As part of its efforts to help Islanders and visitors find their way around town through a virtual map, Google Earth surveying vehicles have been seen driving around Mercer Island lately.
It is easy to confuse changing waste regulations — what can be recycled and what cannot. Allied Waste, which serves Mercer Island, divides the following products into two categories.
While the Mercer Island Police Department is the only one in western Washington that has not used Tasers before, the Island’s police officers on patrol will begin carrying a Taser come this fall.
It looks as if Islanders will have to pay to leave or return to the Island in the future. According to a state study released last Wednesday, the 520 Tolling Commission determined that tolls instituted on I-90 along with the 520 bridge would generate about $1 billion more than just 520 alone. Two of the initial four scenarios suggested by the tolling commission show that tolls on I-90 and 520 would raise a total of $2 billion, compared to the $900 million that only 520 tolls would raise.
Early Monday morning, a King County judge denied a request for a restraining order that sought to prevent a homeless camp from coming to Mercer Island next week.
Southbound lanes on Interstate 405 from S.E. 8th Street in Bellevue to Interstate 90 will be completely closed for three weekends in August as construction crews remove the Wilburton Tunnel.
For 35 years, the Washington State Department of Agriculture has kept the gypsy moth out of Washington. With the help of nearly 30 seasonal gypsy moth trappers, officials hope that record continues.
The often muddy and somewhat makeshift off-leash dog park at Luther Burbank will finally get a much needed makeover. The adjacent shoreline overrun by invasive blackberry bushes will also be renovated from Calkins Point down to the docks.
During its summer retreat last week, the Mercer Island School Board designed a new path for the Really Big Idea Committee (RBIC) in preparation for the next phase of achieving its 2020 Vision. The School Board will henceforth relinquish responsibility for the project, passing the reins on to Superintendent Gary Plano, who will continue to define the 2020 Vision with the RBIC.
The current Washington Administrative Code (WAC) 170-296-0830 states that childcare businesses must keep a first-aid kit containing “at least one unexpired bottle of Syrup of Ipecac that must be given only at the direction of a poison control center.” The decreased availability of Syrup of Ipecac, from a lack of raw materials or the manufacturers’ decision to reduce production, has hindered this requirement.
Like many other American cities, Mercer Island has its own proud list of Olympic medalists. There is Mary Wayte — gold medalist swimmer in the 1984 Los Angeles Games — whose name has been eternalized by the Island’s Mary Wayte Pool; figure skater Peter Kennedy, who won silver skating pairs with his sister, Karol, in the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo; and Carl Buchanan, who won gold for sailing in the 1984 Summer Games.
Burglars robbed two neighboring commercial businesses in the Town Center two weekends ago, exploiting the stores that did not have burglar alarms at the time. Both Dooz, a hair salon that caters to children and also sells toys, baby shower gifts and child hair products, and Yogabliss, a private yoga school, were burglarized on the night of Friday, July 25.
It turns out that the city’s recent decision to reduce Island Crest Way to three lanes south of Merrimount Drive may not stick, as members of the City Council want to revisit the project in the coming weeks.
