Reading editorial “Let’s keep rolling with a car-free Pike Place Market” (Aug. 28, Opinion) was a surprise and disturbing. Promoting continuing a car-free Pike Place Market into 2026 completely misses the history and purpose of the Market.
From its beginning in 1907, it was intended to be a genuine farmers’ market where local vendors and purveyors could sell produce, fish, seafood and other edibles directly to local shoppers and restaurateurs. The oldest continuously operating public food market the country, the Market has survived several attempts by urban politics to damage its existence. It was never intended to be a sightseeing Pacific Northwest food Disneyland some misguided Seattleites now seem intent on making it become by eliminating cars through its main roadway and delivery path.
Has anyone promoting this change investigated the real reasons for the Market’s life? Or talked in depth with Market vendors for their assessments? From the beginning there’s plenty of evidence (and Museum of History & Industry photos) of trolley cars, horse-drawn carriages, vans, cars and bustling shoppers who all found their place in the heart of a bustling city — and still can and still will with continued access on Pike Place.
Why are some people trying to change what isn’t broken?
Judith H. Dern, Seattle, member of Friends of Pike Place Market
