Renton Library - The good, the bad and the ugly

To be sure, there is always a good side to every new change and challenge, so let me start out with the good news where the Renton Public Library is concerned. After losing the vote to save our local library and Renton joining the ranks of the King County Library System, our library has gotten extended hours, access to the stacks at any KCLS branch (and there are over 40 of them) and my personal favorite, the ability to apply for a Seattle Public Library card for free (that's a $75 savings, folks.)

The KCLS system will finally be fully integrated with the Renton Public Library's system by this Monday, so all interested can get the new hybrid card, allowing you to check out books from KCLS and Renton's two branches. It is one of the cooler things to come out of this venture - it has a photo of our statue seen above on it and remains the same color of green. I plan to get right in there at the beginning of next week to get mine. I am glad that this transition is almost to an end. It didn't look like fun for anyone.

Now for the bad. The library has become - well, loud. You can use your cell phone and no offense, but the days of the quiet "shushing" librarian are gone. Some of them are the worst culprits and I kinda liked it when you had to be considerate of others who were reading and such.
Soon there will be a total of 28 computers (kinda good) and a lot of tables will be taken out. Guess it's more important to take your books elsewhere and browse.

You may notice that the electronic stanchions that stood at the entrance and exit have been removed and the books are no longer scanned in that fashion to prevent theft. Not the way KCLS does business. DVD's will soon be left out on the shelves, cases open, and any theft of stock from the stacks comes under the "acceptable loss" terms of the budget. Man - I think they should have just kept those electronic babies up. Keep everyone on their best behavior if you know what I mean. I hate having to pay taxes for books you know are gonna walk more frequently now. I even hate writing this and revealing the truth of the less than safe status of our books.

Now for the UGLY. These are all the books that I saw, torn apart by human hands, and left in the recycling bin outside the library's side door today. This container is FULL. Not left to the new secondhand bookstore that Renton finally saw it's doors open last week. Not for the much diminished sale shelves of books the library sets out, and not for Renton River Days when many of us have fond memories of buying discarded library books with relish.

There are comment forms on the head librarian's desk should you find anything you would like to see addressed heard and considered. I am going to fill one out today. I miss my local librarians, who now have schedules that force them to work in other branches instead of just at ours (the "cluster system is what it is called and as yet, I don't see the merits of it) and whom seem to be rather tentatively weathering the changing of the guard. Things seem to have gone from a generous "we" to a insular "ME" in the way things are run. Sigh.

I guess it just sucks not to have as much say in our local library. I wish that weren't the case. I am still available for "silver lining" moments. Chin up and all. I'll keep you posted.

Renton Public Library
100 Mill Avenue South
Renton, WA 98057
Phone: 425-430-6610
Regular Hours:
Monday to Thursday: 10:00 am to 9:00 pm
Friday and Saturday: 10:00 am to 6:00 pm
Sunday: 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm

Master Recycler Composter at your service!

Debbie Natelson, owner of Jet City Espresso, our second home and hang, has many skills up her sleeve including being the Master Recycle Composter for the Renton area. Many people are reading the literature from Waste Management and still scratching their heads about what can go in to which bin - Deb is available to field all of your queries. Just make your way over to the cafe, buy a super cup of cafe and ask away. Deb was up at QFC last week, a store that sponsors a program that allows the public to meet with the "MRC" - part of a citizen outreach program, but many of us missed out on that chance -and now we have one tailored exactly to our needs. Drop by and pick her brain - she is a fount of knowledge also about organic gardening and landscaping, backyard composting and worm bins for your food scraps.
Jet City Espresso 207 South Main Street 425-235-1529
jetcityespresso@yahoo.com

Garbage In, Garbage out..

Linda Knight from Waste Management made an appearance at the latest North Renton Neighborhood Association Meeting this past Thursday - and here's the news. We are composting, people - Renton is truly getting ahead of the herd on recycling. Single Family dwellings have been receiving new and improved garbage cans, a small and handy compost bin with handle to put in the kitchen and escort your sundry food products out to the compost container, large compost cans and now multi-purpose recycling cans. Whew! Finally we do not separate our various recyclables, like good boys and girls, only to see the garbage man pick them up and hoist them all together into the back of his truck. But my favorite of all has to be the new composting capabilities we have -in this Renton truly rules.
As you can see from my fuzzy, phone photos - you can now put foodstuffs in your compost container - that's right, beyond the pizza boxes and shredded paper, you can put any foodstuff in there as long as it is not liquid and runny. Old chicken carcass - done, in it goes. Uneaten leftovers - done, in it goes. The test program that the city conducted found that there were no problems with the rodent population, and the pick-up on those containers is every week, so you are in the clear of any concerns.
The only let down is that there is no similar program for Multi-Family units, read apartment/condo buildings here, where the composting is concerned. That would specifically have to be a service that the owner was interested in working with Waste Management to get, and that is sadly, a huge loss of potential recycling for the city. With more people unable to afford a house, this will be the wave of future living conditions for most people. Hope Waste Management can come up with a better plan for the near future. In the meantime, I worked it out with a housedweller on our street to pop down and add my composting in to the bin. Call me crazy, but I am really liking this ratching up of the recycling trend!
North Renton Neighborhood Association North.Renton@gmail.com

Revisiting bread pudding

In these hard times, we are all thinking again about recycling,reusing,conserving, budgeting - a generation or two ago that was the norm, and no food scrap went begging. So that's where the bread stuffs come in - take your left overs, or that great day old stuff you see for cheap in the market and make this time honored/traditional recipe of bread pudding. Most bread pudding recipes are always talking crap about how great it tastes to make it with french bread or Challah, the wonderful Jewish egg bread that comes in the lovely shape of a braid. I don't know about you - but those are far more upscale carbs than I have hanging around on the average day, and it just seems, well, sacrilegious to go out and buy great bread to then just tear it up into little pieces. This stuff is supposed to be made with day old cast offs. Lovely deals you happen to find on a good day at the market, or in my case, a whole pan of homemade bran muffins that somehow got, well, a little singed.

http://www.momswhothink.com/easy-recipes/bread-pudding-recipe.html

PS- to AH - yes, I do put my bread pudding in a water bath/bain marie :)