“I say if the homeless are in agreement and if it benefits both, then it’s fine.”
The year was 1985 and it was the city’s 25th anniversary. Our community celebrated with a party called “Mercerversary.” As part of the celebration there was a charity auction which provided seed money for a brand new Mercer Island organization: the Mercer Island Community Fund.
With the General Election nearing and political forums for local candidates coming up, now is a good time to renew calls for candidates and their supporters to keep the campaigning for these important local races civil.
“I hope not. We’d like to sell our house here after 50 years on Mercer Island.”
In between discussions about which city council candidate has done more about parks or SOV access to I-90, some Islanders have paused to ask — what about the School Board races? Many express regret or dismay that both seats — left open by outgoing School Board members, Carrie George and John Fry — are to be filled by candidates who are unopposed in their races.
“The Cat in the Hat.”
We applaud all the City Council candidates for their willingness to seek election to positions that will be hard, sometimes contentious, but valuable work.The six candidates bring a variety of backgrounds, knowledge and viewpoints in their bids to help lead the Island for the next four years.
Mayor Alan Merkle
Of all the issues we see facing the youth on Mercer Island, one of the most distressing for all of the staff members who work with youth is the level of drug and alcohol use. From my first few days on the job, community members as well as other people have come up to me in my office or at Summer Celebration and said things such as “You know, we have a great community, but we have to do something about the kids’ drinking” ? or ? “If you can do anything in your job, can you make a difference in the amount of drinking by kids on the Island?" These aren’t isolated comments. They come in a steady stream and in many forms. They come not from people wanting to make disparaging remarks about Island life, but from Islanders who speak softly and care deeply about their child, their neighbor’s child or one of their children’s friends.
On the evening of October 3, the Mercer Island City Council was shown a letter signed by officials of Seattle, Bellevue, King County and Sound Transit that virtually assures Island SOV drivers will be able to drive in I-90 HOV lanes for years to come. The letter, signed by the mayors of Seattle and Bellevue and leaders of Sound Transit and King County, is a concrete representation of their collective belief that the way to mitigate any loss of our existing SOV/HOV access is to grant the right for Islanders to drive in any new HOV lanes, when and if those lanes are moved to the outside roadway.
“A monkey.”
Raymond Larsen
