Councilmember Ted Weinberg's Latest Recap
OPINIONCITY GOVERNMENT
In this column, Council Member Ted Weinberg shares his perspective on recent issues before the Mercer Island City Council as well as insight in to how he votes and shapes city planning and policies.
The following is a summary, in reverse chronological order, of what was discussed and decided at the various community, regional, and state committees & meetings that I either attended or serve as a member.
1/18/26 Next Open Brunch
My next monthly open brunch will be at 10am on Sunday, January 18, at the L’Experience Paris restaurant. The address is 3020 78th Ave SE. February’s open lunch will be Saturday, February 21, at 12pm at Sushi Joa. As always, all are welcome to attend. It’s an open agenda – news, sports, weather, humor, even questions about city business. All I ask is that everybody shows their respects to the chef by ordering some food and/or beverage. And let me know if you’re coming so I can be sure to reserve a large enough table.
1/14/26 First Olympia Daytrip
As so much of what we deal with on City Council results from decisions made by the State Legislature, this year I’m planning on making 14 daytrips to Olympia. In addition to this getting intimately familiar with new legislation coming our way, I plan on testifying for bills that align with our legislative priorities.
The trip on 1/14 was my first such trip. While there weren’t a lot of bills being discussed that day which will directly affect Mercer Island, it was a good opportunity to get the lay of the land.
I attended the House Technology Committee where all three bills discussed related to the governance of artificial intelligence.
I then attended the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee, chaired by our own Senator Lisa Wellman, where bills were discussed relating to school funding, school board director compensation, the history curriculum, and, you guessed it, more about the governance of artificial intelligence.
In the afternoon I attended the House Consumer Protection Committee, which discussed regulations on commercial emails, land use restrictions relating to supermarkets, and engineer registration procedures.
If anyone has a bill on which they’d like to testify and would like to carpool, send me an email and we can compare schedules.
12/12/25 Eastside Transportation Partnership
The Eastside Transportation Partnership (ETP) met on December 12th. This is a group of about 40 elected officials and staff members from cities on the eastside created to discuss current and upcoming transportation projects and needs.
Chelsey Levy from the Cascadia High-Speed Rail program was our keynote speaker. She gave us an update on the long-term plan to create a 160 mph rail line connecting Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver BC. They’re in the research and route planning stage of the process, studying how other countries have implemented high-speed rail lines and examining what possible routes they could acquire along the I-5 corridor. They are a long ways away from knowing where the stations will be, how much it will cost, or where the money will come from.
12/10/25 SCA Public Issues Committee
The Sound Cities Association’s Public Issues Committee (PIC) met on December 10th. The primary agenda item was agreeing upon its Legislative Priorities. Amelia Tjaden, a Management Analyst at the City of Mercer Island, and I were able to convince the members of the PIC to endorse legislation defining e-motorcycles to the legislative priorities.
12/5/25 K4C Electeds Outreach Meeting
The King County Cities Climate Collaboration (K4C), a gathering of about 30 elected officials, met on December 5th. We did a round robin and learned of projects around the region including
Bothell passed its first Climate Action Plan
Redmond published its Bicycle Plan
Burien daylighted Miller Creek
Mercer Island’s new bike lockers
Mercer Island’s EV charging infrastructure plan
While I’m the elected chair of these meetings, it is the staff members from the King County Executive’s office who have traditionally scheduled these meetings and arranged the keynote speakers. As the King County Executive’s office is now in the midst of a reorganization, I and the other members of the committee are working to determine where and how to continue to meet. I believe Mercer Island’s staff has agreed to fill in and help host the next one.
12/3/25 SCA Annual Meeting
The Sound Cities Association held its annual meeting on December 3rd. King County Executive Zahilay presented his vision for the county. Then SCA Executive Director Feldstein gave a report summarizing the work of SCA’s various task forces and committees and its success getting levies passed for Parks and Emergency Medical Services.