The Mercer Island Schools Foundation set a new record in Phone-a-Thon donations last week, earning $418,000 in its annual two-day fundraiser.
The Design Commission will get its third look at the Boys & Girls Club’s proposed PEAK project next Wednesday, which will be the first of a typical pair of formal review sessions by the panel of seven Islanders.
A SUV was suspended on top of a blue metal mailbox after it rolled out of a parking lot and flew off a rock retaining wall onto 76th Avenue S.E. just before 3 p.m. last Friday. The car smashed onto the roof of a parked car just below the True Value Parking lot in the Town Center.
Just how future road projects on the Island will accommodate pedestrians, cyclists and a skateboarder or two is currently up in the air. City planners are now hosting public workshops to hear ideas from Islanders, as the City Council is expected to update the Island’s 12-year-old Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan next year.
According to a new Federal Transit Administration (FTA) regulation, the Mercer Island School District will have to relinquish its use of Metro buses on two school routes.
Music composition comes naturally to Leeran Raphaely; writing and performing 30 songs for a musical is another matter. Raphaely, a Mercer Island High School senior, is attempting both. So far, he is more than halfway there.
A SUV crashed off a rock wall and was suspended on top of a blue mailbox after it smashed the roof of a parked car just before 3 p.m. on Friday in the True Value Parking lot of the Town Center.
The dungeon at the Dugan family’s haunted house on Mercer Island promises a vivid experience for those brave enough to enter this Friday, Halloween night. The Dugans have opened their basement creation to the public at 9228 S.E. 59th St.
This election campaign season has been filled with a level of animus I can’t ever remember seeing before. The lack of civility and the negativity may be reaching an all-time low. Recently, the community of Renton has been served up a plateful of disrespect by Steve Litzow, a candidate for the Washington 41st District House of Representatives.
I’ve thought for some time now that political free speech on Mercer Island is pretty much dead. My experience on Sunday, Oct. 18, put another nail in that coffin. While at the recycling center, I noticed two Dave Reichert yard signs leaning against the backside of the big glass bin. Their wooden stakes had obviously been in the dirt somewhere, sometime. Having lived on this suburban Island paradise for 36 years, I can remember a time when people from both major political parties could put signs in front of their houses and they stayed there until after the election. I haven’t seen much but roadside signs for several years, and those seem to be in a constant state of flux.
Great schools and an abundance of parks are key elements of what makes Mercer Island a great place to live and raise a family. Islanders have always shown a great willingness to invest in our schools; on Nov. 4, you have the chance to do the same for our parks.
Halloween has infected the debate about the parks bond and levy propositions. At last Tuesday’s League of Women Voters Forum, scary stories were told by a small but vocal cadre of opponents — stories about untrustworthy hobgoblins on the City Council, of a slush fund witches’ brew, of ghostly interest that adds up to more than the face amount of the bond. (Duh — is it any surprise that when you pay back a debt with interest, you pay more than the original proceeds borrowed?) Let’s not get spooked. Mercer Island is one of the best-managed suburbs in the region, with a bond rating that no other city in the region exceeds. Further, the claim was made by one opponent that when he was on the Open Space Conservancy Trust Board, the park was maintained without a special fund. Oh? Then how come on his watch, the park degraded, reforestation fell behind and now we are having to play catch-up?
As is our custom, the Reporter publishes its picks on political races that affect Mercer Island directly. This is an even-year race, meaning there are no Mercer Island City Council or Mercer Island School District Board of Directors positions up for grabs.
