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Written by The Wietzel house begins its journey promptly at 12:00 Midnight
I was with a small group of friends and family as the Wietzel house left Tukwila, for its trip to Renton and ultimately Seward Park (see blog below).
Historic House moves through Renton TONIGHT!
The Wietzel House has been a familiar landmark on 180th in Tukwila.
It is headed to a new home at Seward Park.
The house movers will be taking advantage of the fact that we have the railroad trestle removed from Rainier Avenue, as it would not have been able to clear otherwise.
At the most exciting part of the journey, the house will be moved down the taxiway at Renton Airport, until it reaches the lake. At that point it will be transferred to a barge, which will transport it the final mile or so to its new home in the Seward Park neighborhood. The trip through Renton airport will be from 5:30 to 7:30 tomorrow morning, and will shutdown the airport for this two hours.
The Home’s journey is being documented for a network television special by National Geographic. Their crew will track it with photo and video cameras all night long.
All the details, complete with a map and schedule, can be found on this website Click Here!
Only a twelve-foot wall around San Francisco tiger exhibit?! yikes!
Okay, I normally don’t comment much on national news, since so many other bloggers take care of that. But the San Francisco tiger attack happened in the zoo I frequented in my youth so I could not help take special interest.
The San Francisco zoo’s new tiger enclosure was not there the last time I visited, but today I read the news that they built only a 12 foot wall to keep the tiger in! 12 feet? Anyone who has ever owned a cat could tell you this is not enough. That sounds like the equivalent of trying to contain my housecat with a 18″ high wall. And he does not eat people! (I think my cat can jump four or five feet with a running start).
Here is the story Click Here.
Perhaps the zoo designers should have a look at this youtube video:
My wife and daughter pose in front of the tiger at Point Defiance a few weeks ago…I don’t know how tall their containment wall is, but I hope it’s more than 12 feet!
Merry Christmas!
It doesn’t get much better than this 🙂
Best Wishes for a great holiday,
Randy
Seattle Times covers Dan Clawson’s resignation
Clawson’s resignation surprises Renton council
By Karen Johnson
Times Southeast Bureau
Dan Clawson served for nearly 12 years.
In the midst of a high-profile lawsuit, Renton City Councilman Dan Clawson has resigned halfway through his third elected term in office.
He says he wants to focus more on his family and legal practice.
“It just got to be too much to keep up with things,” Clawson said.
The Renton lawyer broke the unexpected news at a Dec. 10 City Council meeting.
“It was a total surprise,” Councilman Don Persson said.
Clawson has spent nearly 12 years serving the city.
The Texas native was elected to office in 1995, but lost a 1999 re-election race to Persson. In 2000, he returned as an appointed member when Bob Edwards left to become a Port of Seattle commissioner. Clawson was re-elected in 2001 and 2005.
Although he is known for his avid support of affordable housing, downtown development and levee-improvement projects, much of his legacy will be marked by a lawsuit he filed in September against Denis Law, Persson, Randy Corman and Marcie Palmer.
Clawson accused his colleagues of violating the Open Public Meetings Act. Clawson said that the four council members communicated outside of council chambers before voting on an ordinance that would require builders to meet certain design standards on single-family homes, among other allegations. The four council members denied the charges.
Clawson says his resignation had nothing to do with the lawsuit, but it did create tension on the council.
“I’m kind of soured on the whole thing,” Clawson said. “The political climate in Renton has turned so negative that it’s almost a toxic environment.”
Fellow council members said it was difficult to work on a team whose members were bickering.
“There’s no question that Dan suing four members of the council doesn’t work toward building positive relationships,” Law said.
Clawson made no mention of the lawsuit during his resignation.
Dec. 10 was also the final meeting of outgoing councilwoman Toni Nelson and Mayor Kathy Keolker who lost her re-election bid last month to Law.
Clawson is one of three council members who endorsed Keolker.
He leaves his position Jan. 1 along with Keolker and Nelson. The City Council will appoint a replacement to fill his seat next year.
Clawson hopes his departure will help improve the atmosphere on the council. “If resigning will help them conduct more business, this will be a positive thing,” he said.
Karen Johnson: 253-234-8605 or karenjohnson@seattletimes.com.
Kari Kopnick; My search for an auxiliary church where I can just “attend”once in a while
So, it’s almost Christmas now. I’m done shopping and wrapping and done with most of the baking. And I’m thinking I’d like to go to church.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I go to church every Sunday. And I go to church every Wednesday. I even go to church every Friday, but I don’t really go to church. I work for a church. My kids hate it, but every week I tell the congregation that it’s an honor to serve them. Guess my kids just really want me to serve them! But I get to serve a whole congregation of kids and families as their Director of Religious Education.
So, I’m the one ironing the angel costumes and printing a zillion copies of the script for the holiday pageant, because they always get lost in kids’ rooms. I’m the one recruiting people to staff the nursery, and bring in birthday cakes for the un-birthday party. I’m the one who sits down and has a lap full of three and four-year-olds. I love my job.
But, I don’t really get to GO to church. Sometimes I sneak in on a Sunday and catch some of the sermon. Sometimes the music director asks me to be in the guitar band and I stay for some of the service, but usually I’m covering a busy Sunday School class here, or playing the tough guy there or chatting with a reluctant 6-year-old over some hot chocolate.
This Christmas season I decided I want to go to church and just sit down, not get there early or stay late, and I certainly don’t want to be the one vacuuming up the fake snow. So I went looking in my community, near Benson Hill for a church that’s at least kind of a match to my personal theology.
The first thing I did was to google Renton churches. I can’t believe how many churches there are in Renton! A quick count brought me to about ninety. Ninety! Well, now I’m beyond thinking about sitting and singing hymns and hearing a great message of hope and renewal. Now I’m on to thinking “ninety churches”! How many people does that represent? I know it’s a huge number of people who probably attend church on a somewhat regular basis.
And that doesn’t even count the people who attend another house of worship; folks who are Muslim, or Buddhist, or Jewish, or Sikh or who follow the Baha’i faith, or any of the other people who follow their own brand of living a good life.
It makes me think what if we all, all of us from all of those churches and all of those houses of worship and all of us who don’t get to GO to church but live lives committed to love and compassion, if all of us took the spirit of Christmas to heart. We could change our city, and our whole world to be a place of care, and compassion where no one ever went hungry and no one was ever old and alone.
I suppose it’s that gingerbread rush; that feeling of hope and joy and peace and potential. It’s OK, you know. I’m not complaining. I like a little gingerbread high.
I did find a service to go to—not easy when I work the regular Sunday morning and Christmas Eve at my home church. It’s a family service with kids and music and a pageant. Guess I just can’t get away from that! It’s OK. Really, It’ll help me hang on to the hope and love and the dream of neighbors caring for neighbors at least until New Year’s Eve.
Kari Kopnick
A cozy, wintery Saturday
My wife found a cozy place to spend part of the shortest day of the year, on a blustery Saturday. Our Newfoundland Dolly keeps her extra warm.
Wishing City Councilwoman Toni Nelson a happy retirement
The Renton Reporter published a great story on Toni Nelson’s years of council service and her involvement in the Renton community. I had the pleasure of sitting next to Toni at the city council dais for almost a decade, as we worked through countless issues. She was a lot of fun, she knew everything going on in our city, she put the community above everything else, and she was great at running meetings. We will miss her. I wish her the very best in her retirement.
My view on private firearms….
I added some personal viewpoint information on my earlier blog about firearms, and the supreme courts decision to take the issue up. While this is not an issue that is before the city, and probably won’t ever be, if the supreme court did change the meaning of the second amendment it could become a city or state issue. I didn’t want to keep you guessing, so I added my opinion into the comment dialogue. Click here to see it Feel free to comment back if you agree or disagree.
A personal injury attorney descibes the significance of “Sudden Medical Emergency” defense
Investigators are still piecing together the events that lead to the death of the jogger on Duvall a week ago. Our police are going to have to put together and document many details. While surfing the web, I found the blog of a personal injury attorney who described the legal issues that can come up if the driver in this Renton case claims a medical condition, including a sneezing or coughing fit. See his blog entry here
Investigators raise questions about solicitors in Renton
King 5 Investigators have raised questions about a group soliciting donations in front of Renton Highlands Big LotsClick Here for the Story
From Marcie Palmer; New Site up with Council Vacancy Information
Councilwoman Marcie Palmer sent me this message to post for you:
Hi Folks-
In great discussion with Randy, & Jay, & Julia, Julia has created a new webpage regarding the Council Opening:
Click Here!
Thanks to the City Information Services people that helped get this up & running in record time (less than 3 hours I think)
Marcie Palmer
Council appointment information will go on city website soon
I spoke with our City’s Chief Administrator and with Council Colleague Marcie Palmer today, to hammer out a formal announcement for the city website regarding the council appointment process. We think we have a pretty good plan, and a website announcement should be available by early next week (I think).
Essentially, it will clarify that council will determine the selection process at the January 7 meeting, and that the public will be able to formally apply for the position the following week. The website will give the details.
Someone wrote to my comment section in response to my last blog on this topic, and suggested this stuff all needs to be on the city website ASAP. I agree, and I thank you for the suggestion/extra push necessary to make sure it happened.
Best Wishes,
Randy
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