There are possible solutions, like a voucher to enter that vendors could hand out to customers. The problem is the traffic density of 1st and Pike and the problems of clueless tourists doesn’t go away. There is not an easy turnaround for a car that doesn’t have a voucher and now your holding up traffic in an intersection, you see it every time the market does shutdown traffic. Cars at least go slow through the market, 1st is way more of a public safety issue with the speed for cars getting stuck and trying to turn around.
I’ve helped customers down to western before or out to the parking garage on the occasional festival day that does close the street. What could be an easy load in 2 minutes becomes a 30 minute walk round trip. That’s 28 minutes I could have been making sales to street traffic on top of that large order. Nothing to you as a customer buying a few bags, but I just cannot stress enough that it matters to the vendors and will impact their already low bottom line. Their are no adjacent streets that provide easy access to the market and that’s pointed out in the article.
Do you not think it’s odd that the non-profit Freinds of the Market, the organization that actually saved the market in the first place is against closing the street. An organization whose ongoing goal is “Support and promote activities to ensure Pike Place Market’s historic and traditional use as a farmers’ market.”
I feel like many of the most vocal advocates for shutting down the street are ones who never actually use Pike Place as a market, but instead see it as a fun place to go out to lunch or look at the craft tables.
I’m sharing my point of view as someone that has an direct understanding of not only the businesses in the market but their profit margins (historic businesses are already on a subsidized lease if you didn’t know). If you want to write off that experience as unimportant then go ahead.
We’re literally talking about parking only the western side of the market rather than the eastern side.
Tell me you’ve never shopped at the market without ever telling me you’ve never shopped at the market. That is the side of the market with the butcher, the produce, the fish mongers its literally “the market” side.
You keep talking about safety but I have yet to see an extensive report on traffic incidents that compares to other downtown areas. I’ve spent my entire life going to the market and not once have I felt unsafe, I’ve yelled at a couple drivers but that’s not unique to the market.
Pretty disingenuous to say a person that can’t carry $400 worth of groceries shouldn’t be able to drive.
It will cease to be a market is my point, but hey we can just fill in that space with more corpo restaurants like the most recent addition. Problem solved I guess.
Hey there, I worked in the market for 5 years at a produce stand and still have contact with many vendors through my current job.
The big money customers are regulars who come down to the market weekly or bi-weekly to get a service level that is not provided at a regular grocery store. Those customers drop hundreds of dollars at multiple vendors and absolutely do drive through to get loaded up after shopping. Many of those customers are retirees that absolutely could not carry their purchases down to the parking garage.
The market is a very unique place and if it caters only to the tourists it will kill what makes it a tourist destination in the first place. It would become even more hollowed out as it drives away locals.