A planned performing arts center for Mercer Island will have a smoother path forward after an initiative to oppose it was never filed to be on the ballot, The Stranger reports. The arts center, planned to be built on the site of a small recycling facility in Mercerdale Park, had been opposed by a group called Concerned Citizens for Mercer Island Parks. The petition to stop the project didn’t get enough signatures to go on the ballot. Apparently, a sizable number of people who originally signed the petition changed their minds and took back their signatures after they learned more about the issue. The arts center is planned to be a home for Youth Theatre Northwest, and will host musical performances and educational events. You can read more coverage of the planned center in Crosscut here.
The University of Washington athletics department is facing a $14.8 million budget deficit for the 2015-16 fiscal year, the Seattle Times reports. The deficit will come out of the university’s reserves, but more deficits are on their way in 2017 and 2019 (with an expected surplus in 2018) that are expected to make a dent in the $30 million reserve fund. The department has had a lot of expenses, including paying $282 million to renovate Husky Stadium in 2013. There has also been a decline in attendance at games.
An Anglican bishop from South Sudan paid a visit to Seattle to meet with members of the South Sudanese community here, Sarah Stuteville reports in the Seattle Globalist and the Seattle Times. The bishop’s visit included a trip to “The Jungle,” where sources estimate about nine South Sudanese live. Most of them are ‘Lost Boys’ — young refugees who survived the civil war that raged in the country from the 1980s until the 2000s.
