Chef pursuing security through shared salmon

SEATTLE – Concerned by crime and neglect around Pike Place Market, local celebrity chef Tom Douglas is reaching for any Northwest cook’s go-to solution: salmon.

Douglas is applying next month to launch a weekend “Salmon Night” at Victor Steinbrueck Park. He’d roast salmon and sell it for about $12 a plate at the park on weekend nights and spend the proceeds on additional security for the park.

His vision: “If you’re going to Hawaii, you have to go to a luau,” he said. “If you’re going to Seattle, you have to go to a salmon bake at Steinbrueck Park.”

A salmon night would serve 250 people, he said, and could include a bonfire, Native American dancers or presentations about the area’s history and culture.

Douglas was among the business owners who pleaded with the Seattle City Council last month to pass a law making aggressive panhandling a civil infraction. Supporters said street crime and intimidating behavior were driving tourists from downtown.

Victor Steinbrueck Park is across the street from Douglas’ Etta’s restaurant and his planned restaurant next door. The park is frequented by homeless people as well as by tourists snapping pictures of the waterfront view.

In a February interview, he told Seattle Times food writer Nancy Leson he was “desperate to clean up that corner.”

“We’re taking civic pride in cleaning up that corner,” he said. “It’s affecting business and tourists – and it’s ridiculous.”

But Douglas stressed that he doesn’t plan to “make a dime” off Salmon Night. The effort is about making sure the park and the market are being celebrated, he said.

Tim Harris, the executive director of Real Change and a leading opponent of the council’s panhandling ordinance, said Douglas’ proposal concerns him because of the homeless people who use the park. He said many are Native American.

“He is proposing to sell salmon three nights a week in the park and have Native American cultural presentations, and use the proceeds of the salmon night to run the Native Americans out of the park?” Harris said. “My concern would be if this new activity in the park would restrict the access of others who use the park.”

Douglas said the park would be open to anyone during the events. He would need a parks-use permit, and he could be eligible for a waiver of the $75 fee because his idea meets the goals of a parks task force, said Seattle Parks and Recreation spokeswoman Dewey Potter.

Next month, Douglas will go before the Pike Place Market Historical Commission, which has to approve uses for the park. Then he will have to get permits from the city.