In response to the Chief Executive Officer of the City of Renton's letter in the April 26 edition [of the Renton Reporter], I get the impression that Mayor Jesse Tanner must have a thankless job. And if, as he says, he is responsible for the upgrades in the city-owned utility systems without increasing the rates, let me be the first to say thank you.

But that isn't his job.

You see, to the rest of us who are his employers (if he understands the chain of command), he is just another city employee like the guy who mows the field at Liberty Park.

Don't get me wrong, I consider the mowing crew a hard-working bunch, earning an honest living. That fancy title only means something to the mayor. As I sit here at my $30 Boeing surplus desk that I've had for 15 years, I think about my carpenters who have spent 20-25 years breaking bones, getting stitches, and working through the harshest weather while becoming skilled masters of their trade (not just during a four-year term) and how they deserve brand new trucks befitting hard-working craftsmen.

If one of them bought one of these new trucks that they deserve with company money without permission, they would be fired.

Now if the mayor thinks he deserves "a very nice office befitting the Chief Executive Officer of the City of Renton," then let him buy himself some furniture and spend as much as he likes.

As for the facelift in front of city hall, what more is needed than a sign in front for identification?

It's not a storefront-business trying to draw customers from heavy competition. People only go there because they have to. It's not that we can shop somewhere else for city services. Who cares what the building looks like?

As for civic pride, when I pass this "gleaming treasure" I truthfully feel a slap in the face. Tanner is not the king. That is not his castle.

I once called the city's Business License Department for a quick, simple question and got a recording. I left a message and received a call back four days later on my answering machine. I called back, got a recording, left another message, and never got a return call. Now wouldn't it be more cost-effective to hire one more person to answer a phone than to build a huge stairway much larger than needed to service the number of pedestrians coming from that small parking lot to the building's entrance?

It is waste like this that was behind the passing of 1-695 so that we, the people, the taxpayers, the mayor's employers, can decide exactly how our money is spent. Maybe the mayor should think about these things when he's sitting in his very nice office, when some citizens can't afford much needed repairs on their homes because they had to pay for his very nice office. Or maybe he should think about the contractor or homeowner who has to wait months for a building permit or any other services we have a right to because we paid for it.
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Posted: 06/22/00