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These are tech employees with good incomes who’re not coming to that a part of the town frequently. That’s an enormous setback.
However Seattle could be higher positioned than some cities. It has cruise ship terminals, which deliver guests from all around the nation on summer season weekends. There’s a waterfront below improvement that connects the Pike Place Market up north right down to soccer and baseball stadiums within the south. There’s an increasing conference heart and a brand new N.H.L. workforce that performs within the space.
You talked about crime and homelessness. How a lot are they taking part in a job in downtowns’ issues?
You definitely hear about each so much from residents, guests and enterprise house owners.
I used to be in Oregon not too long ago to report on the governor’s race, and all of the candidates had been speaking about how unsafe downtown Portland has turn into. But even there, the variation is exceptional: I may stroll via the waterfront, and folks had been strolling their canine, jogging or simply having fun with the surroundings. However for those who flip only a couple blocks from the waterfront into the Previous City neighborhood, you possibly can see widespread homelessness, drug use. There are individuals mendacity immobile on the sidewalk or in the course of the highway.
There’s this pressure. Officers speak about attempting to construct extra reasonably priced housing and supply extra providers for drug dependancy and psychological well being, however that takes time. However there’s a way of urgency — that we have to do one thing to get individuals again downtown, and locals need fast options to homelessness.
Contemplating these issues, are cities making progress on revitalizing downtowns?
Some locations are. One place I visited was Nampa, Idaho, a metropolis of 100,000 individuals west of Boise. Years in the past, the town had this actually vibrant downtown with shops that introduced individuals from across the space. However then a mall was constructed on the sting of city. After which a good greater mall was constructed farther away in Boise. Then Amazon got here alongside, popularizing on-line buying. After which the pandemic.
Town began working to reverse the tendencies — to construct a group gathering place. However as an alternative of constructing again within the retail-focused type of the outdated downtown, at the moment’s efforts are extra about eating places than outlets, and extra emphasis on individuals residing there as an alternative of driving downtown. It’s completely different, but it surely’s about adapting to the adjustments and discovering the correct mix to make this spot interesting once more. To date, it seems to be working.
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