Seattle Mayor

Question 1

Public Safety: The DSA’s core mission is to create a healthy, vibrant downtown for all. Do you support recent downtown safety measures including increased police patrols, expanding the CARE department, implementing Stay Out of Drug Areas (SODA), and contracting for new jail space? What further steps would you take to improve safety downtown?
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Bruce Harrell

Improving Downtown safety has been a priority of my administration since Day One. One of our first actions was increasing patrols in Downtown, recognizing it was a hotspot for crime and street disorder. My administration has revolutionized our approach to police hiring – hiring more than 70 officers this year alone and hitting a 10-year high in applications.

My administration made 3rd Avenue our first priority for the Downtown Activation Team – showing significant improvements in street conditions in one our city’s longest standing challenge areas. My administration created the CARE Department and made the pilot focused on Downtown. It was my administration that proposed and passed a public use drug ordinance when the City Council had previously opposed it. My administration negotiated with King County to significantly expand jail space after years of limited access to the beds we needed.

In a second term, you can trust that I will continue these efforts – that are not just talking points but real, tangible examples of my effective leadership approach. I will further expand, innovate, and strengthen the CARE Department. Employing more behavioral health responders that are better equipped to respond to a person in crisis in order to further strengthen community trust of first-responders.

In 2024, I signed into law new SODA ordinances. I have taken substantial and meaningful steps to address public safety concerns specifically in the downtown areas. Additionally, I hope to address crime through expanded youth programs, job opportunities, and social services that help provide stability for our underserved communities.

Through the Downtown Activation Plan and the targeted public safety cleaning efforts of the Downtown Activation Team, we have made significant inroads in reducing crime downtown. We have reduced crime across all categories by 18%. We have focused on stemming open air drug use, which contributes to disorder and impacts business bottom lines.

Katie Wilson

The City must do more to support downtown’s recovery, and be smart about it. As we saw with Partnership for Zero, it’s possible to throw a lot of money around without getting results, diminishing confidence that we can solve pressing problems. Individuals in need and impacted neighborhoods deserve better.

Downtown business leaders have been leading partners in the innovative Third Avenue Project framework, where a community-based safety team complements the MID Ambassadors to provide a constant on-street problem-solving presence, referring to long-term case management & shelter (which must be scaled!) in high-priority cases. I’ll build on this model for other hotspots.

Reducing crime, conflict, disorder, drug use, and human suffering downtown is a complex challenge, & I’m committed to finding the most effective collaboration between police and civilian roles. I support bolstering the CARE department, but we should avoid duplicating the Mobile Crisis Team, HealthOne, and other civilian teams. Overlapping small efforts are confusing & we can’t afford to waste resources; scaling an integrated system under the CARE umbrella will require re-design, so everyone’s clear who responds when police aren’t the right choice.

The data show that SODA zones are ineffective at improving conditions & counterproductive because they destabilize people. This legislation has barely been used, because it’s not very useful. That debate was a distraction from real solutions — namely, proactive engagement with individuals whose behavior is problematic.

Jail booking for misdemeanors can play a role in disrupting harmful behavior when better options are lacking, but more often, cycling through jail becomes a costly pattern with worse outcomes for everyone. Our court system is overstretched, and while some cases need to be filed, this can’t be our default. As mayor, I’ll work to scale evidence-based pre-arrest & pre-booking diversion in all appropriate cases as a better way to reduce crime.

Question 3

Investing in Downtown’s Revitalization: Given downtown’s importance to the city’s overall health, what actions will you take to support its continued revitalization—including efforts to fill vacant storefronts, boost street-level activity, and support small businesses?

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Bruce Harrell

My election and re-election as Mayor of Seattle is deeply tied to the fight for a thriving, inclusive, and safe Downtown Seattle. Affordable housing, public safety, and economic opportunity are some of the issues most important to Seattle, which I have worked hard to improve as mayor and will continue to work towards if re-elected. I believe that the success of our downtown area is key to a vibrant Seattle. We must continue to work to create the conditions and opportunities to allow businesses to thrive, to welcome tourists to our beautiful city, and to maintain Seattle as a cultural center for the Pacific Northwest. My Downtown Activation Plan reflects my unwavering commitment to making Downtown Seattle a premier destination for residents and visitors year-round. By investing in Seattle businesses, we will be able to stimulate economic growth, help small businesses pay staffing expenses, and showcase Seattle’s unique cultural and natural attractions to the world. Alongside this, my administration has worked closely with small businesses, including those in the hospitality industry, to understand current financial pressures and the difficulty of remaining profitable in the current regulatory and economic climate. Led by the Office of Economic Development, we launched the Small Business Policy Group. This group, whose membership included small business owners directly impacted, issued recommendations that I believe will directly support and benefit the hospitality industry. These recommendations will be released in the next few months.

Katie Wilson

As mayor, I’ll work to make downtown a place where more people live, work, shop, and socialize. I’ll collaborate with the DSA & neighborhood business groups in Belltown, Pioneer Square, & the CID to revitalize downtown through multiple strategies. City departments under my leadership will respond rapidly and cohesively and take a “yes” stance on innovations to increase residential presence, foster innovative uses, and beautify neighborhoods.

I’ll work to expand childcare facilities downtown to make it easier for working parents to come to the office. Still, much work-from-home will continue; downtown’s vitality depends on shifting toward a more residential neighborhood with ample housing & people-oriented spaces, welcoming thousands of new residents who’ll support downtown businesses & contribute to round-the-clock activity.

Seattle’s arts & culture communities will play a vital role in shaping downtown’s future and attracting visitors. I’ve advocated for the conversion of the El Rey in Belltown into art space & housing – instead of demolishing the building, leaving an empty lot. Removing barriers impeding makers’ creative new uses of space is one way a Mayor can foster a vibrant downtown.

I’ll work to spur investment by minimizing the costs & bureaucracy involved in starting or growing a business, & reducing regulatory barriers such as permitting & change-of-use requirements. I’ll work to streamline processes for businesses that now struggle to navigate multiple agencies, forms, permits, & licenses.

I’ll restart the Storefront Repair Fund & explore ways to incentivize filling vacant space. I’ll pursue strategies to support small business, from technical support to marketing to facilitating low-interest loans through a public development authority or partnerships with community lending institutions. I’ll explore using the city’s purchasing power to assist small businesses that want to provide benefits like retirement savings, health insurance, or ORCA passes.

Question 5

Top Voter Concerns: What do you believe are the top three issues on voters’ minds right now, and how would you propose addressing them?
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Bruce Harrell

The top three issues I believe voters face are affordable housing and homelessness, public safety, and economic opportunity. These are some of the issues most important to Seattle, which I have worked hard to improve as mayor and will continue to work towards if reelected. If reelected, I will work to increase access to affordable housing through innovative solutions like zoning reform and increased investments in affordable housing projects, making sure residents have a place to live and build their futures. I’ll also continue to be bold in pushing for homelessness solutions that lead with compassion while also ensuring parks and sidewalks are not overwhelmed with tents (as we’ve proven Downtown during my term). I will focus on creating safe communities by expanding resources for mental health and community-based policing, ensuring that our city’s residents feel protected and supported in the face of a growing mental health crisis. And lastly, I will work to improve economic opportunities by promoting workforce development programs and supporting small businesses, ensuring that people have access to good-paying jobs and the skills needed to succeed in a rapidly changing economy. By addressing these issues, we can help people thrive and build a stronger future for Seattle.

Katie Wilson

Affordability: Working families are struggling, as costs including housing, childcare, and food have escalated. Similar pressures are impacting small businesses, and the best way to get labor costs under control is to get housing costs under control. As mayor, I’ll pursue multiple strategies to expand affordable housing. I’ll champion land use policies that encourage the private market to build more; ensure that Seattle’s new social housing developer is successful; invest in workforce housing and affordable homeownership; and stabilize the affordable housing sector. I will work to make it easier to site and start childcare facilities.

Homelessness & Public Safety: Harrell’s administration’s failures on homelessness are contributing to our public safety problems. We’ve lost shelter capacity every single year Harrell has been in office, after he campaigned saying he’d add 2,000 units in his first year. Shelters are full and more people are unsheltered than ever. Aggressively removing encampments without real help destabilizes people, making them more vulnerable to harm and more likely to harm others. As mayor, it will be my #1 priority to rapidly reduce homelessness. I’ll open thousands of units of shelter in my first term and restore the response to unsheltered homelessness reflected by the JustCARE approach from 2020-2022, the State Right of Way Encampment Resolution Program from 2022-2025, and the Community Solutions framework now being brought to bear by DSA.

Trump-Proof Seattle: The federal administration is relentlessly attacking immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community, civil rights and democracy. Cuts to federal programs & grants are already impacting Seattle residents and the harm could be profound if, for example, vulnerable people lose Medicaid and SNAP benefits. The City must step up to protect residents and ensure that cuts do not deepen our affordability and homelessness crises. This will require both smart use of existing revenue and new progressive revenue.