Queen Anne resident Mike Peringer has Seattle in his blood. His great-grandfather was the eldest of three brothers who settled in Seattle in the 1850s. Aaron Mercer became the namesake of Mercer Island and the Mercer Slough, where he built a cabin.
Uncle Asa brought women to Seattle: the brides, about a hundred Civil War widows and other young women looking for a new start. Peringer said Asa was the first president and student of the University of Washington. He homesteaded in the Duwamish Valley. Asa Mercer Middle School on Beacon Hill is named for him.
It’s a story of Thomas, the middle brother, Peringer relished on a sunny, late-March afternoon. We sat in a conference room in SODO, at Process Heating Co., which manufactures heating elements for the asphalt and other industries. Peringer is vice president of marketing.
“In 1856,” Peringer said, “the Battle of Seattle happened.” Native Americans attacked some 50 settlers in a blockhouse. A Navy gunboat took potshots at the raiders. Estimates of the attacking force vary. Contemporary accounts range from 200 to 2,000. A realistic number may be 150 — after the fracas, one settler visited Chief Leschi’s camp and counted 10 to 20 combat-aged men from Puget Sound tribes; the rest, visitors from east of the Cascades.
The incident foreshadowed “The Seattle Way” — a lot of smoke and noise. Two settlers died. Official reports claimed 100 raiders died; no bodies were found. How did it end?
“Uncle Thomas knew everybody in the area,” Peringer explained. “He invited them to his place and had a barbecue.”
The story says a lot about Peringer, too.
The heartbeat of the city
On Friday, March 29, at Safeco Field, Peringer was honored at a “fan fest” by elected officials, activists and business leaders. The longtime Queen Anne resident founded the SODO Business Association and represented it for more than 20 years, advising city councils and mayors, county councils and executives. He’s respected by opposite sides on zoning, economic development, transportation, and human-services issues.
He founded ArtWorks 16 years ago, giving 5,000 young offenders a chance to give back by creating murals for parks, schools and construction sites — more than 2,000 so far. That story is told in his book, “Good Kids: The Story of ArtWorks.” Peringer received a Jefferson Award in 2003.
He encourages a new generation of leaders, watchfully.
“There’s a lot of people who’ve done things in the city. You take your chances, and it works out, right or wrong. For SODO, we tried to make it work over the long run,” he said. “When the economy went south, many businesses down here were struggling; some of them closed. The building-vacancy rate was up to 10 to 15 percent for a while; now, we’re full.”
How important is SODO to Seattle? “SODO is home to 20 percent of Seattle’s businesses and generates 70 percent of city revenues,” he said. Of 2,000 businesses, “Only six have over a hundred employees. Most have a maximum of 50 — typically 25 or less. There’s a need for small business in Seattle that isn’t met in other neighborhoods. Drive up and down the streets — the heartbeat of the city is these small businesses.”
Finding that balance
Anyone from Seattle’s South End who is more than a neighborhood activist has been inspired by Peringer to expect the best not only from government, but from each other, too.
Kathy Nyland, a Georgetown resident and aide to Seattle City Councilmember Sally Bagshaw, sums Peringer up well. They first met over coffee.
“Mr. Peringer said that he had been seeing my name in the paper a lot and wanted to offer me some friendly advice. And that advice was ‘balance’: Find and maintain balance,” she said. “He told me that issues come and go, and they really never go away. When one passes, another emerges. And that is why it was so important to find balance.”
“Though I did truly appreciate his advice,” she commented, “I also found it ironic. You see, whenever I attended a meeting — and there were many — Mike was there. Didn’t matter when or where, he was there! I thought balance would look different than that.”
“In a city that has its share of sagas,” Nyland continued, “it is comforting to know that someone is, indeed, watching over you. I couldn’t be more thankful for Mike Peringer, a true mentor.”
Peringer has brought balance, inspiration and accountability to Seattle like few others. His great-uncle Thomas would be proud to ask him to the barbecue.
CRAIG THOMPSON is a longtime community activist. To comment on this column, write to QAMagNews@nwlink.com.[[In-content Ad]]
