By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
As part of his commitment to revitalize the city, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell has put forth a very ambitious plan to clean up the downtown corridor and transform downtown Seattle cultural and economic hub for the future.
During his short time in office, Harrell has initiated efforts to combat the drug epidemic, homelessness, crime and graffiti and making the core a safe, friendly, financially viable and livable environment. And more importantly, returning the downtown corridor for a place that people want to visit.
“Downtown Seattle is the heartbeat of our city and the economic engine of the region,” says Harrell. “The neighborhoods that make up the fabric of Downtown, from Belltown to Pioneer Square, our cherished International District and Little Saigon, are critical to the future of our city. Since day one of our administration, we have worked to implement immediate and sustainable actions that make downtown a safe, clean, and welcoming place.”
According to officials, Seattle is the fastest-growing major city in the United States and has recovered more quickly than other major West Coast cities from the damaging impacts of COVID.
At the same time, like other major cities, Seattle faces complex challenges like affordable housing, the fentanyl epidemic, gun violence and other public safety issues. According to Harrell, these challenges require urgent action and long-term, sustainable approaches that create a safe, clean, affordable city that provides the infrastructure and necessary resources that enables all residents to thrive.
In just 12 months, Harrell’s initiative has achieved tremendous results. The collective efforts of various city departments has decreased the overall tent count in the city by 45% and accounted for a 35% reduction in RV’s since December 2022. In addition, the rate of accepted referrals to shelters has also increased by 21% over the last 12 months, and with the help of the King County Regional Housing Authority (KCRHA) and outreach providers, the city’s Unified Care Team (UCT) has facilitated 1,831 referrals in 2022.
Over the last year, 65 unique sites in downtown Seattle have been collectively addressed more than 650 times with trash mitigation and obstruction removal efforts, significantly reducing tents on downtown streets. Over the last 30 days alone, UCT crews removed more than 100,000 lbs. of debris from public spaces.
“We’re grateful to see important signs of progress and recognize there is still more work to do,” says Harrell. “We’ve made it a priority to address crime, connect those experiencing homelessness to shelter and social services, abate graffiti on public land and small businesses, and support residents struggling with addiction through help and treatment.”
Compared to last year, we are seeing an 18% decrease in reported crime, 24% decrease in violent crime and 21% decrease in major property crime in the CID[HJ1] [B(2] , however, we know that these statistics don’t always reflect how people perceive their safety, which influences whether they decide to come downtown,” added Harrell.
Chelsea Riddick-Most, Director of Programs and Events for the Seattle Center and a member of the mayor’s Revitalization Steering Committee, agrees that public safety is a top priority when it comes to addressing the issues that the city is experiencing in the downtown corridor.
“As a member of the steering committee it was our responsibility to look at what needed to be done to get people to come back downtown,” says Riddick-Most. “Public Safety was a big part of that. We pushed and we emphasized the importance of that in our meetings.”
Ultimately, the mayor’s goal is to restore the vitality of downtown Seattle, re-open storefronts, encourage and advocate for housing affordability and to make the streets safe to walk and congregate.
“We believe that by addressing public safety, filling vacant storefronts, cleaning and beautifying Downtown, and activating public spaces, we can make Downtown more welcoming and inviting right now,” says Markham McIntyre, Director, Seattle Office of Economic Development. “To construct a strong and resilient Downtown for generations to come, we are also working to update our public policies and grow new and existing partnerships, with the help of the people of Seattle and community-based organizations.”
While many residents have not visited downtown in sometime, the Harrell Administration believes that residents will be pleasantly surprised with some of their revitalization efforts so far.
These efforts include the re-opening of City Hall Park with ongoing programming and activation, re-launching the Graffiti Abatement Program with Uplift Northwest with a focus on small businesses in the Chinatown-International District, renewing and expanding the Metropolitan Improvement District and their ongoing safety, cleaning, and hospitality services, filling vacant storefront with small businesses and artists through Seattle Restored, and converting Pike Street between First and Second Avenues into a pedestrian plaza.
Key components of these efforts include:
• The Creation of the City’s Unified Care Team, aligning our city departments to better support those experiencing homelessness and keep areas of the downtown core clean and accessible for residents, workers, and visitors. The recently initiated community violence task force is showing early results addressing violent crime. Operation New Day demonstrated a collaborative effort between local, regional, and federal law enforcement to disrupt crime and positively improve areas like Little Saigon’s 12th and Jackson.
• The Mayor Issued an Executive Order regarding Fentanyl – addressing the epidemic of synthetic drugs by disrupting the distribution, sale, and use of synthetic drugs with a law enforcement approach to arrest and hold accountable narcotics traffickers, as well as an evidence-based public health approach to support people struggling with addiction to dangerous and highly addictive substances
• The formation of the Fentanyl Systems Work Group—to address the consumption of illegal drugs in public spaces and address gaps in care and treatments services.
• Increased SPD recruitment – driving an intensified effort to recruit needed police officers, with a focus on creating an SPD that reflects Seattle’s many diverse communities.
Of course, there are challenges the Harrell administration is facing combating the illegal drug use. Legal challenges, law enforcement, financial barriers, political barriers, etc. all play a vital role in upholding public safety and public health.
“The deadly use and sale of synthetic drugs, including fentanyl and methamphetamine, are causing harm to our communities, and creating especially unsafe and unwelcoming conditions downtown,” says Harrell. “These deadly drugs require a law enforcement approach that disrupts distribution and sales and holds traffickers accountable, and a public health response that helps those struggling with addiction get the care, treatment and help they need.”
“Another challenge facing downtown neighborhoods are pandemic-era public perception of downtown conditions, as well as long running impressions of who is supposed to live, work, and enjoy Downtown,” continued Harrell. “Over the past year we have made significant progress in cleaning and beautifying our public spaces, working through our Unified Care Team to keep public spaces accessible, safe and clean while connecting unhoused neighbors to shelter and social services, addressing public drug consumption, and other public safety issues.”
Spending time and money in the downtown core and providing a safe and livable space is the goal of the revitalization plan. Re-energizing the financial vitality of downtown is a major priority of this administration and it is going to take some time to see it through, but the process has begun with some notable differences.
While the city has had some success in cleaning up the downtown corridor, the reality is that it will take some additional time, effort, resources and money to re-energize the vitality of downtown Seattle. However, city official believes that their continuous efforts will speed up the process.
“I think that every big city that had a bustling downtown that was impacted by COVID is going to take some time for us to really be able to see the fruits of labor,” says Riddick-Most. “We are trying to get people to look at the city differently, since COVID. Particularly the four prongs of downtown — Seattle Center, Pike Place Market, the waterfront and the downtown core, and trying to figure out activities that would draw people in and want to come downtown.”
“[We want people to] not just come downtown but to spend time downtown,” Riddick-Most concluded.
