News from former Councilmember Randy Corman, your Renton City Hall insider. (All views expressed in journal entries are Randy Corman's personal views, and not the official position of the City of Renton or other city employees. Views expressed in reader comments are those of the commenter)

Posts in category Art

City announces Piazza fountain will become a planter; the end of city water features?

Jun21
2025 18 Comments Written by Randy Corman

Monday’s Renton Committee of the Whole presentation revealed that the Piazza fountain will become a planting bed.

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.

Renton’s Piazza fountain

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.

No more water. Renton’s lovely “Summer Breeze” girl has been stepping into a 40-foot long babbling stream bed for over 20 years, but the water has been removed and the girl will soon follow.

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.

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18 Comments Posted in Downtown, Environment, History, Parks and Trails, Public Works

Renton Piazza fountain is a treasure; it should be cleaned and welcoming

Jun11
2025 5 Comments Written by Randy Corman

 

Renton’s Piazza Fountain has delighted visitors for over 20 years with its three levels of rushing, splashing water. This picture was from a farmers market two years ago.

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.

Three of my young relatives enjoying the Piazza fountain two years ago

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.

 

This photo, taken a week ago, shows the fountain is currently neglected.  It desperately needs to be cleaned and maintained.  Even with the Farmers Market relocated, the fountain reflects on the health and vitality of downtown Renton.

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.

This photo, taken during the Farmers Market a week ago, shows the Piazza has been emptied of programmed activities in apparent preparation of a landscaping project. However, I don’t even think a contractor has been chosen yet for the landscape project, or a final design approved. The fountain should remain part of any redesign, and should be bubbling with clean water in the meantime.

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.

5 Comments Posted in Community, Downtown, Farmers Market, History, Maintenance, Parks and Trails, Public Works

Renton School Board, with minimal discussion, sends world-class glass studio packing

Feb28
2025 5 Comments Written by Randy Corman

Billy O’Neill, “Dale Chihuly’s right hand man,” (in white sneakers) selecting the large facility on Airport Way for his decorative glass making studio.  The venue was going to teach youth and adults the art of Chihuly style glass making.  The large open-bay building features the same old-growth historic bowstring-trusses that caused our city council to save the Pavilion building in the 1990s.

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.

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5 Comments Posted in Business, Community, Development, Downtown, Eminent Domain, History, Neighborhoods, Representation, School District

Hundreds run past Erasmus the rooftop dragon to celebrate his fourth birthday

Apr16
2023 2 Comments Written by Randy Corman

Erasmus the dragon appears to be watching runners queue at the starting line for a fun run that commemorates his fourth birthday

 

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?

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2 Comments Posted in Downtown, Uncategorized

Downtown Renton goes toe-to-toe with Fremont

Jun05
2019 4 Comments Written by Randy Corman

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.

Photo:  Renton’s newest and likely most iconic art piece, Erasmus the dragon, was unveiled in Downtown Renton in April

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.

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4 Comments Posted in Business, Downtown

About the author

Hi, I’m Randy Corman. Welcome to my blog!  I served on Renton City Council for 28 years, 1994-2021, with six years as Renton Council President.  I’m also a mechanical engineer and manager, and worked for the Boeing Company for 33 years, from 1984- 2017.  My wife and I have five kids and six grandkids, and we all live in Renton.  I’ve kept this blog for 19 years, and get thousands of readers each month. Please share your feedback, ideas, and opinions in the comments.

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