SODO Business Association urges city to ‘stop penduluming back and forth’ as Seattle cleans up for World Cup

As Seattle prepares to host roughly 750,000 FIFA World Cup fans downtown, there are several impacts that an event of this magnitude could have on the city, both positive and negative.

Erin Goodman, the executive director of the SODO Business Improvement Association, joined “The John Curley Show” on KIRO Newsradio to explain that while cleanup efforts are needed, they must become a trend and a focus for the city that cannot be left behind as the World Cup leaves town.

“I hope that this is a time when Seattle is proud of showing itself off. When you get behind on basic maintenance, it’s really hard to catch up,” Goodman said. “You have to focus on the biggest things first, and so I think that is the cycle that we’re in, and we have a lot of things to catch up on, but we have a lot to be proud of.

“I have a feeling that some of the reviews aren’t going to be positive, but I think overall, I think when people come to Seattle, they’re looking up, looking out at the water, looking at the mountains, and they’re enjoying themselves,” Goodman continued. “I think that we’ve done a really good job, but I don’t think we should sit down and say, ‘Okay, we’re done.’ This should be that catalyst to say, ‘What are we doing next?'”

SODO Business Association leader hopes city improvements continue long after tournament ends

Goodman believes that holding events such as the World Cup is great for building a city up and providing confidence in being able to host similar events down the road.

“It’s like, how do we continue to do these things to build our city’s prominence in hosting large events?” Goodman asked. “This is that opportunity to say, ‘We can do this, and we can do it well.’ But we need to stop penduluming back and forth on how we operate, and we need to come together and work together. That is something we really haven’t done well, and I’d like to see us, as a city, put aside our arguments. When you really get down to it, everybody wants to live somewhere clean and nice, and let’s just figure out how we work together.”

While Seattle’s first World Cup match is on Monday, Goodman was plainly asked if the city is ready to handle such a massive influx of fans downtown.

“There’s a point in every event where it’s just going to be what it’s going to be, but I think we’re ready,” Goodman said. “We’re seeing the preparations. If you’ve been to the stadium, it’s ready, and I think we’ve seen a lot of wayfinding. While we’re not seeing that kind of hectic action that we saw before the MLB All-Star weekend, we have been seeing the concerted, more structured work that’s been going on for months.

“When you have somebody over to your house, and you’re worried about the spot on your carpet that you’re certain someone will notice, and they never notice it, I think that we have to remember we’re looking at the spots on our carpet, and everyone else is looking at our beautiful city,” Goodman continued.

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

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