Why doesn’t the Mercer Island City Council put the question of leasing almost an acre of public park land to a private non-profit group on the ballot?

Mr. Hill, in a meeting of the Concerned Citizens for Mercer Island Parks Thursday evening, Aug. 14, stated that MICA is leasing almost an acre of Mercerdale Park for MICA construction and landscaping.

The lease has been drafted, although the exact dimensions have not yet been finalized. Elements of the lease penalize the city. For example, MICA will pay $1 (one dollar) per year, or $50 for the first 50 years, so that MICA can construct a 38,000 square foot building on the land. Is this OK with the citizens of Mercer Island?

In addition, the lease states that if MICA defaults, the City must buy the building from MICA at fair market price! The City is accepting all the risk. Is this OK with the citizens of Mercer Island?

Furthermore, Mr. Hill stated that yearly expenses are estimated to be $800,000 and that ticket sales and rentals are estimated to raise $550,000. This leaves $250,000 to raise from elsewhere. Will the City toss this $250,000 into the MICA pot, in addition to the $500,000 that the City yearly spends to meet the Mercer Island Community and Event Center shortfall. Remember, MICEC was initially planned and presented to the community as an entirely self-supporting entity.  Is this OK with the citizens of Mercer Island?

I love kids, and I love the arts. I applaud Youth Theater Northwest (YTN) and all the students, families and community members who have benefited from YTN programs. But the fact is that YTN, and MICA, are private groups. Leasing public land to private groups should be decided by vote of the citizens.

Previously, citizens have twice voted to save Mercerdale Park from proposed construction—first when the City Council proposed building City Hall there, and then when the City Council proposed building the Fire Station there. In spite of the fact that both of these buildings were public buildings that would have served all of Mercer Island, voters rejected using park land for their construction.

It is time for voters to decide again. Public park land should not be given to any group, public or private, without a vote by the citizens to whom it belongs.

At the City Council meeting on July 20, the Council asked City Manager Noel Treat to negotiate a lease for the park property. But this is putting the cart before the horse. The City Council does not own Mercerdale Park. Mercerdale Park is public land, and it belongs to all of the citizens of Mercer Island. The City Council is the steward of the land and is accountable to the citizens. So the citizens should all vote to either retain Mercerdale Park as park land, or to give it away, and the City Council should not sign a lease until the citizens have voted  on such use of the land.

Finally, if the citizens vote for a third time to protect Mercerdale Park, we can still have MICA too, on purchased land, even if it means building one performance space first, and expanding as more money is raised. MICA has money pledged that can be used to buy land — then can raise capital for construction — just the way private citizens do. Our City Councilmembers, elected by a majority of Mercer Island citizens, should represent the citizens who elected them, not just a private, non-profit group. The lease should not be signed until the citizens have voted. Let the citizens decide. Let the citizens vote.

Meg Lippert