Given all the robust debates going on in our community, I thought this might be a good time to remind people about the goals of Save Our Suburbs and to debunk some of the misinformation that’s out there about our grassroots organization. Please read below for more detail – but the biggest takeaway is that Save Our Suburbs is NOT anti-change and it’s NOT anti-development.
To recap, when it was formed back in December 2014, SOS had two overarching goals:
1) to work on issues that impact livability and quality of life on Mercer Island; and
2) to educate Islanders so that they can be informed on local issues and have a voice before decisions are made.
The platform issues selected at that first meeting were:
1) Kite Hill Park & Ride;
2) Proposed Bus Turn Around on Mercer Island;
3) Sound Transit mitigation; and
4) Managing density while sustaining local businesses.
We’ve made great progress but there’s still lots of work to be done:
-Kite Hill Park & Ride: Broad public opposition to this proposal led Council to take this off the table;
-Proposed Bus Turn Around on Mercer Island: For months SOS lobbied Councilmembers regarding the impact of the Bus Turn Around and urged Council to reject it. Finally, after 15 months, our Council did reject Scenario 5. Unfortunately it appears that this is not a done deal. Everything indicates that Sound Transit is still considering this proposal and is moving ahead with it, despite our Council’s objections.
As others have noted, this proposal is unreasonable and provides absolutely no benefit to Islanders. Moreover, it’s bad for the region as well: Running the buses on the East Channel Bridge means more expense and more pollution in the region. It also means more congestion on I-90 which leads to an unreliable commute. The Turn Around, if there must be one, should be sited in Bellevue where there’s plenty of land and parking, and where the proposed site is not abutting a residential neighborhood or adding more traffic to an already-congested Town Center.
-Density: When the crane went up to start building the Legacy’s Hadley building (where the Islander used to be) that’s when many of us became worried about all the five-story buildings, and the impact that the added density would have on our roads and schools.
We are not anti-change; we welcome rejuvenation and new development. We simply ask that development be thoughtful, and that it be scaled to fit Mercer Island, its schools, roads and other infrastructure. We don’t know why the current Council is pushing for all the five-story buildings and additional density, but we don’t want either.
-Other issues: SOS is not taking a stance in the MICA debate.
We firmly believe that most Islanders agree with us on both the Bus Turn Around and Density issues. The problem is that many in our community are seemingly unaware of what’s going on.
I’m happy to discuss these issues any time. Please contact me for more information.
Michelle Goldberg
SaveOurSuburbs.org
SaveOurSuburbs@yahoo.com
