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REPORTER
FRIDAY OCTOBER 7/11
ENDORSEMENT | Editorial Board picks Greg Taylor in City Council race [6]
Catching up | See what’s been happening with area football, soccer and volleyball teams [9]
Citizens of the Year | Norm and Carol Abrahamson are honored [2] REPORTER NEWSLINE 425.255.3484
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Lights! camera! action! FilmFrenzy is this weekend dradford@rentonreporter.com
Their “Curveball” in hand, 16 teams of filmmakers will scatter across Renton this weekend to create short films with the city as their backdrop. The Fourth Annual Renton FilmFrenzy starts at 5 p.m. today (Friday) when filmmakers are e-mailed their Curveball, a line of dialogue, location or specific task they must incorporate into their four-minute film.
For the next 50 hours they will write, shoot and edit their films. Cloudy and rainy weather has been another curveball thrown at the filmmakers the last two years; the same weather is forecast for this weekend, too. Last year 18 of the 25 competing teams actually submitted a film for judging. If the weather is again stormy, organizers may consider moving up the dates for the competition. This year, 16 filmmaking teams, including seven in the student division and nine
in the open division, have signed up to compete. Seven teams are returning from past competitions, which the city’s economic development director is pleased to see. “To me that says a lot that we are running a fun well-managed competition,” said Suzanne Dale Estey. “We have a strong base to build upon in future years.” But the competitors are almost entirely based in Renton, which tells Dale Estey “we still have a lot of work to do to make this a regional draw.” New this year is the chance to see all the
Work begins to decide library future BY TRACEY COMPTON tcompton@rentonreporter.com
Coming to the space now occupied by the downtown Renton Library over the Cedar River is a vibrant, more communityconnected, multicultural, educational and interactive center that is energy efficient. These were re-occurring themes discussed last week at the first meeting of a steering committee looking at future uses for the library building at Liberty Park. The building will become vacant sometime in 2013 after a new King County Library System library “I really didn’t is built on South know what to Third Street at the expect because former Big 5 SportI’ve never done ing Goods, which is being torn down. this before. Now I About 35 people feel motivated and excited and I can’t applied and were accepted to the City wait for the next meeting.” Committee of Renton’s steering committee. Twentymember Leeah Brown three committee members and three visitors made it to the first meeting in City Council Chambers. The range of experience and residency in Renton was wide among the committee members. Some members where relatively new to Renton. Others could remember the old Carnegie library in the city and when it was torn down. Two committee members said they decided to participate because they thought the purpose of the meeting was to save the downtown location.
films. The 16 films will screen Monday, Oct. 24, at the Renton Civic Theatre. Filmgoers will vote for a separate award that evening. The next night, Tuesday, Oct. 25, the top films will be screened at the Renton FilmFrenzy Curvee Awards Gala at the Renton IKEA Performing Arts Center. The Downtown FilmTalk is Wednesday, Oct. 26, during which filmmakers will talk about their films at various locations downtown. The Renton Reporter will again host the online voting for the People’s Choice Award.
Tigard, Ore., names a top Renton official as its manager BY DEAN A. RADFORD dradford@rentonreporter.com
Francine Siverts, left, holds up a list of ideas while Marvin Rosete listens at a meeting last week of a steering committee looking into future uses for the building that now houses the downtown library. TRACEY COMPTON, Renton Reporter
Leeah Brown was one of those people. “I really didn’t know what to expect because I’ve never done this before,” she said. “Now I feel motivated and excited and I can’t wait for the next meeting.” Brown wants the space to become something that is community-oriented that the young and old can use.
Terry Higashiyama, community services administrator for the City of Renton; Elizabeth Stewart, director of the Renton History Museum and Greg Stroh, facilities manager for the city, are the liaisons to the City Council and facilitators of the committee. [ more LIBRARY page 7 ]
Marty Wine, the City of Renton assistant chief administrative officer, has been selected as the new city manager for Tigard, Ore. The Tigard City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to hire Wine, who started working for Renton in 2006. She’s now negotiating an employment agreement with Tigard, which would include her start date. Leaving Renton is Marty Wine “bittersweet,” Wine said Wednesday, calling her decision to leave difficult. “I love Renton.” She grew up in Bellevue but has a sister in the Portland area, not far from Tigard, which has about 47,600 residents. Renton is a model for other communities, including its many community partnerships, she said. “I am building a lot on what I learned here,” she said. Her new job is a chance to grow professionally, she said. Like Renton, Tigard has [ more MANAGER page 7 ]
206.949.1696 www.marciemaxwell.com Marcie Maxwell Associate Broker, Realtor & CRS
Lisa Lam
Realtor, CRS, ABR & ASP
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BY DEAN A. RADFORD