Written by My family and I are very excited to announce that I am officially running for the the office of Mayor of Renton!
This position is an open seat, as Mayor Law has announced his retirement at the end of this year. As the senior Councilmember, I will bring over 25 years of experience as a Renton Councilmember to this role, including five years as Renton Council President and another five years as Council President Pro-Tem. I have chaired every council committee, and have substituted for the Mayor on many occasions. I have worked with four Renton mayors in my decades on City Council.
I also bring 33 years of management and engineering experience from my career at the Boeing Company from 1984-2017. Early retirement from Boeing has afforded me the opportunity to serve Renton residents in this new role.
Over the years I have been instrumental in bringing us the Landing, downtown Piazza, Farmers Market, Southport, 405/167 improvements, street and sidewalk improvements, the Henry Moses Aquatic Center, the Neighborhood Program, modern fire and police stations, the off-leash dog park, expanded municipal arts (including the new rooftop dragon!), and many other new parks and libraries. I’ve represented Renton in many regional forums including the I-405 Executive Committee, Metro Regional Transit Committee, and Salmon Habitat Recovery. I’m currently collaborating with the Mayor and council colleagues on downtown and highlands revitalization projects, creating a Benson Hill Community Center, building a more inclusive city, adding new police officers, building a new police training center, and working to reduce traffic congestion, while minimizing costs to homeowners by expanding Renton’s retail base.
As Mayor I will bring the same enthusiasm, open-mindedness, collaboration, and desire to hear from the whole community that I am known for on City Council. I promise a smooth and collaborative transition of leadership, followed by building on our successes toward an even brighter future for all of us.
What can be done to stop package thieves and night time prowlers in our neighborhoods?
This has been getting worse and worse. Partially because even if we have video’s the police do nothing. These people brazenly walk up steal goods and merchandise from people’s front steps.
The police need to stop looking at this in terms of trespassing or petty theft and we need to pass strict laws that make this a much more serious crime.
Thanks
Thanks for your question Terry. The State Law should be updated, for starters. Note that under state law, police have to catch a thief stealing ten pieces of mail from a total of three or more addresses to prove Mail Theft. Here is how it reads:
“RCW 9A.56.370
Mail theft.
(1) A person is guilty of mail theft if he or she: (a) Commits theft of mail addressed to three or more different addresses; and (b) commits theft of a minimum of ten separate pieces of mail.
(2) Each set of ten separate pieces of stolen mail addressed to three or more different mailboxes constitutes a separate and distinct crime and may be punished accordingly.
(3) Mail theft is a class C felony.
[ 2011 c 164 § 3.]”
The federal law is better, but it is more complicated for local police to initiate federal charges. Cities generally adopt and enforce state laws and work with federal officers on federal laws.
I would like to see a state law which considered even a single theft a mail theft, especially if cameras documented suspicious behavior –as they so often do. The state law is overdue for a re-write, and I will push for it. We could investigate having a Renton package-theft law, but cities generally do not charge felony cases, and a conflict between a city law and a more lenient state law covering the same crime could be challenged.
We have been adding police officers in Renton, and we have been working the package theft issue directly. Here is an article with more information: https://mynorthwest.com/1207242/car-prowls-porch-pirates-2018/
We have also implemented a voluntary system for individual homeowners to register information about the locations of their surveillance cameras with the police, so that our officers can ask residents for footage when they are trying to show a pattern or search for a suspect. https://rentonwa.gov/city_hall/police/administrative_services/camera_registration_program
We’ve also tightened Renton ordinances regarding what constitutes a crime on your porch and driveway. It used to not be a crime to try opening locked doors on cars or homes– if the door did not open, no crime was committed. We’ve made this a local crime that can be charged.