My daughter Katie was a founding student and is now on staff in Renton’s H.O.M.E Program. Her three kids are all current students in the program. This is their 2023 orientation-day photo.
For 25 years Renton School District has been a state leader in outreach to homeschooling families. Their breakthrough H.O.M.E. program (Home-school Opportunities for Merging Education) was passionately spearheaded by former assistant-superintendent Vera Risdon in 1998. The program has been a model for partnership between a school district and families opting to homeschool. The program successfully blends the advantages and flexibility of homeschooling with the resources and teaching capabilities of the school district. Fully engaged HOME program students are considered district-enrolled students by Washington State, so the Renton District receives their per-student funding. This funding is used to cover classes, one-on-one time with teachers, and other expenses of the program.
My wife and I enrolled our daughter Katie in the program in 1998 along with two of her brothers, and eventually all five of our kids. Katie is now a Staff Member at the HOME program, and she helps teach classes while also participating as a parent with three kids of her own in the program.
Our five kids enjoyed the program, and they all received an excellent education. The HOME program helped them all enroll in running-start college classes during their final two years of high-school, which gave them a strong jump-start for their college degrees.
It’s exciting to see four (and soon five) of our grandchildren growing through the HOME program, and it’s fun to see Katie’s special role as an original-student turned staff member, as the program hits its silver anniversary.
Katie received this shirt at orientation today, which carries a special meaning for her since she was a student in the program in 1998 and is a staff member in 2023.
The back of the shirt shares the H.O.M.E. programs values (the school mascot is a panda)
Seattle’s Chester Morse lake and 91,000 acre watershed at the headwaters of Cedar River is off-limits to visitors, ensuring pristine drinking water for Seattle customers. Photo credit: City of Seattle
An asphalt plant has been approved by King County upstream of Renton’s municipal water wells. The asphalt plant will disperse treated surface water into a dry well in the ground, above Renton’s aquifer.
Washington State has granted cities unique power to buy land outside their jurisdictions to protect their municipal water supplies, even from unwilling sellers through use of eminent domain. Renton should consider using this authority to buy the proposed Lakeside Industries Asphalt Plant site, in order to protect both the Cedar Valley Aquifer and the Cedar River. If Seattle was in our shoes, they would have already done this.
Seattle has purchased 91,000 acres in their Chester Morse Lake watershed in the uplands of the Cedar River to protect their water supply. Seattle won’t even let hikers on this property, as they feel the risk of contamination is too high.
Renton’s water comes from wells in the Cedar river basin, downhill from Seattle’s water supply. Renton draws water from the Cedar Valley Aquifer, which is about 100-300 feet beneath the earth’s surface. The aquifer is refilled continuously by groundwater seeping in through the valley’s uplands. A layer of silt and clay generally prevent the Cedar River water and the Cedar Valley aquifer water from mixing, although no one can know exactly what is happening underground.
With King County’s decision to allow an asphalt plant in the Cedar River basin, just a mile or so upstream of Renton’s municipal wells, Renton should take a page from Seattle’s playbook and exercise our land-purchase authority to protect our water supply.
There have been studies and discussion about whether runoff from the asphalt plant can get into the Cedar River; Lakeside Industries consultants says it won’t happen because they are capturing and treating runoff (potentially containing tar, gas, oil, and other industrial contaminants), and then purposefully infiltrating the treated water into the ground through a new dispersion system. i.e. they will intentionally inject their treated run-off into the ground above our aquifer.
While this system generally keeps the treated water out of the Cedar River, there’s no way to be completely certain that it won’t get into the Cedar Valley Aquifer. In fact, for many years, Water District 90, the water purveyor serving East Renton and regions east of our city limits, has been very concerned about this exact piece of property introducing contamination into the aquifer. This report from 2014 (section 4.2.2, page 15) describes the concerns regarding the former “Sunset Materials” site, which is the now site of the proposed asphalt plant.
Ask yourself; Would Seattle allow Lakeside Industries Asphalt plant to be placed in their Chester Morse watershed, where they won’t even allow hikers today? If they would not allow it, why does Renton need to allow an asphalt plant to inject industrial runoff water into the ground upstream of our drinking water wells?
For perspective, Irvine California is going to spend $360 million dollars to buy an existing asphalt plant, just so the city can close it down and improve the air quality in their community. Lakeside Industries paid around $12 million for their site on the Cedar Valley Aquifer. Renton’s purchase of this site would be a bargain compared to Irvine’s, about 1/30 the cost that Irvine is going to pay. And Renton’s purchase would help protect our water supply, a fundamental need for safety of our city.
After a purchase, the city could seek full or partial reimbursement via a Water Quality Grant from the Washington State Department of Ecology, which gives out between $100 Million and $200 Million every year for projects that protect rivers and streams. Several streams traverse the site in question before entering the salmon-bearing Cedar River; this project should be a top contender for funding. There are many other grant sources of income as well.
Too often, Renton finds itself pleading in court for fair treatment, when we could have used power already granted to us to protect our vital interests. This is one of those cases. Email your council and encourage them to pursue the purchase of the Lakeside Industries Asphalt Plant site, to protect our water supply. Send email to council@rentonwa.gov
Thanks to Renton resident Ben Johnson for working with me to develop this approach. Please see Ben’s comments on my previous blog entry for more of his thoughts on this topic.
Lakeside Industries Asphalt plant proposed at 18825 Renton-Maple Valley Road
Most of us living in Renton have been adamantly opposed to the building of an asphalt plant along Renton-Maple Valley Road near the Cedar River. Renton’s elected officials are no exception. An organization named “Save the Cedar River” is helping to coordinate opposition to the asphalt plant, and their website documents the many concerns raised by the prospect of an asphalt plant at that location.
I’ve recently heard of false rumors that one of Renton’s elected officials is in favor of the Asphalt Plant. These erroneous rumors undermine Renton’s position on this issue, so it’s important to keep the record straight.
Renton’s former Econo Lodge, now “Inn at Lake Washington,” just off Exit 7 in Kennydale.
Note: Updated on 8/21 to include commentary by Mayor Pavone, who reinforced that he has been working to prevent this hotel from becoming a shelter for Burien’s use (new paragraph 4)
Burien City leaders have been in the news as they work to find shelter for residents experiencing homelessness who are camped in their downtown not far from city hall. A letter from King County Regional Homelessness Authority, along with blog sources, refers to discussion of Burien seeking shelter space in Renton for these residents.
In the City of Burien’s most recent public statement on this issue, they said “City personnel have identified several potential sites, including a facility operated by REBLX, a partner agency of KCRHA” Other documents make clear the REBLX site is a hotel in Renton. As a result, I’ve had several Renton residents ask me “are they talking about Renton’s Extended Stay, Clarion Inn, Red Lion, or what?”
The answer is they are discussing the former Econo Lodge, now called the “Inn at Lake Washington”, at Exit 7, in Kennydale. When I did an analysis in April of Renton Hotels being used for King County Homeless shelters, the Econo Lodge was not on the shelter list. At that time, I pointed out that 22 percent of Renton’s hotel rooms had been converted from traveler use to shelter use, while county-wide (including 38 other cities) only 4% of hotel rooms have been converted to shelter use. With the Econo Lodge, Renton’s percentage of converted hotels would reach 29%.
Traffic in this section of Edmonds Ave NE in North Renton Highlands (near McKnight Middle School) was extremely light this morning. This detour sign points southward, directing traffic toward Sunset Blvd, where Northbound travelers will be detoured to Coal Creek Parkway. This road often carries heavy volumes of highlands traffic onto Exit 6, which is temporarily closed.
If you live in Renton Highlands or Kennydale, you might want to step outside for a moment (before the wildfire smoke blows in) and notice the unusual quiet. Some residents have noticed how peaceful it sounds with the ubiquitous roar of I-405 quieted for 60 hours by the freeway’s complete closure from Exit 5 to Exit 10.
But don’t get too used to the quiet. The freeway is scheduled to be reopened by Monday Morning.
While we can’t expect traffic to go away on this corridor, perhaps 10 years in the future increased electric vehicles sporting better aerodynamics may quiet it down a little bit for us.
My wife Cathy and I also noticed something else. The section of Edmonds Avenue NE that runs through North Renton Highlands, a normally high-volume arterial, seemed all but empty this morning. While it’s typically not as busy on Saturdays, it was nearly deserted this morning. It makes it really clear to me how much this arterial is used to carry traffic between Renton Highlands and Exits 5 and 6. During traffic jams on I-405 this section of Edmonds Ave may even be used as a freeway bypass by some commuters.
I realize it’s possible people have just cut out most of their driving this weekend, so they don’t get stuck in a traffic jam anywhere.
I’ll be interested in hearing other people’s observations about traffic in our city during this I-405 closure. We may learn lessons about cut-through traffic that help us with future traffic planning.
Renton’s latest official survey results are in, and concerns about crime are the highest I’ve ever seen– after decades of reviewing Renton survey results. The results were officially presented to Renton Council’s Committee of the Whole at their August 7 meeting.
Only one out of ten residents feels safe in downtown Renton after dark. Only four out of ten feel safe in their own neighborhood after dark. This is completely unacceptable, especially for our northwest city where wintertime sunsets happen as early as 4:25 PM.
When residents were asked to rate the MOST important thing the city should be working on out of fifteen choices, “safe and secure community” far-and-away topped the list, with 70% saying it was most important. The next highest category came in only one-tenth as high, with 7% saying “quality housing choices” was the most important.
As I covered in a May blog entry, Renton needs to refocus on Priority 1 police response times (for the most urgent threats), and add the officers needed to get these response times back to 60-90 seconds. We must not go the way of Seattle, which now has ten-minute priority one response times. We also must insist the legislature give more authority back to our police officers, so they may once again reasonably pursue burglars, drug dealers, stolen cars, and dangerous reckless drivers when conditions allow for it.
We also need additional detectives to help work down the backlog of unsolved crimes. We can’t let some council members’ fears of police, and fear of “over-policing,” prevent us from hiring the officers and detectives needed to make residents feel safe again in their neighborhoods. And we need to have a safe downtown, that generates commerce in the evening and makes us feel like visiting our businesses there. Our downtown not only entertains and serves us, but it also generates the tax revenues needed to fund vital city services. Downtown is like our living room, and 9 out of 10 of us are afraid to go there.
Beyond adding the officers needed to maintain lightning fast response times, there’s other steps we need to take as a community; I’ll cover them in future blog entries.
Survey results showed that Renton residents still find much to love about Renton, so the results are not all bad. Many of the positives, like our parks, amenities, and overall sense of community, have been an important focus for our city for decades. But the crime trends must be brought under control to preserve those qualities we like so much about our city. The full survey results can be found here.
Renton’s Airport helps bring billions of dollars of revenue into our community, and the airport must maintain tight security to keep air traffic and airport businesses running on schedule.
Unfortunately, starting around the time of the pandemic, there has been an increasing number of trespasses, thefts, break-ins, and other security breaches at the airport. Some of these have been incidences like unauthorized visitors in secure area or stolen cars in the parking lots.
The latest such event happened Friday morning, five days ago. In this latest break-in, seven general aviation airplanes used for pilot training were damaged, a building was broken into, and computers and tools were stolen. I’ve been told by a knowledgeable but unofficial source that at one point during the break-in, the thief even made an unauthorized call on a flight radio, communicating with air traffic controllers who were understandably confused about who they were communicating with.
Preliminarily, the aircraft damage appears to be mostly broken windows, but full evaluations will be needed to assure the safety of these and other nearby aircraft.
To the thieves and those following the latest crime trends in Renton, these airport break-ins may look like a simple extension of an increasing crime wave. With automobiles being stolen and vandalized at about three times the rate they were a couple years ago, it may seem like airplanes at our airport would be next.
But for those of us who have worked around aircraft professionally, we recognize these airport break-ins as much more serious than a simple escalation of property crime. These attacks on airplanes are Federal Offences, involving serious felonies that can potentially put the public and air traffic system in danger. Under Federal Regulations 18. 32, (a) “Whoever willfully … sets fire to, damages, destroys, disables, or wrecks any aircraft in the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States or any civil aircraft used, operated, or employed in interstate, overseas, or foreign air commerce….shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years or both.”
A potential twenty-year prison sentence is harsh, but considering that lives can be lost due to unauthorized tampering with aircraft, the federal government understandably takes these breaches very seriously.
The Friday morning break-in is under investigation, and the authorities do have some leads. Because the crime is under an active investigation, I’m not going to share any further details about it here.
Airport management and airport businesses are reviewing their security needs, and making further perimeter enhancements. What we need to do as a greater community is work together to reverse the crime trends that are increasingly putting our airport in harm’s way. The safety of the flying public and billions of dollars in local revenue depend on us maintaining a secure airport.
A perimeter fence topped with barbed wire protects much of the airport, but it has gates for access and it’s open to the lake, so it requires heavy surveillance as well.
Follow-up:
The investigation revealed that this heavy box wrench was likely used as a blunt instrument during the crime to damage several aircraft windshields. The police case number can be found on the evidence tag.
I was shocked and saddened to learn of the emailed bomb threats and death threats against the Brewmaster’s Taproom and its owner. The Taproom is a family and dog-friendly venue that embraces diversity in our community.
Per the Renton Reporter, “The bomb threats were sent to Brewmaster’s owner Marley Rall via email and included an extreme homophobic rant against the storytime event as well as death threats toward several named individuals and the Renton Police Department. The email also claimed that the surrounding area needed to be evacuated because there were “enough fertilizer bombs there to make the Oklahoma City bombings look like a firecracker.”
I served as a public official in Renton for 28 years, and I know these felonious, frightening and cruel threats are antitheses to the widespread feelings and values of our loving, caring Renton community. I’m hoping our Renton Police are successful in tracking down the source of the threats, and I’m also hoping the threats did not originate from within our city.
Marley Rall deserves our appreciation for her steadfastness and courage as a business owner and caring member of our community, in the face of these malevolent, despicable threats.
Back in the first week of 2020, before the pandemic, I observed that I had more years of experience as a city elected official than all 9 of Seattle’s City Council Members plus their Mayor PUT TOGETHER. At the time, I saw this as a potential signal that it might be time to retire. But now, looking at what has happened in Seattle since then, I see it quite differently. It was not a problem that I had too many years helping manage a city– Seattle’s officials had too little experience.
Seattle, once known for being one of the cleanest and safest metro areas in America, now has the distinction of being worst for people needing to move because of the safety of their neighborhoods.
Experience is critical for recognizing the long-term unintended consequences of every decision, and avoiding costly or dangerous mistakes. Their council’s decisions like defunding the police, decriminalizing fentanyl, deeply limiting police pursuits, allowing encampments on sidewalks needed for safe ADA access, and even discussing a “crime-of-need” defense for theft of items like a contractor’s tools or catalytic converters– these and other mistakes have made Seattle less safe.
Renton lost 38 years of elected leadership experience when Mayor Denis Law and Council Member Don Persson retired in 2019. (Left to right, me, Denis Law, Don Persson, former Council Member Marcie Palmer)
I’m very grateful to Nancy, Steven, and Camila for their endorsements in my campaign for Renton City Council Position 7. They all ran excellent campaigns, and Renton would do well to put them all in public office soon.
With your help I made it through the primary for Council Position 7! It was a seven-person race, and as of today I have 25.6 %, which puts me in the top two. While this is fewer primary votes than the incumbent, I’m gathering endorsements from other candidates that will help guarantee a competitive general election and hopefully a win in November. I wish to thank the other candidates for position 7 for an excellent race! Also, thank you to my supporters for the great assistance so far, and thank you to Renton voters for your support. Here are the complete results as posted today at 4:00 PM.
