Mayor Denis Law met face to face with members of the state’s congressional delegation and federal officials last week to make a personal pitch for money to fix Howard Hanson Dam and for key Renton projects.

The trip was Law’s first since taking office two years ago. Accompanying him was Suzanne Dale Estey, Renton’s economic development director.

City travel has been curtailed severely because of the city’s deep budget cuts. But Law said he felt the financial requests he brought to the nation’s capital were “vitally important.”

You can get overlooked, he said, if you’re not at the table, making such requests in person. Law’s wish list totaled in the millions of dollars.

The trip cost just under $3,000.

Federal funding for a temporary fix and permanent fix for a weakened support abutment for Hanson Dam was a common thread that ran through most of the meetings. They were in the capital March 16 and 17.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the dam, has proposed extending a “grout curtain” in the abutment to prevent water from leaking through, further weakening the wall. The cost of that temporary repair is estimated at about $44 million.

However, those millions are “chump change” compared to the billions of dollars in damage and economic losses that would occur to the Green River Valley if major flooding of the Green River occurs, Law said.

Law pointed to U.S. Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell as taking the lead in fighting for federal dollars for dam repairs and helping ensure that key timelines are met so the new grout curtain could be finished in time for next winter’s flood season.

“They have heard us loud and clear,” Law said of the region’s federal representatives. Dam repair is the delegation’s priority, Law said.

The Green’s old levees are also a “huge concern,” Law said, because of the intense pressure a major flood or floods could put on them.

Nor should the region take solace in the mild winter and wait to do the repairs, Law said, pointing to the recent “radical changes” in the weather.

“It’s not going to get any cheaper later,” he said.

Law met personally with Cantwell.

Law also met with U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert, U.S. Rep. Adam Smith, Murray’s staff, U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott’s staff and federal drug czar Gil Kerlikowske, who is a former Seattle police chief.

He also met with David Buchanan, a Department of Justice official, who was instrumental in getting Renton a $1.6 million Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grant that allowed the city to avoid laying off police officers and to hire school resource officers.

Law also sought federal money for a key road project in the Highlands and for Skyway/West Hill.

The city wants $2 million in federal dollars to make changes and improvements to the Northeast Third/Fourth Street corridor, used by about 30,000 vehicles a day.

The corridor has safety issues, Law said, and the goal is to make it more pedestrian and bike friendly.

Another $2 million would go to the initial extension of Southwest 27th Street/Strander Boulevard to give Renton residents better access to a new Sound Transit station once it’s built. The city would like to extend 27th Street across the valley floor.

In Skyway/West Hill Law has been working with other groups, governments and citizens to form partnerships to improve Skyway’s infrastructure and quality of life for its residents.

In Washington, he met with McDermott’s staff, Kerlikowske and Buchanan, whom, he said, were impressed with Renton’s multi-pronged approach in Skyway.

Skyway/West Hill is a Renton potential annexation area. But it also would be expensive to fix up and operate. It’s estimated there is a $5 million gap between revenue and operating costs and $5 million in annual startup capital needs.

Law made a pitch for money for to turn Renton Avenue and Skyway’s business district into a pedestrian streetscape.

“In five years, you could change the whole complexion of West Hill,” he said. But that won’t happen without partnerships, he said.