Business owner: 'I don’t get why the troublemakers have to make trouble'

SEATTLE -- Businesses in downtown Seattle are gearing up for May Day today. Many will start bringing in their outdoor signs or A-boards, planters, and patio sets indoor in case the protests get out of hand.

With a cafe on Westlake Plaza, May Day is one day that Bobachine owner Sheila Locke doesn’t ignore.

Locke said May Day means her regular customers will go home early before the protests. While that’s expected, but what’s not expected is how demonstrations will go each year.

“We’re going to do what we do and go with the flow, and if it gets ugly than yeah, we’ll pull our tails in a little bit and go out the back door,” said Locke.

James Sido, with the Downtown Seattle Association, will also be watching the demonstrations closely, making sure they don’t get out of hand like years past.

“The issue is when interlopers get on the backend of that march or they come down and they aren’t associated with that march in any way and they start causing damage,” said Sido.

If violence erupts, Sido said members will be some of the first to know through an e-mail notification system now in place that will go to building owners and property managers to inform them about security along the demonstration routes and notify them about the progress of the march and any associated damage.

As for Locke, she just hopes its damage her business and others don’t see, especially on a day traditionally meant for workers.

“May Day is for the laborers and the workers,” said Locke. “I don’t get why the troublemakers have to make trouble. It’s senseless.”