‘The forgotten neighborhood’: Ursula asks if Seattle cares enough to fix crime in the Chinatown International District

More people are coming to Seattle’s Chinatown International District (CID), but business owners said the comeback hasn’t arrived yet. The CID Business Improvement Area reports foot traffic is up 12% this year compared to 2025, though it’s still below pre-pandemic levels. Business owners said higher costs are part of the problem, but public safety is the biggest one.

Owners also pointed to the open-air drug market around 12th Avenue and S Jackson Street as a reason customers stay away. The city recently spent more than $1 million on a 90-day emphasis patrol in the area, but neighborhood advocate and former City Councilmember Tanya Woo said businesses saw little change.

Ursula Reutin, co-host of “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio, said the neighborhood felt left out during the World Cup, when other parts of the city got attention and investment.

“It was brought up a lot during the World Cup and how it was the forgotten neighborhood,” Ursula said. “Everyone was getting a spiff-up and getting a lot of help, and then the Chinatown International District was feeling like, ‘We’re being neglected.’ How important is Seattle’s Chinatown International District to our community? How invested are we in trying to save it? And when was the last time you went to the ID?”

Co-host Gee Scott said the neighborhood’s problems should be seen alongside what has happened to other struggling communities.

“What has happened in the past when you’ve had distressed communities, communities not taken care of?” Gee said. “When you have 12th and Jackson continue to exist, you have response times that won’t happen, and you have business owners that are frustrated. Sometimes it might get to the point where someone may say, ‘I give up, I’m done, I’m selling my business.'”

Gee: ‘Do you know how prime that location is?’

Gee said the neighborhood’s location makes what happens next even more important.

“Have you ever looked at that property? Prime location,” Gee said. “Look at the proximity to downtown and the views that you have. You don’t have big, tall buildings in that area. You think they don’t want that?”

Gee remains worried that if business owners give up, developers will move in.

“Once they give up, all of a sudden, you’re gonna see all of the rich buildings that will go there,” Gee said.

Ursula knows people inside the CID care about it deeply, but she questioned whether anyone outside the neighborhood does.

“The folks who live and work in the CID are passionate about it, but outside of the district, does anyone care?” Ursula said.

Gee said the lack of investment answers the question.

“How much do we care? Because if we cared so much, there would be way more investments into those places,” Gee said. “There’d be more protection for those businesses.”

“And 12th and Jackson would not be there again,” Ursula said. “And it’s bad again.”

The real question, according to Gee, was whether the neighborhood matters to the rest of Seattle, or whether some people are hoping it fails.

“How important is the CID to people outside of the CID? That’s the question,” Gee said. “Or are there people just licking their chops and waiting to buy prime property right there?”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.