Eastside Mayors Endorse Bellevue-Sound Transit Agreement

The mayors of Issaquah, Mercer Island, Redmond and Kirkland are encouraging the Bellevue City Council to sign off on an agreement with Sound Transit about the East Link light rail line.

The letter, from the desk of Issaquah Mayor Ava Frisinger and signed off by Jim Pearman of Mercer Island, John Marchione of Redmond and Joan McBride of Kirkland, says that delays caused by disagreement between Bellevue and Sound Transit will impact how soon other Eastside residents could use light rail.

"Each one of us would like to see light rail come to our City. The decisions made by Bellevue now will impact when our communities will see the benefit of the regional investment to light rail. If Bellevue cannot come to agreement with Sound Transit, we must assume that East Link's opening will be significantly delayed and that expansion of the system in a ST3 package could be at risk."

The letter in its entirety is attached to this article.

The Bellevue City Council is slated to decide tonight whether to approve an agreement that outlines how the city and the transit agency would cover the additional $276 million that a tunnel through downtown Bellevue would add to the $2.5 billion cost of the East Link project.

While the Eastside mayors have encouraged the city to sign off on the project, others in Bellevue, bolstered by a private research firm, continue to encourage the city to reconsider approval of Sound Transit's chosen route along Bellevue Way and 112th Avenue Southeast, according to the Seattle Times.

The city, which held a public hearing on the issue last week, has .

, Bellevue city officials have also angled to include provisions on how the transit agency will minimize the impacts to the Surrey Downs, Enatai and other neighborhoods that fall along the above-ground path of the East Link line.

If you go

The is scheduled from 6-10 p.m. at There are two executive sessions that are closed to the public scheduled at 6 p.m. which is scheduled to last 45 minutes. The council meetings are broadcast live on Bellevue Television (cable channel 21). Video of the meetings can be viewed any time online from Bellevue TV.

East Link coverage: