Category: Farmers Market

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

Written by Randy Corman 5 Comments

 

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.

City pays $49,000 to write new Renton Pavilion Market lease; let the city know what it should say

Written by Randy Corman 14 Comments
Current city drawing for Pavilion Market submitted as part of permitting process

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.

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