Chinatown-International District gets $1M safety boost as city launches ambassador program
May 14, 2025, 5:41 PM
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell announces a new safety program for the Chinatown-International District. Now, he just tries to go to war with Donald Trump, thinking it'll win him re-election. (Photo: James Lynch, KIRO Newsradio)
(Photo: James Lynch, KIRO Newsradio)
The Chinatown-International District (CID) is getting a $1 million safety upgrade.
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell gathered with community leaders, small business owners, and corporations at Hing Hay Park Wednesday to announce continued efforts to make the CID safer, more livable, and healthier for small businesses.
“The most important concept of what we’re trying to do to make sure the Chinatown-International District community is safe, is establish partnerships that have the same vision,” Harrell said.
Harrell and the city of Seattle are partnering with small business owners, the Asian American Foundation (TAAF), the Chinatown-International-District Business Improvement Area (CIDBIA), and Amazon to announce a new ambassador program in the CID.
Starting June 1, Harrell explained, on-the-ground teams will serve as safety partners and neighborhood stewards.
“They will help connect people to services,” he added. “They will support visitors and local residents just navigating the district. They’ll build relationships and assistance to business owners. They’ll help foster safer environments through de-escalation and mitigating public health and safety challenges that occur.”
The program is sponsored by Amazon, which chipped in $250,000, along with non-profits and other corporations.
“We really need to make sure that everybody is pulling together,” former Washington Governor Gary Locke said. “Nonprofits can’t do it by itself. The government can’t do it by itself. The police can’t do it by themselves, and so we have the ambassadorship program, pulling all the elements of this community together to make sure it remains vibrant.”
Harrell said safe, bustling streets in the CID filled with visitors and locals will benefit shops, restaurants, residents, and tourists who come here every year.
Chinatown-International District business owners react to safety program
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This kind of investment in this community is what CID business owners have been waiting for.
“What is means is that we’re able to have a safer environment for our staff, for our customers, and to kind of enjoy the neighborhood, to work in it, to hang out in it, have a few drinks, walk the streets and not have to worry about my public safety,” CID small business owner Yenvy Pham said.
CID ambassadors will be on the streets seven days a week, from 2 p.m. until 10 p.m.
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