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City of Seattle
Gregory J. Nickels, Mayor
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NEWS ADVISORY
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| SUBJECT: Mayor Sends Pike Place Market Levy to Council
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
6/3/2008 1:00:00 PM |
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Alex Fryer (206) 684-8358
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Mayor Sends Pike Place Market Levy to Council
SEATTLE-Mayor Greg Nickels today sent legislation to the City Council that would place a levy on the November ballot to upgrade and improve the Pike Place Market.
The six-year, $75 million levy would fund basic improvements, including seismic and Americans with Disabilities Act upgrades to the Pike Place Market and Victor Steinbrueck Park.
“Every generation faces a choice: protect the Pike Place Market or leave it to the ravages of time,” said Nickels. “This levy will ensure the market will around for the next generation of Seattle residents to experience and enjoy.”
The Pike Place Market began in 1907 when hundreds of women, many unhappy about the high price of onions, mobbed farmers’ carts loaded with produce. Since its inception, the Pike Place Market has been boisterous and energetic, a place where salmon fly, artisans sell their wares, and the best fruits and vegetables from our region are displayed with the pride of the person who planted them. More than 10 million people visit Pike Place Market every year, and 500 full-times residents and 240 businesses call the market home. Over the years, the Pike Place Market survived redevelopment schemes that would have torn it down to build an auditorium, condominiums, or a giant parking garage. Each time, visionaries spared the market from the wrecking ball, but old age has taken its toll on this beloved space.
The last major renovations to the Pike Place Market were in the early 1980s with $50 million in federal Urban Renewal Grants. Victor Steinbrueck Park, added to the Pike Place Market Historical District in 1986, also has not received significant capital investment.
The levy would cost the owner of a home with an assessed value of $420,000 about $37 each year.
Visit the mayor’s web site at www.seattle.gov/mayor. Get the mayor’s inside view on efforts to promote transportation, public safety, economic opportunity and healthy communities by signing up for The Nickels Newsletter at www.seattle.gov/mayor/newsletter_signup.htm.
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Office of the Mayor
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