UPDATES

Beginning with the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, the electorate approved funds for a futuristic fair that became the Seattle Center including the Pacific Science Center designed by modernist architect Minoru Yamasaki and the Space Needle created by architect Victor Steinbrueck.


The Forward Thrust initiative created the infrastructure of our modern city including transit, sewage, a sports stadium, an Aquarium, parks, community centers, and affordable housing.

A proposal to demolish the aging Pike Place Market to create central parking garages was defeated by a citizens’ organization, Allied Arts of Seattle. A ballot proposition created the funding and authority for a masterplan and a Market Historical Commission that has successfully guided the market’s restoration and operation for the past fifty years.


Gas Works Park, the site of a former coal gasification plant, preserved the utility’s industrial elements within a large, lakeside park with a revolutionary design by landscape architect Richard Haag in 1975. Haag’s design captured and stored industrial pollution, preserved a record of industrial Seattle and created a legendary place.

The push to create a pedestrian only Pike Place Market is threatening the working farmer's market as vendors struggle to resupply fish and vegetables and local families struggle to visit and easily purchase these fresh supplies. The Pike Place Market’s power has always been based in its authenticity – it is a vital farmers market serving the daily needs of Seattle residents, not simply a tourist destination with a vague market theme. The masterplan that guided the Market’s redevelopment always understood and supported its gritty reality as a place where farmers and fishermen trucked in produce and a fresh catch, prospering by serving the appetites of the entire city. Now the City’s traffic plans have circumvented the authority of the Market Historical Commission and are undermining critical supply functions in favor of a Disney-like ersatz reality catering to cruise ship customers unlikely to purchase fruit, fish or vegetables.

Recently, the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SCDI) issued a demolition order for all of the ladders and railings attached to the industrial tanks and towers at Gas Works Parks despite repeated votes by the Seattle Landmarks Board to preserve these historic features. The removal work was performed without the preservation plan that the Landmarks Board requested and without any attention to damaging the remaining structures. This action compromised the integrity of this historic place and undermined the protections provided by the Seattle Landmarks designation. Again, a place celebrating Seattle’s industrial past has been neutered without public discussion or analysis. A simplistic approach to safety has damaged a unique and iconic place.

These examples clearly demonstrate that our municipal government is currently prepared to undermine the authority of its own agencies, and in particular the Market Historical Commission and the Landmarks Preservation Board. This blatant disregard for their professional advice and consent threatens the character and authenticity of our most iconic public places.


Seattle used to seek innovation; now it appears only to prioritize safety and especially the avoidance of liability from lawsuits.

We, the generation currently responsible for our City’s form and function, must work harder to preserve the windfall created by the visionary generation. We must find unique solutions to challenges around safety that do not undermine the life of our City, its landmarks and public art.