SEATTLE — Henry Kim doesn't always like change.

In the 25 years he's owned Rotary Grocery in Pike Place Market with his wife, Jane, a can of Coke has gone from 50 cents to nearly $2, and the minimum wage went from $6.50 an hour to $20.76.

Those changes — which he said make things difficult for the marketplace's army of small-business owners — he could do without.

But Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell's proposal in late February to make the 117-year-old market "one of the greatest pedestrian experiences in the country" where people "do not have to worry about vehicle traffic" is something Kim believes is good for the historical maze of fishmongers, produce vendors and crafters.

"People only," Kim said. "The people's market."

Jane, nearby, shook her head, and Kim amended his opinion: no cars only on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and only in the summer.

The debate over closing Pike Place to cars is nothing new, and has been described as "the third rail" for officials. But after the loneliness felt during the pandemic and the reconsideration and subsequent return to gathering spaces — and more importantly the repeated attacks on crowds by drivers worldwide — Harrell has put his weight behind exploring the proposal.

The mayor delivered the idea at his annual State of the City address. He made no specific promises, and gave no timeline, but said the issue was one of accessibility to the Market and public safety, pointing to the New Orleans rampage this year where a motorist drove his pickup through a New Year's crowd, killing 15 people on popular Bourbon Street.

Callie Craighead, Harrell's spokesperson, said the mayor directed city departments to "explore solutions" before the FIFA World Cup comes to Seattle next year.

Harrell has met with Market leaders, and will be part of an April meeting convened by the Pike Place Market Preservation & Development Authority that will include 60 people representing the Market's 200 commercial tenants, 500 craftspeople and 450 residents, as well as the City Council, the city's Transportation Department and Seattle Neighborhood Greenways.

That meeting will look not just into safety, but also what has prevented making Pike Place car-free in the past, including access for merchant loading and unloading, deliveries and disabled parking.

Rachel Ligtenberg, the Market authority's executive director, said she was confident a solution could be found to meet the needs of the many people who have a stake in the Market. That includes the people of Seattle, who voted in favor of Initiative One in November 1971, which created a 7-acre historical district around the Market and saved it from demolition.

Ligtenberg said it would take some time to find a suitable compromise, but noted that the street closes multiple times a year — when buskers are out and drawing a crowd below the Market's iconic sign, or during particularly busy summer Saturdays — without incident.

Last year, the Market had 20.3 million visitors.

And it's not exactly like drivers have free rein. At the Market's entrance at Pike Street and First Avenue, the city has one of its few "all way walk" signals, allowing pedestrians to cross any direction they want while every motorist sits at a red light. Signs declare, "Yield to Pedestrians" and "No stops."

Still, Ligtenberg said whatever changes are done must be mindful of the Pike Place's long history.

"It has been a vibrant, fully operational street since 1907. It's been a century-plus in the making," said Ligtenberg, who was hired in October. "There's a lot of complexity to consider. We'll do this thoughtfully, and together."

The short street — Pike Place is just a fifth of a mile long in a city with 3,952 lane-miles of street pavement — has stirred strong opinions.

A 2021 poll by Seattle Neighborhood Greenways and the Northwest Progressive Institute found that more than 80% of respondents supported allowing shopping streets like Pike Place Market to limit vehicle traffic to loading and unloading — to help people "walk comfortably and safely."

Most of the poll's respondents also said they supported taking away space for cars to create bus lanes, bike lanes and safe school routes as the city and nation recovered from COVID-19.

The most recent city official to push for a change on Pike Place was then-City Councilmember Andrew Lewis, who in 2021 said people's relationship to shared space had shifted during the pandemic.

His proposal didn't get far, even after two drivers — one in a van, another in an SUV — got into an argument and shoving match after they both tried to turn onto Pike Place. A pedestrian was hit by one of the cars and injured, and both drivers were arrested.

Allison Moore, a ceramic artist who sells her wares at the Dark Duck Clay Shop she owns, said the ability of drivers to wreak massive damage is a good reason not to encourage people to congregate on the street.

Besides that, Moore said Harrell's plan was "impossible" because of the deliveries that supply the Market's many shops, not to mention the craftspeople who must set up and take down their table displays every day.

"Cars are in and out, and they're here for a short time," Moore said, noting that the street is "busy, but it's very slow" and safe for pedestrians.

Moore said the Market has always been reliant on cars. If people don't like it, there are other places to go.

"If they want to hang out on the street, they have the waterfront for that," Moore said. "We want people to shop."

Hilde Ringger, who works at her mother's store, Tiny Fairy Houses, said she could see "both sides" and suggested closing the street to cars during the peak summer months.

Like many vendors interviewed for this story, Ringger said prohibiting vehicles would make deliveries hard. But she recognized that the mix of cars and people during high season isn't ideal.

"For tourists, yeah, I don't think it's great, especially in the summer when there are mobs of people," she said.

Ringger didn't have much sympathy for drivers frustrated by the slow-moving Pike Place, but like many placed some blame on Google Maps, which directs many an unaware driver directly to the doorstep of the "original" Starbucks on Pike Place.

"If you chose to drive down here, you chose to drive down here," Ringger said.

Like Kim at Rotary Grocery, Kori Haarz, owner of Kori Cuddle Plush, isn't as ambivalent.

"I'm all for it," Haarz said of Harrell's proposal. "There's nothing I believe in more."

She said deliveries could still be allowed to drive in, and recommended keeping some disabled parking spaces.

"That's something you can solve with retractable bollards," she said, referring to the sturdy posts that block cars from entering a road, but have the ability to telescope underground.

"A lot of people don't like change," Haarz said. "But I think we'd see more business."

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