SEATTLE — As part of a larger plan to “activate” Seattle’s depleted downtown, Mayor Bruce Harrell announced Monday he will sign an executive order to increase policing and treatment around drug use.
The first stages of Harrell’s downtown activation plan will also focus on restoring business and foot traffic to the central business district.
“Essential to any long-term neighborhood revitalization is safety and health: The fentanyl crisis on our streets is causing death and disorder — we have an obligation to do more for those suffering from substance use issues and for all neighbors,” Harrell said in a statement Monday.
In an executive order, Harrell will direct the Seattle Police Department to collaborate with local and federal law enforcement partners to crack down on the distribution of drugs like fentanyl, which has boomed in areas of the city’s core since the start of the pandemic.
The order also calls for a pilot expansion of the Seattle Fire Department’s Health One program to include an overdose response unit and the piloting of a research-based drug abatement program known as “contingency management,” using gift cards to incentivize people who experience substance abuse to join a 12-week treatment program.
Harrell also says he will explore funding for a post-overdose diversion facility to stabilize and provide resources for people who experience nonlethal overdoses. The order also commits Harrell to forming a Public Health Work Group and Law Enforcement Task Force, and to increase the availability of overdose reversal drugs, especially in high-use areas.
“There are no quick fixes to this complicated challenge, but our Executive Order takes urgent steps to decrease trafficking of deadly drugs and to deliver new, innovative, and sustainable approaches helping those suffering from substance use disorder,” he said.
District 7 Seattle City Councilmember Andrew Lewis, whose district includes the central business district, said Monday that the plan was a good step toward the future of downtown.
“I think it is a good start to get things rolling in trying to revitalize downtown,” Lewis said in an interview, noting the importance of improving treatment options for substance abuse disorder and calling for police to focus on the arrests of drug dealers downtown.
“I don’t know why we have so many drug dealers who can operate with impunity without any pushback,” Lewis added. “But I’m glad we have a mayor who’s focused on rebuilding our downtown.”
According to the mayor’s office, the activation plan will also aim to lure people back downtown by making it more attractive to businesses and consumers. Included in the plan is the reopening of City Hall Park in June, filling 20 vacant storefronts downtown by early summer, adding additional ambassadors in the Metropolitan Business Improvement District, and improving sidewalks and lighting downtown.
Harrell’s plan also includes more frequent closings of downtown streets for special events, increasing opportunities for food truck operators and pop-up food vendors by waiving street-use permit fees, and requesting the state to issue “Sip ‘n Stroll” permits for First Thursday Art Walks so attendees can carry alcohol around during events.
In his State of the City speech in February, Harrell praised Amazon and other companies that are requiring a full or partial return to in-person work.
Since that speech, business leaders have called for the city to temporarily suspend the JumpStart payroll tax for all impacted businesses and temporarily waive the city’s business and occupancy tax for prospective new businesses to encourage growth in downtown.
The Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, for example, praised Harrell’s plan on Monday, but had previously said the city should consider waiving some tax requirements for businesses temporarily.
“Downtown generates half of the city’s tax revenues and the ability to fund services across the board will only be more challenging in the absence of a robust downtown, which is why we need to take these actions,” the group’s Director of Communications Jillian Henze wrote in an email in March. “We need to encourage new small businesses to set up shop downtown and make it easier, not harder, to stay in business.”
Lewis said he would consider a plan to allow new businesses to skip some taxes in order to get them downtown.
Regardless of when these issues are addressed, Lewis said the people of Seattle should feel comfortable going downtown immediately.
“I’m downtown almost everyday, not just for work but also for hanging out,” Lewis said, noting that he brings his family downtown and isn’t overly concerned about their safety.
“There are problems that we need to fix, but downtown is ready for people to come back now, even as we work to address those issues,” he added.
