Written by Randy Corman
I posted this journal entry on Thursday about the work going on at “Eyes on the Landing” in preparation for their Friday opening. After all the effort that Donna Jones and Dr. Evie Lawson put into the new optometry, I felt I should show a few images of the finished product. Here they are:
Written by Randy Corman
Cheri Saburi, owner of Creative Mom Toys, was happily assisting a steady stream of customers on opening day of her first “brick and morter” toy store. Prior to opening this store at the Landing, she has sold her toys through her online store creativemomtoys.com.
Creative Mom Toys opened today at the Landing (840 North 10th Place, Renton, 100 feet west of Regal Cinema). The Creative Mom behind the store, owner Cheri Saburi, is very experienced in the toy business– in addition to being an experienced mom, she also runs a successful online toy store in which she has been offering and receiving feedback on different products for a long time. You can find her online store here . She chooses toys that represent “getting back to basics”; wooden, educational and developmental toys. On her website she explains “What is so fun with these toys is that any child can manipulate and transform any toy into what their mind chooses for the moment. And yet, when that same child comes back to that same toy, it more than likely will be used in an entirely different way. No screen for the child to look into and more importantly, no directions! Please take a moment to think back to the wonderful creative toys you grew up with and see how the toys listed here can have the same memories for your child.”
When Cathy, Susie and I stopped by this afternoon, we found Cheri and her staff helping a steady stream of customers. The shop is very inviting, with interactive play areas for children to try out toys and costumes, and for kids and parents to sit down and look at books, crafts and art supplies.
The shop is stocked with toys that will expand children’s knowledge and problem solving skills, such as puzzles, models, books, magic kits, and thinking games.
The shop’s environment is conducive to learning and play, and visitors were having a great time there today. Cathy and I found some of the toys that were our favorites while raising our five kids, and others that we wish we had during those years. We will surely be shopping here for the other youngsters in our lives.
Please stop by and welcome Cheri and her staff to the Landing, take a look at their products, and thank them for opening their business in Renton. And let your friends know there is a new toy store in town.
And remember, all Renton citizens benefit when we shop locally. Shopping locally generates local jobs and funds city services by keeping part of our sales taxes in town. It also helps the owners of these local businesses, who deserve our support for choosing to invest in our town when there are so many other cities competing for investment dollars right now.
Here are a few photos of the store.
Written by Randy Corman
Dr. Evie Lawson adjusts a chandelier in the lobby of Renton’s newest optometry “Eyes on the Landing.”
Donna Jones and Dr. Evie Lawson will be formally opening their beautiful new optometry “Eyes on the Landing” tomorrow, just in time for the holiday shopping season. The spacious, warm and tastefully decorated shop is a welcome addition to the Landing. Dr. Lawson will begin taking patient appointments immediately, and they can of course also fill your existing eyeglass prescriptions. They’ll carry a broad selection of eyeglass frames, including many stylish and unusual designs. And they work with most major insurance companies. Here is their website for more information.
Eyes on the Landing is one of six new shops opening at the Landing in the coming weeks. Please stop in to the new optometry to welcome them into the neighborhood, thank them for opening their business in Renton, and take a look at their frames and services. And be sure to shop in the nearby stores as well while you are in the neighborhood. New businesses like “Eyes on the Landing” have been helping us keep the Renton City budget balanced during this recession without having to cut public safety services.
The store is tentatively scheduled to open at 10:00 AM tomorrow morning. The contractors have completed all their work; Evie, Donna, their families and colleagues are busy with final decoration and stocking. Here are a few photos from their final preparations.
Donna Jones works on the final decorations today, in advance of tomorrow’s opening.
Kaylie Jones completes a mural in the child’s play area of the main lobby.
Written by Randy Corman
Some highlights were train rides, reindeer, treats (including cookies offered by “Creative Mom Toys” which is days away from opening), and finally the countdown for the big event. A loud cheer broke out when the lights went on.
I had most of my family with me, and enjoyed running into friends and colleagues. Here are a few photos.
Written by Randy Corman
Son Danny (left) and friend Derek Benigno (right) getting ready to head off to Seattle’s Steam Con.
My son Danny was one of the thousands of attendees at Seattle’s second annual “Steam Con” today. The Seattle PI described this event in an article today here. This year Danny appears to be some kind of Steam-Punk warrior that Jules Verne would have been proud of. (There are pieces of metal, cardboard, and steel hoses all over my garage floor at the moment.)
Cathy and I had fun attending the first one of these conventions with Danny last year, and I covered it with photos and a story here.
Written by Randy Corman
My wife Cathy and daughter Katie made it down for opening day at Marshalls on Thursday. They found some great values, and enjoyed the shopping experience. They felt there were more than enough dressing rooms for everyone, and that the checkout line moved quickly even though there were many shoppers in front of them. They came home with sweaters and slacks, and many nice accessories. Both of them plan to go back often.
At City Hall we are delighted to see new businesses opening during the recession. We are glad that citizens have new close-in shopping options, and approximately one percent of every sale comes back to the city’s general fund as sales tax revenue.
Written by Randy Corman
I represent Renton on a committee of local officials chartered to review various concepts for adding a new toll lane to I-405, along with much-desired flyover connections between I-405 and I-167. The extra lane and flyover connections would reduce congestion, but the tolling aspect obviously makes it controversial. It’s very important that any chosen concept is as fair to all users and taxpayers as possible. Here is the latest news on this topic in the Bellevue Reporter.
Written by Randy Corman
One of the questions that has been kicking around in cyberspace since last Tuesday’s election is whether Renton, Kent, and King County should coordinate with residents of Fairwood regarding the 20-year-old Potential Annexation Area (PAA) boundaries. I’ve seen this question posed in newspaper comments and I’ve heard it at city hall.
Fairwood residents obviously still hold various opinions regarding whether to stay in unincorporated King County, incorporate a new city, or join an existing city. Of the ones that favor joining a city, there are those that have explained that they associate with Kent more than Renton. These citizens have expressed that this is due in part to the school district boundaries as well as proximity to Kent shopping and parks.
In response to a councilmember’s request, the mayor sent us a map today with the school and fire districts superimposed on the area of Fairwood that just voted on incorporation.
Here is the map, and you can click the link below to get a larger downloadable PDF version of this map.
Click here for the larger PDF version of this map. (You should be able to enlarge this version on your screen to see streets).
It is clear that the bulk of Fairwood is in Kent’s school district, but it was placed in Renton’s potential annexation area 20 years ago when the growth management law took affect. This is fine for residents who consider themselves part of the Renton community; there is no requirement that school boundaries and city boundaries align– and they in fact do not in many cases. However, for those residents who consider themselves part of Greater-Kent AND are part of the Kent School District, being part of the Renton PAA might seem goofy. This is the issue that may deserve further study.
I don’t expect anything to happen soon, as Renton, Kent and King County do not have a lot of money to spend on surveys and meetings, and it seems to me that Fairwood residents deserve a break in debating their future governance.
I think that all parties should remain open to redrawing these Potential Annexation Area boundaries in the future, to fit the desires of the various Fairwood neighborhoods. If and when Fairwood residents want to formally raise this issue, I’m open to discuss it. While I can’t speak for the rest of the Renton council, I think other council members would be open to this discussion as well.
I’m certain that Renton would have done a nice job servicing this area– and when we pre-zoned it, we designated it over 96 percent single-family. (We down-zoned some areas from the density allowed in King County.) But for those who want to be in an existing city, I’m confident Kent could also do a nice job servicing neighborhoods in Fairwood.
Written by Randy Corman
(Thanks to my wife Cathy, who took the photos for me with her cell phone camera– I had not planned the stop and we did not have our regular camera)
Cathy and I stopped into the new Highlands “Grocery Outlet” on Friday night while dashing out for bread, and we were very impressed by the new store. (2809 Sunset Ave NE in Renton Highlands).
Grocery Outlet is a growing chain in the western US, with many devoted fans. Their stores are generally independently owned, and Renton store owners Jeff & Erin McNeil have long local ties to the Renton area.
When I stopped by the new store on Sunset, I found the deals excellent, the staff friendly, and the store clean and bright. I also felt the architect and builder did an amazing job converting the building from a bowling alley to a grocery store. They did an immense degree of restoration to the the building, including removing false ceilings and reworking the entire floor. They also built in accents that gave a nod to the building’s history, with such details as using bowling pins to mark check-out lanes, recycling segments from the original wooden lanes for floor in the checkout aisles, and placement of bowling lockers near the front door.
Like many families in the Highlands, we were very sorry to see the Hillcrest Bowl close– the old, familiar bowling alley had hosted countless parties, social events, and tournaments over he decades, and several different owners had made a gallant effort to keep it viable. Most of my kids learned to bowl at this alley. It looked to me that as the bowling alley aged and continued to consume on-going renovations and maintenance, it became harder for the ownership to find a price-point that was low enough to keep customers returning, while high enough to keep paying for the upgrades and repairs necessary to compete with newer bowling alleys. So it’s been closed over a year. Here are a few memorial comments to the Hillcrest Bowl.
The “Grocery Outlet” has done an excellent job of giving the property a new lease on life, and injecting some vitality back into this shopping center. My family will be stopping by the Grocery Outlet frequently, as their deals are too good to pass up and their store is a pleasant place to shop.
Be sure you stop by, check out their amazing prices, and welcome them into our neighborhood.
The old lanes help decorate the check-out aisles(bowling shoes are not required)
Decoration throughout recognizes the building’s history as the Hillcrest Bowling Center
Written by Randy Corman
Here is the link to all of the election results for King County.
Written by Randy Corman
Fairwood residents appear to be rejecting annexation to Renton by about the same margin (approximately 45% to 55%) that they last rejected incorporation.
It looks like they will remain in King County for a while.
Below is the prediction I made twenty months ago in this journal entry based on a survey conducted by Renton and King County at that time:
Based on these results, a likely sequence of events would be that the Fairwood Incorporation initiative would come up for a vote first, and then fail. Next, a vote to annex to Renton would potentially come up, and probably fail (unless over half of those who wanted to form Fairwood switched over to support annexing to Renton, which does not seem likely to me.) In the end, Fairwood would end up remaining unincorporated, an idea favored by just 31 percent of the voters in the area.
Guess I called it.
Here are the results so far. Here are the results from last year’s incorporation election.
Written by Randy Corman
We’ve never received as many phone calls as we have during this election. I attribute it to five ballots coming to our house, fewer people still using land lines like ours, my family waiting too long to send our ballots in, and millions of dollars of national being poured into our US Senate and House races. And we screen our calls and don’t generally answer unidentified numbers unless the caller makes it clear who they are in their message, so pollsters may have tried calling us repeatedly.
In any case, our household is guessing we received somewhere between one-hundred and two-hundred election-related calls during the last few weeks. Most of them of course were robo-calls. Every day our answering machine filled up.
It goes without saying that this is WAY too many. I would not complain if each campaign left me one message explaining why I should vote for their candidate. But this was far too many.
I’m going to seriously consider dumping our land line before the next national election.
Written by Randy Corman
This just in from the Mayor:
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Police have shutdown traffic southbound on the Maple Valley Highway at 140th (at the golf course) while they investigate a serious two vehicle accident. At least two victims with life-threatening injuries have been transported by medics to local hospitals. Police are also conducting a search of the area for one of the drivers who fled from the scene on foot. We’ll keep you advised.
Denis Law
Mayor, City of Renton
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