Lights, murals, ‘stay out’ zones: Third Ave., downtown undergoing ‘revitalization’ facelift

What’s the latest step in Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell’s efforts to reinvigorate and transform Downtown Seattle? Flooding troubled areas with lights. Lots of lights.

Bright outdoor lights and hang above Third Avenue between Virginia and Stewart Streets. According to The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT), it is all a part of Harrell’s “Downtown Activation Plan” — a roadmap that aims to foster a more vibrant, inclusive and resilient hub for residents, workers and visitors alike through legislation, regulation and programmatic efforts.

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“We expect this new lighting could spark more interest from building owners and tenants who may wish to pursue similar lighting and enhancements along Third Avenue,” SDOT stated.

Installing the lighting costs slightly more than $50,000, according to The Seattle Times, but the department does not expect significant financial overhead to keep up with any maintenance.

The idea to add and install more lighting came from a partnership among the city of Seattle, King County Metro, Sound Transit, nearby building owners and tenants, Downtown Seattle Association and Urban Land Institute.

Newly created murals, artwork to accompany the lighting

The lighting came directly after more than 30 new murals sprouted up in the Downtown and Belltown areas of Seattle alongside creating the Belltown Art Walk to help curb the massive amounts of graffiti and act as a small piece in the overarching goal of revitalizing these areas.

Dating back to the initial proposal last year, creating more murals and other art installations has always been a part of the Downtown Activation Plan. Harrell and other city officials believe it’s just one of many steps to help attract new businesses to the many empty storefronts around Third Avenue.

Those who want to see the murals can go on self-guided tours with maps and guides online or be a part of a group and take a tour, available on the second Friday of every month.

“Seattle is an art city,” Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell said. “Our city’s natural beauty is enhanced by our local artists who use our urban center as a canvas to create art the whole community can gather around and enjoy. These murals reflect the creativity and diversity of our communities, adding to the liveliness of our Downtown core during this busy summer season and beyond. I thank the artists behind them and encourage all of Seattle to come check out their work.”

SODA zones around Third Avenue

Third Avenue has long been known for its open drug use and violent crimes. The new lighting hangs just outside one of the newly established “stay out” zones the Seattle City Council recently created and passed. “Stay Out of Drug Areas” — known as SODA zones — would prevent people from re-entering parts of Downtown Seattle if they’ve been tied to drug crimes. The legislation lists six SODA zones in the city, including one in this area stretching from First and Sixth Avenue between Stewart and University Street.

More on SODA zones in Seattle: Seattle City Council passes legislation creating SODA, SOAP zones

The creation of the SODA zones authorizes the courts to stop a defendant from entering one of the designated areas in the city if they commit a drug-related criminal offense in that zone.

“I think this is an important additional tool for the law enforcement officers that we do have,” City Attorney Ann Davison, who proposed the legislation to the council, said on KIRO Newsradio’s “The Gee and Ursula Show” Tuesday morning. “We are trying to help make sure that we have a recovery of our public spaces so that they are safer, accessible and available for everybody to go through them, to get to where they need to go and to enhance safety in the process.”

The other five SODA zones are in Belltown, Capitol Hill, the University District, Pioneer Square and the International District.

Frank Sumrall is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read his stories here and you can email him here.