Over the past year, the company that operates the Space Needle has been quietly working with Seattle Center to develop plans for a private, 44,550-square-foot Dale Chihuly glass museum to be placed where the skeletal remains of the Fun Forest amusement park now reside. The Space Needle and Chihuly are pushing hard for this project; they even hired two PR firms and one lobbying group to foist it on the public. But the public overwhelmingly dislikes the idea.
We know this because, during a long process that concluded in 2008, city planners held roughly 60 public meetings to determine what Seattle residents wanted from Seattle Center. What they wanted, overwhelmingly, was more open green space. Seattle Center is public land, and so planners created a Seattle Center Master Plan that called for the former Fun Forest to be replaced with an open lawn—accessible to everyone.
Sure, all that master planning concluded in 2008, a year before the Chihuly museum was even a glimmer in the eye of moneyed Seattle. But we also know the public is opposed to this new, privately funded plan to allow a for-profit museum that would be owned by the Wright family, which owns the Space Needle, to suck up two acres of the Center’s remaining 21 acres of public land. (Entering the Chihuly museum would cost $14.) Seattle City Council member Sally Bagshaw, chair of the Parks & Seattle Center Committee, has received over 500 e-mails to date about the project, with three-quarters of these constituents against the plan. Other council members have reported a similarly negative response.
Asked in late March how he’ll address the now-divergent visions for the land, Mayor Mike McGinn said, “Whatever we decide, we are not going to do something the public doesn’t like.”
Well, Mayor, the public has been clear in its opposition. Don’t build something the public doesn’t like.
CIENNA MADRID
In politics, there’s a term of art for what the backers of the Chihuly museum have been up to as they try to make it appear that there’s a groundswell of public support for their project. That term is “astroturfing.”
When the pro-museum forces hire public-relations people to stack the audience at a big public meeting (as they did on March 29), and when they offer “fans” on Facebook $25 gift cards to the Space Needle restaurant in exchange for joining their group, it’s all part of a time-tested gambit: If you don’t have real grassroots support, but you do have money, well, you just go out and buy yourself some astroturf.
Or, in this case, glasstroturf.
Then, all according to plan, you describe that glasstroturf as a grassroots movement, make sure everyone in your network gives his or her “honest opinion,” and pray for articles like the one that appeared in the Seattle Times on March 30, which reported that the PR-firm-sculpted audience at that March 29 public meeting showed “overwhelming support” for the proposed museum.
Thankfully, after The Stranger pointed out just how much glasstroturfing has been deployed to create the impression of “overwhelming support,” the Times published a follow-up story on April 1 that explored the pro-Chihuly-museum PR offensive and noted that it’s not fooling members of the Seattle City Council. As Council Member Jean Godden understatedly told the Times, the impression created at that public meeting was “a little bit slanted.” ELI SANDERS
Profits from a Chihuly museum seem likely to be spent against Seattle’s interests. Jeffrey Wright—chair of the company that operates the Space Needle, patriarch of the wealthy Wright family, and an extravagant political donor—has given over $50,000 to conservative Republican candidates and Republican Party organizations in the past several years.
According to records held by the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission and the campaign-tracking website Open Secrets, Wright gave $5,000 to George W. Bush and $4,500 to Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi—candidates Seattle voters resoundingly rejected. (To be fair, Wright also gave $1,500 to Democrat Chris Gregoire in 2007, but that was less than what he gave to her Republican challenger.) He’s also contributed money to the election campaigns of Republican attorney general Rob McKenna, Eastside Republican congressman Dave Reichert, and King County executive candidate Susan Hutchison.
Why should Mr. Wright’s politics matter? They shouldn’t. But Wright’s business is injecting itself into the city’s politics and running a campaign to use public land in a way that would boost Wright’s future profits (while calling the whole endeavor a “gift” to Seattleites). It makes sense to find out who would really benefit from this for-profit enterprise—and, as it turns out, one beneficiary could well be conservative politicians whom Seattleites overwhelmingly oppose. DOMINIC HOLDEN
There are virtually no Seattle artists among the 1,700 fans on the Chihuly at the Needle page on Facebook—certainly not a scientific study, but a decent place to see names and aggregated opinions. Meanwhile, several prominent artists are fans on the artist-run Anybody but Chihuly at the Needle page on Facebook (1,500 fans), including Matt Sellars, DK Pan, Cheryl dos Remedios, Bob Rini, Timea Tihanyi, and Eirik Johnson.
“I think that a lot of the feeling among artists is driven by anger at what Chihuly’s success means to art in general,” says John Boylan, who has been organizing public conversations about art in the city for years. “That success means a triumph of a compelling but very narrow vision of beauty, and a triumph of a sense that successful art does not need to especially challenge the imagination, the mind, or social norms.”
Artists especially object to the prospect of a fixed, unchanging display. They argue—convincingly—that the proposal is about money, not meaning. “Since those facilities are public, there has to be a better case made for public benefit, beyond vague promises of a good rent,” artist Christian French wrote to the city council. “Nowhere here is a real argument for how the rest of Seattle and the region stand to gain on a meaningful level.”
It’s not about Chihuly, French added: “Impassioned arguments about the man and his work are, in this matter, red herrings.” JEN GRAVES
Following an uproar about a lack of public involvement in the planning for the Chihuly museum, Seattle Center will begin accepting bids in mid-April from all companies that want to do something with the former Fun Forest site. But already, the committee tasked with considering bids appears to be tilted in favor of the proposed Chihuly museum.
The review panel will include members from both the Seattle Center Advisory Commission and the Century 21 Committee, says Seattle Center spokeswoman Deborah Daoust, as well as individuals recommended from both the city council and the mayor’s office.
The problem is, members of the Seattle Center Advisory Commission and the Century 21 Committee have already endorsed the Chihuly museum project. For example, Century 21 Committee cochair Jan Levy spoke in favor of it at a March 30 meeting; her fellow cochair is Jeffrey Wright, Space Needle owner and would-be owner of the museum. Levy also serves on the Seattle Center Advisory Commission. Robert Nellams, director of Seattle Center, also spoke in favor of the project.
It’s unclear how many people will sit on the panel that is to consider bids for the land. But, whoever they are, they should be impartial. Certainly, people involved with Seattle Center, the Space Needle, or the Century 21 Committee should recuse themselves. CIENNA MADRID
Here’s a question: If the proposed Chihuly museum will really be such a tourist draw, and if it’s really going to be paying the claimed above-market rate of $11 per square foot to rent space at Seattle Center—well, why not rent some different space and make more money off the project for its profit-seeking backers?
Seattle Center may have an inconvenient little master plan that calls for the proposed Chihuly site to be open public space with no entry fee, but there’s no shortage of spots in Seattle where Chihuly and his backers could do whatever they damn well please with no messy public process, no master plan to tangle with, and, ultimately, cheaper rent.
David Goldstein at the blog Horsesass.org has proposed three alternative sites: the vacant space above Seattle Art Museum in the downtown WaMu Center; any of the many parking lots around Seattle Center, sites that are begging for interesting redevelopment; or somewhere in Pioneer Square, a neighborhood already home to many galleries and in general begging for revitalization.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg in a city awash in commercial spaces to rent, holes left by stalled or abandoned megaprojects, and poorly developed parcels in need of new ideas. There’s nothing inherently wrong with a private Chihuly museum, but people clearly don’t want it on the public lawn. So get a real-estate agent, Space Needle, and then get back to us about why Seattle Center is really, truly the only spot in the city where this thing could go. ELI SANDERS
The Chihuly museum is a crappy solution to a real problem: Seattle Center needs money. The Center—which has a hand in putting on nearly 500 free concerts, movies, and other events on the 72-acre site each year—acts as a landlord (with all a landlord’s obligations) to Intiman, the Seattle Rep, the Children’s Theatre, McCaw Hall, and 40 other buildings. And it runs programs like Teen Tix, which gets city adolescents into theaters, museums, and concert halls for $5 a pop. This year, it expects to facilitate the sale of 8,000 tickets to On the Boards, the ballet, Seattle International Film Festival, and so on. In short, a part of the city’s cultural vitality is tied to the economic vitality of Seattle Center.
But revenue streams to the Center have dried up in the past few years, including the Fun Forest, whose annual payments have fallen from $700,000 to around $200,000—not to mention drastic city budget cuts that have yet to be finalized. And just turning the Fun Forest into a lawn will cost millions of dollars.
Seattle should not have to make a deal with the devil—a culturally bankrupt vanity project on public land—to keep programs like Teen Tix running. (We’re a little less concerned about the fate of the annual Weiner Dog Rally.) The Seattle Center could get tenants into vacant rental spaces, raise parking rates, and book more concerts into KeyArena. But while we fight against the Chihuly museum, it’s worth remembering that Seattle Center will have to find some money somewhere. BRENDAN KILEY
This story has been updated since its original publication.
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“NO to Chihuly at the Needle”
We need to show that the funded PR campaign of the Wright / Chihuly Corporation isn’t representative of what the people of Seattle want.
The Public is overwhelmingly against this travesty but the rich “insiders” are stacking the deck against us. Looks like another stolen opportunity to get something done for the general public here in Seattle, as opposed to lining the pockets and egos of the “seattle elite”
Here in Dallas a few years ago, a restaurant called Voltaire opened. It was the most expensive place in a town that takes startlingly upscale restaurants in stride. Dinner for three there once cost me well over $500. The big selling point of the restaurant was it’s “largest collection of Chihuly glass in a private collection, including a massive chandelier. As impressive as it was (the glass), I was somehow left cold by the sameness of it all. Noodled glass here, stretched glass there, swirled glass over there, etc., etc., etc.
Oklahoma City as a Chihuly glass collection. (How’s THAT for damning by association..?)
Does Seattle really need to stuff the Space Needle’s space with more of it? I have nothing against the famed Seattle artist and wish him well, but crowbaring yet another Chihuly glass collection into yet another unlikely space isn’t necessarily public-friendly.
How about placing the museum in, say, Akron or Toledo or even Lancaster, Ohio? Those places are FAMOUS for glass.
After working at the Space Needle and seeing how poorly run that place is (mainly by upper management who have their heads up their a$$es) I am very much against ANOTHER place in Seattle being run by this horrible family. Give me green space!
We want grass!
Grass, trees, plants and flowers.
A place to play with kids, toss a frisbee or ball with friends, a place to learn to juggle or take a nap in the sun.
To hell with your museum in our public space.
I’m a member of the Seattle community and I support this Chihuly project. Many of my friends do, as well. I know The Stranger is completely against it, but don’t act like all the support is superficial. There are many of us in the city who think this is a great addition and a great location.
I’m a member of the Seattle community and I support this Chihuly project. Many of my friends do, as well. I know The Stranger is completely against it, but don’t act like all the support is superficial. There are many of us in the city who think this is a great addition and a great location.
#5
“We want grass!
Grass, trees, plants and flowers.
A place to play with kids, toss a frisbee or ball with friends, a place to learn to juggle or take a nap in the sun.”
You already have all of that in the Seattle Center.
Thanks for playing.
@6/7: Thanks for your input, PR shill, but the article already called you out. Your opinion doesn’t count when you’re paid to have it.
It will be interesting to see what the RFP process stirs up. The center relies upon revenue from commercial partnerships so it seems to be a question of what will go in this spot. I’m an interested Belltown resident who frequents the center so I took the time to check out the plan. It looks like they are retrofitting the existing building (former nasty-ass fun house) and then replacing the asphalt with a beautiful outfit glass sculpture garden. Check it out before jumping to conclusions. I for one have no financial stake and think it would be a great improvement! I also thought the Commons would have been great and think that replacing the viaduct with a tunnel and opening upbthe waterfront is the only way to go. I guess I’m a contrarian. I love it hear but Seattle can sure be funny sometimes.
While you’re crying about free green space, stop ignoring the free green space that exists in Seattle and start improving areas like Freeway Park.
the space needle states that about 20 people were given coupons to the space needle. yet 400 showed up at public meeting, most in support of the museum? were those people paid off? in what manner and how do you substantiate that claim? also where WERE the opposition and the 2 public meetings? most did not care enough about their view to attend. how do you account for that?
it’s a bit insulting to the people of seattle to suggest no one would favor a chihuly museum UNLESS they were being paid off. treat your fellow citizens like adults. and if you are going to make and repeat claims you’ve read on blogs and so on, why not actually do some research to back them up?
OMG! A Republican!! WTF!!! Does the Whitehouse know? Somebody get me the number to 911! I just know it’s Bush’s fault. Is that Dick Cheney under that car? How can Chihuly be in cahoots with the likes of Rove, baby rapers, and Company?
Having the Chihuly museum at the Seattle Center does not mean that you can’t have a lot of green space. I think that the museum would use only 1 1/2 acres out of the seventy two acres available.. I am very much in favor of the Chihuly museum and am very proud when I see his work placed around the world. This project would also give the city of Seattle enough money so that a green space could actually be developed.
I believe that the Wright family have also been contributors to many civic projects in and around Seattle. Even though I am not a Republican, I respect their right to donate money to the political party of their choice. I certainly wouldn’t stop a good deal for Seattle just because he makes a contribution to the Republican party. Since we live in a free America, our party affiliation should not even enter into business decisions.
Having the Chihuly museum at the Seattle Center does not mean that you can’t have a lot of green space. I think that the museum would use only 1 1/2 acres out of the seventy two acres available.. I am very much in favor of the Chihuly museum and am very proud when I see his work placed around the world. This project would also give the city of Seattle enough money so that a green space could actually be developed.
I believe that the Wright family have also been contributors to many civic projects in and around Seattle. Even though I am not a Republican, I respect their right to donate money to the political party of their choice. I certainly wouldn’t stop a good deal for Seattle just because he makes a contribution to the Republican party. Since we live in a free America, our party affiliation should not even enter into business decisions.
I want a natural history museum.
To everyone that insists that we won’t have any green space at Seattle Center if the Chihuly museum goes through, let’s take a look at what’s posted on seattle.gov. (http://centerspotlight.seattle.gov/2010/&hellip😉
“Since the Master Plan was adopted in 2008, Seattle Center has implemented several projects related to open space, including:
•Broad Street Green redevelopment creating several acres of more functional open space
•Seattle Center Skatepark, with public art and garden plantings (10,000 square foot)
•Theater Commons, an inviting, green north entry and activity area under construction for completion by Memorial Day weekend in a space once occupied by a surface parking lot (1.5 acres)
•Vacated north area of the former Fun Forest, now called Center Square (3 acres)
In addition, Seattle Center late last year negotiated an agreement with Seattle Public Schools to turn the Memorial Stadium and adjacent surface lot into green space and a play field/amphitheater, adding 10 acres of open, green space to the campus. The agreement awaits Seattle City Council and Seattle School Board approval.”
and more description on the plans for the 3-acre open space….
“Seattle Center is activating the 3-acre area with community attractions, including a covered outdoor stage and picnic area, planting beds, a children’s garden, basketball court and painted maze and labyrinth.”
Sounds like Seattle Center is listening to our request for open, green space, and I’m thrilled about the plans.
And what about this ridiculous quote from John Bryan, “That success [Chihuly’s success] means a triumph of a compelling but very narrow vision of beauty, and a triumph of a sense that successful art does not need to especially challenge the imagination, the mind, or social norms.”
I don’t understand why commercial success negates artistry. Whether you personally like Chihuly’s glass work (which I do), who are you to say it’s not art. A definition of art: “the conscious production or arrangement of sounds, colors, forms, movements, or other elements in a manner that affects the sense of beauty.” I personally think Jackson Pollock’s work is messy and uninspiring, but I sure as hell wouldn’t ever call it art.
and, for the record, I’m not a paid advertiser for the Wright family or Chihuly. I had never even heard of the Wrights or Dale Chihuly before this. Honestly, your writers are really verging on lible by suggesting that this project’s supporters have been hired to exhibit false positive support. You didn’t supply any proof at all of this allegation. If I was the Wright family or the PR firm, I’d be demanding a retraction.
I think the proposed plans are beautiful and hope they come to fruition. I can’t wait to see the light shine through all of that colored glass. I can’t wait to explore the garden proposed to be created right in front of the builing, and I can’t wait for my kids to be amazed by all of this.
While we are trying to promote openness and honesty, perhaps “m noel” should have mentioned that she works for Dale Chihuly.
I’m told that there were many more people who wanted to speak at the first meeting on March 29th, so they begat a second meeting. It would have been great to have a lot of artists show up to that second meeting to voice their side. When did they schedule this second meeting? April 1, First Thursday, smack dab in the visual art community’s blind spot.
Accident?
sorry, I included a typo in my first post (#17). I meant to write…”I personally think Jackson Pollock’s work is messy and uninspiring, but I sure as hell wouldn’t say he’s not an artist.” didn’t mean to be hypocritical and contradict my own point.
I think I’m done with this whole Chihuly at the Needle argument anyway. Too much conspiracy theory and mudslinging for my taste. It will be very interesting to see what becomes of all of this.
has anyone in opposition of the proposed chihuly project offered any plans for the funds for the open space they feel that they are being denied? Have you considered that this project not only inproves the appeal of the Seattle Center (thus generateing revenue for the city on a daily basis) but also provides funding to the tune of 500K a year to further the development of the open space ideas within the proposed master plan budget which by the way is a close to 500mil worth of public and private funding? hmm…think this might be a possible solution to the private funding portion?
Calm down, folks. If they put it in, it will go banko in a few years just like the EMP landmark to Paul Allen’s ego. The people will vote with their $’s. I wouldn’t spend one damn dime to see Chihuly when I can see all I want of him free in Tacoma.
The Center will then be left with not just one, but TWO hideous, un-usable buildings that don’t bring folks in or make a dime.
Just hope they don’t try to fund the building with public $’s… Oops- silly me. This is Seattle we’re talking about…
Yet another “attraction” run by the same people who gave us the trashy, downmarket, Space Needle restaurant for decidedly upmarket prices? I think not. The whole thing stinks. It also shows Chihuly’s lack of loyalty to his beloved birthplace. Who is going to travel to Tacoma to see his stuff when they can see it (and more interesting things) here?
Oh, wait! Do you think they’ll be selling little glass Space needle key chains in the gift shop? That might make it OK.
If they build it, I don’t know if I can not go at least once. I mean, unless they are searching at entry. Who wouldn’t wanna throw just one stone?
Its funny there hasn’t been any comments on fun forest north. The vacant spot behind EMP is being ripped up and replaced with more asphalt. It seems contradictory to what everyone wants, green space, in this blog. So I don’t get it. Isn’t the Chihuly project green space yet everyone is saying they want green space? Build the green project so it can fund more green space.
Tearing up asphalt and laying asphalt doesn’t seem green to me
Speaking of green space, how’d the Stranger’s anti-commons advocacy play out?
Oh, that’s right. We ended up with a lot of asphalt.
Careful who you follow down the rabbit hole.
Since we can’t afford Thomas Kinkade, I propose a Bob Ross museum.
If we’re doing cheesy, let’s do cheesy right.
Let’s be adults and respect that not everyone holds the same opinions. Concluding the supporters of this project are simply being paid is a cheap argument that gets less and less effective every time you pull it out of your ass.
And trying to scare supporters away by strongly suggesting profits are going to fund anti-this anti-that conservative movements reminds me of the right wing scare tactics that we see on Fox News.
Carl Sagan Activity Center or interactive Gary Larson FAR SIDE exhibit?
My 2 cents worth opinion charges that the old Fun Forest building is too big. The road between it and Center House is a dead zone. The south side looks like where the trash is taken out. Access to and visibility of the Amphitheater is cut off. Any new building should should not make the ‘footprint’ of the old building bigger.
Thus, I’ve been suggesting building up 3 or 4 stories on a much smaller foundation instead of sprawling out. It would both increase and improve existing parkspace and be a perfect location for a Bubbleator. Locate a Chiluly Gallery on the Top floor and the other floors you figure it out – video game hall, cafe and restaurant, shops, etc.
That said, I can see why the Wrights wouldn’t like this idea. People would opt for free public views from its upper floors instead of paying $15 for Space Needle platform views. The Wrights would be in a lose-lose situation even though millions of other people would win back some of their stolen humanity.
@29- I think that’s about all the Stranger’s about these days. Makes it hard to take the articles here seriously, which is really too bad.
Soooo, yeah, personally, I think Seattle needs a Chihuly museum like it needs another Starbucks, but what about Seattle Center’s budget woes? How will more grass help with that?
So much whining…
The master plan presents simply a vision where more green space is desired. It also represents an unfunded plan…something that will take decades to realize. The Chihuly exhibit (it is not a museum) is a proposal that bridges current budget realities with long-term goals. It is a proposal that makes sense on many levels…particularly if the Wrights are forced to redevelop the property to green space at the end of the lease. OK, artists won’t like it…big deal…that isn’t what makes sense in that location…nor does a roller coaster…or a four story building with three floors of whatever. Will it be tacky? Good chance. Will it draw locals? Maybe when they are with visiting relatives. Is it perfect? Hell no. But it is something in hand right now and it upgrades the existing facilities, meets short-term needs, and could me made so much sweeter if, again, the lease requires the Wrights to redevelop the property per the master plan when the term expires. Oh, and meanwhile, The Stranger staff can focus on far more serious issues.
@33 What could be more serious than protecting public land from being taken over by the wealthy private sector, which then renders it unusable for those in lower quadrants of income while handing over more money to the already wealthy Wright family and their partners?
Public land use should benefit the majority, not a wealthy minority.
Intriguing – but has anyone else noticed that for the majority of people vocally in favor of the museum (eg. 12 & 14/15), their pro-Chihully blathering is the one and only comment in their activity history – and just moments after creating their account?
Maybe all the good people were simply inspired by the Stranger’s injustice in their tireless defamation of the Wright family name.
And sometimes during that post-coffee shit, I like hold my hands under my ass and try to catch all the golden eggs that fall out.
Classic. Curious if anyone here has ever been to see the Nutcracker. Have you ever looked at what the McCaw Family supports? Bush was entertained at THAT house. Should we give back the 70 some MILLION of private investment that helped to bring the old Opera House into the 21st Century? Perhaps we should NEVER visit SAM… you should see what their patrons support. Seriously. AND as long as this is going to be an issue for the Stranger, you should see what CHIHULY uses HIS money for, like underwriting the Arts programs at Grade Schools in Tacoma on the Hilltop. Or Art in the schools throughout the region.
DId you ever bother to report that all Seattle School fifth graders will get to go to the collection as part of art education. Free. DId you bother to see all the artists in the Seattle Area who have worked for or with or trained under or with Dale? I guess that would be too “Journalistic” to expect from this paper.
We citizens do not own 24 acres… we own and run 74 acres at the Seattle Center on a budget of 130 MILLION. More than 30 arts orgs, sports teams, and attactions live on the campus, which also provides more the staging ground for more than 5,000 events annually. This is NOT the park in our system for open space, although it DOES have 17 acres of it. We have 6,200 acres of Seattle Park space. It makes up 11 PERCENT of all city land. Our three biggest parks combined are larger than Central Park, and unlike CP, some of ours includes old growth virgin timber. (Every Single TREE at CP in NYC was planted by hand).
We have an urban park here. the 1.5 acres discussed is POORLY placed for open space. Nevermind that there is NO budget to even MAKE it open space. At this point when the FUN Forest is packed up, the empty building and 1.2 acres of BLACKTOP will remain until ANY funding can be found… And that will be a challenge, as $350,000 in rent ALSO goes away.
OPEN SPACE SUPPORTERS of which I consider myself, having campaigned for the parks Commons Plan, and the last few levies… are VERY POORLY SERVED if this goes Grass. The Mural Stage faces the wrong way to make it work. It is SURROUNDED BY BUILDINGS ON ALL FOUR SIDES. In short, if we can get the Wrights to pay US and the Center a half million a year AND they will spend up to 15 million to improve it, why NOT? ALmost every single major park in this town had a Public Funding involvement.
SHould we give BACK Kubota Gardens because is shared the name of his private nursery? Leschi had a six story hotel and Casino affixed for years! Alki had Luna Park. Our Zoo and Aquarium both had commercial involvement in their creation. The Aquarium had a private IMAX theater on site.
SInce 1924 the precursor to the Fairgrounds were PAID FOR by a Bar owner. The opera house was originally named the hall that Suds Built.
As to process. Flawed… I will grant that… But NO ONE GOT PAID TO BE AT THOSE HEARINGS. I was at both. YES there were PR firms. Yes, they made a web site mistake by offering cards, but as soon as the error was pointed out it was removed. 400 plus showed up because they WANT it. NOT because they were paid to. Thats BS… I did not get paid. I do not work for anyone involved. AND I am tired of hearing these LIES.
And for the record at the first hearing there were a half dozen artists, many very respected, who spoke FOR the event. To say otherwise is another lie. Did you mention that your so called reported got up and testified AGAINST the concept? Great so called journalistic ethics there. At Least David Brewster noted that in his column as a PUBLISHER, not a REPORTER.
As for fees, the charge is the same as what the Aquarium charges, the Zoo Charges and LESS than what the Parks Golf Courses charge. ALL SEATTLE PARKS. WOW… CHARGEGATE!
Take the Money and use it to help keep the Seattle Center Vibrant. If it does not work out, we get to review the lease in 5 years and do this all again. Maybe by then we could afford grass.
@36 interesting points. You forgot to mention that Chiluly’s product, a.k.a. ART(tm), is boring, that the guy (DC) has behaved like a litigious asshole, and who besides 5th graders who are bussed in without any say in the matter would want to pay to see DC’s product. If you asked the 5th graders, they would probably rather have kept the Fun Forest.
Why not develop the space with the idea of being able to intigrate public semi-permanent art into the site. Art that people want to share with other people…for free, not art as a mule to pull around your tax wagon.
As far as I have been able to tell, the whole DC phenomenon was created by a bunch people investing in his pieces as investment articles who then pushed the price of their property up by claiming that it was exclusive “art” to people who also had more money than sense.
P.S. pull you head out of your ass.
Forget the museum and the grass. I want amusement rides. Keep the rides or bring in new, better ones.
@34 “Oh my god! the richies are taking away our land! The man is sticking it to the worker!” Put down the manifesto. This is a small parcel of land that has for decades been under lease to a private concession. The current proposal is to use just a portion of that same footprint for a limited time frame in a way that will help fund the public’s greater long-term purpose. This isn’t the end of the world. It’s a proposal that can help us get to where we all want to get. Maybe you and your ilk can convince Rob McKenna to sue the city for giving our land to the Wrights…it’s probably unconstitutional and all.
This is such irresponsible “journalism.” I hardly know where to begin… the proposed Chihuly installation at Seattle Center is in line with the Century 21 project, this is clear if you read the plan and the original writers of the plan spoke at the public meetings to explain this. Local artists are in favor of this project including many local glass artist and glass artist groups. I even had the honor to meet Ginny Ruffner at the March 30th public meeting; she spoke beautifully in favor of the project. None of the support was staged, there is no need: anyone who really looks into the truth of the project sees how great it is. There is no need for any of the designers to deceive!
This project would bring so much arts education, beauty, tourism, and revenue. Teachers all over the country already use this artist as a model to teach their students about art and team work. Offering more arts education to children (one of the MANY aspects of this project) would extend to ALL local artists.
There are so many MANY things in this article that are so bafflingly incorrect…
It is a travesty that this publication could report the truth, but has chosen to try to convince its readership that something so beneficial is nefariously designed to hurt them. Real journalism is not so difficult when all parties are so interested in speaking the truth!
@ 37 thanks for adding the thoughtful ass pulling line. The Center has a number of art pieces I am not a fan of. Concerts, subsidized and not so subsidized feature Musicians I don’t think produce Music. Just cause YOU don’t like it, nice to see your taste is what everyone else must have. What are YOUR plans to cover the $350,000 whole left in the budget that possibly subsidizes YOUR music concert or your festival? The land is poorly placed for open space. Period. It has been asphalt since 62. Someone else is willing to pony up a half million a year plus… You got a better choice?
I am sure your art major studies edumacated you enough to know better than those stupid curators at all those museums around the globe. What do folks in Venice know of Art? Or london. Seeing as you are able to sit in judgment of what is art for us all, perhaps you can find someone to come to the table willing to create an art hall for your faves without using the Center Budget. Oh, and the Chihuly displays that set record attendance was obviously taking advantage of the unwashed uneducated masses, not the fine clever folks like you who invite those who disagree to pull their heads out of their rectums.
So damn clever. Read the proposal. Do the research on attendance and the Center Budget before you impress us with your 5th grade insults.
People, people – I know The Stranger is “Seattle’s Only Newspaper,” but check out our other local sources of news journalism – Nobody else is rabidly foaming at the mouth over this project. Cienna & Her Friends obviously have no other issues they can think of to focus on in our fair city, and hence are making a mountain out of a molehill.
How often do you go to Seattle Center anyway? Not very often judging by some of these comments. There is already plenty of green space for people to juggle, play catch and toss a frisbee – it’s called the expansive center lawn. The Chihuly proposal is not supposed to take over the Fun Forest, just one (crappy) corner of it. The Space Needle is not handing out $25 gift cards to “buy” support – that was addressed by them in an earlier article (which I guess Mr. Sanders overlooked.)
Let’s all take a chill-pill and focus on some more important issues – like, OMG, did anyone notice that a Hard Rock Cafe is now polluting Pike Street???
Why don’t they just fix up Fun Forest? They have this ride that looks like some counterfeit Donald Ducks you’d see in a third world country, horrible. Most rides are something you’d see at Fun Fair Pyongyang. Like dangerous/scary. If some company would pay to put better rides in, there would be a cool place to bring our kids and they’d probably make a lot of money.
hum…
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Are we afraid a tent city will spring up, or that someone could get a free place to eat lunch?
What about relief from structure, they have urban
parks in New York and Savanna?
Does everything have to be ABOUT someone?
My gut level was just that I didn’t want it.
How about something less ego oriented. Even restoring the Fun Park seems better.
All over Europe there are crammed Cities without a tree left, its nuts.
Relief from this,please
Dale Chihuly is the most important glass artist in the history of the world. He lives in your neighborhood. A group of people are willing to pony up 20 million dollars to HONOR him by building a TEMPORARY exhibition hall that will also help fund the LONG TERM plans for Seattle Center. WTF is wrong with the FAG-BRAINED Stranger?
First there were the two stadium outrages. Then, the EMP atrocity. Where does the rape of public space and resources end?
The best part of The Stranger’s excellent piece was that there’s a ton of other space available in Seattle; if the proposed museum is all that, there are lots of choices other than stealing public land and money again. The fact that most of the vacancies are privately held makes them ideologically appealing, too – bail out some real estate speculators *and* see if a 100% privately-funded glass house will work.
Um, and Tacoma’s wicked far away, too. How about using Wal-Mart tactics and building Chihuly museums in Olympia and SeaTac before breaking into the Seattle market. (Or maybe test one in Bellevue first. You could put it right next to the check-cashing joint downtown.)
47 – The most important glass artist in the world? Really? I just don’t think so…unless you’re buying “trophy art” through your decorator that will match the couch.
The Boy and I have been collecting glass for 20+ years. It’s not a massive collection, but it IS well-edited and representative of what’s been going on during that time. I have to say that we’ve never been interested in Chihuly.
His work was always pretty, but never compelling. The fact that in the entire time we’ve been collecting his studio has been churning out the same pieces over and over has cheapened even the shiny novelty that it once boasted. You don’t NEED a Chihuly museum. Just a couple of photographs. That’ll tell you all you need to know.
49-MessyONE. Glad to hear that you and The Boy have been collecting glass for 20+ years. Notice that I did NOT say that D Chihuly makes the most interesting glass art. I said he is the most important glass artist in the history of the world. Since you are a collector, and knowledgable in the field, I would like to know who YOU think is the most important glass artist. OR you can just STFU.