Seattle Press on Line - The Fremont Sunday Market Battle

Fremont

The Fremont Sunday Market Battle

By Laurel Holliday

Vickie Aldrich, Dennis Rose, Richard Harrington at April 10 Special Events Committee Hearing. Laurel Holliday photo.

Apr 25, 2002 -- This Sunday, the Fremont Sunday Market will relocate outdoors for the summer. The move was made possible when Seattle's Special Events Committee granted a four-week temporary permit to the Market to take its operation onto one block of N 34th Street, the street that borders the north side of the Ship Canal.

"I think they had their minds already made up," Dennis Rose said of the committee's decision following the April 10 hearing. Along with Vickie Aldrich and Richard Harrington, Rose owns the Sound Mind and Body (SMB) gym, directly across the street from the market. The three have been in a long running battle with the market, challenging its use permits. They claim that the city is playing favorites by allowing the market to close down a whole block every Sunday. "No other business that applied for a Master Use Permit would get that kind of treatment," Harrington says. "There's some political favors going on, I guess."

Ever since the gym moved into a new building on the Ship Canal, just west of the Fremont bridge, Vickie Aldrich has attempted to eject the market from the neighborhood, according to Suzie Burke who owns the land the gym sits on. "I think it's hilarious that one person is trying to stop the market," she says. "She's been on this kick since she got into the new building. We agreed to disagree on the issue that the market was attracting the wrong kind of people."

While Burke is the major force behind recent massive development in Fremont, she is a supporter of community values and neighborhood businesses. She says of Market vendors, "These are little micro-businesses. The kinds of things you want to make sure happen in your community, if you possibly can. It just appalls me that anybody could be opposed to that."

John Murphy leafleting Sound Mind and Body patrons. Laurel Holliday photo.

Originally the SMB owners' major objections were about the loss of street parking spaces to the market. Recently they have withdrawn those objections. The issue now, as Harrington and Rose explain it, is solely one of fairness. "Why should the Fremont Market--which is a for-profit business--be allowed to use a public street for free to make money?" asks Harrington, accusing the Market of getting a free ride.

"Where else in the city do you close public property to allow private business to make a profit?" Harrington asked Virginia Swanson, chairperson of the Special Events Committee, after the hearing.

Swanson responded that it happens every day when owners obtain city permits to use the sidewalks in front of their cafes for seating. In addition to this kind of permit, the city issued a permit to close several city blocks off Pine Street during the summers of 1995-1998 when the Capitol Hill Market was in business.

Harrington also claims that vendors don't have to comply with City requirements. "We have asked the vendors if they have Seattle business licenses and collect and pay sales taxes," he wrote in a letter to the mayor's office (dated March 25). "None of them knew what we were talking about."

Jon Hegeman, owner of the Fremont Sunday Market, says that not only does he have a business license and pay all requisite taxes himself; each and every one of the vendors in the market has to provide him with proof that they have a business license and are registered with the state to pay excise tax or that they have a legal exemption.

Seattle City Councilwoman Judy Nicastro. Laurel Holliday photo.

Hegeman has fought many battles over the last 12 years to keep the market going. He was forced by encroaching development to move the market to the east side of the Fremont Bridge last year. Then boat owners launched a protest about lost parking, causing the market to have to move again, this time into the garage of the Burke Building, right across from the gym.

"Our adversaries over at Sound Mind and Body realize they're going against community sentiment," Hegeman says, "so what they're doing is hiring a very expensive attorney to go after all the points of law."

Since the committee refused to help them, SMB owners say their hope lies with Mayor Nickels. They wrote him a letter asking him to "fairly enforce" Seattle codes, and their attorney, Don M. Running, sent a letter to City of Seattle attorney Thomas A. Carr (copied to the Mayor) which threatens the city with a lawsuit if the Market is permitted to close off one block of N 34th Street.

Marianne Bichsel, official spokesperson for Mayor Nickels, says that she does not anticipate that Mayor Nickels will respond to the SMB owners' letter or their attorneys' letter because the mayor's office has been talking to them through all the Special Events Committee meetings. "It's the purpose of the committee to take this on," she says.

Even if the mayor were to become involved, his mind is already made up, it seems. "The mayor is supportive of the Fremont Market," Bichsel says. "It's a part of the fabric of the community."

Fremont residents and businesses have been very vocal in their support of the market. Nearly all comments about the market directed to the Special Events Committee are strongly in favor of allowing the market to stay where it is and use one block of North 34th Street on Sundays for six months of the year. Some Fremonsters have even gone out onto the street bordering the gym to voice their opinions to gym members. "We like you! We like the gym!" the fliers proclaim. "Please inform the SMB management that you disagree with their threats of legal action and attorneys, and that you support the public spirit and quirky energy that is the soul of Fremont."

What is needed to end the battles over the location of the market is for the Seattle City Council to step in and create an ordinance allowing markets to take place, says Hegeman. Otherwise, markets throughout the city can be endangered by one single person with legal muscle. "This issue isn't just about Fremont," he says. "If someone like this wanted to object to the University Market or the West Seattle Farmer's Market, or Columbia City's--the same thing would happen."

In a letter to the Special Events Committee (April 12) Judy Nicastro wrote of her "support of fully permitting without delay the Fremont Sunday Market ... Not only does the Market yield a positive economic impact on local businesses, and fulfill a valuable role of mentoring unique businesses, but any elimination or delay of the market would adversely affect the small retailers and local community."

In a telephone interview, Nicastro said that if permitting problems continue, "then, absolutely, we could introduce legislation to protect street markets." She also said that she had talked with Vickie Aldrich and offered to mitigate any problems caused by the Fremont Market. "She absolutely refused," Nicastro said.

The Special Events Committee will monitor events at the market for four weeks, beginning on April 28. Then, if all goes well, the Seattle Department of Transportation will issue a street use permit to allow the Fremont Sunday Market to use N. 34th Street through October.

Laurel Holliday is a freelance writer and photographer who lives in Fremont.

Reader Comments

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Steven Parker	Apr 30, 2002	Queen Anne -- Seattle	Marketing professional
I'm amazed at Sound Mind and Body gym's inability to understand the power of positive community relations. They were given wine -- great exposure by virtue of the Fremont Market location -- and they ill-advisedly choose to turn it into vinegar. They had a golden opportunity to introduce their business to thousands of new prospects each week -- Free! -- and yet they make the decision to continue to alienate their potential members. I was considering their gym prior to their anti- Fremont Market campaign -- but their bad attitude has convinced me to vote with my wallet. Their competition will get my business.


Walter M. Jackson	Feb 15, 2003	Renton, WA	entrepreneur
I've set up my small business at the Fremont Sunday Market. The Fremont Sunday Market attracts large crowds, and these people & the venders spend a lot of money in the local neighborhood businesses. Not only do I pay for Washington State Business License fees, I also pay for a Seattle City business license too. The contention that I don't pay taxes is hogwash. I believe that the total taxes and license fees paid by my business combined with that paid by other venders at the Fremont Sunday Market far exceeds that paid by SMB Gym. If SMB Gym wants to eliminate the Fremont Sunday Market, then they should pay additional licensing fees to both the state and the City of Seattle plus compensate both entities for the tax money lost. What's fair is fair, right?


leslie	Jun 08, 2003	capital hill	artist
how would i go about putting up a booth at the fremont sunday market?


denyse barkan	May 13, 2004	federal way	n a
i would like to get some info, on where i need to go to sell things at the freemont market. so if possible, i would like a phone number to call, and find out how to get there and who to talk to about selling. thank you denyse


Jessica	Jun 22, 2005	Seattle, WA
I would also like to put up a booth at the Fremont Market. How would I go about doing this, and what licenses and taxes might I need?


Gail	Jul 01, 2005	Maple Valley	Home Maker
I would like information on rules, proceedures, and contacts to the Market.


michele	Aug 10, 2005	seattle	artist
please send me phone or contact # for having an artist booth at the fremont market summer 2005. thanks

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