We have just seen a campaign mailing from Mr. Ira Appelman supporting his run for the Mercer Island City Council in November. He states his position on three main issues to support his candidacy. In each case, we find his position ill-advised and contrary to what we believe to be the best interests of Mercer Island residents:

1. He opposes all recently proposed efforts to designate more and safer routes for bicycles on the Island, specifically along Island Crest Way and along East and West Mercer Way, expressing his strong view that our “suburban” environment is based on automobile transportation, which should not be compromised in any way to facilitate bicycle travel. Dangerous bicycle routes on the Island present both a public safety and a liability risk, and since we and many of our contemporaries as well as many youth are active cyclists, we strongly support expanded and safer bicycle lanes. Has Mr. Appelman missed the national concern with reducing auto travel and increasing physical exercise by our citizens?

2. He wants a traffic light at Island Crest and Merrimount to maximize east-west travel on Merrimount across Island Crest. As two of the thousands of Islanders who regularly drive Island Crest compared to the tiny trickle coming up Merrimount, we consider it absurd to regularly stop all Island Crest traffic for Merrimount drivers when the proposed diversion plans will serve far better and cost far less.

3. He is a strong advocate of “citizen advisory votes” on a whole range of issues rather than entrusting these decisions to our elected officials. This policy would result in chaos and paralysis. Perhaps he has forgotten that we function under representative government, not citizen government.

Thanks, but no thanks, Mr. Appelman.

Robert and Gail Stagman