Advocate to Activate
As one of five neighborhoods that form Seattle's vibrant downtown corridor, Belltown, with over 14,000 residential units and hundreds of small businesses including 250+ retailers, is uniquely positioned to lead the recovery in downtown Seattle.
The businesses, property owners and residents of Belltown welcome active investment in our community. That's why we asked the City to ensure Belltown is included as part of the "Welcome Back Week" program. Unfortunately, the City opted not to include Belltown in the majority of this programming.
Belltown is Belltown
While the Downtown Road to Recovery plan emphasizes equity, the implementation of the plan to date has failed to achieve equitable engagement and revitalization for all of the officially recognized downtown neighborhoods that make Seattle successful. Belltown was not included in large-scale "Welcome Back Week" activation events in either July or September.
In light of this gap, Belltown United raised…
$30,000
Provided to produce the Belltown Rock the Block event on September 18, 2021.
$5,000
Provided by the City to support small business promotion in September 2021.
Downtown Seattle will only recover fully by providing equitable investment and recognition to every downtown neighborhood.
Please help us ask the City and DSA to make Belltown part of Welcome Back to activate our parks, venues and streets with summer events, arts and cultural offerings, festivals, performances and more.
Belltown's parks and open spaces should be celebrated just like Westlake Park in the Central Core, Occidental Park in Pioneer Square and Hing Hay Park in the CID.
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REFERENCES
Metropolitan Improvement District (MID) Surplus 'Recovery' funds disposition - April 27, 2021
$830,000 for outdoor events and activations
$400,000 for "Welcome Back Weeks"
$150,000 for large-scale outdoor art installations
$100,000 for vacant storefront beautification
Welcome back, Seattle! Second round of reopening celebrations set to begin this weekend.
July 12 - Downtown Seattle’s return has ‘turned a corner’ over the last few months | MyNorthwest
Collectively, between the City and the Downtown Seattle Association and Visit Seattle, we’re investing $15 million in reopening downtown — cleaning, art, beautification, events, promotion... - Jon Scholes, President & CEO, DSA
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