Renton residents packed Tuesday night’s King County Library System Board of Trustees’ meeting respectfully, then forcefully laid out their frustrations with renovation plans for the downtown Renton library.
About 20 people, including Renton City Council member Marcie Palmer, who was representing herself, spoke out during the public comment period at the Newcastle Library.
When all had spoken, the meeting broke down and audience members demanded to know the trustees’ responses to the testimonials. Then KCLS staff and trustees broke meeting protocol to answer some of the questions that were being asked of them.
Some Renton residents are upset with the KCLS project team and the City of Renton for not acknowledging or representing what they feel the community wants in a renovated library over the Cedar River.
Those concerns have been voiced repeatedly by the citizens group, Save the Renton Library Again!, which staged a sign-carrying protest outside the meeting.
Among their biggest concerns are conceptual drawings that have been submitted to the City of Renton that show a smaller library, with the main entrance moved from the pedestrian bridge over the Cedar River to near the parking lot.
Words like “sham, adding insult to injury” and “please” where repeated over and over again in the testimony. They were used to describe the contentious relationship that’s developed between the project team and some community members and to convey their desperation to be heard.
Richard Bray of Renton compared the library over the Cedar River to Seattle’s Pike Place Market in his comments to the trustees.
“It’s our icon place,” he said, describing how Renton would lose its place “ahead of the curve” without the library’s distinct features. “A good business listens and responds to its customers; will you listen to us?”
Trustee President Lucy Krakowiak and Trustees Robin McClelland, Jessica Bonebright, Rob Spitzer and Library Director Bill Ptacek were present. Some took notes during the public comments.
Palmer, the Renton City Council member, shook her head in agreement as residents made their case.
“Welcome to my world; this is what we get every Monday night,” Palmer said about council meetings, when she took the floor.
She described the unhappy marriage that has existed with KCLS and the community since Renton annexed into the system in 2010 in a narrow election. Palmer also relayed that citizens are pursuing a process to de-annex from KCLS, which was announced at a City Council meeting.
“I don’t think it has ever happened, but I don’t think you know Renton,” Palmer said. “This is too important to our community.”
David Keyes and Beth Asher, members of a citizens group reviewing the library project, accused the KCLS project team of deceptive behavior and asked the trustees to step in and provide oversight.
“You need to realize that what is in those drawings threatens the Renton taxpayer,” said Keyes. “It threatens a resource we own.”
Asher said her group has been given partial information, no information and at times outdated information by KCLS. She said she has evidence KCLS has overcharged the City of Renton for work done on the previous downtown library location, the former Big 5 site.
Asher also stated that different plans were presented to City Council members at a February council retreat than plans that have been proposed for the actual demolition of the library over the Cedar River. Asher said there are discrepancies in what the project team is planning and what they are presenting to people.
When asked by audience members to respond, Ptacek said all the concerns would be addressed at a public meeting on March 26. Greg Smith, KCLS facilities director, also tried to quell the audience, saying “You don’t know all the facts.”
After Ptacek tried to step in, the audience directed its questions to the trustees instead for a response. People requested a delay of the March 26 presentation by KCLS and asked the trustees to carefully consider Tuesday night’s testimonies.
Krakowiak attempted to reel back in the audience, saying she would attend the meeting next week. Trustee Spitzer also acknowledged the group, saying he is not informed about all of this and would think it through. McClelland said she was aware there was a problem in Renton from her experience on the Board of Trustees. She said she would attend the open house, as did Bonebright.
After the exchange and outside of the meeting, Palmer expressed some satisfaction for how things transpired. She said she is feeling more positive that trustee members are going to show up next week.
“Because my initial reaction was let’s just not come,” Palmer said. “Because if they’re just going to get up and tell us what they’re going to do, which is all they’ve done in the past, why waste our time. I will go because it sounds like the trustees are open to give and take and that’s what we need to have.”
LIBRARY OPEN HOUSE
WHEN: 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., March 26
WHERE: Downtown Renton Library, 100 Mill Ave.
MORE INFO: rentonwa.gov
