Parking at Shorewood will only get worse
My wife and I have lived at the Shorewood Heights apartment complex for several years. She used to teach at Country Village Day School and I work in our public schools, so our commutes (often walking) have been a dream.
On June 11, residents and neighbors of Shorewood received a letter from the City of Mercer Island regarding Shorewood’s desire to build two new buildings with 90 units, which would also eliminate some of the current parking spaces. Additionally, they are requesting a parking variance that would reduce the required parking throughout the complex from two parking spaces per unit to 1.47 per unit. Public comment ends on Monday, June 22.
Shorewood already has terrible parking issues that complex management is unwilling to acknowledge and resolve. Parked cars spill into residential neighborhoods on 88th Avenue S.E. and S.E. 36th Street every evening. Due to the lack of available parking, cars are regularly parked illegally in lanes that are needed by emergency vehicles. Moreover, those well-marked areas need to remain clear so drivers are able to see pedestrians, particularly young students walking to their bus stops in the morning.
Despite the safety risks and neighborhood impact, Shorewood Heights continues to refuse to enforce the most basic parking guidelines and address the impact that has on residents and the surrounding community. Shorewood should be forced to deal with the problem they have created before they are allowed to make it worse and profit from the recent growth in demand for multi-family housing units. Comments to the City of Mercer Island can be emailed to travis.saunders@mercergov.org.
Randy Bolerjack
MICA says thank you to Legacy Partners
On behalf of the Board and Guild of Mercer Island Center for the Arts, we want to thank Kerry Nicholson, Senior Managing Director of Legacy Partners, who has generously donated beautiful in-kind office and conference room space in the Island Corporate Center to MICA’s capital campaign efforts. Without Nicholson and Legacy Partners, the project would not be in the excellent position of the fund raising effort attaining excellent momentum and the project design (by architects Lesley Bain and Owen Richards) evolving at a fast pace as well.
Nicholson has been incredibly supportive of MICA’s efforts to be a transformative cultural and economic focal point on the Island. As a developer of major mixed use projects both on the Island and off, Nicholson noted, I am very supportive of MICA, as I firmly believe that art defines and binds us together as a community and a civilization. The arts give our cities a soul and help to make them more livable.
Thanks to Legacy Partners’ support, MICA has been able to move the project along smoothly. MICA will give Youth Theatre Northwest a beautiful new permanent home and keep the facility filled with life and activity throughout the year. The facility will provide space for numerous other arts and cultural groups to conduct classes, performances, and other events. Those and more will keep MICA brimming with activity every day throughout the year. The facility will provide a venue for major Seattle institutions such as ACT, Seattle Shakespeare Company, and Book-it Repertory Theatre, Teatro ZinZanni, Pacific Music Works and others who have committed to bring their productions to Mercer Island, thus reaching audience members they might not be able to reach through their “home” seasons. MICA will also provide support for Farmers Market, Summer Celebration and Music In the Park.
Again, thanks to Kerry Nicholson for giving MICA “Shelter from the Storm.” We raise our glasses and thank Legacy Partners for their hospitality and support. We couldn’t do it without them.
Louise Kincaid
Executive Director, MICA
