Seattle City Council Member Sally Bagshaw, who is chair of the council’s Parks and Seattle Center, says that the Century 21 Committee will evaluate public bids for the Seattle Center’s Fun Forest site, along with the Chihuly Museum proposal, once the bidding process closes on June 4. The committee created the Seattle Center’s master plan after two years of public input and over 60 meetings.

Jeffrey Wright—who’s family owns the Space Needle and is behind the Chihuly Museum—is co-chair of the Century 21 Committee. “He’s going to recuse himself,” says Bagshaw. Jan Levy, the other committee co-chair, has publicly spoken in favor of the Chihuly Museum proposal.

And then there’s the Seattle Center press release for the bidding process, which says: “Selection criteria include a proponent’s demonstrated ability to fully fund, implement and operate the proposal.“

The Chihuly Museum proposal has a distinct advantage here, as proponents have had a year to develop their plans, while the general public has roughly six weeks to figure out how to fully fund, implement, and operate their ideas. However, Bagshaw says that the Seattle Center is open to a two-step bidding process, which means that “if people have ideas but not yet funding, they can submit initial ideas and committee can decide if it has merit, go back and decide on funding.”

Bagshaw says her biggest concern is preserving public space, while the Seattle Center has to concern itself with paying for that space. “Unfortunately, two-thirds of Seattle Center budget come from sources other than general fund. They have to find funding for important programs. But let’s look long term, what’s best for Seattle Center and what’s best for public. We need to balance the two.”

To that end, Bagshaw says she’s approached the Seattle Center and the Chihuly Museum backers to explore alternative sites for the museum. “I think a good compromise would be to put the museum between EMP and the Space Needle. There’s room there. That site is more visible from the street, and it would leave the middle [of the Seattle Center] open.”

Personally, Bagshaw says she wants to see a children’s park on the Fun Forest site, “something that’s inspiring and open where kids can climb and call and do what kids do, for free.”

She stresses that anyone with an idea of how to best utilize the space is encouraged to submit before the June 4 deadline.

Former Stranger news writer Cienna Madrid has been a writer in residence for Richard Hugo House, a local literary nonprofit. There, she taught fiction classes and wrote 4/5 of a book about a death-row...

5 replies on “Seattle Center Master Plan Designers to Evaluate Chihuly Museum and Other Public Proposals”

  2. Last night the King County Democrats passed overwhelmingly a resolution against the Chihulhy Exhibit, based on other resolutions from various Seattle Legislative Districts.

    Nobody wants this “museum”. Build it on private land.

  3. Boycott the Space Needle. The message is simple – no loss of planned open space at Seattle Center. http://lightandair.wordpress.com/

    The RFP presents a fake problem – that the only possible options are those that “fully fund, implement and operate the proposal”. Seattle has repeatedly supported parks funding at the ballot box. We need to focus on the long term and not panic due to the recession.

  4. I fully agree with Bagshaw, we need to continue with the plan for open space at Seattle Center. That’s what the public overwhelming supported in all the public input that was given during the Century 21 planning for the Seattle Center overhaul. In addition, taking away the Fun Forest doesn’t sting as much if they replace the current children’s activity that is very affordable and sometimes free (if you just walk through the arcade and try out the games without quarters, as toddlers and young kids like to do) with a playspace that is free and open to the general public at all times. I would be eternally disappointed with this entire process if an area of Seattle Center that is currently focused on kids and families is replaced with a paid admission museum aimed at adult tourists. An inspiring playspace for families, kids, and adults would be just the ticket.

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