Two generations of Island dentists teamed up last Thursday as they poked, prodded and X-rayed the mouths of homeless residents living in Tent City.
Many Island homeowners were shocked when they opened their mailboxes last Friday to find that the assessed value for their home and property had changed dramatically. The King County Assessors office mailed out its new batch of “Official Property Value Notices” to Islanders and residents throughout the county. Islanders are puzzled and sometimes angry by what they saw.
Lovin’ Scoopful co-founder Dan Samson is all smiles as the ice-cream company he founded with Tim Shriver, Maria Shriver and Angelo Moratti will be in more than 900 stores throughout the Puget Sound area, California and the Southwest by September. And they are just getting started.
Crews finished demolishing the Wilburton Tunnel over southbound I-405 in Bellevue this past weekend, one week ahead of schedule. All lanes were re-opened on Monday and the third weekend closure is no longer needed.
Tent City harassment
This fall, Crest social studies teacher Gavin Tierney will bring conflict resolution and international peacekeeping to the classroom. With 2008 headlines awash in political conflict — from Iraq to Darfur to the recent war in Georgia — the importance of such topics in education is growing. Eager to broaden Crest’s social studies program, Tierney attended a six-day summer institute at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) in Washington, D.C., exploring ways to integrate international conflict resolution and peacemaking strategies into the high school curriculum.
It seems that just about every family these days has a large trampoline in their backyard. So it was quite a surprise for Mercer Island residents Tim and Lori Stone to learn that their insurance company, CHUBB, wouldn’t insure them if they purchased one.
In response to a proposed federal law restricting the use of public buses for student transportation, the Mercer Island School District (MISD) and King County Metro are voicing their dissent. Both parties have written letters of protest to CFR 49, a recent proposal by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) that could prohibit Metro routes from transporting students to and from school.
Councilmembers received their first update concerning Tent City Monday night as dozens of Islanders lauded the community’s efforts to help the homeless, while others asked for verified warrant checks on the “grandfathered-in” camp residents whose names were not reviewed when the camp moved in earlier this month.
Rachel Van Gelder, 12, has started her own newspaper and the entire neighborhood is involved. In late May, the first issue of The Hoot, a newspaper covering the events and personalities of Mercer Terrace Drive on the South end, went to press. Van Gelder personally delivered the 11-page, full-color publication — named after the owl she hears hooting at night — to more than a dozen neighborhood families.
It looks as if many Islanders running for public office will continue campaigning into the fall after advancing to the general election as the winners or runners-up in the primary held last Tuesday.
Olympic gold medal-winning shell named for Islander
The city’s former prosecutor was recently given the nod and promoted to City Attorney after serving as the interim for the past six months.
