From old-timer to newly arrived, Mercer Island citizens like their parks and want them to stay open and green. Concerned citizens were effective in keeping the Mercerdale Park that way, when in the past, the city planned to site a fire station or a city hall there.

Over time, Mercerdale changed, to be sure. The skateboard facility was added. Well-used now, which benefits youth. Toilets were provided adjacent to the discontinued recycle center. That was a convenience for the Farmers Market. The northeast corner was paved and stairs were added. Good for walk-on access.

The recycle center was discontinued because it was not cost-effective, it is said. But, didn’t students run the center as civic duty? Were the large tubs no longer useful? Is being green now too costly?

For whatever reason it was discontinued, the recycle center space is now a focus of proposed Mercerdale change. And if you look you will see a Bicentennial Park sign, just at the foot of the now barricaded trail that did lead westward up the hill to further access to the park.

Perhaps the most onerous sign of change is the declaration by the Mercer Island Center for the Arts (MICA) as its site in Mercerdale park. A done deal. Not a proposal, if you believe the sign. Not without city council preparation, if council request to staff for info to facilitate the deal is understood.

But more importantly, not without citizen involvement, it is hoped. Understand, we all would benefit culturally and prestigiously from the many facilities bundled by MICA. But think of the scope of it: practice rooms for piano, mini-halls for chamber music, artists’ studios, a Benaroya- style food court, an open-air Tinker bell performance with folding chairs on park grass for audience (pave it over), a 300-seat theater that just might be big enough for Swan Lake, but is too big for Mercerdale.

There needs to be another place for MICA, a place not in the Mercerdale Park. A place not accommodative of piano lessons, yet useful to Mercer Island youth to act and grip. Another place where Yo-Yo Ma might mentor. That place or places will not be easily found. But Mercer Island is the community where it can be done.

Mercerdale Park must be kept green and open for now and for future generations.

Lloyd Gilman