Trolley Folly

We're a bit mystified by the current news and outrage that SAM's future Olympic Sculpture Park may cause the waterfront trolley to be shut down and replaced by a "decorated bus."

What's weird is that this news has been out there for a year and a half. When SAM first released their design for the park it did not include space for the trolley barn pictured above. In fact, SAM's director of capital projects spelled it out in the P-I in November 2003:

The second outstanding problem is the waterfront trolley barn, which now sits smack in the middle of what will become the park and "has to go," Rogers said. He'd like to see the trolley line extended into Myrtle Edwards Park and beyond, making it more useful. But his focused commitment is to see the barn moved.

What happened? How can this news have been out there so long, but just flare up now? We don't get it.

We don't ride the trolley and we file it in our head as something akin to a zoo train: something for tourists. But we get why railway preservationists love them, and of course our friends at HistoryLink have begun a campaign to save our streetcar.

Here's hoping a resolution can be found: keep the trolley, complete the sculpture park, move or accommodate the barn--doesn't it make sense that SAM would want to use the trolley to get visitors back and forth between the museum and the sculpture park?

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By susan in Arts & Events, News on March 10, 2005 10:56 AM

Comments [rss]

?EW

Hey! We've got an obesity epidemic that leads to diabetes, the waterfront is barely a mile long, why do we need a trolley?! I worked on the waterfront for almost five years, the trolley was almost emptty, especially when it was hitting pedestrians and autos because the freakin' signage on Alaska is so awful! It SUCKS! It is green and yellow, Oregon Duck Colors! We are really bemoaning the loss of a freakin' trolley barn when we are gaining a sculpture park? Really

Ray & Kathi Abendroth

I can't believe the Seattle City Council got smucked up by SAM. What were they thinking of? The trolley is stamped !!SEATTLE!! What better way to show off our waterfront that by taking the trolley. It's great for taking our tourist friends on the trolley where they can hop off and on as they will. Something has got to be done about this. Getting rid of the trolley is just not feasible. The City Council needs to come up with a better solution than it's got now, and it better include the keeping of the trolley. Have SAM put their sculpture on the sides of the trolley barn & on the roof, and make SAM pay for it!!