Option to tear it down is absurd

Published 3:24 pm Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Regarding Monday’s article about the Collins Building, “Should it stay or should it go?”

I was a child in Seattle when the city prepared to tear down the Pike Place Market in order to build a high rise mixed use complex. Victor Steinbrueck, a professor of architecture at the UW, founded a group called Friends of the Market. This group pushed through a successful ballot initiative in 1971 to save the market! (Mr. Steinbrueck was also largely responsible for the preservation of Seattle’s Pioneer Square.)

I remember the concern at that time was how much it would cost to preserve the Pike Place Market, and whether the citizens of Seattle could afford it.

An idea unimaginable to us today.

Thank goodness for Valerie Steele and Historic Everett for their efforts to keep the Collins Building for use as a farmers’ market, maritime museum and gathering place. Such a facility would be enormously important to the future citizens of Everett as they engage with area farmers and craftspeople. The benefits to downtown businesses and nearby restaurants would be measurable. What would be immeasurable is the civic pride and loyalty that comes when local history is preserved for future generations.

In the article, three members of the marine business community expressed concern about the loss of 28 boat storage spaces, then later in the article stated that it wouldn’t be enough anyway.

The Everett Marina is the second largest on the West Coast, not including the Yacht Club. Tearing down the Collins Building to park 28 boats is absurd. The opportunity to preserve the Collins Building as a market that all of the citizens of Everett could enjoy is an idea that we should pursue. Anything less would be shortsighted.

Carla Anderson

Everett