Renton police process an abandoned stolen car in April 2023

Yesterday’s calls to 911 Valley Com included nine stolen vehicles in Renton and nine abandoned vehicles in Renton.  Cars are increasingly stolen and used for crimes, and then dumped in damaged condition. (Police are typically not allowed to pursue them under our state’s 2021 pursuit law, RCW 10.116.060.)

Updated: the following day there were TEN car thefts; see bottom of article 

Last spring I shared Renton’s official police crime statistics report, and noted that the average rate of stolen cars in March 2023 had crept up to five per day, a 70 percent increase over the year prior.

Yesterday I looked at Valley Communications 911 call activity, and noticed there were nine vehicles reported stolen in Renton in a single day.  I also noticed that at the same time there were nine calls about abandoned vehicles, some of which were likely stolen in previous days or weeks.  Valley Com only publishes the last 24-hours of calls, and I have not been tracking the statistics daily, so I can’t say if this is a one-day anomaly or a new higher trend. But in either case, it’s nine people or families in Renton that sadly lost their cars in one day.   Each stolen car is a financial and emotional setback for Renton residents, and for those with little margin in their schedules it can create a major disruption in their lives.

Renton Police are doing all they can to fight this trend.  But the high rate of car thefts in Washington has been facilitated by the state police pursuit law, which has created an incentive for criminals to use stolen cars to commit burglaries and other crimes.  Under laws put in place in 2021, police cannot initiate pursuit of burglary suspects in a car, so if the car is stolen and untraceable the suspects may never be apprehended.  Stolen cars have become Washington State’s get-out-of-jail-free card.

Under the 2021 law, drivers in stolen cars can also drive recklessly without fear of being pursued, which has contributed to more fatal car crashes than we’ve seen in decades.  This bleak trend has tragically reversed years of positive safety trends from highway and vehicle safety improvements. The legislature made some small improvements to the law in 2023, but it still contributes to crime and highway safety problems.  The latest data shows this year is worse than last.

This does not mean high-speed pursuits should be authorized in every situation.  We should return to the better-designed and very thorough policies we had in Renton prior to the 2021 laws.  These pursuit policies were continuously adjusted based on real experience from our officers and the community, and they served us well in Renton. I and other Renton elected officials had an oversight role in making steady improvements, balancing the needs of road safety and law enforcement.

Even though the legislature is not currently in session, it’s helpful to keep your representatives informed about your feelings on these issues year-round. Courteous emails from the heart are the most effective. Let them know your personal concerns, and any personal impacts you’ve experienced.   Now is a good time to write to them; they are between sessions and probably receiving fewer emails, and may have more time to focus on yours.

Our 11th district State Legislators that represent most of Renton are:

Senator Bob Hasegawa, Bob.Hasegawa@leg.wa.gov

Representative Steve Bergquist, Steve.Bergquist@leg.wa.gov

Representative David Hackney, David.Hackney@leg.wa.gov

__________________________________________________

Update on 9/23:  To see if the 9/21 data was a one-day anomaly or more of a trend, I checked data the next day.  There were TEN car thefts in Renton on that day.  Here is the data.

Sunset Gardens in Renton Highlands will include 76 units – studio and 1BR priced from 30%-50% of Area Median Income.  (Picture taken today, 9/17/23, by Randy Corman)

Everyone is asking, what can we do to alleviate homelessness?

Our emergency shelters play an important role, but they are like hospital waiting rooms.  If a hospital does not have the rooms and staff needed to serve all their patients, the answer is not to spend all the money building a bigger waiting room.  The long-term solution to our housing crisis lies in permanent housing and treatment, not in more emergency shelters. (This focus, along with the immense cost, was why I questioned the KCRHA draft five-year plan that proposed spending 25 billion dollars on emergency sheltering, but included no permanent housing.)

As a society we must find a way to build housing that the vast majority of Washington residents can afford, and assist the remainder with dignified subsidized homes appropriate to their needs. We also must treat those with behavioral and addiction issues that hurt their ability to remain housed. Cities, Counties, the State of Washington, and the Federal Government all have major roles to play in this effort. Only when we have all our residents living indoors will we be able to look across our cities and feel truly proud of where we are.

Sustainable long-term housing: Renton Housing Authority’s Golden Pines, built in 1976 and recently refreshed, provides 62 units of low-income senior housing; part of a growing inventory of many hundreds of apartments that RHA maintains for low-income residents.

This a complex topic that I can’t cover with a single blog entry, so I’m going to use this entry to outline the problem as I see it, and identify sub-parts to the solution that I will delve into in follow-on blog entries.

I’ve seen lots of debate about whether homelessness is a housing problem or a drug/behavioral health problem.  It is truly both, as there are many avenues into homelessness in our society.  Working people can fall into homelessness along with people struggling with addiction and behavioral challenges; furthermore, homelessness exacerbates mental health issues, and can lead to addiction.  So the fix involves helping people who are able to work but struggling with affordability, along with helping people who are ill to secure dignified accommodations.

(1) For those who are working, but can’t find affordable housing:

(a) We must make it a state-level and national goal to refocus on affordability as one of our prime metrics in our housing policies. We already prioritize other very important aspects of housing, like safety and energy efficiency.  These are critical, and we need to reasonably maintain them.  But affordability needs to go hand-in-hand with them.

(b) When regulatory changes are not enough, we must adequately fund subsidized housing programs, and build the necessary housing stock as a society to ensure everyone has a home.

(2) For those who are struggling with behavioral health issues or addiction, we must emphasize treatment:

(a) Residential treatment beds must be more widely available, and offer long enough treatment periods and enough follow-up that they achieve good outcomes

(b) Those who receive treatment and can return to family after treatment should do so when possible.  If no family is available, they should be provided supportive living facilities that facilitate sobriety and mental health.

(c) Those unwilling to participate in treatment should be repeatedly encouraged and offered treatment.  If they get arrested for committing low-level crimes, they should be incentivised to seek treatment as an alternative to incarceration.

(d) Those who are ill and refuse to accept treatment should still be provided appropriate housing, but only in adequately-monitored, sustainable facilities that will not become dangerous or dilapidated by their illness.

(3) We should help prevent homelessness for those currently housed:

(a) When someone who’s leasing an apartment encounters a rare one-time challenge paying rent, such as a car theft or health crisis, short-term rental assistance is the least expensive and most caring way for society to help.

(b) Prevent predatory landlords from taking advantage of vulnerable tenants through reasonable regulations that do not inadvertently dissuade good landlords and investors from providing more housing options.

Renton’s former Highlands Library has been remodeled by Renton Housing Authority and several partners to provide outpatient physical and mental health services, dental, and educational services.  More residential treatment programs are needed throughout our region,

After 28 years as an elected official and 33 years as an engineer, I’ve already been following this plan for many years.  As just one suburban council member, I could not accomplish it by myself, but I’m eager to share the details of the direction I’ve been trying to go and how this plan has guided my decisions along the way.

I would like to hear from readers before I publish all the details of this plan.  Do you agree with the way I have outlined the solution? are there other sections I should add?  Please let me know in the comments.  And please check back in the coming days as I share the details of each element of this plan.

Solera Apartments in Renton Highlands will include 275 affordable units targeting 60-80 % AMI, along with 315 market rate apartments and 96 townhomes.

Renton Councilmember Carmen Rivera and King County Regional Homelessness Authority imply our Red Lion Hotel and Convention Center is still hosting business and leisure travelers, even though it’s leased and boarded up by King County. It was converted to a shelter, and never converted back after ruinous fires and floods.

Is the Renton Econo Lodge next? Renton Council Member Carmen Rivera argues that since the County wrecked the Red Lion Hotel and can’t restore it, it shouldn’t count as a hotel that Renton has given up.  So the Econo Lodge and others should now be available to the County.

At least one Renton Council Member appears to be arguing in favor of Burien moving some of their unhoused residents to the Econo Lodge Hotel in Renton.  Burien’s official city website says they are still considering the idea (it’s the REBLX site in their official post). To help get more of Renton’s hotels converted to shelters, Council Member Carmen Rivera provided a guest editorial to the Renton Reporter so full of obfuscations and misstatements regarding my comments on the topic that it will take me several blog entries to unpack it.  Her goal appears to be to increase Renton’s already way-oversized contribution of hotels to the County’s sheltering efforts.

The only accurate thing Councilmember Rivera said about me in her letter was that I voted in favor of an ordinance creating some reasonable size, location, and operating guidelines for homeless services use in Renton, along with four of my colleagues.  We did so to ensure we didn’t have another hotel produce dangerous living conditions or fall into ruin the way the Red Lion Hotel and Convention center did.  My opponent in my current council race, Kim-Khanh Van voted against this sensible ordinance, along with one other council member. And based on her op-ed, Carmen Rivera would have voted against this ordinance if she had been on council.  In other words, like Kim-Khanh Van, she would like no limitations on converting Renton’s hotel space to shelters to solve other cities’ homeless challenges.

READ MORE »

Valley Com dispatched Renton Regional Fire Authority to downed power line at 10:36 PM

Power was out for 1200 customers in downtown Renton last night due to a fallen power line. The line also sparked a small landscape fire on South Grady Way.  Renton Regional Fire Authority was dispatched at 10:36 PM, and by about 1:00 AM power was restored to most affected customers.  Fortunately I have not heard of any injuries.

Downed power lines are obviously extremely dangerous, and can electrocute people in close proximity even through dry ground.  Eight years ago PSE released an informative video showing how to protect yourself if you ever find yourself stalled in a car near a fallen powerline. The video recommends staying in your car until officials come if you can. It also shows if you must exit (if the car is on fire for example) a special jump is the only way you can  get out without assistance.  The video further illustrates how you should then shuffle your feet instead of taking normal foot steps to avoid getting electrocuted by differential ground voltages as you make your way to safety. Bystanders need to stay away, to a recommended safe distance of at least 35 feet (and I’m sure even further in wet conditions).  I’ve included this valuable video below, and recommend everyone watch it.

Image of line down on South Grady Way near new Home Depot.  The line can be seen sparking and smoking where it is touching the pavement and landscape.  This is a screenshot from a video posted by Luis Ortega to the Renton Crime and Safety Page.

READ MORE »

Photo of active fire posted by Ria Arias on Facebook Renton Crime and Safety

For the second time in less than four months a substantial fire occurred in Renton’s plaza containing the Veterans Memorial Park and the Renton History Museum.   Today’s fire occurred around 3:00 PM, and damaged landscaping and flags at the Veterans Memorial Park while getting dangerously close to the nearby historic building that houses a bicycle shop.  The May 15 fire occurred a short distance away, up against the Renton History Museum.  (Businesses in the area report that there have been a few other smaller fires in the area during the past months, but these smaller fires have been successfully extinguished by concerned residents and business owners before growing to needing a professional fire response.)

READ MORE »

Seattle’s Chester Morse lake and 91,000 acre watershed at the headwaters of Cedar River is off-limits to visitors, ensuring pristine drinking water for Seattle customers.  Photo credit: City of Seattle

An asphalt plant has been approved by King County upstream of Renton’s municipal water wells. The asphalt plant will disperse treated surface water into a dry well in the ground, above Renton’s aquifer.

Washington State has granted cities unique power to buy land outside their jurisdictions to protect their municipal water supplies, even from unwilling sellers through use of eminent domain.  Renton should consider using this authority to buy the proposed Lakeside Industries Asphalt Plant site, in order to protect both the Cedar Valley Aquifer and the Cedar River.  If Seattle was in our shoes, they would have already done this.

Seattle has purchased 91,000 acres in their Chester Morse Lake watershed in the uplands of the Cedar River to protect their water supply. Seattle won’t even let hikers on this property, as they feel the risk of contamination is too high.

Renton’s water comes from wells in the Cedar river basin, downhill from Seattle’s water supply.  Renton draws water from the Cedar Valley Aquifer, which is about 100-300 feet beneath the earth’s surface.  The aquifer is refilled continuously by groundwater seeping in through the valley’s uplands.  A layer of silt and clay generally prevent the Cedar River water and the Cedar Valley aquifer water from mixing, although no one can know exactly what is happening underground.

With King County’s decision to allow an asphalt plant in the Cedar River basin, just a mile or so upstream of Renton’s municipal wells, Renton should take a page from Seattle’s playbook and exercise our land-purchase authority to protect our water supply.

There have been studies and discussion about whether runoff from the asphalt plant can get into the Cedar River;  Lakeside Industries consultants says it won’t happen because they are capturing and treating runoff (potentially containing tar, gas, oil, and other industrial contaminants), and then purposefully infiltrating the treated water into the ground through a new dispersion system. i.e. they will intentionally inject their treated run-off into the ground above our aquifer.

While this system generally keeps the treated water out of the Cedar River, there’s no way to be completely certain that it won’t get into the Cedar Valley Aquifer.  In fact, for many years, Water District 90, the water purveyor serving East Renton and regions east of our city limits, has been very concerned about this exact piece of property introducing contamination into the aquifer.  This report from 2014 (section 4.2.2, page 15) describes the concerns regarding the  former “Sunset Materials” site, which is the now site of the proposed asphalt plant.

Ask yourself;  Would Seattle allow Lakeside Industries Asphalt plant to be placed in their Chester Morse watershed, where they won’t even allow hikers today?  If they would not allow it, why does Renton need to allow an asphalt plant to inject industrial runoff water into the ground upstream of our drinking water wells?

For perspective, Irvine California is going to spend $360 million dollars to buy an existing asphalt plant, just so the city can close it down and improve the air quality in their community.  Lakeside Industries paid around $12 million for their site on the Cedar Valley Aquifer.  Renton’s purchase of this site would be a bargain compared to Irvine’s, about 1/30 the cost that Irvine is going to pay.  And Renton’s purchase would help protect our water supply, a fundamental need for safety of our city.

After a purchase, the city could seek full or partial reimbursement via a Water Quality Grant from the Washington State Department of Ecology, which gives out between $100 Million and $200 Million every year for projects that protect rivers and streams.  Several streams traverse the site in question before entering the salmon-bearing Cedar River;  this project should be a top contender for funding.  There are many other grant sources of income as well.

Too often, Renton finds itself pleading in court for fair treatment, when we could have used power already granted to us to protect our vital interests.  This is one of those cases.  Email your council and encourage them to pursue the purchase of the Lakeside Industries Asphalt Plant site, to protect our water supply.  Send email to council@rentonwa.gov

Thanks to Renton resident Ben Johnson for working with me to develop this approach.  Please see Ben’s comments on my previous blog entry for more of his thoughts on this topic.

Renton’s former Econo Lodge, now “Inn at Lake Washington,” just off Exit 7 in Kennydale.

Note: Updated on 8/21 to include commentary by Mayor Pavone, who reinforced that he has been working to prevent this hotel from becoming a shelter for Burien’s use (new paragraph 4)

Burien City leaders have been in the news as they work to find shelter for residents experiencing homelessness who are camped in their downtown not far from city hall.  A letter from King County Regional Homelessness Authority, along with blog sources, refers to discussion of Burien seeking shelter space in Renton for these residents.

In the City of Burien’s most recent public statement on this issue, they said “City personnel have identified several potential sites, including a facility operated by REBLX, a partner agency of KCRHA” Other documents make clear the REBLX site is a hotel in Renton.  As a result, I’ve had several Renton residents ask me “are they talking about Renton’s Extended Stay, Clarion Inn, Red Lion, or what?”

The answer is they are discussing the former Econo Lodge, now called the “Inn at Lake Washington”, at Exit 7, in Kennydale.   When I did an analysis in April of Renton Hotels being used for King County Homeless shelters, the Econo Lodge was not on the shelter list.  At that time, I pointed out that 22  percent of Renton’s hotel rooms had been converted from traveler use to shelter use, while county-wide (including 38 other cities) only 4% of hotel rooms have been converted to shelter use.  With the Econo Lodge, Renton’s percentage of converted hotels would reach 29%.

READ MORE »