Bench dedicated to honor the late Mayor Tanner

Monday’s warm, dry weather was well-suited for a bench dedication to former Mayor Jesse Tanner.

“It’s a perfect day. If it had rained, I know he wouldn’t have been here,” Renton Chief Administrative Officer Jay Covington told the large crowd below the steps of City Hall Monday afternoon.

Tanner died in February 2007. He served two terms as mayor, from 1996 to 2003. Downtown’s revitalization took hold during those eight years, Mayor Denis Law told Monday’s audience.

“Everywhere you look in this town you see something Jesse Tanner had his hands in,” Law said.

He named the spots: the IKEA Performing Arts Center, Piazza Park, Henry Moses Aquatic Center, the skate park at Liberty Park, Veterans Memorial Park, Fire Station 12, the downtown parking lot.

“It’s amazing what all he did during those two terms,” Law said.

Tanner helped bring jobs and “first-class companies” to Renton, Law added.

Tanner also mentored along the way. People like City Council member Randy Corman.

Corman and Tanner lunched together once a month for eight straight years.

Corman called Tanner a “very shrewd politician” who passed on important lessons to many.

“Grandpa Jesse made the impossible possible,” Tanner’s grandson Brandon Kindle said at the event.

Kindle said he wished his grandfather could be at the dedication to see the dedication and progress he helped generate.

“He would be very proud,” Kindle said.

Emily Garland can be reached at emily.garland@rentonreporter.com or 425-255-3484, ext. 5052.

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