Pike Place Market Centennial
Privatization
As part of its contract, the City gave Goodwin's company the exclusive use of a central section of sidewalk, and allowed them to lease this space as they saw fit. It was assumed that Goodwin would rent this space to farmers or non-competing businesses. Instead, the stalls were leased to the dreaded "middlemen" - competing merchants who sold other farmers' produce including food imported from California.
Amid widespread outcry, Mayor Edwin Brown unsuccessfully proposed tearing down the entire market and replacing it with an even larger market and civic structure that would reach down to the waterfront and cost over $1.5 million.
The farmers organized a new group, the Associated Farmers, and chose to sue, contending it was illegal for the City to lease its sidewalks to private businesses. A Superior Court judge ruled that no stalls were legal at all on public sidewalks, farmers' or otherwise. The State Supreme Court overruled that decision, and soon afterwards the City put the issue to rest by vacating the section of sidewalk in question.
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