Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell took to the streets of downtown Seattle for a news conference to formally announce his Downtown Activation Plan. The goal is to improve safety and make the downtown corridor, what he calls the city’s lobby, cleaner, more livable, more business-friendly and more welcoming to tourists.
To do that, the mayor has brought together city leaders, businesses and community leaders to work with his Downtown Activation Team (DAT). Their goals are to curb crime, reduce drug trafficking and use in public spaces and provide drug offenders and users with a way out of that life. Compassion, the mayor said is at the center of it all.
“We may have to arrest,” Harrell said. “We have to clean, and we have to treat. We arrest the bad people. We clean dirty areas, and we treat sick people.”
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DAT started doing business in September. Since then, the downtown corridor has seen a significant reduction in crime, 911 calls for service and drug-related medical emergencies.
“Since September, we’ve seen drug observations and activities in dealing and using in this area cut in half,” Downtown Seattle Association President Jon Scholes said. “We’ve seen a reduction in violent crime. We’ve seen fewer people suffering on our streets.”
Parts of the plan can be seen in the downtown corridor, the mayor said.
There is now decorative lighting along 3rd Avenue where crime and drug use have long been a problem. The lights are designed to deter crime and make the area safer and more inviting. The mayor’s plan also seeks to make downtown more business-friendly to legally permitted vendors and to stop those who set up shop illegally.
“We have no tolerance for unlawful, illegal street vending and for people who are skirting around the rules and even participating in the illegal trafficking of goods,” Harrell said.
The mayor added the Downtown Activation Plan and DAT are being expanded to include the Chinatown-International-District (CID) and Little Saigon. Just last week, five people were randomly stabbed in the CID and crime and rampant drug use have long been a problem for business owners and residents.
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The mayor said for him, it’s personal and his team keeps a constant eye on the area.
“I think many of you know, I grew up with family right there, my entire life in the Chinatown-International District,” he said. “It’s very personal to me having played there as a kid. You are right, they deserve more resources and that’s why we are including in our very intentional outreach strategies, more resources in the Chinatown-Little Saigon area. What you’re going to see in our framework and in our executive order will be increased activity, increased resources, increased focus on the Chinatown-International District.”
Harrell was loudly interrupted by a protestor who screamed for about 10 minutes telling him to stop the sweeps of homeless encampments.
To learn more about the Downtown Activation Plan, head here.
James Lynch is a reporter at KIRO Newsradio. You can read more of James’ stories here. Follow James on X, or email him here.
