Pike Place Market is under attack by corporate interests again, and the futures of the farmers, small-businesses, crafters, and others hang in the balance.
 
50 years ago, the Seattle City Ordinance designating Pike Place Market as a Historical District was signed into law. A Public Corporation, dubbed “Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority,” or PDA for short, was created to manage and restore the Market which had fallen into disrepair over the years.
 
Recognizing the vital role of community members who fought to preserve the Market in 1971, the Ordinance also created a separate organization, “The Constituency of Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Authority,” or Constituency for short. The purpose of the Constituency is to provide anyone who cares, with perpetual access and oversight into actions of the Corporation, so that the Market can be preserved and protected into the future.
 
As it turns out, a city cannot carve out 9.2 acres in its core, particularly in center of one of the fastest growing cities in the US, without attracting the hungry eyes of certain developers and politicians. There have been no less than three (and maybe more) serious attempts to take over some or all of that 9+ acres in the last five decades.
 
Today, the Market is under attack by certain individuals with interests in developing Seattle’s Waterfront primarily for the benefit of cruise ship expansion. The business community supports expansion of the Waterfront because of the promise that “A rising tide floats all boats.” But cruise ship companies have demonstrated that they are not good partners. Their expansion has decimated the economies in every Alaskan port of call over the last decade, supplanting year-round local retail with seasonal Caribbean franchises that are boarded up when the summer season ends. Commercial and residential real estate prices are impacted further squeezing family budgets by eliminating affordable residential housing.
 
In Pike Place Market, the PDA is actively partnering with Waterfront Development efforts despite the inevitable negative impacts that lie in wait for small shops and marginal businesses whose promotion and protection are identified in the PDA Charter as one of their most important purposes.
 
If you live, work, or play in or near Pike Place Market in Seattle; if you own property in Seattle; or if you voted in 1971 for Initiative #1 to Save Pike Place Market and create the Historical District that is now listed on the National Registry, you should join the Constituency. We need you.
 
Please read the update: Pike Place Market Constituency Elections Still In Trouble at https://www.change.org/TransparentElectionforPikePlaceMarket Read that petition and sign if you care about preserving the integrity of the Constituency and share our concern for preservation of the authenticity of Pike Place Market and the survival of merchants and immigrant farmers who have followed this path in search of the American Dream, making the Market what it is for generations.