STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. Buildings change as people use them. Grooves are worn in stone steps from thousands of tramping feet. Metal statues shine where people touched them. And then there are the walls of an alley beside Seattle's Pike Place market - the place to stick your gum when you're done chewing. A contractor has been hired to remove 1 million wads of gum. Officials wanted to pressure wash the walls but feared that would damage the building, so the gum will be steamed and peeled away. It's MORNING EDITION.
Authorities say the wall needs to be scrubbed to protect the historic buildings at the Pike Place Market. But cleaning 20 years' worth of gum off a brick wall is no easy task.