By Editor
Posted on Apr 04, 2012

Following the lead of Renton Patch and Renton Reporer, we’re pleased to follow along and republish the following WSP Press Release just like they did: here and here

Hard to Hide a Fake “Passenger” on the Floor

Putting a sweatshirt on a human shaped doll did not keep a Renton driver from getting a ticket for violating the High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane.

By Editor
Posted on Apr 03, 2012

From the City:

Renton to Explore Options for Public Participation in Library Site Selection Process

RENTON –The Renton City Council voted Monday, April 2, 2012, by a 4-3 margin, to decline to place an initiative petition on the ballot that would require that any improvements for a downtown library must occur at the existing library location and not at any other location, unless the alternative proposed location for a downtown library is approved by a simple majority vote of Renton voters.

“The council took action last night to address a citizen petition that is invalid due to a number of legal requirements, and fails to address contractual agreements that we’ve had in place for some time,” said Mayor Denis Law. “Nonetheless, a good number of Renton citizens have expressed their desire to have an opportunity to vote on where the downtown library will be located, and it’s never been the intent of the council to ignore public opinion. We’re going to explore some options with the council to see if we can meet our obligations while also providing our residents with an opportunity to vote on the issue.”

By Ben Johnson
Posted on Mar 31, 2012

Citizens concerned with saving the Renton Library retained the services of qualified attorney to refute the charge from the city staff that the petition and initiative to save the library is illegal.

By Ben Johnson
Posted on Mar 17, 2012

The City Of Renton Attorney has given his opinion that the recent library petition to save the Renton Library is illegal in several different ways.

Sadly, I think they perhaps the City may be correct.

By Editor
Posted on Mar 17, 2012

While the local reporting of whole Mr. Fuddlesticks fiasco has stopped, it’s hasn’t kept the members of the Renton Police Department from talking.

By Editor
Posted on Mar 13, 2012

After King County Elections did their preliminary count of petitions to save the Renton Library, it became apparent that 1400 more signatures were needed.

By Editor
Posted on Feb 28, 2012

Over at the Renton Reporter – they’re begging for money. Well, not exactly that.

According to the Renton Reporter, Washington State House Bill 2801 would “curtail access to the legislative process.” We think it will save us all money.

By Editor
Posted on Feb 16, 2012

The team of citzens who are trying to save the ‘over-the-river’ library have collected 7191 signatures. With the recent increase, there’s a good chance that the proposal will have to be acted on by the city council.

By Editor
Posted on Feb 06, 2012

Regarding the proposed move of the Renton public library, I invite Renton residents to sign 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 citizens and their community place to be put on the ballot and debated in a fair and transparent manner. I do not argue that moving the library would be a bad idea per se, but I contend the method.

By Editor
Posted on Feb 06, 2012

Following the close city election in 2010, City of Renton residents gathered together to stop the KCLS shutdown of the Renton River Libray and subsequent move to a smaller locations. Volunteer signature gathers have crosses the threshold needed to ensure that “the City council must either adopt the petition request, or prepare to put it on a ballot and request for a special election to be held on April 17th 2012.”

By Editor
Posted on Dec 20, 2011

In the good-old-days advertisers would pay good money to newspapers, and those newspapers would then buy fancy yachts for their owners and use the residual to hire a few reporters.

Now that the advertisers have more options than the local rag, and that money has been removed, newspapers are cutting back hours and resources and are filling up their column space with regurgitated press-releases, local sports scores, and other easy-to-source stories.

Open up almost any paper, including Renton’s local paper, any you’ll basically find city press releases, sports, and off the cuff editorials. Perhaps a fun to write human-interest story once in a while. A witty BBC writer termed this pusdo-journalism “Chrunalism” – just gather easy to source information and churn out those papers.

By Ben Johnson
Posted on Dec 13, 2011

It looks like Renton will get it’s own local chorus. Rhonda Juliano, the person leading this effort has already stated other successful choruses, and is currently an Assistant Conductor of the Seattle Women’s Chorus, and is the Director of Music at Newport Presbyterian Church in Bellevue.

From the website

By Ben Johnson
Posted on Dec 07, 2011

The City of Renton just held a training session for all the citizen volunteers that serve on the various boards that help the city make good decisions. As one of those volunteers, my heart sank when I saw that the meeting was going to be about “diversity training”. Ugh…..

Your author is a typical flabby-angry-white-guy so “social justice” and “white privilege” sort of wash over him like water does on a duck.

So imagine my surprise when the speaker presented some very valuable ideas, one of which I will take to heart: That ignoring the backgrounds of people in the name of political correctness can stunt learning about other them and their culture. Trying to tip-toe around our differences doesn’t help us come to a better understanding of each other. Stop being so PC and take a risk – go talk to that elderly wheelchair bound single multi-ethnic bisexual mom with the special needs child. Don’t just ignore her, that’s rude.

So now that I’ve establishing that I’m still probably a secret racist bigot, let us get to the issue.