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Two more cute pictures!
Can we make it easier and cheaper to swim in our beautiful aquatic center?
Our awesome new Henry Moses Aquatic Center, with it’s wave machine, raging river, and water slides, is the best public pool in the area by far. However, many residents have complained that it is too costly to visit, or that summer lines are ridiculously long and the pool fills up before they are admitted. The price is almost prohibitive for King County residents, at $12 per adult for entry.
I have suggested that we consider cutting the cost of entry in half, cut the session lengths in half, and double the number of sessions from two to four each day. In other words, an adult in Renton who currently pays $6 to get into a half-day session, would instead pay $3 to get into a two-hour session. In addition to cutting the price in half, this would allow twice as many people to enjoy the pool each day, thus reducing or even eliminating the line that forms as people queue up to get into the morning or afternoon session.
The only appearant downside of this change appears to be that it could work the pool staff a little harder, as the pool will likely be at capacity through most of the day on our most beautiful summer days. This is because during a four hour session, the pool starts to empty after an hour or two since very few Northwesterners can/should stay in the sun for much longer than that, and swimming is tiresome excercise. As the crowds thin, the staff have a little less work keeping track of everybody.
If necessary we could increase staffing by a small amount to compensate by just charging a few cents more than one-half the current entry fee (cut the fee from $6 to $3.25, for instance). In addition, by reducing the long lines outside the pool, we could eliminate staff needed for security, confusion, and complaints related to the 90 minute lines outside the pool.
This issue requires attentions soon; while it seems strange to think about this on a snowy November day, the spring/summer rate schedule is actually being decided by council now and in the coming weeks. Furthermore, the Mayor’s office is recommending that the session arrangement remain as-is and that the pool entrance fee actually be increased by another dollar for everyone in 2007! ($7 for Renton adults, $13 for King county adults) I feel this is getting too pricey for Renton residents, who have already paid $5,000,000 in tax money just to have the pool built. And it is disheartening for Renton-area King County residents, who can feel Renton’s cold shoulder nudging them away with such pricing.
I would like to see the price cut almost in half, and I think we could do it without impacting our budget.
Jimi Hendrix; November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970
It’s estimated that approximately 50,000 people per year visit Jimi Hendrix gravesite at Greenwood Cemetary, arriving from all over the world. As Jimi’s birthday approaches, here is some more information to help remind you of the impact Jimi Hendrix had on rock, and on the Seattle area. .)
Historic news video from the day of Jimi Hendrix’s passing…a must see…click here
A video showing the Jimi Hendrix Memorial and burial site at Renton’s Greenwood Cemetary..click here
Jimi live at Woodstock…click here
Jim Hendrix performs Purple Haze…click here
Link directly to the story in the paper here….
In case the link quits working, here is the text of the story here….
Hendrix lives
By Emily Garland, Staff writer November 13, 2006
Jimi Hendrix would have been 64 this month.
For many who make the pilgrimage to his grave in Renton, he’s still around
Jimi Hendrix wasn’t born in Renton, he didn’t live in Renton and he didn’t die in Renton. Yet Renton is fast becoming the destination for Hendrix fans.
It all started with the gravesite. Although it’s said Hendrix wanted to be buried in England, where he spent the last years of his life, his family lived in Seattle. So after he died in 1970, Hendrix’s body was flown across the Atlantic and laid to rest in Greenwood Memorial Park Cemetery and Funeral Home in the Highlands. In April 2003, the grave was moved beneath a newly built gazebo memorial, surrounded by plots for 50 family members.
Next came the house. Just over a year ago, one of Hendrix’s childhood homes was transplanted from Seattle’s Central District to Hi-Lands Mobilehome Manor, directly across the street from Greenwood Memorial Park.
And just last month, the James Marshall Hendrix Foundation (also called the Jimi Hendrix Foundation) moved its office from downtown Seattle to a complex just up the hill from Renton City Hall.
Operated by Hendrix’s childhood friend, Jimmy Williams, and his brother, Leon Hendrix, the foundation plans to run a variety of charitable programs. All in Jimi’s name, of course.
“The key point is we moved to Renton because it’s more cordial and hospitable,” Williams said.
Williams, 63, blames Seattle and the media for the “beating” Jimi received after his death.
“They mistreated his legacy,” Williams said. “They said he was a drug addict and nobody you should idolize. Most of that stuff is just total garbage.”
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A purple haze of fans
Hendrix was born and raised in Seattle. But before Experience Music Project was built there in 1994, the city’s only Hendrix tributes were a statue on Capitol Hill and a rock named after him at the Woodland Park Zoo.
Renton City Council member and Hendrix fan Randy Corman is thrilled that Renton has become the rocker’s postmortem home.
“I’m very proud of our city’s role,” Corman said. “It’s probably the unanimous view of the City Council that the Jimi Hendrix legacy deserves the utmost respect. He was a prodigy.”
A prodigy who still brings thousands of fans to Renton every year.
“I think one would have to say, without question, that Jimi Hendrix’s gravesite and memorial is the most well-known Renton destination,” Corman said. “It’s kind of the equivalent of (rock legend) Jim Morrison’s gravesite in Paris.”
While visiting Morrison’s grave last year, Corman and his son, Andy, ran into a pack of British tourists who said that their next stop was Hendrix’s grave.
Rentonite Pete Sikov owns Hendrix’s childhood home. Sikov, 52, had a memorable Jimi experience on an overnight flight from New York to Seattle in 2003.
“The guy behind me turned to the woman next to him and said, ‘Where is Jimi Hendrix buried?'” Sikov recalled. “It was a six-hour flight, and he’d just woke up, and it was the first thing he wanted to know. And he expected the woman to know. I let them go back and forth for a while before telling the guy where it was.”
A visit to Hendrix’s grave is on the to-do list of most everybody who visits Seattle, Sikov said.
To answer that demand, the Renton History Museum has a pile of hand-drawn maps showing the route up Sunset Boulevard to the cemetery.
“It got to be a hassle of people coming in and having to walk outside and point up the street,” museum research specialist Tom Monahan said.
The museum’s only mention of Hendrix is an album cover pasted in the 1960s section of the Renton timeline. Still, Monahan gets a couple inquiries a month about the location of Hendrix’s grave from people living outside the country.
“It is fun when people from foreign countries come in and they don’t speak English well and they’re trying to find his grave,” Monahan said. “They don’t have the right words. All they say is ‘Jimi Hendrix,’ and then they do a guitar motion. I usually figure it out.”
At the Renton Chamber of Commerce office, questions about Hendrix’s grave can number up to 50 a month during the summer, receptionist Lucy Crozier said. And inquirers are from all over the world.
“I’ve had them from England and Germany, from Italy and Mexico,” she said. “I get a lot from Canada. Just from all over.”
Many Hendrix admirers come to the memorial to pay tribute on Nov. 27, his birthday. He would have been 64 this year.
Fans Crozier encounters range from teenagers to people well over 60. So, is she a fan, too?
“Absolutely not!” Crozier said. “I am no fan of that kind of music. I am in my 70s.”
But, she admitted, “I think I heard one song that he played, and I was shocked that I liked it.”
The house experience
Jim Davis’ trailer in Hi-Lands Mobilehome Manor is stocked with Hendrix artifacts. Photos of Hendrix with his family and bandmates litter the kitchen table and hang on the walls beside framed newspaper and magazine clippings. Tagged to a wood-paneled wall is the two-record “Electric Ladyland” by The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
“I’m a big Jimi fan,” the 54-year-old Davis said. “Probably since I was in high school. When I was a teenager in Ballard, I was listening to his 8-tracks, and when he first made it big, we celebrated.”
Davis is one of the lucky few who caught Hendrix live during his four brief years of fame.
“I was 18, in the Navy, and stationed at San Diego,” he said. “It was quite the experience. When the concert was over, I just stood there for 15 minutes staring at the stage, going, ‘Wow, wow, wow.'”
Needless to say, Davis was, as he puts it, “jazzed” when Hendrix’s childhood home came rolling into his mobile-home park last fall.
To save the house from demolition, Sikov shelled out $5,000 in 2001 and became the owner. In 2001, Sikov paid about $30,000 to move the house a few blocks to Jackson Street. But Seattle officials soon decided the home, frequently the subject of drug-use complaints, didn’t fit with plans to refurbish the neighborhood. So, Sikov spent another $30,000 to truck the house to Renton.
“This wasn’t just anybody’s house,” Sikov said. “There’s no reason to demolish history.”
Jimi, Al and Leon lived in the two-bedroom house, originally located on Seattle’s South Washington Street, for a few years in the 1950s. With gray and green splotches of paint on its white exterior, plywood boards covering the windows and scraps of blue tarp hanging from the tar-papered roof, the house is not much to look at now.
But Sikov has big plans for the property. With help from Leon and Jimi’s other living relatives and friends, Sikov hopes to make the house look exactly like it did when Jimi lived in it — from the siding and roofing down to the furniture and record collection. Outside would be manicured landscaping, and maybe even a statue.
“It will be so somebody from this side of the world and somebody from that side of the world can meet there and they’ll have something in common,” Sikov explained. “They’re going to be friends. That’s what music does.”
Big plans for someone who intends to fund the entire project himself. Sikov, a real estate investor, has spent $150,000 so far. And he plans to part with a few more hundred thousand before the project is finished in a year or so. But no monetary cost is too much for the educational gift the finished house will bring to fans, he said.
“This was the nicest house (Hendrix) ever lived in” growing up, Sikov said. “Most of the time he lived in the basements of relatives, hotel rooms, apartments. But most people don’t think about that part of Jimi Hendrix. They think about the music, the flashy rock star clothes. But it’s important to know this part of the story, to know that he overcame tremendous disadvantage.”
Sikov has been a Hendrix fan since he turned 13 and began listening to all the greats – The Doors, Janis Joplin, The Beatles, Bob Dylan. Why does Sikov like Hendrix?
“Why do I like Monet or Picasso?” he replied. “There’s just something about hearing Jimi Hendrix.”
Plus, Hendrix was a true musical pioneer, Sikov added.
“Everyone who plays guitar nowadays is influenced, whether they know it or not, by Jimi Hendrix,” he said. “‘Cause he was the first one to do what he was doing.”
Although he didn’t discover Hendrix until he was 15 or 16, Andy Corman, now 19, is an admirer.
“I don’t like him a lot more than other music,” Corman said, “but he’s so different from anyone else — how he invented the wah pedal and played his guitar upside down.”
Good deeds for Jimi
Sikov took on the Hendrix- house project because one of his friends was friends with Leon, and Leon was looking for help. Sikov then served on the board of the James Marshall Hendrix Foundation for five years, until Williams took over as CEO in August.
The foundation was officially created in 1988, when Al communicated in a notarized letter that he wanted Leon to set up a non-profit foundation in Jimi’s name. Under Leon’s leadership, the group put out a fan newsletter and organized several food drives. But it wasn’t until 2003 that the foundation got together a professional board and helped save from demolition Seattle’s last nursing home that served primarily poor, African-American people.
Activities over the next few years slowed due to a lawsuit brought by Experience Hendrix (run by Jimi’s stepsister Janie) over Leon’s rights to use Jimi’s name and image. But now, finally, the foundation is beginning to kick again.
The first step is getting the building refurbished. Then Williams plans to launch several ambitious projects, like a music program that will give new musical instruments and instruction to disadvantaged children.
The foundation will also help finance the stem-cell research of an Arizona doctor. By using stem cells extracted from donated blood and umbilical cords, Dr. David T. Harris is working to treat sickle-cell anemia and a multitude of other diseases.
“This is a fight Jimi probably would want to get into,” Williams said.
Also in the works is a Jimi Hendrix comic book. Called “Captain Strata,” after Hendrix’s guitar, the lead character is a cartoonish guy who wears a headband stretched over his huge afro.
Williams said that in papers left with his drummer Mitch Mitchell, Hendrix said he to return to the West Coast, break into the R & B genre and create animated superheroes.
“The only cartoon around at that time was Mighty Mouse, and Jimi was totally enamored with Mighty Mouse,” Williams said. “So I thought I was going to do something to finish this off for Jimi.”
Williams hopes sales of the comic, plus profits from the office’s concession stand and a possible movie deal, will help the foundation continue to develop beneficial projects, like maybe an after-school program with a computer lab for kids to use.
The foundation doesn’t have much cash in the bank right now, but Williams isn’t worried.
“All I have to do is paint by the colors and everything is going to work out just fine,” he said.
The two Jimmys
In fourth grade, Williams moved to the same Seattle neighborhood as Hendrix, and in fifth grade the two became close friends after Williams sang in a school talent show.
“Jimi was in the audience, and when I got through, he said, ‘That was really, really great,'” Williams remembered. “He said, ‘You know, you’re going to be a famous singer one of these days. Can I be your best friend?'”
Hendrix really picked up the guitar in seventh or eighth grade, Williams said, after their friend Pernell began playing. “From then on, he was seldom seen without his guitar,” Williams said.
The two Jimmys (both were y’s then) joined the military in 1961, and Williams never saw or talked to Hendrix again.
“He came back to Seattle in May 1970 and did a show at Sicks Stadium in Seattle, but I didn’t make the show,” Williams said.
Hendrix died that September.
“I’m not a fan, I was his best friend,” Williams said.
But he digs his music, too. And how could he not?
“He’s the greatest rock-and-roll guitar player in the world,” Davis said. “Nobody’s touched him since.”
“And all the best guitar players in the world agree with you,” Sikov added.
Emily Garland can be reached at emily.garland@re
porternewspapers.com or (253) 437-6009.
My good friend and trusted colleague Denis Law to run for mayor
I am delighted to report that my good friend and council colleague Denis Law will be challenging the mayor in next year’s election.
Denis has a stunning record of community and business achievements, and he has been a joy to work with as a councilman. I proudly supported his candidacy four years ago when he first ran for council, and I have been encouraging him to go for the mayor role through much of the last year.
He has successfully managed many small businesses, and most Renton citizens are familiar with his work. He has founded and run several award winning newspapers, and has recently started a new Renton magazine that is getting rave reviews.
As a councilman, Denis has been a consistent source of wisdom and guidance. He has a steady devotion to keeping people of all backgrounds and perspectives working together, a quality which has been important during the last year and an inspiration to those of us who know him well.
Denis knew that I had seriously contemplated a possible rematch with the mayor myself, and he was completely gracious in the way he approached this possibility with me. Had I chosen to run, he would have aggressively supported me.
But Denis is the right candidate right now. He is expertly skilled for the job, he has the time to field a winning campaign, and he’s at an excellent career stage to serve as mayor.
I studied for years to become an airplane designer, and I have been having a great time making planes and proving them safe. By the election, I’ll have 23 years behind me at Boeing, with less than ten to go to early retirement. And I’ll still have two kids in college, and two in grade school; so I want to stay on this track for a while longer.
I’ll also achieve the rank of being the city’s most experienced council member when councilwoman Toni Nelson retires next year. This will allow me ample opportunity to influence the direction of our city and contribute my ideas to our shared future.
I want to thank the many people who have been encouraging me to run for mayor again; your support and confidence mean so much to me. It’s been heartwarming to hear from so many of you, especially during this last year.
I ask everyone to now join with me and my council colleagues Don Person and Marcie Palmer and past councilman King Parker, along with former Mayor Jesse Tanner, many Renton School District leaders, and countless dedicated and hardworking members of our community in supporting Renton’s beloved and respected Denis Law for Mayor of Renton 2007.
Sincerely,
Randy Corman
The “Over the Rainbow” Flight
I just returned from four days in Wichita Kansas. It was windy when I flew in Tuesday, but pleasant and sunny when I left on Friday. The city of 300,000 is surrounded by seemingly endless well-kept farms on Kansas’s legendary rolling praries. The people I met were caring, friendly, and good-humored, reminding me of my parents (who were both from Kansas). I love how Kansans celebrate the Wizard of Oz in so many of their shops and restaurants. One can purchase Wizard of Oz calenders, figurines, t-shirts and ruby slippers many places, anywhere from Barnes and Noble to the local drug store. I bought a nice Chritmas Ornament of the Scarecrow, my favorite character from the story. As I was going though the shops, I remembered my older brother Roger reading me all 14 of the original Oz books when I was eight year old and he was twelve. Good and Bad witches, the Wizard, the sawhorse, the red hen, Pumpkinhead, Ozma of Oz…the zany and sometimes frightening characters went on and on in book after book. Very similar to Harry Potter today…what a great book series the Oz books are. And what a great memory with my brother…thanks Roger!
As I was flying back to Seatttle, it occured to me that I was leaving Kansas to go back to the Emerald City. Perhaps United Airlines should advertise the route as the over-the-rainbow flight.
Renton Waterfront Location Quiz…
Look at the picture below, and try to identify what waterfront scene in Renton is pictured…when you think you have the answer, check by clicking on it to see the original photo….
Kennydale Blueberry Farm…should the city purchase it?
One of the most controversial rezones that has been proposed this year is the up-zone of the Kennydale Blueberry Farm from ‘RC- Resource Conservation’ to ‘R8-Residential-8 units per acre.’ Citizens have been appealing to council not to allow this, as it would likely usher in the end of the beautiful 3.5 acre, 50-year-old U-Pick blueberry farm in Kennydale.
All sides of this dispute make solid arguments. The owner of the farm points out that the property was zoned R8 until about thirteen years ago, at a time when the city suggested she should have the new RC zoning to help her better mange and protect the farm. But she never received any benefit for making this change, and has instead watched as more and more restrictions were placed in the RC zones. At this point, the owner is ready for retirement, and ready to move on.
The city staff and the Planning Commission have been inclined to agree with the property owner, and are recommending that the Council make the upzone to R8.
Meanwhile, Kennydale residents are speaking overwhelmingly against the rezone, as they love the Blueberry Farm and they understandably don’t want to see it go away. They know that the upzone will make it viable for development, and that it will be sold for such. They also make strong environmental arguments for keeping it zoned RC.
Like all the other outspoken residents, I too want to see the Blueberry Farm stay. In addition to providing the community with a bountiful supply of inexpensive fresh blueberries, it sits on an ancient peat bog, probably thousands of years old. The blueberry bushes receive natural irrigation from underground springs…these springs bubble up to the surface through the peat moss and form the headwaters for Kennydale Creek. State biologists have confirmed that this formation is a rare environmental feature (known scientifically as a ‘fen’), and to me it seems a shame to see it simply be divided into back-yards of new homes.
But all is not lost for blueberry farm lovers. At the last council meeting, we received the latest figures on it’s full development potential. It turns out, even with R-8 zoning, the 3.5 acre property could only be subdivided into two or three building lots due to the substantial wet-land setbacks mandated by state law. Since it is can only be three buildable lots, not twenty-four like we often see on 3.5 acres, it could theoretically be in a price range where the public could chose to purchase it for a park, open-space, or to run it as a blueberry farm (the way Bellevue does with their blueberry farm.)
So, I did what I often do when I calculate that there may be a solution that will satisfy all parties…I suggested it. In this case, I proposed we openly and publicly consider a possible purchase of the Kennydale Blueberry Farm for a park. I even made a motion that we study/discuss this option at an upcoming committee of the whole meeting (which I chair), and my motion was swiftly seconded by my brilliant colleague Marcie Palmer. Thanks Marcie! But then, like we have seen too often on the council this year, rather than openly debating the merits of my motion, those that were against my motion (including a certain lawyer-councilman and the mayor) tried to convince me that my motion was illegal! The mayor even went as far as to ask me to withdraw it! Their logic seemed to go like this… we can never discuss purchasing sensitive lands for parks or open-space in an open public meeting, because then if we decide to buy the land the owner may raise the price.
Ummm…I am pretty sure that the owner would eventually find out we want to buy it…like when we make an offer to her. Furthermore, we should not be deciding what we are going to do with large amounts of taxpayer money in secret…it is always right to have such discussions in open public meetings. And ironically, ensuring we pay fair market value would be an honest and fair use of the eminent domain power (unlike using it to take property from one private owner and give it to another private owner as I fought in the Highlands).
So where did we end up? With certain people frowning at me for not withdrawing my motion, I instead moved to table it until next week to allow our city attorney to study the issue. And Councilwoman Palmer seconded my motion to table. (Thanks again Marcie!). Since a motion to table is not debatable, it passed with no more squabbling.
This item will be picked back up off the table next week, so stay tuned and be prepared to weigh in on this during audience comment if you are so inclined. Personally, I don’t know if we could afford to purchase the blueberry farm for a park. But what I do know is that before we see it gone forever we owe it to the citizens of Renton to at least talk about our options.
Remembering our veterans!
My heartfelt thanks to all of our soldiers who have protected our nation’s freedom through the centuries, and for those of you who continue to protect our families, our community, our nation, and our world. Our society takes so much in life for granted these days, but we would have nothing if it were not for your sacrifices.
And to all residents, there are still plenty of tiles available at the Renton Veterans Memorial, for honoring special veterans in your life. Applications for the plaques to commemorate the veterans are available to print at www.rentonwa.gov, or you may call 425-430-6600 to receive an application. Applications can also be picked up at Renton City Hall, Community Services Department, 5th Floor, 1055 South Grady Way, Renton, WA.
Much travel in the last three years
A month ago I wrapped up my work on my latest management assignment, and transitioned from a position that was the most travel intensive I’ve ever held. Ironically, all this business travel came at a time when I was also making numerous vacation trips with the family (visiting Katie in Orlando, taking Andy on a senior trip to Europe, going with Cathy to see our exchange students in Tokyo, etc.), so the airports all fade together at this point.
All told, I made four trips to Japan, three to Taiwan, one to South Korea, one to Singapore, four to Germany, one to Austria, one to Sweden, and one to France. I also visited New York City, New Orleans, Mobile, Atlanta, Orlando, and Las Vegas. This does not include the transfer stops and layovers at Denmark, England, Neatherlands, and Tokyo so many times that Narita feels like a second home to me.
Some highlights were showing Tokyo to Cathy, and Paris to my son Andy. Cathy and I also had fun taking in shows on Broadway and in Las Vegas, and experiencing the last pre-Katrina New Orleans Mardi Gras (including The Preservation Hall Jazz Band). Also, catching up with our exchange students in Japan numerous times really makes them seem like family, and they were always such gracious hosts and tour guides. At one point our student Kishiyo joined me on my return trip to Seattle, to visit with our family again.
Other cool memories were staying in the Imperial Hotel where Marilyn Monroe and Joe Dimagio honeymooned, and in Taipei adjacent to Taipei 101, the tallest builidng in the world. I missed Brad Pitt by a day at the Repongi Hyatt in Tokyo , but my collegues who arrived a day earlier caught up with him in the business lounge, as he was promoting the opening of Helen of Troy. I also got upgraded to a super fancy $4000 per night suite (or should I say ‘sweet’) in Taipei -one Nicholas Cage had just stayed in- after they ran out of stadard Business-class rooms.
I managed to vist all the world’s Disney Theme parks in one year, in Anaheim, Orlando, Paris, and Tokyo. (before they opened the new one in Hong Kong.)
Here are some of my favorite photos from these journeys..
TOKYO CITY VIEWS:
TOKYO STUDIO GHIBLI
TOKYO DISNEYLAND
SINGAPORE
TAIWAN
GERMANY
FRANCE
DISNEYLAND PARIS
SWEDEN
AUSTRIA
LAS VEGAS
NEW YORK
NEW ORLEANS AND THE GULF COAST
ORLANDO AND DISNEY WORLD
SANTA CRUZ CALIFORNIA
Renton’s bright future!….
Renton is going to be seeing some BIG changes over the next few years. Your town will become fancier and cleaner, while keeping its cool and historic heritage. Think Fremont in Seattle, with some Kirkland Carillon Point stuff thrown in for those special occasions.
Here are some of the things you are not yet hearing much about, but are on the way.
The Seahawks training facility has broken ground, and unlike the current Kirkland site, it will offer fans an opportunity to watch the Hawks play.
The Sonics are still seriously looking at Renton…the team’s new owners say they want to keep the team in the Seattle area. They are looking at over twenty sites, and three or four of them are here in Renton.
The Landing Urban Villiage is really coming along fast, and tenants (businesses, restauraunts, etc) are getting really excited about it. The first stores will be open in less than a year.
The Landing bumps right into a growing residential/restaurant/business/hotel development project on the Lakefront, known as Southport, which is in a new building phase.
Between Southport, the Landing, and Coulon Park we will have one of the coolest beach recreation areas/gathering spots in the Northwest, second only to Alki in the summer time.
The new Logan Avenue, which will run through the heart of the Landing, will provide a brand new four lane boulevard directly from Renton Highlands (I405 Exit 5) to the historic downtown, and will be lined with new businesses and hang-outs. Logan will enable you to get off the freeway and head straight for downtown without the rats-maze of streets we deal with now.
On the other end of the downtown, near the Fred Meyer, we will be spending 50 MILLION DOLLARS of Sound Transit money (That’s 1000 dollars per city resident ) on street improvements to FINALLY make Rainier Avenue wider and prettier, and to widen and realign Hardie Avenue which runs behind Fred Meyer. Hardie will no longer do a goofy loop-te-do behind Fred Meyer, with the crazy three way stop-yield thing, and will instead go stright to a new intersection onto Martin Luther King Way. This will shift mucho traffic from Rainier onto Hardie, and make Rainier a nicer business street. We are even considering doing away with some of the one-way street confusion.
All the transportation improvements in downtown, combined with zoning that allows multi story buildings with stores on the ground floor and apartments above, mean lots of new business, restaurants, and residents in our downtown. And lots of cool new people to make friends with. Maybe downtown will finally be open after five o’clock again, like it was in its Renton-loop era heyday of the 60s (but without the cruising). In 2007 the city council will be studying ways to improve the pedestrian and business connection between the Landing and downtown…so very cool.
We are already seeing land values increasing and big new projects coming in for permits downtown, and builders have more enthusiasm than we have seen in many years. There will be lots of condominums available to those of you that are looking for buying opportuinties. Many new condos are in planning right now, and several of the newer apartment buildings in downtown are undergoing conversion to condominiums (from apartments). This is a postive change, because it reflects that more people want to buy property in downtown Renton.
And yay! The old parts of Renton Highlands are finally getting the renovation thay have long needed. Land values under the World War II duplex units have increased to ONE MILLION DOLLARS PER ACRE, about four or five times what the land was worth in the mid 90s. Thanks to this increase in value, we are about to see significant revitalization in the Renton Highlands, with many new homes, shops, restaurants, and other great places to visit, meet friends, and hangout. The development pressure is so great in this area that we are rushing to get new zoning in place before the end of 2006, and we have a citizens committee meeting twice per week to make sure we get the nicest redevelopment possible without pushing you out of your current homes! Overall, this will give us a much safer, prettier, and more fun Renton Highlands.
There are many, many other projects in work right now, but I can’t name them all. For instance, there is an all-new neighborhood park in the highlands, a new 100 acre wetland/bird sanctuary in the valley with a two-mile paved nature trail, the Jimi Hendrix House/Museum, and many other cool businesses that are still in the planning stages.
Builders and investers are so confident in our little town, that Conner Homes development just broke ground on a new housing project near Coulon Beach where they will build 147 houses, ranging in price from one to three million dollars! It is expected that several of the Seattle Seahawks will be buying homes here.
So, be proud to live here. Renton is a happening place, and we are about to get more than our fair share of prosperity. My advice to you, my Renton friends, is to consider buying some real estate in our blossoming town, so you can enjoy your environment AND cash-in! We have a bright future!
Pumpkin Patch and Corn Maze
Images from the Carpinito Brothers pumpkin patch and corm maze in Kent! Their two mazes have a total of over 4 miles of confounding trails! My family had a great time there on Saturday.
IKEA Performing Arts Center first “Got Skills? Prove It” Event
IKEA Performing Arts Center is hosting a series of events to showcase our great local talent. Local Band “Amorous Cactus” took center stage and rocked the house. The event was supported by the Renton Youth Council, and I had the privilidge to MC this premier show of the series.
Andy Corman
Jake Goltiani
Kenny Corman
Cathy Corman, band mom!
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