By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
This morning, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell unveiled his new Downtown Activation Plan (DAP), which, according to Harrell, is designed to stabilize and transform Downtown into a place where residents, workers, and visitors want to spend time.
“We are here to talk about basically the rebirth, the reimagining, the new energy that we are trying to bring into Seattle, particularly Downtown,” says Harrell. “But I am going to recap for you what I have been working on.”
The initiative consists of three different tiers that span across three different timelines: Bold Action Now, which includes initiatives that are underway or beginning soon; Near-term Initiatives, which are efforts that will happen over the next three years; and Space Needle Thinking, which represents visionary possibilities for the future of Downtown Seattle.
According to city officials, “the Downtown Activation Plan will make Downtown safe and welcoming, transform downtown into a lively neighborhood where people can afford to live. It will create a unique retail experience, celebrate arts, culture, sports, and entertainment, as well as a healthy, green, and top destination for visitors.”
“What I’ve said repeatedly is that we have to be louder and more organized, and we have to lead with compassion and demonstrate an ability to listen, that is what we are going to do in creating this Downtown right now,” says Harrell. “Showing an ability to be empathetic and I welcome conversations from anyone about our policies.”
Some of the Bold Action Now initiatives that are currently underway include expanding increased cleaning services and greater investment in security, the reopening of City Hall Park, and filling vacant storefronts through the Seattle Restored Program and the Liberty Project, an innovative business growth program focused on increasing revenues for Black-owned businesses and underrepresented communities.
Additionally, the Bold Action Now initiatives will include sidewalk lighting, continued law enforcement impacts on drug dealing, land use policies, design competition, building emissions performance standards, an environmental review process, and providing greater opportunities for small and minority-owned businesses and food trucks.
The Near-term Initiatives are comprised of seven goals over the next three years. The goals include making downtown safe and welcoming with continued support and working with the Seattle Police Department, increasing service provider outreach in the third avenue corridor, implementing a drug abatement program, including a crisis care center and an opioid overdose center. Additionally, it will address pedestrian and bicycle safety, improvement to streets and sidewalks, and graffiti removal.
“In my State of the City, I asked you to help me reimagine what our downtown could look like,” says Harrell. “Basically, in our Downtown Activation Plan, it is about activation, it’s about rejuvenation, there are seven pillars on which our framework will be framed around.”
The seven-goal strategy aims to create a unique downtown retail experience by restoring storefronts, make a downtown where people want to work and strengthen the economy through hybrid work and return-to-office policies. Creating networking events, like Black Tech Night, will welcome workers back to downtown. Goals are also in place to enhance and develop childcare and education services and to revitalize the late-night hours with an agenda called “life at night.”
The Space Needle Thinking initiative explores the possibilities for the future of Downtown Seattle. The examples of future projects are visually stunning, including a total recreation of the Seattle Business Core and Governing hub.
From the International District, west to the waterfront, all the way to the Seattle Center, the recreation of the Downtown core can be the focal point of Mayor Harrell’s legacy.
The Space Needle Initiative, according to Mayor Harrell, “are visionary possibilities for the future of Downtown Seattle… that will call for bold, innovative thinking.”
The initiatives will develop linear arts, culture, and entertainment districts connected by streetcars. There will be year-round play with state-of-the-art indoor and outdoor sports and recreation facilities, the reinvigoration of Westlake Park with state-of-the-art technology, changing zoning for vertical residential neighborhoods, an Urban Forest with the goal of reaching a 30 percent canopy, a “Mercado” as a Black, Indigenous, and Communities of Color entrepreneurial space, and a “Makerspace” as a Campus for Experiential Learning where students, entrepreneurs, educators, and large and small businesses can work together to make the future of the city a reality.
“We want to make Downtown Seattle a top destination for Seattleites and visitors from all around,” Harrell proclaims. “Right now, Seattle is one of the nation’s fastest-growing cities. We want people to come here, we want people to live here, we want people to recreate here, and lastly, we want to create a healthy, resilient, and green downtown, and that’s why you’ll see some of our legislation, some of our efforts will be recognized internationally because of our commitment to this planet.”
