Month: June 2025

Renton gives owners of Park Avenue deathtrap another year; “red tag” status not clear or effective

Written by Randy Corman 17 Comments
The derelict buildings on Park Avenue put public safety at risk, harm nearby businesses, blight the northern entrance to downtown, and make it harder to lease the new office buildings at nearby Southport.

Renton’s 4-5-060 code is clear.  If Renton’s building official determines that a building is an immediate danger to occupants or those nearby, the official should post it with a message that says “This Structure Is Unsafe and Its Occupancy Has Been Prohibited by the Code Official.”  It is then unlawful for anyone to enter unless they are officially repairing it.  This is commonly known as the city putting a “red tag” on a building.  The building official should then order the work to be done to bring the building up to code.  If the danger is imminent, the code official is allowed to make emergency repairs to prevent imminent danger.  The cost of the emergency repairs will be temporarily covered by the jurisdiction, but billed to the owner of the building.

The buildings on Park Avenue reached an unsafe condition two years ago, with unabated fire damage, disabled fire protection that could cause a seven-story inferno, blocked fire exits, broken windows falling from 7 stories up, open elevator shafts,  mold build-up from rain and fire hose water, biohazards from human occupancy without sanitation, and the attractive nuisance of being a dystopian former aerospace office that looks like it belongs in the game “Fallout.”

It took a year and a half, and much cajoling from residents, to finally get the city to follow the code-prescribed procedures to visibly “red-tag” the building.  For months the city effectively just kept writing letters to the building owner threatening that an even more firm letter would be coming if they didn’t take action.

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Renton Redditors debate whether Renton will ever get Link light rail service

Written by Randy Corman 10 Comments

A Renton reddit user recently posed a question on a Renton reddit page asking “could we please have light rail connectivity in Renton?”

Click here to see the complete Reddit thread on this topic.

One commenter says Renton Councils and residents of the past didn’t want light rail, some point to unfair lack of Renton representation on the Sound Transit board when key decisions were made, some point to Renton’s lower density than Seattle, some say our topography is to blame, and some say we’re not working hard enough to get it today.  One made an interesting point that Boeing, our largest employer, has many workers with shifts starting too early in the morning for Sound Transit trains (although Everett has a similar workforce and it is scheduled to eventually get Link light rail).

I’ve covered Renton’s concerns regarding Sound Transit extensively in the past, and I don’t agree with some of the reddit comments.  For instance, I always wanted Link light rail during the time I was on council (first writing about Renton’s struggles with the agency in 2007), and I don’t think our topography or density are less suited than other areas like Redmond or Issaquah.  I also agree with many of the comments, and I’m happy to see our community discussing it. I’m impressed with the level of interest and engagement by our community.

As I’ve said in my previous blog entries, I would like to see Sound Transit complete the five million dollar study that voters agreed to as part of Sound Transit 3 to determine an alignment and  layout for a future Link light rail station in Renton.  This study should be completed soon, to make sure Renton is not left out of any future Sound Transit 4 planning.

All my articles on Sound Transit can be found here.

Renton High School already had more property than many local high schools

Written by Randy Corman 7 Comments
Renton resident Sarah Becker presented to Renton City Council last night regarding the eminent domain takings around Renton High School.  Her notes are attached below.

Renton School Officials have repeatedly said that Renton High School is built on “a small parcel of land” and should have 30-40 acres to be competitive with other high schools. But Renton resident Sarah Becker put together data showing Renton High has more property than many high schools in our region, especially when taking into account the nearby 17-acre Renton Memorial Stadium that is available for Renton High use.

She presented the data at last night’s Renton City Council Meetings, and asked the City Council to help stop the destruction of 32 homes and eight businesses being taken by Renton School District by threat of eminent domain.

While Renton Council did not initiate the eminent domain takings, the Council arguably has the power to stop the takings because the plan requires the Council to give the school district three public streets.  If Council said “no” to the street taking,  the District’s plan could not go forward (the School District can’t take city-owned property by eminent domain).  And in addition to saving 32 homes and 8 businesses, Council has  good reason to keep these streets.  South Tobin Street is an important alternative to Airport Way in a high traffic area constrained geographically by Renton High School, Renton Airport and Lake Washington. Without South Tobin, any disruption to Airport Way could gridlock Renton.

Ms. Becker also put together a listing of all the affected properties purchased so far under threat of eminent domain, and noted that the cost has exceeded 38 million dollars even before the School District has acquired the ten most-contested properties; the takings of these ten properties have now been turned over to the School District’s pricey outside law firm,  who is initiating a potentially costly legal fight with the owners of the land.  If the District wins these court fights, this land will end up costing taxpayers 10-20 million more.

If Renton ultimately submits to giving up streets, the School District should pay Renton for the land. The streets belong to City of Renton taxpayers, and the School District has larger geographic boundaries extending into Newcastle, Kent, Tukwila and King County.  City of Renton voters have never agreed to donate this property to the larger school district. The fair market value of the land under these streets is probably another ten million dollars or more.

All told, the district has over 38 million invested with potentially as much as another 20-30 million to pay out to acquire land before they even break ground.  The purchases will allow them to move the ball fields a few hundred yards east, where they might be allowed to have lights on them– but 100 or so residents and eight businesses will have lost their homes.  As I showed in a previous entry, this is likely the most expensive high school baseball complex ever built.

Here are Ms. Becker’s charts:

Acreage data summarized by Renton resident Sarah Becker and presented to Renton City Council

Sales data of properties around Renton High School summarized by Renton resident Sarah Becker

 

 

 

 

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

Written by Randy Corman 18 Comments
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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City Council Meetings detail information

Written by Randy Corman 0 Comments

The City of Renton has been reworking it’s website during the past year, and has become difficult (at least for now) to find full agenda packets for upcoming meetings and past meetings.

The link to find all this information is here.

This section lists upcoming meetings. The live version can be found here, and includes clickable links to the detail agenda packets.
This section lists recent meetings. The live version can be found here and includes clickable links that go to the agenda packets.

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 appears to bill residents 500% the approved rate for copies of city documents

Written by Randy Corman 4 Comments
Staples receipt for costs Renton outsourced while supplying records to Superior Court; Logan Six applicants have been asked to pay this, even though it’s five times the published fee schedule.

The Renton Fee Schedule, approved by Renton City Council, is pretty clear.  The City can charge residents 15 cents per page for printed or photocopied pages.  The City Clerk can also waive these charges, and often does, for residents that have not used an excessive amount of photocopying or printing services in the past.

So why is the city charging 78 cents per page to Renton residents appealing the Logan Six project?   The question has North Renton residents justifiably perturbed.  They’ve been paying taxes to fund the Renton City Clerk’s office for decades, and now the first time they need copies of some city documents the city is gouging them.  The City is not even using the photocopiers that taxpayers funded– they’re having the copies made at Staples, a retail store.

Excerpt from Renton’s 2025-2026 fee schedule

The high charge is five times the city’s published fee schedule, which is arguably illegal.  But just as upsetting to North Renton residents, the usurious charge looks like an effort on the part of someone in the city to make it even more expensive and difficult for Superior Court to review this appeal.  When the Council made the last-hour change to send appeals to superior court instead of hearing them themselves (claiming it was an improvement) they didn’t mention that the city would charge 78 cents per page for data sent to the court.

Even more frustrating, by using Staples, a retail store, instead of the Clerk’s office, the bill for the copying now includes sales tax which would ordinarily be exempt on public records per RCW 82.08.02525. 

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Small plane overruns Renton runway and skids into lake; both occupants are okay

Written by Randy Corman 0 Comments
Numerous emergency vehicles and personnel respond to the scene of a light plane runway overrun. The two occupants were able to walk away from the accident. (Photo courtesy of Gary Palmer)

Renton Police reported on the incident on X, as follows:  “A small plane skidded off the runway into Lake Washington at the north end of the Renton Airport. The pilot & passenger climbed out of the plane uninjured. The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration have been notified and will investigate.”

It’s great news that no one was hurt.  This type of investigation typically takes months, so we won’t know the cause for a while.

Photo posted by Renton Police on their X site

Additional preliminary information can be found on the Aviation Safety Network.