Written by I’m enthusiastically introducing a new contributer tonight. Rose McMayhem grew up in our city, attended out local schools, graduated from University of Washington, and she writes some of the most creative, funniest journal entries I have read. She has generously agreed to share her writing talent with readers of this blog. Her perspective is younger than mine, which is a good thing, and far less city hall oriented…which is also a good thing. Please let her know what you think about her writing…help me encourage Rose and Keri Kopnick to keep sharing their talents with us by leaving them some comments.
Thanks!
Randy
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Welcome to the South shore of Lake Washington. It’s maligned by many, is home to tens of thousands, and relatively speaking, has a pretty impressive history. In my 3rd grade class at Maplewood Heights, we did a unit on the history of the city, and I, for one, was impressed with how far back we’d been around and what a stake we had in driving the industrialization of the area- between mining, Paccar and Boeing, we were contributing quite a bit to the region as far as jobs and products at the beginning of the 20th century.
All history aside, though, the place is clearly not the pinnacle of white-trash-dom that John Keister would have the greater Seattle Metropolitan area believe (no disrespect, John- I know you have to make a living). Time and time again, when asked where I live, my response is met with a grimace and look of pity- much like the reaction one gets when they own up to a lifestyle so foreign to others that they assume couldn’t possibly have been a conscious choice, but must have happened by accident or coersion. To wit: I’m an atheist (cringe!). I have 10 stepchildren (gasp!). I bought a Ford (you poor thing!).
I had a city-dwelling friend who always made a point to tell others in my presence, apologetically: “She lives in Renton.” And so on; you all know what I mean. They assume there’s something wrong with us.
Don’t feel sorry for me; your pity is unnecessary. In fact, it’s insulting- while some extraneous circumstances may be assumed to exist, in general it’s safe to say that if I hated the place, I wouldn’t live here. On the contrary, 25 of my 27 ½ years have been spent in the little city that’s “ahead of the curve,” and let’s be clear on one thing: it hasn’t been against my will. Yeah, I got out for a little while. Left home after college and spread my wings all the way up in the Central District. Turned out that city life wasn’t for me, though- despite the crowding, everyone kept to themselves a little too much, and everyone had something to prove. So when I was looking to get out, I looked back from where I’d come and bought a little place not far from where I’d grown up- on familiar terrain, and near my dad’s shop (critical to those of us who drive older vehicles).
Did I find it to be a concession; the only feasible location for someone who had to keep her mortgage payments low? Nah, it was exactly what I wanted, and in the 3 years I’ve spent in my chosen neighborhood, I haven’t regretted it.
Well, save for the hoodlum neighbors on one side of me…but every town’s got those; there are jerks everywhere. Same as there are pleasant people everywhere, and we’ve got a surplus of those as well.
No…really. You just have to shake off the patina of prejudice you’ve been burdened with to see that Renton is just another suburb: in reality, it’s no more of a ghetto than the older parts of Bellevue, although people tend to miss that detail because we’re not all upper-middle-class whites here. But yes, it is a suburb, so if that’s the issue people have with it, I can’t defend it. However, if it’s a matter of it being any more or less livable than the surrounding environs, well then, me and my little army of proud Rentonites would like to talk to you.
Suffice it to say it annoys me when people put Renton down: I’ve chosen to live here, I like living here, no amount of good-natured chiding is going to change my mind about that- so take your pity and shove it. Myself and an army of perfectly normal people are happy with this place.
Rose McMayhem
My description….
Renton is middle-class enough that we get good police, and ethnic enough that we get good food.
The best of both worlds – without the snobbery or crime.
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As an aside, I’m kinda bummed that a Red Robbin is moving into the Landing. Will Renton be just another clone town in 10 years? I hope not. Give me hummus, pho, sushi, linguini and steak – not shitty burgers served by mindless drones.
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Mindless drones?!!! I have friends who work at Red Robins, and they are far from mindless drones. Red Robin provides a great place for families, especially with toddlers, for a chance to get out of the house. I enjoy unique ethnic food like the next person, but those types of places are not conducive to young families. Red Robbins Restaurants do serve young Renton families, and those hard working folks do not deserve to be slammed and marginalized. The last thing we need is the same attitudes in Renton, that exist in Seattle, which creates a hostile and unwelcoming area for those who have young children!
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I believe there’s enough business for a RR as well as the local eateries with an ethnic flair.
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>>but those types of places are not conducive to young families.
Only if your family is running around and screaming like a bunch of weasels on crack. If you have *well behaved* toddlers, you can go anywhere.
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Obviously, you do not have kids! Granted there are parents who let kids run wild, but please, do not disparage parents and there efforts to get out of the house for entertainment.
Seriously, a place like RR is perfect; because the noise, activities and friendly personnel make it a perfect place to unwind, enjoy a good burger. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Red House would be a disaster for families with young kids. A good mix of both types of restaurants is ideal! I take your comments as being tongue in cheek, but just in case, it is awfully challenging to have “night out” with young ones, and RR really does fill the void.
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>>Obviously, you do not have kids!
Obviously you assume too much!
I have two kids – they’re so well behaved that we usually get free deserts around 20% of the time. I invite you to properly parent your children, teach them manners, make them eat normal food – and we’ll see you at the Melrose.
If you consistently eat a sit-down meal at the dinner table – you can easily get them to behave at home. When they go out, they actually behave better – because they’re not bored and everybody loves them so much.
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Did you not get the point of the post? Now, slow down when you read this, and maybe you can understand, ready? Here we go;
There are many aspects to dining, with kids, without, etc. A unique and creative place, where meals take a bit longer, might not be the best place for young ones (toddlers, etc). Especially is there is not a lot of choices for kids. This would be the type of place where parents of young ones would not necessarily be comfortable with, just because of not wanting to impact other patrons. Places like Melrose, Red House, etc. would be great for this type of meal for adults, and even older kids.
(Now follow along closely!)…. There are some families that desire to get out of the house, enjoy a relatively quick, sit down dinner, where there is less concern about impacting others due to the overall noise, activity, etc. That is where RR fills that void. Maybe you were able to bring your toddlers to upscale, 2 hour long meal, so good for you, but I bet the majority of working families, appreciate having a choice between the 2 scenarios I describe.
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>>> (Now follow along closely!)….
Your lame attempt to be condescending shows your true nature.
Please stay in Red Robin with the other screaming children and we’ll both be happy.
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You are a very mean person. I wonder if you are this mean spirted and judgmental in person, or do you simply slam those who disagree, anomously in blogs! You claim your kids are well behaved, god help us if they learn this type of discourse from you.
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>>You are a very mean person I wonder if you are this mean spirted and judgmental in person,
Of course I’m judgmental. My judgmental nature leads me to tasty food prepared by nice humans.
Apparently your own judgement nature least you to call people school yard names however. You might want to check that out – perhaps that’s why you’re missing the tasty food.
>>You claim your kids are well behaved, god help us if they learn this type of discourse from you.
God willing, my kids will learn to stand up to name callers. Like you.
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Name calling? Funny from a clown who referred to kids as weasels on crack! Please…. With statements like that, I am thrilled that market forces and sanity will negate your warped view of what will make Renton a great success.
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>>referred to kids as weasels on crack!
Sorry… must have struck to close to home.
Please fell better about yourself.
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Man, you are just mean, and at least tonight a bad person. I love arguing with guys like you, your vindictiveness and pettiness paint the picture of who you really are (hopefully you hide this side of you from your kids)
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Well I did see your post about liking the Whistle Stop – We both have something we can agree on. That place is awesome.
And yes… I’ve been to a Red Robin just the last week in Tacoma. And yes… it was fine.
But that’s the problem. Sure it’s fine, but it’s the same everywhere you go. Ugh! It’s like Coke. On a hot summer days – it’s fine. But where’s the RC, Fentemens, Shasta and others. They’ve all been pushed out by the marketing of one company – and that’s the kicker!
RC tastes better than Coke, and The Whistlestop used much better beef than Red Robin. But we’ll be lucky if the Whistlestop only loses a few of their customers.
>>I love arguing with guys like you
Now you can’t take the moral high ground. If you enjoy taunting people and getting them riled up, then your no better than their reaction.
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We can agree, I much prefer places like Armondos, whistle stop, etc.
But, I can tell you this, my kids are far from perfect, and when they where toddlers, places like RR (yes, a chain) did provide us a refuge for familiar place, decent food, and a low stress area for kids. We were on are own, with no support network, so I do see value in RR chains, for those times. I get riled up when messages deride us for seeing a lot of value in places like RR. Then, when someone alludes to them as being racist, that my friend is way out of line.
I will fight with you to prevent a total strip mall approach at the landing, but do not diminish RR for being a welcome site for 2, hard working parents, who only desire an experience of eating out. Believe me, when the stress of chores of raising small kids is over, I will probably be at the Whistle Stop, consistently. Who knows, we may even bump into each other and smile and brag about our relatively well behaved boys.
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I was being bombastic, but I do have a problem with the hiring practices of a lot of chains. They have a set list of criteria for being hired – and a lot of people, good people, have trouble getting a chance. The GAP is horrible about this and is facing a lawsuit.
Right now, my kids are well behaved. They have a lot of years to go though – and I think the little one is on to me.
There’s a lot more to life than being well behaved!
See you at the Whistlestop – bring the kids now! Who care’s if they’re not perfect!
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Anyways… there’s plenty of mom and pop burger joints in Renton, why you have to get all happy like a corporate cheerleader about Red Robin is beyond me.
Red Robin will not joint the Renton Chamber of Comerce.
Red Robin will not give to the Renton Salvation Army without having to mail the corporate office.
Red Robin will pay shitty wages and will fire their employees if they don’t follow the manual.
Red Robin won’t hire minorities that don’t act White.
Red Robin will never hire that poor kit that has a speech impediment that has a heart of gold.
Some of use don’t like chains. And I hate to see Renton start to look like every other plastic strip-mall town around here.
Give me real food. Prepared by real owner/operators and their loyal and quirky employees.
You can have your plastic food served by your corporate clowns.
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Red Robin won’t hire minorities that don’t act White.—
What????? What is “acting white”
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Red Robin is like the GAP a lot of other chains that have found out that their typical paying customers doesn’t like anything they’re not use to. That means some good things, and some not so good things – like most of their employees are white.
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so, you do not like white people?
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don’t bother with this idiot, he probably has not been inside a Red Robin to make a racist judgment about who the employees are. Invite him to the nearest Red Robin (I work near Factoria) and the employees there are awsome! Enthusiastic, service orientated, and yes, diverse!
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More name calling.
Tisk tick.
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What name calling? where did you go to school? Ok, here is a name for you; Moron
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LiveJournal Error #232: Please check your sentences for proper punctuation and spelling before accusing others of being moronic.
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Whew! Who knew that Rose’s column would be so controversial?! 🙂
We are hoping to have a pretty nice selection of restaurants, for family’s, formal functions, and sports/socializing, but we don’t know exactly who and when yet. We are hoping to bring in one or more original places, as well as chains, but it will mostly be the market that decides.
I’ll let you know when we get more info. Meanwhile, please be patient with other’s tastes, communication styles, parenting methods, etc. Our little hamlet is known for inclusiveness, friendliness, and tolerance.
Thanks!
Randy
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Thanks Randy, for setting things straight. I agree with the communicatins style comments. Bringing in the “racial” element, whether white or anything else is abusrd, and has no place in civil discourse!
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Me too.. that condescending name caller is a bit much!
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which name caller are you referring to, the weasle kids on crack (I assume!)
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Randy,
Being of the anti-corporate chain crowd, I do think there is a place for cities to exclude things they find hideous.
Imagine being the owner of a local mom-and-pop. You’ve faithful served the working class Rentonites for twenty years – and all of a sudden Renton it IT! POP! The chains come and you go out of business.
I’m the anti Red Robin person in this conversation so I’ll paint a picture from mom-and-pop restaurant’s point of view: Let’s pick a fictional restaurant on Rainier.
The Renton city has deferred maintenance for 20 years on Rainier – it’s looks like a bad stretch of highway 99. There’s no parking on Rainier at all.
All of a sudden, The Landing comes in. The city of Renton bent over backwards to give the Landing a free parking structure and really fancy streets. And now Red Robin is going to get a huge competitive advantage because of it, and the poor mom-and-pop that’s been paying taxes all these years has found itself boosting it’s own competition with it’s own taxes.
Because the owners of The Landing have ‘connections’ and a good marketing system – they’ve been able to coax huge concessions out of the city that the local mom-and-pop can’t.
Food for thought. Pun intended.
I just hate to see a city turn it’s back on the people that have been here, in order to chase the shiny and new.
It’s tough – there really are good economic reasons for the city to fund The Landing’s efforts so there really isn’t any easy answers.
Shades of gray and all that.
Randy, I know I don’t agree with you a lot – but please stay active in Renton’s city government. I saw another thread with some grumpy guy calling you from the old school. I think of you as being experienced.
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Thanks for your supportive comments…they mean a lot to me:-)
Here are some rambling thoughts…please forgive grammer/spelling issues…
I think you make some very important points about how we propped up the Landing, with $38,000,000 in infrastructure improvements in fact, and it can easily create an unfair climate for a family business on Rainier Ave, or downtown, or the highlands. You are right, and I have been concerned about this since we first created the development agreement on the land at the Landing (which returned 2/3 of the new sales tax back into infrastructure.) I voted for the agreement, but I knew we would owe it to the other parts of town to share the wealth, so to speak. The good news is we are about to rebuild the Rainier Ave corridor, to the tune of about $20,000,000 with better flow and sidewalks, with money from sound transit. We’re installing new railroad trestles primarily for this reason, to allow a wider roadway underneath the trestle. (And that is not part of the $20,000,000). This should give Rainier a more modern look, and make it a more desirable address for a restaurant or other business.
In the Highlands we have set-aside only 1.5 million, but we consider this seed money to try to get some partnerships going to improve the business climate. And we continue to look for innovative ways to improve the downtown business climate…in a few months you will start to see “way-finding” signage, which will make the downtown seem easier to navigate, more modern, and more pedestrian friendly.
The Renton Chamber of Commerce, as a whole, supported the Landing and even helped us fight Westfield Mall in our quest to get the Landing built. However, I have heard that some individual business owners were not quite as sure, and I want to make sure that they all get a fair deal.
I really like local restaurants, like Melrose, Whistle Stop, the Red House, etc, but I also don’t mind getting some chains in. There is a certain part of the population that feels best going to places they know, and I want them to spend their money in Renton instead of going to Southcenter or Issaquah. Even if their profit gets sent back to a corporation somewhere, we still the jobs, the sales tax revenue, and the relatively wholesome nightlife…all things we could use a bit more of.
I love the differing points of view I read here on these blogs though…so don’t be shy if you have further ideas about how we she tailor things, or how we can advance our older businesses.
Best Wishes,
Randy
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To the anti corporate poster and hater of RR restaruants, it really is naïve to think only local business, and anti development sentiment will improve our city. It will take a mixture of corporations and local establishments to create an attractive location where other business and people will choose to conduct business entertain, and utlimately chose to live. Yes, we do not want to be dominated by big box stores and chain resteraunts, but some can be incorporated into the fabric of a livable Renton, along with unique shops and restaurants. A good model to point to is the University Village, which is attractive, fun, and a great mix of both. Blue C Shushi is a fantastic locally owned place, and the Ram Resteraunt a great “corporate” chain! Both serve the citizens of that area. That is what I want for the landing!
The efforts and investment of the landing make sense, because of the land available from Boeing, as opposed to that around Rainer Ave. My optimism is that those like the parents of the 2 “well behave drones” will become insignifanct, and market forces will drive who offers business to serve all of Renton! I say, yes to RR, and yes to my favorite spot, The Whistle Stop! It is a win win!
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Was any of this about her column? Seems like a couple of responders needed a nap and got sidetracked.
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It sounded more like a “couple of weasels on crack”
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The Red Robin burger chain was founded (not the “Red Robin” pub for which it is named) by RHS graduate Gerry Kingin. I believe it has since changed hands to another company.
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Oh that’s a cool bit of info – though I too at first was put off by yet another Red Robin. But now I’m happy about it – it will keep the babysitting fees down a bit on big date nights. And that guy with the well behaved kids? Want two more? Mine could use some good behavior training :o).
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>>Want two more? Mine could use some good behavior training :o).
Sure! 😉
Just read “Barbara_Woodhouse No Bad Dogs” and substitute dog for child and you’ll get the hang of it.
My kids are still confused to this say on how to use the potty – they keep asking me to bring out the newspaper.
(kidding)
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I think this parent of well behave kids, must be a saint! Since they have every answer to child raising, they must be perfect, with no issues in their live…. so how about this unbelievalby good parent for the vacant city council position!!!
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Perhaps, I don’t get it – but to me well behaved, polite and happy children are normal. Nothing to remark upon.
It’s only in the last few years of permissive parenting that the seem special, only because some parents have abdicated their responsibilities to their own children.
Anyways… it’s just the first step. When my grown children are able to raise their own and do well at it- only then can I claim any meager credit. I hope I live to see that day.
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Randy,
Please excuse rambling incoherent thoughts… it’s 12:45pm!
Everybody that’s looked at The Landing and the improvements knows the city will get the money back in revenue rather quickly. The only thing that stings, is that the city won’t do the same for other areas. We all understand that making extra investments in already built up areas is messy – the numbers aren’t so easy.
What I don’t like about public-private partnerships, is that I’m never part of it myself. As a small business owner – nobody wants to build me a parking garage, invest in my infrastructure or give me variances on my building permits. I’m just too small for anybody to care about – and that’s fine in a way. Renton is a good place to call home!
Imagine if you took the 1.5 Million for the highlands and spent it on code enforcement – everybody would benefit. Not just the few that happen to own property in the sweat spots.
Generally… I think you’re all doing a fine job. There’s really only so much you can do to ‘help’ things along – I think things will just take time.
I think losing the Spirit of Washington was a real heavy blow – a lot of people were exposed to Renton’s charms that wouldn’t ordinarly go to downtown Renton.
The things I can thing of that would be *cheap*:
Pipe cheerful ‘musack’ onto the sidewalk of downtown Renton.
Consider converting some of the less used streets into two way streets.
Paint the light-poles black. It would hide the rust on some of them.
Get tough with the sign ordinances – there’s a few people that make parts of the city look untidy. Allow good signage, but it has to be in great repair.
Pressure wash the sidewalks – even though the city technically doesn’t have to pay for it.
Crack down on petty crime – give Renton the reputation as a speed-trap and the tweakers will run.
Not so cheap:
Add more police and code enforcement.
Underground the utilities as much as possible. Some the older parts of town look messy with 100 years of wiring.
Something like the Renton River Days, but in early December to draw people in.
Highlands:
Get rid of the slum-lords! Did I mention…. get rid of the slim-lords! That includes the RHA where appropriate.
Downtown:
A few old-time 4-th of july banners in the summer would be cool! It would get the downtown to look like a cohesive whole.
need sleep… back in the morning.
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Let me solidify one of my ideas into something that makes sense…
A lot of the reasons that places like University Village are successful is that they make the customers feel like they don’t have to worry. The place is clean, crime free, cohesive and you can find parking.
Let examine the Renton downtown core, and see how it compares to the U. Village.
There’s ample parking in the parking lot, but nobody want’s to use it because the transit center is perceived to be a nasty environment.
The downtown core lacks a unified experience, because some of the buildings are in horrible repair.
Crime is perceived to be a problem, because you don’t see the presence of the police.
If you did three things: Enforce the sign ordinances and code to being some of the nasty buildings up to snuff, added more cops to patrol the transit center end enforce the no loitering laws on the books and came up with a design element that brought all the area together (common music, or common lighting or planters) to tie the whole place together and encourage exploration – I’d think you’d have a hit. Oh, and raise the pedestrian crosswalks like this:
http://www.students.bucknell.edu/projects/trafficcalming/Measures/RaisedXW.html
Just think, if there was a extra cop in the area – we may have not had the problem we did at Jubelante. I don’t know if the assault hut their business, but it didn’t help.