I received this comment from a twenty-year-old Renton MySpace user named Wendy:
“We should try and get rid of and stop the graffiti around renton, renton has a lot of potential and gets ruined by that sh*t they call “art” they might have talent but no respect, aaa probably not too much we could do huh?”
The city is working on some ideas to improve the graffiti situation. But I would like to hear your ideas.
The Seattle PI ran a story on Friday about the former Seattle Comedy show Almost Live, and it’s host John Keister. For any of you who missed it, here is the Link.
There are 180 Soundoff comments on the story as well, most of them viewers who are remembering aspects of the show.
I loved Almost Live. I even once attended a filming in Seattle (as many people did during that time). The jokes about Renton made me laugh. Under Mayor Jesse Tanner, we honored John Keister by making him an honorary citizen of Renton, and he came down to our council chambers to accept the award personally.
Here is a blog entry I posted a few months ago on this subject.
Renton resident Elizabeth Rogers wrote a guest opinion for the Seattle Times. While I don’t necessarily agree with everyone of her points, I think her theme of concern that Renton and the Northwest are losing their livibility has some merit. Like her, I saw this same trend in California, where I was born.
I think we do have to be selective in the development we encourage, and seek to redevelop aging parts of town ahead of sprawling into natural areas whenever possible.
I’m interested in your thoughts on this topic. Please leave your comments below.
I think the Tacoma News Tribune, of all the region’s papers, seems to have the most detailed understanding of local cities’ relationships with Boeing. (Maybe the Everett Herald is equivalent)
This is an insightful article about how Auburn, Renton, and Kent have all found new prosperity in land that Boeing no longer needs. Click here to read it Boeing has previously shared that this land is available because of just-in-time inventory systems, production streamlining (a moving final-assembly line), and other changes.
What I like about this story is that it recognizes that Boeing is also going strong, and this is not “daylight in Boeing’s Shadow” as the Chicago Tribune characterized it.
Boeing stock is hitting record highs, and the 737 order backlog is bigger than its ever been…with seven to ten years of production ahead just filling the orders that have already been placed.
For cities like Renton, the freed-up acreage has been a huge shot-in-the-arm for business prosperity, and we owe some gratitude to Boeing, our largest employer, for making much of this possible.
Be sure you read this entry if you work for the city. Help prevent rumors! Click here.
This is an interesting development in the area of local transportation. We have officially expressed interest in participating in the study of a Lake Washington water-taxi service that could help non-Renton-resident employees come to Boeing, Paccar, and the Landing, or help Renton residents commute to the University of Washington, Bellevue or Kirkland.
The water taxi would most likely dock at Renton’s Southport, the growing development on the Lake between Coulon Park and the Landing. This is an excellent location for Boeing employees, as there is a badge-operated roto-gate directly into the Boeing plant from Southport. It would also serve the Landing and Paccar well, as it is withing walking distance of all these facilities.
Water Taxis (or small passenger-only ferries may be a better name for what is being considered)have recently been used on Elliot Bay, and have been used in other regions pretty successfully for many years. They typically will run a loop course between several stops on a river or lake (Vancouver BC makes good use of these)
Read about the Water Taxi study in today’s Seattle PI by clicking here
Gary Palmer provided me with some wonderful images from the Tuesday election night party.
Marcie Palmer and her campaign manager Rich Zwicker
get their first view of Denis Law’s lead and Marcie’s three-to-one win
Here is an interesting article about bald eagles, and the type of creatures they could carry off. They could pick up a small dog or cat in a full velocity swoop, but it is not likely to happen.
A bioligist tells an Alaska journalist what is possible. I’m sure it applies to Renton just as much as Juneau. Click here to read the story.
The Spirit of Washington Dinner Train owner says the latest developments in eastside corridor ownership are “encouraging”. The main issue is whether the tracks will stay in the ground.
Unfortunately, we probably won’t see this train return to Renton unless/until a miracle happens and the state decides to leave the Wilburton crossing open in Bellevue. (It would cost 20 to 30 million dollars to keep this 3/4 mile of track open when I-405 expands, and there is no plan to keep this open).
Still, it’s nice to see that the Dinner Train may still have a chance at staying in the Puget Sound Region. Go Eric Temple!
Snohomish
Times Snohomish County Bureau
Different landlord, same intentions.
Eric Temple, owner of the Spirit of Washington Dinner Train, said he was as surprised as anybody by last week’s announcement that the Port of Seattle, not King County, probably will assume ownership of the 42-mile rail corridor between Snohomish and Renton.
Port Commission President John Creighton said he’s a fan of the dinner train, which in July was forced to abandon its 15-year route between Renton and Woodinville’s Columbia Winery. An expansion of Interstate 405 required severing the rail through Bellevue.
“If we could figure out a way to have them operate from Snohomish to Woodinville, it would be wonderful,” Creighton said.
Thursday’s announcement came just two days after Temple had announced his own decision to shut down the dinner train and lay off its staff. Temple in August had moved the dinner train to Tacoma, after negotiations for the Snohomish-Woodinville route bogged down. But higher expenses, declining ticket sales and complications with Tacoma Rail, the operator of his new route, doomed the popular train.
Temple said his continued interest in the northern route depends upon who ultimately operates the 14-mile stretch of rail through Snohomish County. The Temple family also owns Columbia Basin Railway, which had been negotiating a five-year agreement with BNSF Railway to operate that line, which connects in Snohomish with BNSF’s main line running east-west along Highway 2.
“We have no intention of running the dinner train on someone else’s railroad,” Temple said, because of lessons taken from the Tacoma experience.
Creighton said the Port would seek a third-party operator for the Snohomish portion of the rail corridor, using a public bid process.
“That’s encouraging,” said Temple, who planned to contact Creighton to discuss the issues.
The port’s tentative $103 million deal to buy the full rail corridor from BNSF would close a political saga that began in September 2006, when King County and the Port announced a complex transaction under negotiation with BNSF and the state. One aspect involved the Port buying the rail corridor and then trading it to King County for Boeing Field.
King County Executive Ron Sims wanted to convert the former dinner-train route into an Eastside trail, while the Snohomish County rails would remain in place for freight traffic — and perhaps a relocated dinner train. The rail corridor north of Woodinville is considered wide enough to support a trail next to the tracks.
Controversy over the Eastside rail-to-trail issue stymied the original proposal. Creighton said his Commission strongly supports keeping the corridor in Port hands to ensure it remains available for potential rail projects in the future.
For now, however, the rails are to be ripped out. Under the new proposal, King County would spend $44 million to build the Eastside trail, while Snohomish County would be responsible for any trail construction north of Woodinville.
The Port’s purchase deal is expected to close by late March, Creighton said.
Snohomish County is waiting until the corridor’s fate is settled before discussing any plans about trail-building, said Tom Teigen, the county parks director. The corridor could link King County’s trail system with Snohomish County’s Centennial Trail, which now starts in Snohomish and goes north. Officials hope that trail will eventually go all the way to the Skagit County border.
“It’s a great opportunity,” Teigen said.
Diane Brooks: 425-745-7802 or dbrooks@seattletimes.com
I’ve heard there are rumors around certain parts of city hall that this-or-that employee may be at risk because of the new mayor and new council members.
While I can’t speak for Denis or the other council members, I will share my observation that most (or perhaps all) of us Renton elected officials, including Mayor-elect Law, see all the city employees as part of our family, and we will actually be needing a bunch of additional “family” members with the Benson Hill annexation.
I know I have blogged in the past about the way we were utilizing certain staff, but any changes in priorities will not cause a reduction in employment….especially not with all the new employees we need to bring aboard.
There will probably be some re-location of fire department personnel due to the merging with Fire District 40, but these issues have already been discussed in public meetings and fire unions have already expressed support.
And there will be new work plans in the mayor’s office, which will probably refocus the strong team of employees that support leadership, annexations, communication, and other executive functions. While the specific details are largely up to the new mayor, I’m expecting all of this great team to remain aboard. Where the new mayor makes changes, it’s my expectation that everyone affected will feel involved in decision-making and very comfortable with their new roles, authorities, responsibilities and priorities. I know Denis is masterful at this style of management, so I expect this to go extremely smoothly.
I expect less change in other departments, with the greatest impact occurring from assimilation of new employees required to support the new Benson Hill section of the city.
Again, I can only speak for myself, but this is how I see things shaping up. And I know the other council members and mayor-elect very well, so I think my expectations about their intentions should be pretty accurate.
I hope that this helps prevent rumors. Any staff members that have any concerns are encouraged to contact Denis Law, or a member of the council, and simply ask about whatever is of concern to you. We will all be candid and honest with you. You can even ask me questions by leaving a comment on this blog. You can also call me at 425-271-6913.
For those staff members reading this, thanks SO MUCH for keeping the city running so smoothly through such a rough-and-tumble campaign season. You were professional and resilient through some difficult months, and we all REALLY appreciate it.
Best Wishes,
Randy
Thanks for all the warm and generous congratulatory comments!
Your kindness and encouragement mean a lot to me and the many other readers of this blog, including Denis Law, Marcie Palmer, Greg Taylor, King Parker, and Don Perrson.
We have returned to our committee schedules and other routine work, but we are still operating from Cloud Nine!
Thanks!
I received a good suggestion from Kennydale-resident Mark Hancock. He encourages everyone to consider completing the Renton Reporter’s survey, and then sharing some of your ideas for others to see here on this blog.
I know that the team at the Renton Reporter wish to make the paper responsive to the community’s needs and interests. So please share what you think they can do to improve. Are there columns they could add, or remove, or other content changes they should make? How do you feel about the paper in general? It would be fun to have a discussion about this. Again, fill out there survey first (if you are going to) and then please consider sharing some of your best ideas in the comment section below!
Here is Mark’s email:
____________________________________________________________
Randy –
It would be fun if you set up a thread on your blog for what people think of the Renton Reporter, how it could be improved, etc.
They want input anyway (see their survey article on page 10 of today’s Nov 7 issue).
Here’s the link to their survey (I haven’t done it yet – says it takes 20 minutes):
http://www.pulseresearch.com/rentonr/
Cheers,
Mark
The Spirit of Washington Pavilion Event Center has probably never been home to more cheering than witnessed tonight. The Event Center was the venue for an election watch party for Denis Law, Marcie Palmer, Greg Taylor, and King Parker, and all of their campaign teams. At a few minutes past 8:00, as the first returns were coming in, it became clear that all four of them were winning, and winning big, in their respective races. For Mayor, Denis Law was easily beating incumbent Kathy Keolker with a 56 percent to 44 percent spread. On city council, Marcie Palmer ran away with her race, with nearly three quarters of the voters choosing to re-elect her. Greg Taylor was ahead in the polling for an open seat almost two-to-one. And King Parker was getting almost 60 percent of the vote in his race for a city council seat. Along with all the other positive results, 17,000 residents of the Benson Hill neighborhood were electing to join the City of Renton in an annexation vote that was prevailing by 67% to 33 %. ( Interestingly, one of Denis Law’s adult daughters lives in this neighborhood….she could not vote for her father for mayor because she currently lives outside city limits, but she was able to vote to annex to the city of Renton which will make her father her mayor. )
The party of hundreds gasped and cheered as each set of fantastic results were shown on a big screen, which was linked to a bank of computers set up by Marcie Maxwell and some well-organized helpers. Along with cheering to raise the roof, glasses clinked, and people hugged, like midnight on new years eve in New York City.
The guests were all extremely well-fed compliments of the campaigns and Eric Temple’s excellent caterers from Spirit of Washington. And we all enjoyed acceptance speeches from the winning candidates, who were honored, humble, enthusiastic, appreciative, and extremely optimistic in their comments.
It was quite a night for everyone. But I can’t help feeling that I am one of the biggest winners of all, even though I was not even on the ballot. I now get to serve with a dream-team of city officials, in a city that is ready to truly bloom culturally and economically. If there was a way to buy stock in Renton, I would suggest you call your broker and purchase some right now…I am very, very bullish on our city’s future.
What a rush. I thank you all, dear readers and fellow Renton citizens, for making this night possible.
I’ll be getting some really nice pictures from Gary Palmer, but here are a few from my own camera to give the idea of the evening. Below the pictures, you can find the latest numbers from the King County Elections office.
CITY OF RENTON
| Ballots Cast/Registered Voters: | 6933 | / | 27552 | 25.16% |
| Poll Precincts Counted/Total Poll Precincts: | 65 | / | 65 | 100.00% |
| City of Renton Mayor |
| Kathy Keolker | NP | 2984 | 45.24% |
| Denis W. Law | NP | 3600 | 54.58% |
| Write-in | 12 | 0.18% |
| City of Renton Council Position No. 3 |
| Marcie Palmer | NP | 4388 | 73.70% |
| Shirley A. Gaunt-Smith | NP | 1545 | 25.95% |
| Write-in | 21 | 0.35% |
| City of Renton Council Position No. 4 |
| Greg Taylor | NP | 3806 | 62.93% |
| Terry Persson | NP | 2227 | 36.82% |
| Write-in | 15 | 0.25% |
| City of Renton Council Position No. 5 |
| King Parker | NP | 3774 | 59.22% |
| Cheryl E. Haskins | NP | 2586 | 40.58% |
| Write-in | 13 | 0.20% |
| City of Renton Council Position No. 7 |
| Don Persson | NP | 4778 | 97.67% |
| Write-in | 114 | 2.33% |
I would like to read everyone’s final thoughts before election day It’s been a long campaign season, and I know everyone has lots to say, so please express your feelings in the comment section below.
PREV
