PSBJ: Downtown Seattle shifting from ‘doom loop’ to ‘bloom loop,’ civic leader says

This article was originally published by the Puget Sound Business Journal on Feb. 26, 2025.

By Marc Stiles

Seattle leaders on Tuesday heralded downtown improvements over the last year, ticking off various statistics and noting a shift in philosophy and outlook.

“We were paralyzed in our inability to distinguish between those who were hurting and needed help on our streets and those who were out hurting others, and we decided not to do anything for either group,” Downtown Seattle Association President and CEO Jon Scholes told around 1,000 people at the group’s annual State of Downtown event.

The result was a record number of fatal overdoses due primarily to fentanyl, tents in parks and on sidewalks and violent crime rates not seen in over three decades.

Mayor Bruce Harrell launched the Downtown Activation Plan in 2023, and followed that last year with the new Downtown Activation Team, which does scheduled “restoration actions” like pressure washing sidewalks. The mayor’s plan also includes a large police presence.

“For the first time in five years, we’ve hired more police officers than we lost,” said Harrell, who is running for reelection this fall. In January, Seattle hired 19 new officers, or three times the number in January 2024, he added to applause.

“The bottom line is we are changing the trajectory of what we’re doing relative to public safety,” he said.

The investments are paying off, Scholes said, adding, “You can feel it on the streets and you can see in the data and numbers.”

Fatal overdoses are down 25%. Between 2021 and 2024, violent crime fell nearly 14%, while overall foot traffic increased over 33%. During the last three months of 2024, violent crime fell 27% compared to the same period the year before.

With a safer-feeling downtown, more local residents — those who live within 10 miles — are visiting, with over 1.1 million unique visitors in 2024, according to cellphone location data. That was over 32% higher than 2019’s tally. They’re coming to see new attractions, like Overlook Walk whose October opening sent visitor foot traffic soaring.

Related coverage

A record number of people (nearly 108,500) are living in the DSA coverage area, which includes the neighborhoods around the core. Eighty-eight street-level businesses opened last year, and over 4 million hotel room nights sold last year — the highest level since 2019.

The progress is anticipated to continue this year and next with Waterfront Park’s opening and the 2026 FIFA World Cup. This year, the Port of Seattle estimates a record 1.9 million passengers will be on nearly 300 sailings.

Downtown has “avoided the doom loop,” Scholes said, “and I would suggest we’re on the precipice of a bloom loop.”

Seattle still has problems, including a handful of small homeless encampments in Belltown and on the south side of Pike Street near Sixth Avenue.

While the number of visitors is increasing, the frequency of those visits is lower than pre-pandemic levels. The amount of time locals spent downtown last year was 30 minutes less than in 2023.

In response, DSA has engaged Seattle retail recruiter Midge McCauley of Downtown Works to try to bring more street-level businesses downtown.

The state of downtown is “definitely better than it was,” one attendee, John Line, said after the program. A public relations professional with Copacino Fujikado, who lives and works downtown, he said he would like to see the city do more to improve Third Avenue and work to bring back national retailers like Old Navy and Gap.