If you “decline to sign” the petition requiring the City Council to place a parklands protection initiative on the November ballot, then:
1) Our public parkland will be “free land” for the City Council to dispense to any of their friends (even for a privately owned building — perhaps even for an expanded arts center)
2) A 270-foot-long privately owned building, 150 feet deep, 35 feet high (three-and-a-half stories) will be built in public parkland — without a vote of the citizens — who twice before have protected Mercerdale Park from being used as a construction site.
3) Taxpaying Islanders will have to pay for the deficits (in addition to the $300,000-$600,000 taxpayers are already paying for Mercer Island Community Center’s annual deficits) if the Mercer Island Center for the Arts (MICA) cannot meet its projected $800,000 annual operating expenses (arts centers nationwide are having trouble meeting their expenses).
4) Mercerdale Park will not be protected for future generations and alternative sites for Youth Theatre Northwest that protect public parkland, including a theater/classroom addition north of the Community Center will not be considered. (This site, which is public land but not designated parkland, was considered and rejected by MICA due to lack of “visibility” and too limited parking, according to the MICA website, in spite of having access to plenty of parking — the 222 car parking lot plus overflow in Luther Burbank Park plus the nearby Park and Ride).
Please sign the petition. Please go to www.protectMIparks.org to print, sign and mail the petition. Email protectMIparks@gmail.com or call 206-948-4039 if you have any questions.
Public parkland is our parkland. But it needs to be protected by our right to vote.
Sharon Smith
Mercer Island