When people and leaders follow the rules and do the right thing to settle an issue, there is rarely unhappiness and bitterness. The rules, spoken and unspoken, have been followed.

Mercer Island Center for the Arts has become a very divisive issue. I think most people feel that putting MICA in Mercerdale Park should have been put to a vote. We are a democratic society. The faction losing would inherently understand that the issue was voted and even though disappointed would realize that societal rules were followed. It was fair, there was a vote and they would accept the outcome.

Councilmember Benson Wong did not support a democratic vote. Mark Coen believes that the issue should have been on the ballot and voted. Benson Wong’s non-support will contribute to the bitterness some of us will feel when MICA in Mercerdale is finally decided. Mark Coen, wisely, understands how divisive this issue has become.

Mark Coen projects his feeling, I think, that Mercer Island citizens can make informed decisions, and trusts the voters. It seems, to me, that Wong projects his belief that voters are incapable of making an informed decision and hardly trusts them.

I shall cast my vote for Mark Coen.

Virginia Arnon

Mercer Island