Mercer Island residents responded angrily to last week’s Times editorial supporting the city’s lawsuit against Sound Transit, arguing that its position will harden regional opposition to Islanders’ efforts to protect their I-90 SOV access.
“Thanks for nothing, Seattle Times,” groused Islander Mo Derante, “If there’s one thing that unites Seattle residents, it’s contempt for your editorial board’s positions.”
The editorial, entitled Sound Transit must heed Mercer Island’s transit concerns, begins, “The city of Mercer Island is right to push back on Sound Transit and [WSDOT] with a lawsuit seeking to preserve access and mobility for its residents.”
“Seattleites were starting to forget what we said at February 13th’s city council meeting,” continued Derante. “Criticism from the Times editorial board — which Seattleites view as barely one notch to the left of Breitbart — would have helped. Instead, we’re back to square one.”
Mercer Island city officials acknowledged another setback in their ongoing efforts to advocate on behalf of Island interests. “As we’ve maintained all along, we need regional cooperation to secure win-win mobility solutions for Mercer Island,” said Mayor Bart Bastion. “To that end, we’ve pursued a vigorous, behind-the-scenes effort to garner negative coverage from the Times, but so far it has failed.”
Despite this setback, Islanders remain loyal to the Seattle Times. Said Derante: “I briefly considered canceling my subscription, but as long as they remain stridently opposed to the estate tax, they’ll have my support.”