The amount of revenue generated by renting Islander Stadium out to sports programs has decreased in the past two years after reaching a high in 2006. According to the city’s Parks and Recreation department, which schedules the stadium for non-school uses, only $28,722 has been raised so far in 2008. That is about half of what was raised last year and 39 percent of what was generated in 2006. The amount raised two years ago was $73,634, which was slightly more than the amount from 2005.
A site near the new Group Health Hospital in Bellevue is among six potential sites for a new regional municipal jail, a multi-city planning group announced on Nov. 20.
To help the Island’s various clubs resolve turf conflicts and get sports clubs talking to one another, the city hired the same parks facilitator who managed the Luther Burbank Master Planning sessions a few years ago.
When the Mercer Island School District opened the new turf at Islander Stadium four years ago, it estimated that high school teams would need the field only half as often as the Island’s sports programs. But a Parks and Recreation review published earlier this year found that this estimate has turned out to be just the opposite.
Islander Tom Randall creates stained glass art at his work bench at home in the Ellsworth House apartments. See the full story in the Lifestyles section.
The Mercer Island Clergy Association is sponsoring a community interfaith Thanksgiving celebration tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 4400 86th Ave. S.E. Questions? Call MI Covenant Church at 232-1015.
St. Monica School is taking steps to establish its first pre-kindergarten and after-school daycare program. The school has already applied for a conditional-use permit from the City of Mercer Island to build a 2,000-square-foot building north of the St. Monica rectory. The development site is currently a vacant grass field, seldom used by children at St. Monica, said the school’s principal, Pam Dellino.
Changes being made within the budget for the Island’s community center are causing ripples among some user groups. Last Monday night, dozens of Islanders who participate in daily Jazzercise aerobic classes at the Community Center at Mercer View (CCMV) filled the Council Chambers at City Hall in opposition to a proposal to reduce the number of times available for the Mercer Room. One after the other, the speakers urged City Councilmembers to choose a budget that would allow more community groups to occupy the Mercer Room, the CCMV’s largest and most marketable space. Instead, the Council instructed Parks Director Pete Mayer and CCMV Manager Jana Raasch to begin renting the room to off-Island corporate groups more often so that the community center would need fewer subsidy dollars from the city’s general fund.
An auditorium full of Islanders repeated a clear message about tolling I-90 to help pay for a new SR-520 bridge — don’t toll traffic to and from Mercer Island.
By Steve Simpson
“I think it should be higher, for sure, but then there’s more taxes for everyone.”
By Cyril Baumgartner
By DeAnn Rossetti
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