As a former neighbor, you may have missed when the city asked for comment in August (while many were on vacation) of the potential parking and traffic issues that may be raised by a pending private development in Mercerdale Park.

A large structure, if built, will offer no on-site parking, but will require staff, clients and patrons to use existing parking locations. I believe many will quickly find that the easiest access will be to park in the Mercerdale neighborhood in and around 34th Street Southeast and take a short leisurely walk across the park.

What does this mean for your daily living? More traffic, more congestion and noise, cars continually parked in front of residences day and night and greater pedestrian safety issues.

What does this mean for your property values? A quick review of available research illustrates that residents should expect their homes to have less appeal and a decline in values relative to properties that will not experience those effects from the private development.

What can you do? Contact your City Council members and ask, at the very least, for a public hearing to understand the pending impacts on your neighborhood.

Peter Struck

Mercer Island