Dear Beloved Renton Community,

After more than 27 years of serving you on Renton City Council, I’ve decided not to seek an eighth term in this coming election season.  A shifting situation in my extended family has caused me to reassess where I want to focus my time and energy in the next few years.  Additionally, I was going to run another term to help the city recover from the pandemic, and now I’m increasingly confident that we can get the COVID-19 crisis behind us, resolve our financial challenges, and restart our businesses before the end of this term.

I am enthusiastically endorsing long-time Renton Chamber of Commerce Board Member James Alberson for my vacant position.  James has served as President of the Chamber Board for six years, and is a business owner and business development consultant who is very active in our Renton community.  I endorsed him during his run for City Council position 3 in 2019 and he came within 2 percent of winning the seat.  A few months later I nominated him as a finalist for the vacant Council 2 position and during his Council interview he demonstrated excellent preparation and readiness for a council position.  He will be an outstanding council member.  Please join me in supporting James.

READ MORE »

To increase our affordable housing options, we have recently completed and approved a ground-breaking new ordinance to encourage backyard cottages.  These cottages, technically known as Accessory Dwelling Units, can be enjoyed by your family or rented out to an individual or family in need of housing.  Our new ordinance gives you a choice of beautiful, pre-approved designs and waives the building permit fees.  We’ve also dropped several other impact fees and slashed hook-up charges.   The City will soon put links on its website that show you how you can begin planning a backyard cottage.  Until the links are up, you can get started by phoning Community and Economic Development at 425-430-7200 and letting them know you would like to get started on an ADU.  As you’ll see in the presentation below, the city can get you approved in just a couple weeks.

Renton Community Planning areas. Map sections in color are withing Renton’s Potential Annexation Area. City limits (at time of printing ten years ago) are depicted by heavy red line.

READ MORE »

Rubber ducks race under our beautiful and iconic Cedar River Library in the 2019 Rubber Ducky Derby, raising money for children’s charities. Courtesy Gary Palmer

Today a newer resident told me that they heard that all of Renton City Council had once tried to move the library off of the Cedar River.  This is simply not correct.  Three of us on Council– Marcie Palmer, Greg Taylor, and I– put up a tireless battle to keep the library right where it is over the river.  Of the three of us that fought to keep it in its rightful spot, I’m the only one still in public office.

The controversy arose shortly after King County Library System (KCLS)  took over the management of Renton’s Library System, and needed Renton to either remodel the existing library or build a new library of approximately the same size.  Three of us on Council wanted to remodel, and the other four wanted to build a new library at the Piazza.  After weeks of debate and public comment, the three of us were out-voted.

READ MORE »

At a recent council meeting, some youthful visitors asked Council whether we were actively working toward a sustainable future and a reduced carbon footprint.  They also asked if the city has considered solar energy programs. Puget Sound Energy is sponsoring programs in which customers can commit to buying solar energy under a long-term fixed contract that’s priced higher than fossil-fuel-generated power today but will probably be lower than fossil fuel in the future– and it helps save the planet.

I appreciated the visitors for asking the question, and I applaud their concern for our environment and our future.  One of the solar programs they referred to is called the Green Direct Renewable Energy Program. It gives cities the opportunity to source their electricity from renewable energy sources (solar and wind). Customers enter into Power Purchase Agreements to purchase renewable energy, which provides certainty for development of renewable energy sources. PSE has completed two phases of the program. No new customers are currently being accepted, but we think they will expand it in the near future.  When they do, I would like the City of Renton to join to get renewable energy for powering city facilities and streetlights.  Residences and businesses are being offered similar programs now or in the near future.

During my 25 years on council I’ve helped with many initiatives to save energy and our environment.   Our staff put some of these initiatives together in the following list:

READ MORE »

As a 25-year Renton council member and 33-year engineer and manager, I’m currently running to fill the open seat of Renton Mayor.  Please review my work here to see how I’ve helped you.  I have made over a thousand detailed entries in this blog as I’ve worked to improve our city, keep you informed, and resolve the issues important to you.  Use the search box in the upper right to find entries on specific topics, or click on the categories on the right for highlights.   Learn more about my qualifications and my campaign by clicking here