Renton Reporter staff members Dean A. Radford, Celeste Gracey and Adam McFadden compiled this list of the big stories of 2009 in Renton
January
The start of 2009 was a continuation of the cold wintry weather that hit on Christmas week 2008. Then the Cedar River flooded as warmer temperatures melted the Cascade snowpack, sending torrents of water toward Renton. The Cedar stayed within its banks – pretty much – but put on a powerful display nonetheless with logs jammed up against city bridges.
March
The saga of Jimi Hendrix’s family home came to an end in March, torn down piece by piece and hauled off to storage. The framed house had stood in the Highlands on Northeast Fourth Street since 2005, across the street from Greenwood Memorial Park, the rock star’s final resting place. Gone were the owner’s plan to turn the house into a Hendrix museum or visitor center.
May
The Renton High School track and field team placed second at the 3A state meet behind outstanding performances from Armin Basic and Ronnielle Kelly-Battles. Basic won the discus competition and placed second in shot put. Kelly-Battles won the long-jump title.
June
An overheated electrical cord started a fire in a nearly century-old building on Wells Avenue downtown that drew a huge crowd, left tenants from a boarding house homeless and forced two long-time businesses to relocate on South Third Street. No one was injured, but the building was torn down, with plans to rebuild.
In a spectacle seen from miles away, a Harrington Square Apartment building in the Highlands went up in flames. The four-alarm fire caused about $11 million in damage to the unfinished building. No one was injured.
July
Duvall Avenue Duvall Avenue, a major transportation corridor between Renton and Bellevue, reopened in July, a shiny new five-lane road with underground utilities and bike paths. The opening ended more than a year of lost customers for nearby businesses and detours that sent nearby residents on out-of-the way routes to their destinations.
Record-breaking heat – well over 100 degrees – hit Renton and the rest of Western Washington, sending scores of overheated residents to lakes and rivers.
August
The Renton Technical College Board of Trustees fired longtime president Don Bressler under a clause of convenience, which enraged community leaders. The board then replaced Bressler with the well-received Steve Hanson before year’s end.
September
The EriAm Sisters helped put the City of Renton on the map by making it to the semi-finals of NBC’s “America’s Got Talent.” Upon their return, Mayor Denis Law honored the three sisters with the key to the city.
Mayor Denis Law declared a state of emergency so that the city could quickly respond to the potential threat of massive flooding of the Green River due to a weakened Howard Hanson Dam. The city protected some key facilities with giant sandbags and made available sandbags to residents and businesses. Then, the long wait began to see whether flooding would actually happen.
October
A key Boeing official left Renton feeling pretty good when he announced that Boeing expects to continue building the world’s most-popular jetliner, the 737, into the 2020s in Renton. Mike Bair, vice president of Business Strategy and Marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, spoke at the Renton Chamber of Commerce Economic Forecast Luncheon.
November
For the second time, voters in Fairwood decided they didn’t want to form their own city. This time, the vote was more convincing than the first. The failure meant Fairwood will vote this fall on whether to annex to the City of Renton.
The City of Renton came face to face with the recession when the City Council adopted the city’s 2010 budget totalling $212 million that included 35 layoffs and the loss of popular community programs. But the budget ensured the city could still meet its primary obligation, public safety.
December
The Liberty High School football team finished second in the 3A state tournament after falling to Bellevue 23-17. The Patriots put together a postseason full of amazing comebacks and close finishes to reach the title game.
It became harder to kick around Interstate 405 through Renton. The state finished the widening project of one of the most-congested stretches of freeway in the state. Still under way was the project to widen the freeway between State Route 167 and State Route 169.
