As the year draws to a close, KNKX is taking a look at how our community and region has changed.
In early 2025, Amazon employees were required to return to the company's South Lake Union headquarters five days a week. Over the summer, Waterfront Park officially opened at the edge of downtown Seattle.
Jon Scholes, who leads the Downtown Seattle Association, recently joined KNKX’s All Things Considered to discuss the impact these happenings and others had on the neighborhood's resurrection following the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown.
Interview Highlights
On the state of downtown Seattle
A lot of progress. A lot to be grateful for and celebrate. And we're hovering above one of those great things to celebrate in the completion of the Waterfront Park, but there's many others. A strong return of visitors to downtown throughout most of the year. Our visitor numbers are pretty comparable to 2019, and we have more people living downtown than we had pre-pandemic — about 110,000 people from Seattle Center down to T-Mobile Park and First Hill to the water. And a slow but steady return of workers. But there's been a lot of shifts, too. And it's interesting that our busiest day downtown now is Saturday.
On coaxing more workers back to the office
They've got to have great, reliable transit on the bus and the train and other ways to get here, besides driving alone. Some people need to do that, we've got to accommodate that where we can, but we can't all drive.
We've got to continue to create great restaurants and retail opportunities and things to do at your lunch break or after hours with your colleagues. It's got to be safe and clean and delightful. And I would hope our public sector leaders would would show some additional leadership here, too, in looking to bring public employees back, both at the city and the county.
On joining Mayor-elect Katie Wilson’s transition team
I hope to impart on her — and the rest of the committee and her team — the progress that's been made downtown, and what has led to that progress. You know, we have less crime than we did three four years ago — significantly less. We have fewer tents and encampments on the street.
On key policies aimed at improving downtown safety
I think making public drug use illegal again. I think we have to be clear as a community that we cannot tolerate the public use and consumption of drugs on our street and that we want to, we're going to, and we desire to intervene as a community.
It doesn't mean we're going to need to lock everybody up and give them a 10-year felony. That's not how it works anymore. And there's lots of harm over many decades from that type of approach to sort of low-level drug possession.
I think dealing with the encampments in downtown and throughout the city as well, and to say we are not going to allow structures and organized tents to proliferate. We saw significant amounts of gun violence that were connected to those locations; significant amounts of sexual abuse and assault and of organized retail crime, shoplifting, buying and selling of stolen goods. And when we dealt and intervened and resolved those encampments, we saw a number of those issues and others be reduced.
On the World Cup outlook for downtown Seattle
Generally positive. I mean, obviously it's pretty cool that we are one of 16 cities in the world to welcome the world to Seattle. And we'll have 750,000 folks here for five or six weeks, six matches. To have the U.S. men play the second round here is phenomenal.
And then light rail opening to across the lake. And we're going to have a connection of 20-ish minutes between downtown Seattle and downtown Bellevue. And the added benefit of that line opening sometime next year, I hope before World Cup, is the frequency on the North-South line through downtown Seattle goes to about every four minutes.
