02/27/2019
Happy New Year
from
Concerned Citizens For Mercer Island Parks!!
As the calendar turns to a New Year, let’s first look back briefly at 2018……
· At Mercerdale Park, over 20 volunteers worked for hundreds of hours improving the Native Plant Garden; teaching Junior Naturalist Programs throughout the summer; and posting Bird and Flower of the Month informational placards at the entrance
· With City approval, we applied for and were awarded a grant from the Washington Native Plant Society to design and purchase 50 permanent informational plant markers for installation in the Native Plant Garden
· We advocated for placing all Mercer Island parks and open spaces in a conservancy trust to provide these precious public lands greater protection from development
· MICA turned its attention to the Tully’s site, thus reducing, but not eliminating, the threat to build a large private facility at Mercerdale Park
· Many residents provided input to City staff about how a Master Plan for Aubrey Davis Park should be formulated (a Master Plan provides the road map of how a park should be used, developed, and maintained)
For 2019, we are planning to…….
· Remain vigilant on the location of MICA, and continue to ask MICA leadership to tear up the 2016 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the City that gives MICA an 80-year lease to build at Mercerdale Park
· Step up our efforts to place all Island parks and open spaces in a conservancy trust (like Pioneer Park)
· Monitor City plans to cut funding for our parks and advocate for prudent and sensible budget cuts that do not affect our parks
· Continue recruiting, training and organizing volunteers to improve and enhance our parks and open spaces
· Continue to advocate for our parks by participating in City meetings and discussions focused on our parks
· Seek additional funding for our parks through grant applications
We sincerely appreciate your continued support. Enjoy our Mercer Island Parks!!
Sincerely,
Meg Lippert & Peter Struck, CCMIP co-chairs
Concerned Citizens for Mercer Island Parks,
P.O. Box 1337, Mercer Island, WA 98040
Save Mercerdale Park
Protect All Mercer Island Parks
Visit: protectMIparks.org
