Renton Blog

Why Renton: Diversity

Read this article: https://crosscut.com/2019/09/how-fight-over-equity-bellevue-schools-fueled-opposition-washingtons-affirmative-action

Crazy, is it not?

Let’s go over some key points:

Why is Bellevue doing this? What is their motivation?
Why is there opposition? Is racism potentially involved?

Ok, fact for fact… Renton will never see this problem. Claps for Renton, as long as we keep it this way. Responsible growth all… We keep all races but attract richer people too.

Now, let’s talk on the Bellevue schools matter. Some evidence would be BSD ratings of diversity and racial equity. Clearly they are taking online ratings to heart because of they only care about marketing and money… not preparing their students for success.

About the Asian matter? I’m Asian my self, but not as stupid as that opposition group. This is called spoiled people clearly. Their mentioning of races is disturbing. Their focus is on themselves, and not the school.

So who is right? No one. BSD can’t do anything if their school isn’t diverse.

This is why Renton.

Planned communities

Renton is promoting a diverse workforce, and that means promoting a diverse population.

Having a place to work is essential, but our city needs to focus on living as well. Renton has the potential to grow with annexation. Lands in East Plateau, Fairwood, and Maple Heights Lake Desire are ripe for redevelopment. Areas near the Issaquah-Tahoma schools border have vast, open farmland and forests we can plan and redevelop.

What is the specialty of planned community development? We don’t have to rely on home builders and developers to build loosely like how most cities have it now. It will also promote better transit to Renton’s neighbors.

An example is the Issaquah Highlands. Visit just off Exit 18 on I-90 or drive up Issaquah Hobart road, and see how well done it is. Issaquah went through extensive work to figure out way-finding, who lease what, and how to keep the town modern and ripe. A community like this on the Eastern borders of Renton’s PAAs can create a new community and attract tech employers along with their employers.

A planned community should have all essential components a modern neighborhood needs.

Doug Baldwin teams with Renton to create family community center
https://www.q13fox.com/2019/08/26/after-football-seahawks-doug-baldwin-turns-passion-to-building-family-center/amp/

A place for the community to gather and learn is a good start, along with abundant retail and home tenants. In a planned community, roads should be relaxed and allow passing when buildings are nearby or become one way. The planners and city must control the land themselves, and not have a developer sell it so that it can align with the planned vision. Afterward, the city needs to work with a nearby school district to build any necessary amenities or new schools. Finally, the city needs to attract a population before expecting any growth. The city must control growth, and tailor it over time with features like transit and art instead of starting right away. Higher quality developers and companies will have interest for “extra” additions if there is evidence it will pay off.

In conclusion, Renton needs something like this to support its growth responsibly. Developments in downtown will surely attract people, but the work for livability must be done.

Questioning our leadership

Renton is a beautiful city. A city ready to sprawl, and resemble Fremont with eclectic shopping, walk-able downtown, high level transit, and multi-tenant tech offices. But, can our dreams be reality?

That is up to our leadership. The future mayor of Renton, our council, and the people. At the moment, our mayoral election is going the wrong way. The least two viable of candidates have passed the primary election. My opinion is that Armondo Pavone should win the elections in November, despite my favor for Ruth Perez or Randy Corman. Why is a good mayor so important? Because they are the ones who address what Renton must focus on. Marcie Maxwell is a bull candidate with a history of dropping out, and a resume of focusing on ‘women’ and other petty issues, that is meant for socialist groups. Her focus and guidelines is not going to assist our economic and downtown development. Meanwhile, Armondo Pavone, has some council experience and a better vision. But, he doesn’t have the guts we could’ve received from Perez or Corman.

So what is wrong with Renton? Pretty much everything! Renton is one of the most populated cities in the entire state, but served below the level of cities that people can’t even consider large: i.e. Woodinville and Shoreline. So why? What is wrong with Renton? Airport, major tech hubs, and homes are in the vicinity… and nearly a million drive straight through it every day. The problem is the way our leadership addresses the issues.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/renton-tired-of-paying-a-lot-getting-little-from-sound-transit/

The above article is a few years old, and demonstrates Renton’s push to get a piece of light rail or an ST3 project. That sure got them something: a badly positioned transit center and less than 1/2 of the parking they asked for. How Renton tackles our problems is wrong, and they need to think beyond. Asking and begging are what homeless people do. Planning and investing is what successful people do. Renton needs a plan!

Never Begin the Day Until it is Finished on Paper
Jim Rohn

Take Seattle, Issaquah, and Marysville. Before their sprawl, they had cohesive, publicized master plans for Sound Transit. No wonder they are getting light rail and expensive transit despite having nothing to prove for it. Issaquah and Marysville are not populated enough, nor do they have enough tech jobs. But guess what? They got it anyways. Renton needs to think long term, rather than being a p*ssy last minute and begging for a piece of the pie. Instead of grumbling about not receiving light rail in ST3, they should start planning routes and stops for light rail in ST4. Instead of letting media post only crime in Renton, they should start sharing something bigger. The Renton dragons, the Southport office development, Renton construction projects, etc. Renton should open up the stories shared in the Renton Reporter to the world!

Why are they letting Cosmos development build hotels instead of office space and all under budget? Why do they let WSDOT build our flyover under budget? Why do they let them do the planning for us? Why can’t they make plans for light rail in Renton instead of whining to ST? Why are they so introverted and in the bubble? Why can’t they be open to the media, other cities, and the government? Why can’t they make something for the city that will convince everyone that Renton is a good city. What do they even do as city council members? Aren’t they even ashamed how other cities’ residents and leadership ridicule us for our poorly written master plans, our crime-filled community and media stories, and our expectation for developers and government to do everything for us? Can we really succeed this way? Dreaming and begging last minute, instead of publicizing, sharing, and planning ahead of time?

I’m not trying to say our council is terrible. I’m trying to bring light to what the council can change, because each every one of them has a potential to help Renton responsibly grow into the next great city. Its just how they do it, that matters.