Work in Seattle, School in Mercer Island (Bellevue, Rainier: homes, neighborhoods)

[msanzenb]

My family and I are moving to Seattle soon and are seriously considering living in the Queen Anne, Magnolia or Madison Park areas. We want to send our child to a Montessori school and the only one that actually had room for him for the fall was in Mercer Island.

Is it crazy to consider living in Seattle and having our son in a school in Mercer Island? The school is in the northern portion of Mercer Island.

Thanks

[Inkpoe]

Originally Posted by msanzenb

My family and I are moving to Seattle soon and are seriously considering living in the Queen Anne, Magnolia or Madison Park areas. We want to send our child to a Montessori school and the only one that actually had room for him for the fall was in Mercer Island.

Is it crazy to consider living in Seattle and having our son in a school in Mercer Island? The school is in the northern portion of Mercer Island.

Thanks

I think the bigger question is... Where are you going to be working? If around in DT Seattle, does your work offer reasonable parking or do you plan on using public transit?

Most likely, it would get old fast. But you're probably going just do this for a year and hopefully switch him to something more closer. Mercer Island is close enough, but the traffic can be annoying.

[tobester]

If you can afford to live in Madison Park, you can surely afford Mercer Island - commute from there is doable because MI residents can use car pool lanes regardless of number of occupants.

[eskercurve]

I second the tip of actually living on Mercer Island, and that if you can afford to live in the above neighborhoods in a decent sized house, you can afford to live on MI. Then you can choose to send your kids to one of the best school districts in the state after they're done with Montessori.

If you lived in Magnolia, it would get old FAST driving to MI in the morning. Traffic would be an absolute bear. If you lived in Queen Anne, same thing. Madison Park is slightly better since you could take Lake Washington Blvd in the morning, then take the express lanes to MI to drop the kid off at school.

And its a mistake that you have to be a resident of MI to take the express lanes with a single occupant. Anyone can get onto I-90 express lanes with one occupant so long as you get off or on at Mercer Island.

[Ira500]

If you absolutely have to live on the Seattle side, maybe consider the Mt. Baker neighborhood. Classy old homes and nice views, and a little closer to I-90.
But I'll echo what the above posters have said: Mercer Island is a pretty nice place. It's a really quick trip to both downtown Seattle and downtown Bellevue.

[tobester]

eskercurve - didn't mean to imply 'only' residents could use the express lanes. Also, remember they run west in the morning/east in the afternoon, so OP could only use them one way - coming back after dropping the kid off. Then, they'd need to go all the way to I5 or downtown since the express lanes trap you (no exit at Rainier; a point of contention by south Seattleites when I90 was changed).