Eastside Light Rail

The newly elected Bellevue City Council majority has just made an astonishing request for Sound Transit to study a new light-rail alignment that would slice Mercer Slough Nature Park in half.

The City Council seems willing to sacrifice a major public park to placate a vociferous neighborhood's opposition to the previously agreed route along heavily traveled Bellevue Way and 112th Aveneu Southeas.

For years, Bellevue has prided itself on setting aside this 300-acre gem of open space.  People from Bellevue and surrounding communities enjoy the park on foot trails and in canoes and kayaks, drawn to its quiet and the wildlife that abounds there. 

The new Bellevue Council members seem unaware of how important it is to maintain the park's integrity, rather than chopping it into two smaller pieces dominated by light rail structures.

--- Peter S. Marshall, Bellevue

Letters to the Editor, Seattle Times, Sunday, January 31