Written by Many people have heard me compliment the late former Mayor Jess Tanner for his executive management abilities. He made it look easy to run a city.It helped that he had been in charge of a Federal workforce of four-thousand FAA personnel before Renton voters wisely put him into service as our mayor in 1995 (for about $64,000 per year).
But many people do not know about Jesse Tanner’s extraordinary technical skills, which added to his ability to get amazing projects accomplished. For your amusement and enlightenment, I have attached 5 patents that Jess was very proud of, all of which he was the sole inventor. They all saved lives and/or made travel more comfortable. The last one below he invented in his “aviation retirement” years, during his mayoral campaign of 1995. I remember going to his home to talk about the latest campaign mailer, and he would literally say “forget about that, let me show you my latest invention.” Then he would take me through computer diagrams and text to show how he was continuing to make air travel safer and more efficient.
We are really missing his technical and management skills at the Renton Airport right now, as more and more tenants are lawyering-up as they understandably become frustrated and combative about leases and expansion issues. This was extremely apparant at yesterday afternoon’s transportation committee meeting. I’ll cover this topic in more detail when I get an okay from the city attorney. Meanwhile, suffice it to say we really miss Jess Tanner right now.
Read more about Jesse Tanner by clicking the link below.
Former Mayor Jesse Tanner, a true leader
This Renton citizen appreciates the vision and good management of Mayor Jesse Tanner. Under his leadership, many important economic engines began and are thriving today.
Re: Former Mayor Jesse Tanner, a true leader
It will continue that way with Denis as our next mayor. Mayor Tanner endorsed him and had alot of respect for Denis.