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If you live in Seattle, PLEASE go to Pike Place Market and buy Apples 🍏 (lemmy.world)
submitted 6 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
19 comments fedilink hide all child comments

or buy bananas 🍌

or buy a sandwich πŸ₯ͺ

or buy seafood πŸŸπ“‡ΌπŸš

Just buy something.

This summer, for the first time, the City of Seattle banned cars in Pike Place Market

https://www.knkx.org/transportation/2025-05-08/seattle-pike-place-market-tests-car-ban-pilot-downtown-overlook-walk-flowers-vendors

Last year (2024), some politicians warned no one will shop here anymore if it’s pedestrianized:

https://publicola.com/2024/04/02/dont-open-pike-place-to-pedestrians-council-member-urges/

It's important Pike Place pedestrianization succeeds.

The stakes are high for the future of Seattle. If this summer experiment is a success, it will help push back against pro-car politicians. Failure will make future pedestrianization efforts much harder.

So go out there and purchase something 🍏🍌πŸ₯ͺπŸŽπŸ›οΈ

top 19 comments
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[-] [email protected] 43 points 6 days ago

I drop by Pike Place on a regular basis. Even before the current car ban, it was near impossible to drive through. Pedestrians would flow out onto the street because the sidewalks and inside of the market was packed. Sometimes even due to lines for some of the popular shops. And sometimes it was me blocking your drive because screw that noise, I'm walking here!

This summer with the car ban it has been even more popular and crowded, with fewer shoulders and elbows getting in the way. IMHO, this project has already been successful. Great job, Seattleites! :)

Also new in the area is the rebuild of Alaskan Way. It's much nicer than ever before, plus the aquarium got a new building.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 5 days ago

Good job being the local!!

[-] [email protected] 43 points 6 days ago

This place needs a few trees :)

[-] [email protected] 13 points 5 days ago

This brings up the quandary, should I drive 1.5 hrs round trip to support an anti-cars initiative.

[-] [email protected] 29 points 6 days ago

One of the most vocal vendors opposed to the street being pedestrian-only runs one of the produce shops. So, maybe buy something else.

[-] [email protected] 31 points 6 days ago

I'd say buy from them as well. They're a business owner, so showing that pedestrianising the area helps their business thrive is just about the surest way to change their mind.

[-] [email protected] 7 points 5 days ago

counterpoint: let them perish while everyone else there who wasn't a blithering moron prospers, and let someone else move in after their business goes under.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 5 days ago

How does that benefit the community? Unless you manage to cut off a significant chunk of their trade they'll survive and have even more reason to oppose pedestrianisation. You're not giving them a way out, or a chance to change their position, so they can only harden their opposition to it.

Let them experience the benefits of pedestrianisation and you're likely to see their attitude change, and see them become a proponent of it instead.

Revenge is sometimes an enjoyable fantasy, but it rarely ever brings positive changes to people's opinions.

[-] [email protected] 10 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

Which is ridiculous. Most rational people who have been to Pike Place know you shouldn't drive there if it's remotely busy. I remember, a few times, seeing a few tourists in cars get stuck in the crowds when I was there for work.

[-] [email protected] 24 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

WTF, how did this place look like in the past? Was it really a drive-through farmers market? Sorry if I sound stupid here, but that's totally unimaginable for me as a non-USian. I've never seen a market that's not pedestrianised in my life.

You guys would also drive your cars through the shelves of Walmart if you could, wouldn't you?!

[-] [email protected] 14 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

[-] [email protected] 8 points 6 days ago

Wow, I've never seen the market that empty. Not when it's open, anyway.

[-] [email protected] 10 points 6 days ago

I'm assuming COVID had something to do with it. Those photos are 3 and 4 years ago, and people are wearing masks.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

Ah, that would do it.

[-] [email protected] 9 points 6 days ago

its not really a drive through market, but there are two sections of the market which are divided by a short street about 180 meters in length. you would still have to get out of your car to shop at any of the shops/stalls. anybody driving their cars there previously would have to contend with a ton of pedestrian traffic, and there is minimal parking there anyway so i dont know why anyone non-service or vendor related would willingly use that street to access the market.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 6 days ago

Mostly only tourists and suburbanites who followed bad advice from Google maps would actually attempt to drive through it. There's so many pedestrians around that you would end up spending ten minutes to drive a single block if you tried.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

I used to work a block from there and was always shocked that people would just drive right through. There's nothing at all to see in a car. Unless you are delivering something, there's no reason for a vehicle to be there.

[-] [email protected] 10 points 6 days ago

Drivers are always the least productive people on the street. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that getting rid of them is good for the city.

[-] [email protected] 9 points 6 days ago

Why can't you just go there to watch the guys toss fish between them (and drop it sometimes)? Imo it's also a fun option....I guess you can buy that too if you feel like walking around with a fish.

this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2025
277 points (100.0% liked)

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