To the mayor and City Council of the City of Renton;
As the artistic director of Renton Civic Theatre, I would like you to know how important my Board of Directors and I feel the new library location is.
I believe the city attorney is wrong on many points. First the city attorney has stated that the initiative petition is Illegal. I think he has misspoken, as no laws have been broken. He may have meant he believes the petition to be invalid based on illegalities. I think the city attorney should be more careful in his choice of words on such an important issue.
The Renton School District passed both Levies in the Feb. 12 election; however, the bond, which requires a 60 percent yes vote, received only 58.08 percent, falling short of approval by 335 votes out of 17,000. Because of that narrow margin and the significant value that passing the school bond will have on students in the district, the Renton School Board decided unanimously to go out seeking approval of the bond again, and I agree.
As I read the Editor’s Note and Mr. Sullivan’s letter to the editor (Renton Reporter, Feb. 24, 2012) regarding the UW alliance and Dr. Paul Joos’ commentary regarding same, I have to comment that as part of the community served by Valley, we are very appreciative of Dr. Joos’ first being elected to the board and his stand on thoroughly investigating this UW/Valley alliance.
Ok, I have now seen one too many cartoons on your op ed page (Renton Reporter, Feb. 17) indicating that there are few, if any, people anywhere in Washington state – except in Seattle – who care about Equal Marriage Rights, safety for LGBT youth or adults, and equal health care for LGBT people. Today’s cartoon indicates that the artist and the newspaper agree that Seattle is the only place in Washington that is happy about the newly-signed Equal Marriage legislation.
I was not surprised to read (Renton Reporter, Feb. 10) that Judge Robert McBeth had resigned as parliamentarian for the Public Hospital District No. 1 Board of Commissioners over the efforts of three board members (Hemstad, Heide and Joos) to sabotage the new alliance between Valley Medical Center and UW Medicine.
I ask the Reporter to not dismiss the library story just yet. I invite Renton residents to support the library initiative petition to put the proposed move on the ballot in April. Everyone, even the council, benefits from putting the matter to vote. I expect decisions that affect constituents’ attachments, wallets and community place to be put to ballot and fairly and transparently debated. I do not argue that moving the library would be a bad idea per se, but I contend the method.
Suggestion: maybe you should add clarification of facts to letters with obvious errors. Ms. Robinson (Nicola Robinson, Letter to the Editor, No to more tax dollars for schools, Dec. 30, 2011) seems to confuse the schools with the city with the library system. They are very separate entities with different but overlapping funding. The city does not fund the school district. As part of the annexation of the Renton Library system to the King County Library system, the city has some continuing obligations.
Having just moved from my beloved Renton after 70 years for family and economic reasons, I was visiting Renton and picked up a Renton Reporter which I always enjoy reading and “what to my wondering eyes should appear” but commentary by Mayor Denis Law entitled “Tough times still ahead but so are brighter days in city.”
The city should stop annexing all together until it can take care of the rest of the city. You have infrastructure problems all over the current city. Fix that!!! All they do is annex and use the money it gets from the feds to pay back for the previous annexing exercise.
Kudos to Ed Prince for his endurance and triumph in the race for Renton City Council after being dropped by both the Police Guild and the Renton Reporter.
My name is Deborah Johnson and I am the school interventionist at McKnight Middle School in the Renton Highlands area. I am also in charge of our McKnight Holiday Giving Tree. I have been at McKnight for 11 years and it has been my privilege to meet and help over 4,000 students.
KCSARC (King County Sexual Assault Resource Center) is a critical element in public safety, and there has never been a greater need for these services. But the governor’s budget proposal of reduction in sexual assault funding will result in less help for victims and families. Sexual assault services are critical elements in public safety. Without legal advocacy services victims are less likely to participate in the criminal-justice system and offenders are less likely to face prosecution.
North Renton Neighborhood Association is supporting a project to show community connection and caring for our neighbors by flying the American Flag daily from our homes. Garden Avenue has kicked off this movement with donations of flags to several neighbors. We would like to encourage all our North Renton Neighbors to join us. It shows a sign of watching out for each other and staying connected to bring a wonderful sense of family living in a safe and friendly environment. Secondly, we would love to see the city join us in this community sign of connection by helping us find out who is the mystery person is that puts up the flags on Second Avenue on holidays.
There are many things I could say, but that could take a lifetime. I want to thank you for showing a little social worker what true caring is! When I appealed to you for help, you came through like gang busters! Thank you for the generous outpouring of support you gave to the Salvation Army Rotary Food Bank!
I have worked alongside Robin Jones at Boeing going on six years where he has shown, his integrity and work ethic to be of the highest quality.
I am writing on behalf of Ed Prince, currently running for City Council member of Renton. When Ed talks about Renton being “Ahead of the Curve,” he’s not just talking about keeping up sidewalks and supporting businesses.
As someone who hired Dr. Mary Alice Heuschel during my School Board tenure to lead the Renton School District, I am intimately familiar with her work then and now. While challenges and changes are constant in our school district and in all public or private organizations of this size, Mary Alice’s stellar leadership of her staff and the community focused on real student achievement is recognized throughout the state and the nation.
I have lived in Renton for more than 10 years, and I am a local small business owner. This city’s future is important to me, and I know that Ed Prince has what it takes — the dedication, the knowledge, and the right attitude to do what’s right for Renton.
I have known Don Persson through his work with Rotary and his years on the city council, and I cannot say enough about him. Don always does his homework and is extremely knowledgeable, but is also a great listener, and is not afraid to change his mind based on the merits of an issue.
