A Proposal for Seattle Center

There is a movement to redo the Seattle Center. I think this is an idea whose time has come. The Center is adrift with no clear direction other than its role as home to several of Seattle theaters and the opera.

My idea? We can build on the presence of those theaters by taking advantage of the City's cultural history. I suggest re-themeing SC as the Seattle World Cultural Center.

Start by moving the Burke! The Museum could make great use of exisiting buildings and would be a great magnet if it were in a grander space. The forlorn statue of Chief Seattle would then be moved to a hilltop in the new Center and the DayBreak Star center would be encouraged to build an urban outpost as well.

This could help clarify the functions of the Burke as well. Why do we have a museum that combines dinosaurs and Pac Rim cultures? Isn't this a racist subtlety assigning mdodern native peoples to extinction?

As part of this transformation, the Burke would become more like the Smithsonian, a collaboration fo museums. The first such would be a museum for NW indigenes ... dedicated to the Salish peoples.

Hopefully the SAM would chip in by putting a Branch in the center for its wonderful African and NW connections. The Wing Luke could move too.

Other ethnic groups would be encouraged to raise funds for a Center presence .. this would be a hell of a lot better place for the AA museum then the seedy old school now under reconstruction. Seattle's (wealthy) Sephardic community, as one example, is discussing building a Sephardi culture center. Why not at the Seattle Center? How about a Buddhist Temple on site? A museum honoring the Scandahoovians is long overdue. We could even invite the Saudis and Chinese to contribute!

The best part is that this approach would take advantage of the wonderful ethnic festivals that we have weekly at the Center House. BUT, why not make thes international ? Work with the visitor's bureau to attract ethnic festivals from around the world! Bumbershoot as well.

Finally, I would build a new Seattle pUblic School campus on site! Seattle badly needs a prestigous center city high school and creating one around world culture, taking advantage of the performing arts centers already there and the new Burke, seems all to natural!.