Why Howard Schultz Owes Us

The main reason why I'm so insistent that Howard Schultz do as much as he can to make the Sonics situation right is shit like this:



Here, Schultz' company, the one that made him a fortune, the one that he now once again heads, is using Seattle to sell coffee. Not alluding to Seattle, but directly using the name of one of Seattle's most well-known landmarks to boost his company's stock price.

What's painfully ironic about this is that the Pike Place Market wouldn't even be there for Schultz to exploit if some civic-minded preservationists hadn't fought to keep the Market from being turned into modern office space. Think things looked bleak for the Sonics? The Seattle city council voted unanimously to demolish Pike Place Market. Luckily voters overturned them. (And, just before they did, the first Starbucks opened across the street).

If Howard Schultz had invested in a coffee company in Terre Haute, Indiana, or Rochester, New York, he would not be a billionaire. He's a billionaire because of Seattle. And he owes it to Seattle not to let a cultural landmark that's arguably as important as the Pike Place Market is leave town.

When developers first started talking about tearing down the Market, it had been there for 56 years--not that much longer than the Sonics' 41-year association with Seattle.

Now--to be fair, Schultz' company has provided a ton of high-paying jobs to Seattle. Then again, you might just as easily argue that the smart people of Seattle are the ones responsible for Starbucks' success--giving him yet another reason to support our civic institutions.

I'm not asking that Schultz make this city a better place than the one he moved to in 1982. Just that he not make it worse.