Dragon Park must be fully accessible and inclusive | Hamer

Published 11:48 am Monday, March 9, 2026

Last week I testified at the Mercer Island Parks and Recreation Commission’s meeting at MICEC. Speakers had only 3 minutes each. Here’s what I said:

“As most of you know, my Mercer Island Rotary Club and the MI Preschool Association helped with the renovation of Mercerdale ‘Train’ Park, which now may be our island’s most popular playground.

“We are united again as the Friends of Dragon Park coalition — along with Moms4SafeMI, the MI Chinese Association, Friendship Circle, and Outdoors for All. Our honorary co-chairs are Lola Deane, 89, for whom the park is named, and my grandson Ford Parks, 9, as you see in the photos I gave you.

“We want to thank the city’s team for their great work on Deane’s Children’s Park. They reached out to the public, offered options, invited feedback, and responded to many suggestions. The survey of 1,200 elementary-school students was especially cool!

“The draft plan now before you is the result of that extraordinary outreach effort. Granted, it is still an ‘aspirational vision’ and subject to further change — and that’s good!

“But I strongly urge you to unanimously approve this plan and send it to the City Council for their April 7 meeting. We need to move ahead on this project, which will take several years to complete.

“Why do I feel so strongly about this? Well, I will turn 80 next month. I really hope to see Dragon Park completed in my lifetime, for several reasons:

“First, my grandson Ford is disabled and uses a wheelchair. He can’t use any of Dragon Park today. Bark dust, large timbers, and rocky trails with tree roots simply don’t work for wheelchairs. He can’t even roll through the big hole in the Dragon!

“But he LOVES Train Park with its soft poured-in-place surfaces, solid sidewalks, wide ramps, safety guardrails, and numerous sensory features. The disabled are our nation’s largest minority group. To discriminate against them is simply unacceptable. We must make Dragon Park comparable to Train Park.

“Second, Dragon Park must be multigenerational. Aging seniors are a fast-growing segment of our population. I take my 4 grandchildren to our playgrounds regularly and often see other grandparents with their grandkids. We all try hard to avoid falls. Dragon Park’s main surfaces and primary trails must be as safe and secure as possible.

“Third, I value the forested natural setting of this park as much as anyone. We can preserve the forested areas, where some children build forts with fallen limbs. “Woodsy Wonders” was the most popular design option for a reason. We all love trees! Accessibility and a forested setting are not mutually exclusive goals. We can have both.

“Finally, I firmly believe that all our parks and playgrounds must be accessible and inclusive to citizens of all ages and abilities to the greatest extent possible. Let’s make Dragon Park an island icon for years to come. Please approve this plan today.”

Testifying along with me were Olivia Lippens of Moms4SafeMI and Julie Day of Mercer Island Preschool Association, who are co-chairs of our Friends of Dragon Park Coalition. Also speaking were Courtney Hampson of MIPA and Eve Hampton, who uses a wheelchair and gave especially powerful testimony based on her personal experience.

The PRC then proceeded to discuss a “hand-off memo” to the full City Council with their advice and suggestions on the draft design plan for Dragon Park. And boy, did they drill down! The meeting lasted almost 5 hours, as the commissioners “edited by committee” – always a hazardous practice – and acted as “wordsmiths” on nearly every section of the draft plan. City staffers Ryan Daly and Kellye Hilde worked hard to keep up with the PRC’s numerous (and often confusing and contradictory) editing suggestions. (Video here)

To my disappointment, some PRC members seemed to discount the powerful testimony of our amazing coalition and sought to reduce or remove vital features that the city team and our broad coalition worked so hard over the last few years to include. If these members had followed the extensive discussions, public meetings, online surveys, newspaper articles, and other community conversations on the plan for Dragon Park, it wasn’t apparent.

A number of commissioners — Mar Brettmann, Don Cohen, Sara Marxen — argued that there should be more emphasis on preserving the natural setting of the park and less on inclusivity and accessibility. Others — especially Chair Ashley Hay and Jody McCarthy (vice chair Rory Westberg was absent) — continually emphasized the vital importance of truly inclusive access, noting that natural areas would still cover most of the site. Craig Reynolds, the City Council’s liaison to the PRC, noted that the full council might be confused if the commissioners appeared divided.

But they were. Several “thumbs up/thumbs down” votes were taken and the memo was amended to water down the vital goals of access and inclusion. The rationales offered seemed unaware or dismissive of the extensive work done by city staff to find a balance between the two goals. Still, the PRC voted 6-0 to approve the amended version, which will be sent to the City Council for further discussion and a vote.

I stayed for the entire meeting and for more conversations afterward. I thanked the PRC members for their dedication, even though I disagree with some of their decisions.

Providing greater access to our parks and playgrounds for those of diverse abilities and mobilities is the next step in America’s civil-rights movement. To discriminate against anyone with disabilities is simply unacceptable.

The PRC’s amended memo — which is just advisory — now goes to the City Council, which will vote on the draft plan at its April 7 meeting (5 p.m. at MICEC). Our Friends of Dragon Park coalition is urging all members of our community to attend that meeting and encourage the full Council to do the right thing. The plan is still subject to further discussion and amendment at several phases. The city team will invite more public feedback as the project progresses. Selection of path surfaces, play equipment, structure design, picnic shelter, restrooms and other features remain to be determined. The city’s outside consulting firm, Berger Partnership, will help with final choices. Special-needs consultant Ingrid Kanics, who uses a wheelchair and is one of the nation’s top experts on universal playground design, will review final decisions. PRC and CC members should listen to them — and to concerned citizens like us.

John Hamer is a former editorial writer/columnist for The Seattle Times and a guest columnist for the Mercer Island Reporter. He has lived on Mercer Island for more than 25 years with his wife, Mariana Parks. They have four grandchildren, including Ford. This column is his personal opinion.