11 Oct Pioneer Square in the News

Seattle’s Pioneer Square has tech, needs tribe (GeekWire)
With Zynga and now HTC joining companies like Isilon Systems, BlueNile, Yapta and Payscale there, Pioneer Square is proving it’s a place where geeks want to work. But until Seattle’s first neighborhood stays up past rush hour, it won’t rival Fremont, downtown and the booming South Lake Union as a place where geeks want to play.

Though it really, really should.

Tech companies lead ‘renaissance’ in Seattle’s Pioneer Square (TechFlash)
“What won us over to Pioneer Square ultimately was we really wanted to get into a loft space,” said Olson. “We also wanted a wide diversity of restaurant options for our employees and ease in getting there via public transport, bike, or driving.”

Phoenix Jones Arrested For Allegedly Pepper Spraying Pioneer Square Clubgoers (Seattlest)
Police say that Jones pepper-sprayed a group of people exiting a club around 2:30 a.m. Those pepper sprayed had been just “dancing and having a good time,” police say, at a club on 1st Avenue and Columbia Street (which means Fado or Contour, and Fado is not known for dancing).

Urban snowboarding in Occidental Park (Seattle Times)
Ah, autumn in Seattle, with that nip in the air. Fallen leaves dot the sidewalks, and snowboarders turn Occidental Park into a “giant snow cone.” Organizers of the sixth annual Downtown Throwdown Saturday built a giant ramp in the Pioneer Square park and covered it with 80,000 pounds of crushed ice, which they sprinkled with salt.

Seattle social marketing firm sold to Interpublic (Seattle Times)
Spring Creek Group, a five-year-old social media marketing agency, was sold today to the giant Interpublic Group. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed but Spring Creek’s 35 employees, including founding partner Clay McDaniel, will remain based in Pioneer Square.

CleanScapes, the Anti-Trash Trash Company, Launches Merger With Big Ambitions (Seattle Weekly)
Martin, who got into this business by complaining about the dumpsters behind his Pioneer Square home, has taken his obsession with trash a long way.