sign-in in advance at Scott’s website, thesanctuarycommons.org.
You are sure to enjoy Scott’s informative and entertaining teaching style. He brings impressive experience with Tai Chi and physical fitness to these exercises, complimented by his mastery of art, affection for teaching others, and outstanding sense of humor.
Scott’s been a very active member of our Renton community for many years, and has designed beautiful murals and other media for our city in the past. His wife Jennifer is a writer who also manages the office of Renton Historical Society.
On Sunday the City of Renton and Gravity Sports hosted a 25th birthday celebration for Renton Skate Park. It was a great skate party with a band and perfect weather, and I caught up with some old friends.
I vividly remember the opening of the skate park in 2001. We located it at the site of the former Henry Moses Pool after determining we would build the new Henry Moses Aquatic Center on the other side of the freeway. Residents had petitioned the Council to build a skate park, and I thought is was a great idea. In time, all of Renton’s officials were on board, and we created one of the best skate parks in the Northwest at that time. In 2000, when I was Council President, we held workshops using clay modeling to enlist public involvement in the design (see the document at the end of the photos). The Skate Park has received steady use ever since.
Residents are asking Council to consider expanding it and potentially building a second park in a covered area under the freeway, and I think these are great ideas.
I posted a few pictures from Sunday’s Skate Park birthday party, and some fun never-before-seen historic photos of the opening of the Skate Park
In my previous post, I described how “The Reserve at Renton” has been accused of being too quick to tow resident’s and customers vehicles away. This includes vehicles that are legally displaying the state disabled parking permit but do not also have a special “Reserve at Renton” issued parking permit. Disabled residents have reported paying between $500 – $900 to retrieve their towed vehicles.
A quick review of the State’s website says any person who meets the criteria for disabled parking must be allowed to use the parking free of charge, without time restrictions (except in the case of certain on-street parking). Hence, it’s not surprising that disabled motorists are taken by surprise when their cars are towed away by the “Reserve at Renton.” I’m not an attorney, so I’m not going to opine on the legality of this, but I think it is very confusing, and I think residents cars should not have been towed without warning if they had a valid ADA permit. Here is the wording in state law, which can be found here. (The exceptions mentioned are for on-street parking or fraudulent use of credentials, and don’t apply in this case).
RCW 46.61.582
Free parking for persons with disabilities—Exceptions.
(1) Any person who meets the criteria for special parking privileges under RCW 46.19.010 must be allowed free of charge to park a vehicle being used to transport the holder of such special parking privileges for unlimited periods of time in parking zones or areas, including zones or areas with parking meters that are otherwise restricted as to the length of time parking is permitted, except zones in which parking is limited pursuant to RCW 46.19.050(5). The person must obtain and display a parking placard or special license plate under RCW 46.19.010 and 46.19.030 to be eligible for the privileges under this section.
(2) This section does not apply to those zones or areas in which the stopping, parking, or standing of all vehicles is prohibited or that are reserved for special types of vehicles.
In a post last week I described my hopes that we could preserve our beautiful Piazza fountain. But on Monday night, Renton Council announced plans to turn this fountain into a planter.
The plans also eliminates the Piazza’s other water feature, the babbling brook featuring Renton’s “Summer Breeze” sculpture of a young girl stepping gently into the water.
Together, these two lovely water features have visually anchored the Piazza since the early 2000s. And the splashing water features incorporate generous bench seating which provide critical cool resting areas for scores of visitors on hot days.
Renton’s Piazza Fountain has welcomed visitors to Renton’s downtown since the Piazza park was built 24 years ago. In addition to making downtown more inviting, The fountain and surrounding Piazza are a gateway to Renton for everyone arriving by bus through the adjacent transit center.
The beautiful fountain is dedicated to beloved Renton resident Marge Richtor, who served our community for decades in numerous roles including on Renton Parks Board. She was a friend and inspiration to all of us who knew her. A plaque on the fountain commemorates the dedication.
In recent years, the fountain has not been maintained as well as in the past. And this year, even though temperatures are in the 80s and people are out and about, the fountain has been entirely neglected.
This should not be allowed to go on for long. It’s time to clean the fountain and get it flowing again. As in the case with our broken clock tower, the public notices when these community centerpieces are neglected.
Just as importantly, the city has been making plans to revise the Piazza landscape. If they do so, the fountain should remain the inviting centerpiece that it has been for the past two decades.
If you share my view that this fountain should be cleaned, maintained, and preserved you can let the Mayor and Council know by emailing mayor@rentonwa.gov and council@rentonwa.gov.
Here’s a variation of an old riddle: What time is it when the hour hand points to both 9 and 10:30?
Answer: Time to get your clock fixed!
Renton’s downtown landmark 4-sided clock, which sits on a tower on it’s own cozy “Clock Tower Plaza,” does not appear to have functioned correctly for years. It appears to have run properly shortly after it was last moved in 2021, but sometime in the years since it quit keeping proper time.
And unlike most stopped clocks that are correct twice per day, the tower clock is never correct because all four of its faces are showing different times.
As Renton works to revitalize the downtown, it’s important to keep up with the basic maintenance. And setting the tower clock, and repairing it as necessary, is one of these tasks.
While there is not a lot of information about this clock online, I remember it joining our downtown landscape as part of the Metro Interim Transit Hub in 1997. Metro Transit had just been part of King County for a few years, and they were creating a hub and spoke system that would increase transit service between “transit hubs” in urban centers in King County. Renton did not have a transit hub, so we agreed with Metro on a temporary hub on Burnett between South 2nd and South 3rd streets, with a permanent hub coming later. Since Metro was paying for infrastructure in other cities, they agreed to pay for bus shelters, signage, and (if memory serves) I think this clock in Renton. The clock was placed at the corner of South 2nd and Burnett, with a sign alluding to it an South 3rd and Burnett.
In the following years we completed a purchase of the former Mazda dealership at this location for about half a million dollars, and ultimately built the transit center with Metro’s help (for about $3 million), the parking garage (for about $8 million), renovated the Mazda showroom into the Pavillion (for about $2 million), and built/landscaped the Piazza park (for about $1-$2 million). I think we moved the clock to its new location on South 3rd and Burnett when we built the parking garage. The dollar amounts I’m quoting are approximate, from memory; they should be fairly accurate. Prices were obviously lower in 1997.
The clock was moved temporarily again in 2020-2021 to allow reconstruction and improvements in South Third Street.
After the clock was moved back to its current home, it kept time for a while. In 2022, Renton spent $4500 on holiday lights just on this clock tower, recognizing its significance as a landmark.
Downtown merchants and visitors deserve to have the clock fixed. Friends have told me they’ve reported the broken clock in the past, but I plan to add my personal report to “Renton Responds” to see if we can get the clock accurate again. Hopefully the time has come to fix the clock.
The City of Renton is paying a consultant up to $49,000 to write a proposed lease agreement for the remodeled Renton Pavilion. As part of this work, the consultant is supposed to be asking the public what we want to see as the future of this building. The public should be weighing in now with our thoughts on the details of what we want to see.
One detail I’m not happy about is that even though both responses to Renton’s formal RFP process in 2019 retained substantial event space, the latest market concept no longer has event space other than a cooking classroom and possible banquet seating in one of it’s anchor restaurants.
For over 20 years the Pavilion has served exclusively as an event space, drawing large groups of people to downtown, sometimes hundreds at a time visiting for the first time. When the Spirit of Washington was operating both the dinner train and the Pavilion, Renton saw up to 200 events per year in this building, with some events bringing in 300 people or more. The Pavilion was so busy that the Renton Council had to move the “Movies in the Park” just to spread out the large gatherings we were attracting in our downtown. The Pavilion contributed to a renaissance in our downtown, helping inspire the name of the Renaissance Apartments next door to it. Then a frustrating deal between Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad and Washington State Department of Transportation ended our Dinner Train and sent Spirit of Washington packing.
It was a dream come true for Renton’s Arts Community, our youth, and our Economic Development department. A world-class glass studio was relocating to Renton, headed up by the vice-president and operations manager of Chihuly’s workshop in Seattle. Billy O’Neill, who Seattle Times calls Dale Chihuly’s right hand man, was working on a gift for Renton that would have taught new generations of Rentonites how to create beautiful glass sculptures and containers. Mr. O’Neill has served on the Seattle Arts Commission, as secretary on the Executive Board of Directors of the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) and on advisory boards for the Seattle Sounders and other non-profits– a perfect fit in Renton. He was instrumental in creating Chihuly’s Garden of Glass at Seattle Center.
But the exciting glass art studio fell victim to a School District Eminent Domain taking, along with numerous other businesses and homes, with no acknowledgment by the School Board of the glass studio’s extraordinary significance.
The business, called “Glass Eye” already has a permanent sales location at Pike Place Market, which would have soon been selling the Made in Renton glassworks. We would have a new Made-in-Renton products we could share with visitors and far-away family, to replace our much-missed Uptown Glassworks.
North Renton residents have brought the long-simmering issue of Renton’s parking requirements back to the forefront. They are rightfully concerned about parking in their neighborhood. As the new Logan Six project makes its way through the process, it would be a good time for Renton Council and staff to reevaluate our parking standards to prevent the kinds of parking controversy that this project has generated.
For decades, King County Metro and other transit advocacy groups have encouraged Renton to reduce our parking requirements. Ten years ago King County Metro Transit concluded a lengthy study capturing their recommendations for “right sized parking” in their service area. The goal of the study was to encourage transit use and lower housing costs by avoiding “overbuilding”of parking.
The recommendations were controversial, because Metro was encouraging Renton and other suburbs to reduce our number of parking spot requirements to Seattle levels, even though our level of transit service was nowhere near as good as Seattle’s. Some of Renton’s Planning Commissioners, Council members, and staff embraced the recommendations, and some of us didn’t.
Renton just approved a lease with a new tenant that plans to provide fuel and maintenance services to jet aircraft as it’s primary future business focus. I just learned this. And even though we have a Renton Airport Advisory Committee (RAAC) chartered to manage this issue, they were not even told this was coming. (RAAC has not been fully utilized lately).
I’m not referring to new Boeing jets, which are the latest technology, and take-off lightly-loaded over the lake once or twice per day. I’m talking about 30-year-old Learjets price-shopping for fuel, and landing at all hours of day and night.
Industry pressure to cater to jets in Renton has existed for decades, but we resisted this pressure during the 28 years I was on Renton City Council. Jets are typically 2-3 times louder than the propeller-driven counterparts, and Renton neighborhoods are already barely tolerating airport noise as it is.
In addition, private jets are not as available to residents. With smaller propellor planes, a Renton resident wishing to learn how to fly can go to Renton airport and take lessons. Similarly, a Renton photographer can charter a plane for a photo-shoot. Other Renton residents have joined flight clubs at our airport, or even keep their private airplane here.
Our airport is currently a Renton Community Airport (that also launches new Boeing aircraft once or twice per day). If we’re going to switch the airport’s focus to relieving Boeing Field Jet traffic, this was worthy of a discussion by our Renton Airport Advisory Committee. The greater Renton community also should have been notified. While few noticed as the city extended this lease, everyone will notice when jets begin refueling regularly in Renton in the future.
Our community had a heated episode with a proposed Jet Center seventeen years ago, when our Council was presented with a proposal, and residents living from Benson Hill to Mercer Island formed an organized opposition. The “NoJets.org” group used every bit of leverage they could to defeat the proposal. This was not easy because FAA does not give cities any real say in what airplanes use our airport. Our city can only partially manage the airport activity by the choice of tenants we lease to, and by the length of our runway.
I do not blame the new Leaseholder, Dark Horse Aviation LLC, as they have been completely up-front with their intentions. They sent a letter to Renton’s Public Works Administrator back in November spelling out exactly how they would use the property if a lease was extended. I just wish our RAAC and Renton community had been notified.
Here is the 85-page Transportation Committee Package, with the Dark Horse Lease and related correspondence. This lease has now been approved.
In my blog entry of November 30, I provided documents describing King County’s anticipated purchase of the former Renton Red Lion Hotel. The documents show the County was choosing to purchase the damaged hotel instead of repairing it to save cost. Their future plans for the building and the site were not revealed.
That purchase was recently completed, and the questions have not been answered regarding their intended use for the property.
Here is a news story announcing the purchase.
https://www.connectcre.com/stories/king-county-buys-former-hotel-in-renton-for-36m/
Former Mayor Denis Law received news that King County is preparing to buy the Red Lion Hotel, and he has written to two of our County Councilmembers to ask them to help improve inter-agency collaboration. King County’s plans appear to be intended to relieve the County of further ongoing costs, while failing to return a hotel in serviceable condition. Per King County documents: This property is being purchased to relieve the County of liabilities associated with the License Agreement. The property previously operated as a hotel at this location, is currently vacant, and there are no known plans for the property to be used at this time.
The news that the hotel will likely be purchased by King County with no specific plan to make the property productive motivated former-Mayor Law to speak out for Renton on this topic. Here’s his full letter to Council Members Upthegrove and Dunn.
______________________________________________________________
Dear Dave and Reagan,
As you are well aware, the homelessness crisis in this state continues to be one of the most frustrating issues with the public. Despite spending literally billions of dollars in tax dollars, the numbers continue to grow. There obviously are no easy solutions but one thing is certain: merely dedicating billions of taxpayer dollars has not made any progress to date.
I strongly feel that a poorly executed plan to decentralize Seattle’s homeless to suburban cities during the beginning of the COVID crisis, including taking over a hotel in Renton, proved to be a total failure that continues to cost taxpayers millions of dollars. This is only one of many such projects and we’re talking about millions of dollars for the Renton location alone.
As you know, the County, operating under a, “declaration of emergency,” took over the Renton Red Lion Hotel in April, 2020, to house up to 200 chronic homeless individuals with a goal to help stop the spread of COVID. This was done with no input from city leaders, which was legal due to the emergency declaration, but totally inappropriate and lacked in any sense of collaboration. To be fair, the COVID crisis was an emergency since everything was shutting down as the pandemic and fear spread like wildfire across the country. However, there was no effective plan of managing and serving this population that was relocated to the hotel and the consequence was considerable. Renton police and fire were overwhelmed with emergency calls for service at the hotel, from arson fires to assaults and other crimes. Local businesses were severIy impacted and in the end, upwards of $18 million dollars in damage was done to the hotel. The county’s contract agreement with hotel owners obligates you to return the hotel to its original condition, which has created another very costly challenge.
The homeless tenants were moved out of the facility within 16 to 18 months, around September of 2021. Fast forward to today, 26 months later, and the hotel remains boarded-up and surrounded by cyclone fencing. This is a major gateway to the city and has remained an eyesore for all this time. To make it worse, the County has continued to pay the owners of the hotel $330,700 per month in lease payments, more than $8.5 million since the buildings were vacated.
I must admit that the numbers I have may not be totally accurate, but they have not been disputed during conversations I have had with a couple county council members. The reason for my angst now, in addition to the hotel remaining an eyesore at the entrance to Renton, is a proposal before the county council to purchase the building. It’s my understanding that this is due to the huge amount of money required to repair the building, and there is no reasonable way the county can justify paying these repair costs and come away with nothing. The purchase price is $36,200,000 and to my knowledge, there has been no public discussion regarding this expenditure. This price is essentially for only the land since it’s likely the buildings would need to be demolished for new development. Here is some of the justification made to the county council for authorizing this purchase:
King County’s “Rationale for transaction:” Under the License Agreement the County is responsible for damages caused by the County’s use. While being used as a quarantine site during the COVID-19 pandemic, guest rooms, and common areas were extensively damaged. Damage ranges from broken furnishings such as mirrors and lighting, to soiled carpeting, to water damage due to demising walls and ceilings from over run toilets and bathtubs. There is also damage from an intentionally set fire in November of 2020. The estimated cost to restore the property to the condition contemplated by the License is $17,920,000. In addition, the County is paying $330,700 per month under the terms of the License. Acquisition of the property will relieve the County of the liabilities of the License.
In the end, taxpayers will pay upwards of $70 million dollars or more for this one initiative to address homelessness in King County. There’s no accounting on how many other similar scenarios exist, and not a surprise that billions of additional tax dollars continue to be budgeted by the state, King County and Seattle to address homelessness. There have been a number of initiatives created by these entities that have been disbanded due to a lack of funding or adequate outcomes. Again, there is no question that this is a very complex crisis, but there seems to be a need for better collaboration between government agencies as well as more public transparency on total costs and results.
I appreciate that you both have taken steps in the past to address the negative impact this effort has had on the Renton community and local businesses. It seems apparent at this point the county has few options remaining other than spending millions more to resolve the Red Lion issue. Finally, I feel it’s totally inaccurate and unfair for housing advocates to label cities as uncaring or unwilling to help vulnerable populations when they challenge the process of addressing homelessness.
I strongly encourage you to work with Renton’s elected officials on future plans for the Red Lion site.
Thank you.
Denis Law
Erasmus the rooftop dragon was unveiled four years ago on April 13, and Renton celebrated his fourth birthday yesterday morning with a Dragon Dash fun run and party. City of Renton Recreation Division and volunteers did a wonderful job organizing the festive event.
If you haven’t heard the story of Erasmus’s creation, it’s covered well in this article.
There were both 5K and 10K runners in yesterday’s birthday run, and the whole event was great fun. The cool morning weather was perfect for the almost 300 runners and walkers that had signed up. Dragon theming was abundant, and the organizers kept the event running smoothly. Participants were given Dragon Dash shirts and snacks at the end of the race, along with a chance to try to pull a sword from a stone and be photographed with dragons, while the children hunted for dragon eggs.
My wife Cathy and I had a delightful time participating. With wonderful people, lovely nature on the Cedar River trail, exercise, and dragon theming all right here in our own downtown…who could ask for more?
A reader of the “Randy Corman for Mayor” Facebook page recently asked me to comment on whether our city was favoring big box stores at the Landing at the expense of downtown merchants.
It’s not one over the other. Both of these shopping districts, the the Landing and historic downtown, and all our other business zones, are extremely important to Renton.
Photo: Renton’s newest and likely most iconic art piece, Erasmus the dragon, was unveiled in Downtown Renton in April