HomeMy WebLinkAbout13_Mayors Newsletter_100616OCTOBER 6, 2016
This Week
from the Mayor
Denis Law, Mayor
VOL. 1, NO. 13
Multicultural Festival
Renton hosted its first multicultural festival last weekend
drawing hundreds of local
residents who came to
enjoy a variety of music,
dances and other cultural
performances. It was an
outstanding event!
Members of the Mayor's
Inclusion Task Force,
along with city employees
and other groups, worked several months to organize what
was a very successful, two-day event. This celebration kicked
off with a variety of performances on Friday at Carco Theater.
Dennis Bounds (recently retired anchor with KING 5) was our MC
on Saturday and Miss Washington Alicia Cooper attended both
days.
We achieved our goal of creating an environment where people,
from all backgrounds, came together to learn more about and
celebrate the diverse cultures that make up our community. It
was a very special two days in Renton.
FEEDBACK
Comments, questions or
suggestions, or just want
to share all the great things
that are happening in the
city, please e-mail me.
Thanks for reading.
Fire Prevention Week; Chief Retires
October 9-15 is National Fire Prevention Week and it will seem
odd to review and complete the tasks necessary to keep our
families safe without
the guidance of Fire
Chief Mark Peterson.
The chief retired from
the department in
September after a
distinguished 36-year
career. He came to
Renton in 1980 and
worked his way up to
chief doing whatever
served the good of
the department. His
final act was leading the transition from a city fire department
to a Regional Fire Authority. Now the department has its own
funding source and the ability to work directly with our citizens
to determine the department’s needs. Renton was lucky to have
Chief Peterson; no one was more dedicated to service. I hope
you’ll join me in wishing him all the best in retirement.
Trees glow purple to remember domestic violence victims
Every nine seconds a woman in this country is beaten by her husband or boyfriend. In 2015, 54 people died in
Washington state as a result of domestic violence.
The numbers are appalling. October
is Domestic Violence Awareness
Month and to remember victims of
domestic violence, the trees at City
Hall are glowing purple 24 hours
a day. In our lobby are silhouettes
with the names of local victims of
domestic violence. As a city we are
working to improve our response
to domestic violence through
awareness of the cultural differences
that exist in our community. Our police department has a Domestic Violence Victim Advocate to
provide assistance to victims of domestic violence who live within the city limits. If you or someone
you know are the victims of domestic violence please call our advocate at (425) 430-6654. If you are in
imminent danger, please call 9-1-1. Domestic violence has no place our community.
DID YOU KNOW?
UNITY MARCH
Regular and frank dialogue
between the police and
citizens can only help
relations, and our African
American Pastoral group
plays a key role. On October
12, the city, the police and
RAAP will come together
for the first Unity March.
We’ll start at 3 p.m. at Piazza
Park and march to City Hall,
ending at about 4:30. During
the event we’ll hear from
speakers, listen to music,
and discuss the issues. I
hope you can join us.
On Monday, I presented my proposed city budget for 2017 and
2018 to the City Council.
The financial health of our city remains strong. Significant private
investment in the city has put us in a strong position for the future.
We currently have over $2.2 billion dollars of private investment
being made in Renton. However, we need to be mindful of future
increases in labor and healthcare costs and the loss of the sales-tax
credit in 2019 from the Cascade/Benson annexation.
The budget contains expenditures of $476 million, with $196
million from the General Government fund available for police,
parks, street repair, and other city services.
Highlights of my proposal:
• adding positons in public safety, including police
investigators
• adding positions in economic development due to an
increased workload
• continuing to fund our highly-successful Inclusion program
• strengthening the work of the Human Services Advisory
Committee
• establishing contingency plans to cover critical maintenance and capital projects
• funding art projects
• increasing the resources necessary to maintain and improve several parks and facilities
Like every large city, we have challenges before us but we also have great opportunities. Renton has
never better than it is today.
Mayor presents balanced budget for 2017 & 2018