I would also like to point out that the huge increase in traffic from almost 100 new households driving on SE 18th Street (formerly a quiet cul-de-sac) and the barely-legal storm water pipe (with inadequate capacity for a changing climate) were also contentious issues. The City of Renton had the power under the state environmental policy act (SEPA) to require mitigation, and I believe that it failed to do so.

Being involved in this process shook my faith in city government. I watched wealthy special interests use an army of unscrupulous lawyers, paid consultants, and the Renton School District itself (who used your tax dollars to suppress site studies and to sue citizens who spoke against the project) to twist the law into allowing them to make obscene profits while externalizing their costs onto the local community and onto the environment.