It’s good to hear that the Seattle International Film Festival is committed to returning to Renton next year.
Nothing is more obvious than the fact that Renton has come together as a community to make SIFF – and the movies it shows – feel welcome.
It’s been a relief to hear that no one else has been wounded or killed by gunfire in Seattle in recent days.
The sadness still hangs over Lindbergh High School, where Jessica Scholl was a junior. Her former boyfriend is charged with first-degree murder in her brutal slaying on May 25.
I didn’t like the idea of privatizing liquor sales for all sorts of reasons. After visiting eight retail outlets last Friday, my opposition may have softened but not much.
It’s going to take some time to get used to seeing gin and whiskey and vodka across the aisle from the chips or near the tiki torches.
Gov. Chris Gregoire has announced an emergency action to slow the spread of whooping cough (pertussis) in the state. Just a month ago, I declared that whooping cough had reached epidemic levels in Washington. If the pace continues, we’re headed toward the highest number of reported cases here since the early 40s.
As ministers prepare for their Sunday sermons, they pray that their words and readings will help lift the parishioner’s soul from the cancer of anger, hatred and despondency.
But what if your parishioners are combat soldiers returning from heavy fighting where they killed and maimed? Or watched as their buddies were mangled or took their last breath? Anger, helplessness and hatred are at the very surface of their being.
The field is now set for what promises to be a spirited debate on the location of a new downtown library.
Even the word “new” is up for debate. If the public chooses to keep the library over the Cedar River, would that library be considered new even if it’s been around for decades? Certainly, the King County Library System wants it to be state-of-the art. Maybe old/former is not synonymous with state-of-the-art.
The City of Renton and representatives from Johansen Excavating Inc. are hosting a Rainier Avenue Improvements Project Open House on May 15.
The event is 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at 263 Rainier Avenue South, suite 201 in Renton.
A temporary state program set up to help Green River Valley business owners find flood insurance coverage has ended, now that insurance is once more available.
“We’re confident that area businesses seeking flood insurance are again able to find it,” said state Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler. “And as always, I continue to urge anyone in a flood plain to strongly consider the National Flood Insurance Program or other flood coverage.”
For 23 years I have been privileged to represent – at three levels of government – the interests of South King County. As someone who has spent her entire life in South King County, I have witnessed first-hand the significant change socially, culturally, and economically. Twenty years ago, the population in South King County was approximately 448, 500. Since then, our population has soared to over 660,000 people –a third of King County’s 2 million total population.
There was another sign this week of just how much Renton residents and its business community support Renton’s schools and students.
Nearly $190,000 was raised in this year’s annual Friends of Renton Schools benefit breakfast and the fundraising leading up to it.
The dangerous combination of teens, texting and driving has emerged as a bigger problem on local and national roadways.
Rising statistics of crashes and injuries, even fatalities, suggest a need for more public awareness, peer-to-peer education among teens and involvement from institutions, notably schools.
The Renton City Council didn’t take last week’s suggestion that it include how much it would cost to build/renovate the new/old downtown Renton library in the wording of the ballot measure on the Aug. 7 ballot.
Maybe that slash-filled sentence is the reason why.
SIFF/Renton: World Returns sounds like a Hollywood sequel to an outerspace movie.
Rest assured, what’s returning to Renton is not Hollywood pap nor is it about some space alien.
SIFF/Renton is an exploration of our world, its people and its places.
The process to site the downtown library, once thought complete, is moving forward again, with the public leading the way.
The Renton Reporter has argued that the City of Renton and the King County Library System had already signed a contract to build a new library somewhere other than over the Cedar River.
When is a commentary not a commentary? Answer: when the commentator comes down with a familiar sickness for writers called “writer’s block.”
Not that there isn’t plenty to comment on. But despite all the important events and issues that affect our lives today, it seems when you talk to people the first thing on their mind is – the weather. Everyone has a comment on that, so who needs mine?
On a Saturday afternoon last July more than 500 people were enjoying a local car show. Families were spending a summer day together at a car show that was supposed to be enjoyable and safe. In the middle of it all a fight broke out, shots were fired, and families scattered and ran for their lives. When the shooting stopped and the smoke cleared, more than a dozen people were injured and transported to local hospitals.
The April 17 ballots for the $97 million school bond measure are in the hands of voters in the Renton School District. The Renton Reporter strongly encourages everyone to vote – yes, of course – to meet the double requirements of a 60 percent approval and of a minimum turnout.
Monday night’s City Council meeting was a lesson in civics and a demonstration of the understanding by some in the community that what the council does matters. The message to council members was clear: We are watching you. Here are your marching orders. If you don’t do what we ask, don’t expect our support at election time.
The Renton School Board unanimously voted to put the School Building Improvement Bond on the April 17, 2012, ballot. The bond received overwhelming support in the Feb. 14 election, yet was short by fewer than 2 percent to achieve the 60 percent approval required.
City Attorney Larry Warren makes a compelling legal argument that an initiative to keep the downtown library where it is over the Cedar River is illegal, which by the way is not the same as criminal.
But a legal opinion sometimes runs head-long into politics, resulting in an outcome that won’t satisfy anyone and could lead to protracted visits to a courtroom.
