KIRO NEWSRADIO OPINION

‘It seems premeditated’: Jake and Spike question city’s intent as Seattle guitar shop blocked by 13 porta-potties for World Cup

Jun 17, 2026, 2:30 PM

A Seattle guitar shop located in the heart of Pioneer Square’s World Cup festivities was hoping the event would bring more business, but instead found 13 porta-potties blocking its entrance, “The Jason Rantz Show” on Seattle Red 770 AM reported Tuesday.

KIRO hosts Jake Skorheim and Spike O’Neill questioned the city’s thought process behind placing more than a dozen toilets in front of Emerald City Guitars.

“It seems premeditated,” Spike said on “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio.

Seattle guitar shop team had to move porta-potties themselves

Emerald City Guitars owner Trevor Boone told “The Jason Rantz Show” there is a vacant building across the street with more sidewalks, which would have been a better place for the porta-potties. He added that no one from the city went down to check where the toilets ended up. Boone and his team had to move the toilets themselves, missing out on business in the meantime.

“He says the city really hasn’t had much contact with them about it,” Jake explained. “He definitely would have liked the warning ahead of time.”

Boone noted that pop-up shops set up for the event got more attention than longtime businesses like his.

Jake and Spike felt for Boone, pointing out how frustrating the situation must be for a longtime business owner who has been paying dues to the Downtown Seattle Association for years.

“It’s nice right now, because during the World Cup there’s extra emphasis on making sure that there’s not the same messes on the street, maybe there’s not the same problems as of late, so that’s a nice reprieve from that, and you’re thinking, ‘Oh, it’ll be nice, we’re gonna have an opportunity to get people in, we’ll put our best foot forward, maybe build a longtime customer base.’ And then you come to your business the next day, you’ve got 13 porta-potties in front of your business,” Jake said.

Watch the full discussion in the video above

Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3

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