Healing the wounds of downtown Seattle begins with prioritizing public safety

Eighteen months ago the streets and sidewalks of downtown Seattle fell silent. In consultation with public health leaders, employers sent tens of thousands of workers home to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, save lives and protect our health system. Company meetings, congresses and major events were soon canceled.

The eerie silence in the city center in spring 2020 was in sharp contrast to the hustle and bustle to which we had become accustomed after 20 years of record growth and investments in the city center. But the muffled hum of a once thriving city center reflected our community’s commitment to science, public health, and each other.

This commitment was a crucial stepping stone for economic recovery. Today we have one of the highest vaccination rates of any major US city and we are executing a plan to revitalize and reopen downtown Seattle. The health of the inner city is important for the quality of life and the future of our entire city. Much is at stake as we work to revitalize Seattle’s economic and cultural engine. In recent years we have put a lot of emphasis on a thriving inner city and the associated tax base to fund several city-wide measures.

In partnership with Mayor Jenny Durkan, the Downtown Seattle Association and the city are investing more than $ 15 million to welcome people back to downtown and reinvigorate Seattle’s city center. Together we support the areas of cleaning, beautification, living and services for unprotected, outdoor events and activities as well as marketing.

Today downtown Seattle is no longer quiet. Restaurants, bars, shops and art galleries are no longer closed. More than 75% of the stores that were in business before the pandemic are open today. And there are more people living in the city center than ever before. In 2020, the inner city lost nearly 1,600 households. Since then we have regained more than 3,400. Hotel occupancy, having dropped to single digits in 2020, topped 60% for much of the summer and hit 80% on the busiest weekends. Pedestrian traffic reached 60% of the 2019 level.

In many ways, downtown Seattle turns around. But we are still facing the deep wounds of the pandemic. Most weeks, office workers are present with 20-25% of prepandemic, which means small businesses that rely on pedestrian traffic continue to be hungry for customers. More than 500 storefronts at ground level have their doors permanently closed and vacancy rates remain high along certain streets. Personnel and supply chain restrictions continue to affect working hours and operations. And business travel and events are slow to return.

Our ability to heal these wounds and maintain our recovery is critically linked to the urgent need to combat public safety and homelessness in the inner city. Current realities – and the impact on small businesses, workers, residents and individuals – are the main threat to inner city renewal.

Over the past year we have heard many elected leaders speak about what they want to cut, defuse and eliminate in relation to community security, homelessness and individuals in crisis. We have heard much less about their plans to proactively address these challenges or ensure a quick and effective response to emergency calls – when someone pulls a knife in a crowded sidewalk cafe; when a person is lying in their own feces with a needle in their arm; when someone lies on the sidewalk, apparently lifeless. Who are you calling? Who will answer? By when? These questions are left unanswered in our city today, and the leaders responsible for the health and safety of our community are more self-inflicted than ever.

Recently, the leaders of more than 20 organizations serving people with mental illness called for an emergency summit with officials, noting that their organizations “the ability to respond appropriately to behavioral health crisis events are themselves in crisis”.

This tragic and avoidable reality costs countless lives and millions of dollars. And for a city that prides itself on equality and inclusion, many of these issues disproportionately affect people of color.

For the health of downtown Seattle, our entire city and region, these questions need to be answered now.

The upcoming Seattle and King Counties budget processes – which provide billions of dollars in local tax revenue and more than $ 200 million in federal funding – are where those questions need to be answered. Budgets reflect priorities. It is long time that local governments prioritize an effective, compassionate, and responsible response to our community’s security, mental, and drug crises, and off the front lines of this escalating emergency for retail workers, waiters, vendors, and downtown residents.

If you visit, work, or live downtown Seattle, now is the time to speak out with the city and county elected officials and tell them that you value a safe, healthy, and vibrant city center for all.

Jon Scholes
is President and CEO of the Downtown Seattle Association.