ARTS, FUN | 15th Annual Fall Harvest Festival is this Saturday. [10]
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BREWMEISTER | Robert Jewell of Renton has tapped into a prizewinning hobby. [3]
FRIDAY, OCT. 9, 2015
Council discusses chronic homelessness, hands often tied Unless there is a crime, there is little the city can do for those who refuse help BY BRIAN BECKLEY bbeckley@rentonreporter.com
When it comes to the growing homeless population in downtown Renton and beyond, the city is doing everything it can to offer help to those who want it but can only remove a person when police see them breaking the law. That seemed to be the message during a 90-minute discussion Monday by the
City Council’s Committee of the Whole on chronic homelessness. Council members and staff were all careful to make the distinction between homeless people and families who have fallen on hard times and those who refuse services and are often those who draw complaints from residents. “In Renton, it’s a very small subset of the homeless population,” said Karen Bergsvik, the Community Services Department’s Human Services Division manager. Bergsvik gave the council an overview of what the city is doing to try and provide services to the burgeoning homeless population, which she said is being caused by a lack of affordable housing, especially in
Burglars hit charity organization
“I don’t think we need to criminalize homelessness. I think we need to prosecute criminal acts.” Ed Prince
Seattle, causing those with federal Section 8 housing vouchers to look for cheaper living to the south. In Renton alone, there is a five-year wait list for Section 8 housing, according to Bergsvik. “Most of these are Renton residents who are looking for subsidized housing,” she
A Frenzy of filmmaking!
Birthday Dreams robbed but will host annual auction this weekend
said. Bergsvik also talked about the countywide effort to provide housing and look for solutions to the issues but admitted that as of now, it’s “not enough.” “Every city is facing the same problem,” she said. “It’s not unique to Renton.” But for many residents and several members of the council, the main issue was not what the city was doing to help the homeless but what they can do to help answer worries from residents, who complain about seeing members of the homeless population urinating, fighting, using drugs and even having sex in public. According to Police Chief Kevin Milo[ more HOMELESS page 4 ]
Game canceled after death of Evergreen player Injury prompts discussion of safety BY BRIAN BECKLEY
BY BRIAN BECKLEY
bbeckley@rentonreporter.com
bbeckley@rentonreporter.com
Following the death of an Evergreen football player after an in-game injury last weekend, Friday night’s football game between the Lindbergh Eagles and the Evergreen Wolverines has been postponed. Evergreen’s Kenny Bui, 17, died Monday morning from injuries suffered during an Oct. 2 game between Evergreen and Highline at Highline Memorial Stadium in Burien. According to Highline School District Chief Communications Officer Catherine Carbone Rogers, Bui was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle where he was diagnosed with a head injury and received surgery on Friday night. Renton Athletic Director and Seamount League President Brian Kaelin said Friday’s game will not take place as scheduled, but there has been no discussion yet on make-ups or the ef-
A total of 21 teams of filmmakers decended on Renton this past weekend for the 15th annual FilmFrenzy! Teams were given 50 hours to write, film and edit a short film that had to include a series of “curveballs,” including the question “How about that new library?” a location along the Cedar River and, in reference to last year’s Super Bowl Champion Patriots, a deflated football. The films premiere Oct. 17 at Carco Theatre and you can vote for the Renton Reporter People’s Choice Curvee beginning Oct. 18. COURTESY KEN SAUNDERSON
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This weekend’s fundraising auction for Renton’s Birthday Dreams was scheduled months ago, but after a break-in Monday night, it has taken on a whole new importance for the charity organization. Officials arrived at the group’s building in Liberty Park on Tuesday morning to find that someone had apparently broken into a secondfloor window overnight, kicked open the charity’s office doors and stole two laptops, a router and other miscellaneous office supplies. “It’s got all our inventory and information on it,” Board Chair Chaz Spahn said Tuesday of the computers. Along with the theft, the burglars also damaged the building’s door jambs when they kicked them open. Birthday Dreams has been in the