Written by Joe’s Sports (formerly GI Joes) opens tomorrow at the Landing!
Here is the Company’s official announcement about the event.
I’m enjoying this new “All About Renton” blog
A new Renton family, transplanted from Arizona, shares their first-hand discoveries of Renton in this this up-beat, artistic, and interesting blog.
The blog entries chronicle the experiences of “misslynar”, as she takes in our sights and entertainment, and writes descriptively about them. Her photography is very nice as well.
Tim Eyman wants us to send Renton traffic fines to Olympia
Tim Eyman just sent our mayor and council members a question via email. In his email he explains that his latest initiative I-985 will, in-part, redirect any excess revenues from red-light cameras out of local cities accounts and into a state-wide “anti-congestion” fund, and then he asks “what is your city’s plan should voters approve I-985?”
I can’t speak for the rest of the council members or the mayor on this, and we do not meet again for two more weeks, but I know that this initiative would not change my position on red-light cameras. These cameras were not installed to raise money. They were installed to promote safety. While the speed cameras still have signage issues we are working to resolve, and both speed and red-light cameras may always seem Orwellian to some people (even though they do not capture the drivers identities), it’s not the money that led to the decision to install these cameras in Renton. It’s safety.
Currently, any revenues from the red-light and speed cameras in Renton are directed to Renton Police overtime to reduce speeding in neighborhoods.
So, Tim Eyman’s question is really one more for the voters. Do you want Renton traffic fines that are currently dedicated to traffic safety in Renton neighborhoods to instead be sent to Olympia and targeted for state-wide traffic congestion.
If so, I don’t have a problem with that. But Just like Tim Eyman, I don’t have a lot of faith in Olympia lately. Additionally, I think statewide congestion relief should be paid for with state-wide funds, not with funds coming disproportionately from Renton drivers. So I will personally cast my vote to keep any Red-light funds here in Renton for neighborhood safety.
My son is buying a Smart Car
The one-and-only smart car dealer in Western Washington is located just a stone’s throw from Renton, just east of South Center.
The cars, made by Mercedez, provide great gas economy (40 MPG highway), great parking advantages, and surprisingly good safety thanks to very good safety-cage design.
My son put down his 99 dollar deposit, and now has to wait 14 months for his car to come in. While the cars are 10 years old in Europe, they are only available in the US recently and I think there are about a quarter million on back order now.
IKEA Boxes go here!
Rash of residential burglaries; report any suspicious behavior to police
Councilman Rich Zwicker forwarded this today:
FYI. This is an e-mail I sent my North Renton e-mailing list.
—– Original Message —–
From: Rich Zwicker
Sent: Saturday, August 23, 2008 12:52 PM
Subject: Residential Burglaries on the Upswing
I spoke with Mayor Law this morning and he asked me to assist the City in getting the word out about a rash of residential burglaries that are taking place in the Benson/Cascade area and the Highlands. For reasons unknown, there have multiple burglaries throughout these areas and they are consisting of the usual MOs–occurring during the day; entry through open windows or smashing doors or windows to gain entry.
While this is not a North Renton problem, let’s make sure it does not become one. And encourage your friends and neighbors in the impacted areas to be especially vigilant.
The best way to fight these burglaries is to keep an eye out for each other. So, please keep a sharp eye on your neighborhood and do not hesitate to contact 911 if you see anyone or anything out of the ordinary–strange vehicles; unknown youths, door-to-door salespeople, etc. If you notify the police, they can determine if someone has bad intentions, so just take a moment to report the out of the ordinary and we can help stop this disturbing trend.
– Rich.
Libraries…. what do YOU think we should do?
A Renton Citizen and frequent reader has suggested that I should get a discussion started about the future of Renton Libraries; do you think we should join the King County system, or show we remain independent.
A recent article on the Renton Reporter gave the background on this issue. In short, we commissioned a new Master Plan, to help us figure out the future of the libraries. In particular, this issue becomes important because our city has been growing so much, and if Fairwood decides to annex it becomes even more urgent….Fairwood includes a King County Library.
The Renton Reporter article quoted a council member as saying that the Renton Council initially prefers to stay independent, but there are some council members that have not really formed an opinion on this issue yet. If anything, I am probably leaning toward joining the King County System. I would be very interested in this option if we could get King County to build a new Library in our downtown. Seattle Water utility and the Department of Fisheries have shown some interest in a Salmon/rivers education facility in the past…. maybe our existing library over the river could be converted for this use. Or maybe it could become a new event center.
Most of us have not really decided what we should do with our library system.
So we would love to get your input on this.
Bike Racks at the Landing
A bicycle commuter has been spearheading a push for additional bike racks at the Landing. It sounds like some additional racks should be going in shortly.
Here is the email chain (the oldest email is at the bottom).
Thanks to Steve Crandall, the Aerospace Manager/Bike Commuter (and old friend) that brought this to my attention. READ MORE »
Fourth Grade
I’ve been reconnecting with my high school and grade school friends lately, on Renton-grown Classmates.com and other social networking sites.
Two of the people I’ve been chatting with are shown, along with me, in this fourth grade picture. Can you find me?
Click to enlarge it:
Northwest residents are really getting a summer this year
Today was a beautiful day for picnicking!
Wow, what a warm, pretty Saturday today. August is turning out to be a great month for outdoor activities.
My son and daughter in law are having fun with balloons. (My wife and I are in the backround in the bottom picture.)
Malls in America; the future of Factoria Mall
My friend Rose spotted a very interesting article about shopping malls, with some details on the plans for Factoria Square.
I noticed the new renderings look a lot like what we are trying to achieve at the Landing upon buildout.
Factoria Mall Today
Factoria Mall in the future
Websites provide Fairwood residents with information: Annexation vs. Incorporation
The Fairwood Renton Annexation campaign has gone live with it’s website, and they clearly have a big campaign organized. I noticed from looking through it that they have already received many citizen endorsements, and endorsement of the union representing Renton Firefighters.
The “City of Fairwood” campaign has been active in recent months as well, and I’m sure they have some near-term plans also; I have also linked to their website below.
The firefighter endorsement reminds me of something I wanted to share with the community. The City of Renton has taken an official position of neutrality in this decision. But there is no way the city could or would stop individual Renton employees ON THIER OWN TIME from getting involved in this process. Many of Renton’s employees live in Fairwood, or have family and friends in Fairwood, and they have a clear first amendment right to participate in decisions involving their governance. They can work to promote the City of Fairwood, or Annexation to Renton, as much as they want as long as they are not using city resources. This is probably obvious to some of you, but I wanted to clarify this for everyone.
Here are the websites!
A group of Fairwood residents are organizing a drive to annex to Renton; campaign to “Choose Renton”
UPDATE: This blog entry has generated two dozen comments so far, and counting. I moved it back to the top, so it was easier to find. Tomorrow, I will link to the web sites for the pro-incorporation and the pro-annexation initiatives.
We received this email at City Hall:
________________________________________________________
Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen;
This email is going out to over 100 Fairwood area residents that have
indicated that they want to make a good choice regarding the future of our
community by endorsing annexation to the City of Renton.
We are initiating our campaign “Choose Renton” on Monday, August 11, 2008, 7:00 PM at the Renton City Council Meeting (1055 So. Grady Way – 7th floor Council Chambers). In the next few weeks, we will be asking the Mayor and City Council as well as King County Officials to help provide factual information on three important choices that face the Fairwood community residents in the near future.
Like the Cascade/Benson Hill Communities annexation to Renton, we believe that choosing Renton is our best option, but want to make sure that we have all the facts to share with the Fairwood area community.
Please join us at the City Council meeting.
FAIRWOOD – Fairwood residents are proud to announce the formation of Choose Renton, a new organization created to endorse annexation of the Fairwood
Potential Annexation Area (PAA) into the City of Renton.
“Annexation of the Fairwood PAA by the City of Renton will provide a higher level of service for lower cost, preserve the residential character of our neighborhoods, and allow us to be a part of an economically stable city without the budget problems presently plaguing King County,” said Bryce Nelson, spokesperson for Choose Renton.
Recently, King County Fire District 40 signed a 20 year contract with the City of Renton to provide fire services for the Fairwood area.
Staffing levels at Station 17 on Petrovitsky Road have increased as a result of the contract with Renton, without an increase in taxes – showing that Fairwood will get more for its tax money by becoming a part of the City of Renton. The Renton Police Department would also provide significantly faster response times for the Fairwood area than its present service provider, the King County Sheriff’s Department. Residents of Fairwood voted against incorporation in 2006.
“Incorporation will provide an unknown level of service, at unknown costs, with unknown taxes, and with an uncertain ability to keep Fairwood’s residential character the same,” said Nelson. “We said no to incorporation two years ago for all of these reasons. It was a bad idea then, and it is a worse idea now.”
Choose Renton believes that Renton’s ability to provide us a significantly higher level of service for less money than a City of Fairwood makes it the obvious choice for the area.
As King County continues to cut service levels to unincorporated urban and suburban areas, remaining a part of unincorporated King County is no longer
a viable option for Fairwood.
For additional information on our efforts, endorsement forms, and future meeting dates, please go to our website at _www.chooserenton.com_
(http://www.chooserenton.com/) , which will go live on our official launch date of August 14, 2008.
Please contact Bryce Nelson at _bryce.nelson@gmail.com_
(mailto:bryce.nelson@gmail.com) or (425) 864-7771 with any further questions.
Bryce Nelson, Spokesperson
From the Seattle PI: Renton woman attacks neighbors with machete, burns to death
What the…..! This is very tragic, and very strange.
Update: Email from our police department:
Just in case you get any calls regarding the fire last evening here is what we know:
Police are called to 654 NE 6th Place about 7:45 p.m.
Victim (22 year old female) and just arrived home with 4 year old boy
Suspect (52 year old female) starts chasing victim with a knife and machete. Victim suffers superficial scratches.
Victim goes to neighbors house and phones 911
Police arrive on scene, suspect is already inside the duplex
As police are attempting to negotiate with the suspect, the house erupts in flames
Fire is covering both exits from the house, so officers shoot bean bags through the windows in an attempt to create an escape route for the victim
Fire arrives, extinguishes fire
Suspect is found dead inside the duplex
At no time, did the police department deploy tear gas or any other form of chemical into the house
There were several vocal neighbors last night that spoke with the media indicating that we had set the house on fire, this is simply not true
Early reports from the fire department indicate that the probable cause of the fire was gasoline inside the home
We had responded to this residence before, the suspect was exhibiting signs of mental instability during those contacts
Here is the PI Story:_________________________________
Renton woman attacks neighbors with machete, burns to death
P-I STAFF AND NEWS SERVICES
RENTON – A 52-year-old woman threatened her neighbor with a knife and machete, then retreated to her own half of a duplex, which erupted in flames. She was found dead inside, police reported Monday.
Renton police spokeswoman Penny Bartley said police responded Monday night to a call for help from the woman who lives in one half of a Renton Highlands duplex. She said she had just arrived home shortly before 8 p.m. with a small child when her neighbor came at her with the weapons. The woman suffered some superficial wounds and fled to a neighbor’s house to call for help.
The armed woman’s half of the duplex erupted in flames as police arrived. Although they broke out a window with beanbag rounds, she did not attempt to leave.
Bartley says police had recently responded to other reports of the 52-year-old being armed with a knife.
The dead woman was not immediately identified. The exact cause of the fire is under investigation.
Yipeee! The Don-a-lisa motel is FINALLY coming down!
Cancel your reservation if you were planning to stay at the Don-a-lisa Motel, because it is coming down in just a few days. The Don-a-lisa, which sits on Bronson Way across from Liberty Park, and Meadow Ave, is owned by the Bryant family…owners of Bryant motors.
Mayor Law had a productive meeting with the Bryant family, and they reached agreement on terms that will work out well for everyone. The Motel is coming down immediately, and the Bryants will begin working on a two-year-plan to redevelop the whole block to it’s highest and best use.
During the two years, Bryant Motors will use the vacant lot (where the Don-a-lisa now stands) to park trucks and buses that currently get parked in the street. After the two years, there will be no more bus/truck parking here, and the site will probably be a new use altogether.
In addition, the Bryants have agreed to fix up the West side of their building, with appropriate siding materials to match the rest of the building. This will present a nicer face to the nearby homes, most of which are meticulously well kept.
This wall of Bryant Motors will be repaired/beautified, to present a nicer face to the well-maintained homes of the adjacent North Renton Neighborhood.
Mayor Law and the Bryants deserve credit for sitting at the table and solving this problem. Thanks to all of you.
Meanwhile, say goodbye to the Don-a-lisa. I’m sure at some time, in a past era, it lodged starry-eyed couples, grandparents motoring up the coast to visit their loved ones, tourists headed to the World’s fair, and many other happy visitors. But that was a long time ago, and it’s been overdue to come down for many years.
This photo from N 2nd shows the Don-a-lisa on the left, Bryant Motors on the right, and Liberty Park can be seen through the gap.
Former Mayor Jesse Tanner will be honored on September 8, 2008
Councilmember received this note from Mayor Law’s office. I’m super-glad we are holding this ceremony, and grateful to Denis Law for making the arrangements. (Click the “Jesse Tanner” Tag below to read about some of Jesse Tanner’s accomplishments)
______________________________________
Hi Councilmembers!
Please mark your calendars for the bench dedication and reception honoring former Mayor Jesse Tanner on Monday, Sep 8, 2:00-3:30pm. The bench will be located on the “patio” at the bottom of the City Hall stairs. Reception (weather permitting) will be on the lawn area also located at the bottom of the stairs. (If weather is bad, reception will be in the Conferencing Center.)
You’ll be getting an “official” invitation soon, but wanted you to get this on your calendars as soon as possible.
thanks! april
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