Month: November 2025

During the 28 years I was on Renton City Council, we gave members of the public who attended our meetings at least five minutes to speak.  If someone was giving complex testimony and needed more than five minutes, we would almost always grant it.  I always felt that anything less than five minutes was too rushed, and particularly difficult and unfair to those who speak English as a second language.  Occasionally over the years various members suggested shortening it, and I always pushed back, insisting on maintaining at least five minutes.

I retired from Council in December 2021, and in the following year the standard was changed to three minutes.  This change has resulted in too much hurried testimony, missed opportunities to solve problems early, and complaints from residents who often feel they are not being heard.  Rushed testimony doesn’t just miss key points– it also can come off as more hostile than intended, as hurried speakers often side-step pleasantries, don’t have adequate time to gauge how their comments are affecting their listeners, and sometimes may not feel they can slow down to breathe.

I personally recommend that Renton Council restore the five minute testimony.  Current Renton Council meetings average about 45 minutes, and this change would only make them 5-10 minutes longer.  Since Councilmembers are paid about $500 per week for their service, it seems fair that they give members of the public two more minutes each to speak on issues of concern to them.  (It’s typical to have between 2-5 speakers, and five speakers talking for two extra minutes would only add ten minutes).

The Council has also become shy about discussing the issues brought up by the residents, and I’ve covered that concern in a previous blog entry here.  The Council could add another five to ten minutes of interactive problem-solving with residents who come to speak, and still keep their average meetings to about an hour.

Below is a screenshot of the top of the agenda from my last Council Meeting in 2021, and the last paragraph shows that audience members still had five minutes each to speak to council, and even longer if we offered an exception (which we frequently did).

Below that is a chart showing the typical council meeting length.

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) just announced the I-405 Renton to Bellevue widening project has fallen a year and a half behind schedule.  We’re just being told now, a few weeks before the “2025 expected completion” date that WSDOT had been sharing on their website for years.

Perhaps the worst part of the planned delay is that it will now stretch through TWO more summers, with presumably the same random full-freeway closures that we’ve endured the past few summers.  These freeway closures have created unexpected traffic jams throughout Renton and the eastside that make it very challenging to create and keep weekend travel plans.  The closures and jam-ups also make it difficult for residents to access emergency rooms and pharmacies when they need to.

Our State Department of Transportation needs to crack down on the contractor’s use of full freeway closures as part of their discussions with the contractor about the new timeline.  Twenty years ago such full closures were virtually unheard of;  meticulous planning would enable freeways to be worked on a lane at a time.  But this past summer it felt like the freeway contractors were throwing random full-closures of a north or south direction at us every other weekend– and the unofficial detour routes always went through our neighborhoods, keeping us virtually stuck at home.

Below is a screenshot of the Washington State Department of Transportation blog entry announcing the delay.

The City of Renton is considering dumping the images in the City’s logo that set our community apart from others.  At last Monday’s Committee of the Whole Meeting, the Council was presented with a staff proposal to “refresh” and “simplify” the City’s logo.  The proposed new logo would drop the airliner, football, and salmon from the logo.  The new logo would appear as in the picture below.

Dropping community-focussed images is a departure from our neighboring cities’ approach, as well as a change to Renton’s approach of the last 60 years.  Below are some logos from nearby cities, including images like a sailboat conjuring Des Moines’ impressive waterfront, a waterfall representing Snoqualmie,  a tree-covered island for Mercer Island, a maple leaf for Maple Valley, and trees and mountains and water images for other cities.

As a career airplane designer, I feel a special connection to the commercial airliner in Renton’s logo, as it recognizes our city’s importance as the world’s birthplace of commercial jet aviation.  The salmon in the logo acknowledges Renton’s natural environment. and the significance of our Cedar River as home to the largest natural-origin Chinook Salmon run in the Lake Washington Watershed, as well as a key spawning ground for Coho and Sockeye salmon.   The football (which I half expected to soon see paired with a soccer ball) reflects our identity as a headquarters for professional sports, and Renton’s overall support of recreation and entertainment.

The Committee of the Whole briefing is not the final word on this topic.  Before the decision becomes final, the Council has to formally pass legislation implementing the simplified logo.

[Update 2/3] Fortunately, several council members expressed concerns about the proposal, and have so far prevented this staff proposal from advancing.  Ed Prince was very vocally against the logo change, along with Ruth Pérez & James Alberson and Valerie O’Halloran. Two members were absent from the discussion.  The topic has so far not been reported out of committee.

The full details of the proposal can be found here, as well as the staff’s proposed phase-in plan.  Anyone with an opinion on this issue can write to the Council at council@rentonwa.gov, or write to the Mayor at mayor@rentonwa.gov.

Every time I’ve driven past the derelict Garden Plaza buildings I’ve easily spotted one or more holes in the security fence.  Everytime these failings are brought to the City’s attention, City leaders insist that permanent repairs by the building’s owner are imminently forthcoming, or an all-new fence is about to be installed that will be far more more impassible and secure than the previous one. But the result is always the same.

The latest barbed-wire-topped fence was the subject of a September Renton Reporter article, in which the Mayor addressed on-going neighborhood concerns about this building. The mayor assured the public the city had issued a firm deadline for construction of this new fence which was supposed to be “unscalable” (the article said “upscalable,” which I assume was a typo.)

I easily spotted the current fence openings from the road.  A large gap at the bottom of the fence near a staircase provides enough room for even an adult to easily slide under; the bare spot in the fallen leaves shows the gap is in use.  For those trespassers that don’t want to slide under, the concrete retaining wall enables intruders to take a large step over the barbed wire above the gap; the sagging barbed wire shows this is happening.

The public has been promised that this property would be secured. The unsecured property full of broken glass,  open drops, and biohazards continues to be a deadly risk to curious children and people seeking shelter.  It’s also a severe fire hazard for the neighborhood, and thrown objects from these buildings have put motorists at risk.

The owners of this property have had years to comply with city requirements. They are making a mockery of Renton’s code enforcement.  Strong code enforcement could have saved these buildings when they first went into disrepair; now we need strong code enforcement to protect human safety.

The code requires all the doors and windows be secured on vacant buildings, with either their original materials or architectural panels that match the building design.  It also requires that fire protection systems be maintained.  The code includes no exceptions or special privileges just because the building might be torn down in the future.  At some point every building will eventually be torn down– but it still has to meet code in the meantime.  If the owners won’t do the work to meet codes, the city  should do the work and bill the owners for it, putting a lien on the property if necessary–which is allowed under the law.

If you want to help you can email the Council and Mayor, and insist that code enforcement be taken seriously on these dangerous and blighted buildings:  Send emails to: council@rentonwa.gov and mayor@rentonwa.gov.

For further background on this property and the relevant codes, click here.

The Renton Airport Advisory Committee discussed intensifying noise concerns at their third-quarter September 9 meeting, and the link to the zoom recording of the meeting was just made available.  The video can be watched here.

The noise discussion starts at 43 minutes, first with some questions by Jeff Dineen (representing South Renton and RAAC vice-chair) regarding how pilots get trained on noise abatement procedures, followed by an intense discussion of overnight jet traffic over Mercer Island.  Tom Imrich (representing Mercer Island and a highly-experienced commercial jet pilot) makes the case that too many of the takeoffs are occuring at just a few-hundred feet above Mercer Island’s tree-tops at all hours of the night, and that a higher take-off profile or an east-channel (over-water) departure route should be invoked to spare Mercer Island’s neighborhoods from the noise and safety risks of the low-flying jet traffic.

The RAAC discussion covers some of the concerns that precipitated a firm letter from Mercer Island’s Mayor to the Renton Airport Director in September.

The video and draft meeting minutes were made available in conjunction with the announcement for the fourth quarter RAAC meeting, to be held on November 18th at 5:00 PM.  I’ve attached the agenda below.  (Meetings of the RAAC are open to the public, although public comment is typically not taken at the meetings.)

In several previous blog entries I’ve expressed concern that a new focus by Renton Airport leadership on inviting jet centers into Renton Airport, diplacing historic small-parts manufacturers and piston-aircraft users, would lead to increasing conflicts of this type.  All my earlier blog posts related to Renton Airport and the RAAC can be found here, or by clicking “Airport” in the Category sidebar.

As last-minute voters fill out their ballots for Renton’s caring and talented Mary Clymer (don’t forget!), I thought I would share this photo from when I served with her grandfather Earl Clymer in the mid 1990’s. Earl served 18 years on Council followed by 8 years as Mayor and left a family legacy of service to Renton.

Per the Seattle Times: “As a council member and as mayor, Mr. Clymer was known for his efforts to protect Renton’s aquifer, expand its parks system and senior-citizen services, and attract and retain businesses.”

I’m looking forward to seeing Earl’s granddaughter Mary, who already serves our community in many other ways, carry on Earl’s legacy at Renton City Hall.

To get the positive, safe future that everyone in Renton deserves, we need a healthy change in Renton Council Position 2.  Mary Clymer is ready to be that change.  Please vote for Mary by Tuesday, November 4th.  She has run a great campaign, and we need to get her across the finish line with a strong voter turnout.  Many people have not voted yet.  Please return your ballots by Tuesday (either postmarked by Tuesday afternoon or dropped in an official ballot collection box before 8:00 PM), and tell your friends to vote for Mary.

Please read more in my July endorsement announcement here.