By Ella Will, For the Reporter
Mercer Island Mayor Salim Nice has just been selected for his second term, and he is excited to continue serving the island in close partnership with the Mercer Island City Council.
Mayor Nice values Islanders’ input, and he is proud of what the community has been able to accomplish in his first term, both locally and at the state level.
Here’s a look at some recent achievements as well as the mayor’s goals for Mercer Island and its residents.
Lobbying in Olympia
In 2023, with help from the council, city administration and a lobbying team, Mercer Island leaders opposed two bills that would have been undesirable to the “patchwork quilt of neighborhoods” on the Island, he said. House Bill 1110 and House Bill 1245 sought to allow six-plexes, four-plexes, and courtyard apartments into single-family neighborhoods, as well as “lotmageddon,” which would have allowed people to sell 60% of their lot with no regard to parking spaces or minimum lot sizes, Nice said.
Additionally, Mercer Island leaders lobbied against the unsuccessful Senate Bill 5466, which would have permitted giant “Bellevue-scale” high-rise buildings to be constructed in the Town Center with no on-site parking other than what is federally mandated to meet ADA requirements.
“We have deepened our engagement with the legislature to influence legislation more aligned with Mercer Island’s needs,” he said.
Nice said he made sure to do all he could to amplify the voices of Mercer Island residents, adding that lobbying support and financial resources were the bones of the campaign. After garnering more than 1,000 letters from Islanders on how much they care about their neighborhoods, Nice believes that he is not doing his job if he’s not telling legislators what the Islanders think.
Nice emphasized the importance of fighting for what you want because “if you’re not fighting for it, you’re not going to get it.”
In his second term, Mayor Nice plans to continue endorsing proper education on the deadly fentanyl crisis in the Seattle region. The city council is also supporting Senate Bill 5923 this session in Olympia, which is sponsored by Sen. Lisa Wellman (D-41st District) and aims to mandate or “strongly encourage” fentanyl education in Washington schools, including those on Mercer Island.
In October 2023, Nice co-hosted an event with special agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) at the Mercer Island Community and Event Center in hopes of raising community awareness about the fentanyl crisis. The DEA has the presentation recorded for anybody interested, and Nice strongly encourages families to watch it. He believes education is the best way to keep everyone safe, as most people don’t realize the danger of the crisis. He said there is “no safe way to use these kinds of illicit fake prescription drugs,” which most will likely contain fentanyl.
Local achievements
City staff on Mercer Island are always working to increase Islanders’ quality of life, Nice said.
Examples include the implementation of the development and adoption of the Parks and Recreation Open Spaces (PROS) Plan and the Climate Action Plan (CAP), which have been instrumental in making Mercer Island a more sustainable place to live, Nice said.
The PROS plan is supported by a 16-year Mercer Island parks levy that was passed with 62.27% voter approval in November 2022, and it provides a 66% increase in funding for Mercer Island parks, playgrounds and other open green spaces. The plan is still new, and Nice has been able to get the word out in an extensive public engagement campaign through Let’s Talk Mercer Island. He said the campaign is a great way for Islanders to get involved with local government and policy.
So far, Mayor Nice is most proud of the plan to refresh all playgrounds on Mercer Island, making them more accessible and up-to-date with the community’s needs. Some prime examples of this plan being implemented today are the Mercerdale Park playground renovation (which is now equipped with sensory toys and structures that can accommodate wheelchairs) and the Luther Burbank Dock replacement project.
With the growing population on Mercer Island, Nice said he recognizes the city’s need to keep pace and upgrade infrastructure in parks. He is proud of the PROS plan’s achievements so far, saying that they have “marked a new era for public engagement in large capital and long-term planning on Mercer Island.”
In his first term, the city drafted and began to adopt the CAP, and Mayor Nice said the community will “see a lot of infrastructure discussion and changes” in the next two years.
This is the first time in Mercer Island’s history that the city has had an outlined plan to “guide public processes and policy adaptation related to climate,” he said, adding that it marks a big step toward an environmentally sustainable city.
The goal of the CAP is to reduce and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from the Island, from how the city manages its waste to the electrification of the Town Center and city vehicles.
For Islanders wondering what they can do to support these climate goals, Nice said the areas where one can be most impactful involve the landfill and the diversion of waste. The three waste bins many residents have outside their homes are meant to be sorted, so making sure to stay up-to-date and equipped with the skills to properly sort home waste is crucial, he said. For example, used cardboard pizza boxes shouldn’t go in the recycling bin. Instead, they should go into the compost, he said, where they will be bought back by the city to use in parks.
In his second term, Nice plans to work with the city council to help Mercer Island establish its own charging infrastructure plan related to electric vehicles. Most small cars in the city’s fleet have been replaced with electric vehicles, and the city is waiting for technology to allow for fully electric fire trucks, police cars and dump trucks, he said.
Finally, the mayor is focusing on a replacement for Mercer Island City Hall. Back in October 2023, the longstanding City Hall building was permanently closed after an asbestos infestation, leaving Mercer Island “a city without a Police Department, without a City administration, without a Civic Center, without a City Hall, without Council Chambers.”
As of early 2024, city council meetings are being held at the Community Center, and city staff are spread all over. The Mercer Island Police Department is also working out of portable buildings. With 200-300 city employees, Nice said he is dedicated to establishing a replacement strategy for the building, likely in Town Center where employees will have easy access to the new light rail.
