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.
I was interviewed by the Seattle Times regarding the Haskins campaign recently, and I gave twnety minutes worth of commentary to a reporter. However, it was pointed out to me today that from the quotes the Times used, it was not obvious where I stood relative to the basic issue of domestic partnerships and rights of the LGBT community.
As a reminder, I strongly supporter the new domestic partnership law, and I commend our City of
Renton unions for deciding to extend health benefits to domestic partners in 2008.
Here is the link to the position I took on the domestic partnership law while it was still in debate in March.
My words from yesterday seem prophetic today: “… it’s been said that the people most-likely to accuse others of stealing signs are the ones doing it themselves. People should consider this before baselessly accusing others.”
Randy Corman
Now take a look at this…..
____________________________________
From Kevin Poole’s blog at rentonfacts.blogspot.com:
Cheryl Haskins’ Supporter May Be the Real Sign-Stealer
Just when I thought things had calmed down, I received this email:
Date: November 1, 2007 5:52:47 PM PDT
To: info@rentonfacts.com
Subject: Haskin’s signs
Hello Kevin,
I spoke with Cara Soloman [of the Seattle Times] this afternoon after reading her article to get your web address. I wanted to share something with you.
On Monday as I was driving home from work, I observed a woman removing what I thought to be Haskins campaign signs from the south entrance to Gene Coulon Park. It angered me that someone would stoop that low.
I looked up her website, knowing nothing about the candidate and called them and let them know. My feelings were whatever side of the political spectrum they were on, this was just wrong. My mistake. I gave them the physical description of the woman and her license plate number and description of her SUV.
I grew up in Renton and work there, but live in Seattle about 1000 feet outside the city of Renton’s line – I say this to cover myself because I wasn’t paying attention to the campaign as it’s out of my area.
When I got home tonight I had a voicemail from Det. Barfeild (sp? – I have his tel. #) ) from the Renton Police Department. I returned his call and he asked me if I had seen this woman actually pull the signs out of the ground. I told him no, but I had seen her walking from the area where pol’s signs were clustered and she threw the sign in the back of her SUV. The officer told me that he had checked out the address of the licenses plate holder and that they had Haskins signs in their yard, so he assumed they were supporters simply maintaining her signs. I now realize that this supporter wasn’t pulling Haskins signs, but yours – they are very close in color and design.
I had not researched Haskins and had no idea of her positions or funding till after I had done this. In hindsight it was a bad move.
I’m a 45 year old gay man and will have been with my partner for 21 years come March. We registered as domestic partners last month. Needless to say I regret my action – but it wasn’t in my area and I wasn’t paying attention [to Renton politics].
My question to you now is, how can I help you? I need to make amends –
Thanks for reading
Brad Crane
——————
Talk about irony! Imagine, Cheryl Haskins filed a report with the police, and now probably knows that one of her own supporters was actually stealing one of my signs!
Obviously, Brad has nothing to be ashamed of, as he was just trying to do the right thing by reporting the incident. Brad has agreed to go public with the story, and I commend him for his bravery, especially since he has seen how the Haskins campaign has tried to intimidate me over the past couple of days.
I also have the email Brad originally sent to the Haskins campaign with the SUV’s license plate number and the description of the woman, but I’m choosing not to publicize it. It will be interesting to see how the media and the Haskins campaign respond to this bombshell.
More irony: on Cheryl Haskins’s campaign website, she makes a big deal about the police report that was filed, along with the “perpetrator’s” license plate. Hee hee. She also goes on to describe the complain to the PDC against me, which will apparently not be investigated further.
Cheryl Haskins’ October Surprise has now become a November Surprise.
A recent commenter called me on my quip about “major league sports teams our citizens don’t want.” And he/she was right, there are some citizens who wanted this. It was an exciting proposal in some ways, and I don’t blame the commenter or anyone for wanting to have local access to events. I should have said “that a majority of citizens don’t seem to want. ” The majority that I heard from seemed to have serious concerns about getting home during game days, and other issues. I personally liked the idea of having an arena for concerts and events, but became concerned about how much it would cost our city to maintain it and police it over the next two-decades. Virtually all of the taxes from the arena were slated to go back into the state financing for it, which would make it a financial liability for Renton (unless it got more private funding).
Here is some of the citizen feedback I received about the Sonics Arena proposal. Click HERE Other input came in though email, which can be viewed at city hall.
Update: There are so many comments on this blog *yay* that system is hiding some of the older ones unless you click on them. (Click the blue name of the subject, or the words no-subject to see the comment)
Interesting recent opinions about crime on this blog entry . Click here to see all the comments. And please feel free to add your own!
It sounds like we may be hearing directly from one or more of our police officers in the comments on an earlier, related blog. Be sure you see for yourself what people are saying about the letter from our police officers and fire fighters if you have not seen it already.
From today’s Seattle Times. My only comment is that anyone could have downloaded Kevin Poole’s graphics, and pasted them on Cheryl Haskins yard signs. And anyone could have stolen her yard signs, or they could have blown down, or been ravaged by brush-cutting equipment. Everybody loses yard signs. Cheryl Haskins should not have accused Kevin Poole of stealing her signs, especially to a newspaper with millions of readers, without evidence. Mr. Poole’s method of getting the word out appears to be through his website and his own signs, not through law-breaking.
I don’t think Cheryl is taking down other’s yard signs either. But it’s been said that the people most-likely to accuse others of stealing signs are the ones doing it themselves. People should consider this before baselessly accusing others.
Here is interesting news from the Board of Directors of our health plan; this board, established under Mayor Tanner, is comprised of representatives from our major three unions, and our City’s chief executive officer (who sent this email in response to campaign news about domestic partners) READ MORE »
Here is an article on the topic from today’s Seattle Times:
Former 787 chief says Boeing rethinking its global manufacturing approach
I hope our regional law-makers look at some of these options before removing the entire eastside rail line.
READ MORE »
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