Downtowns are getting livelier, even as safety narratives persist

The State of Downtowns: As companies return to the office full time, downtown safety narratives still loom

What you probably already know: Safety is a fundamental benchmark urban centers across the country strive to meet, but public perception can skew the narrative. It’s no secret that downtowns were hurting in the wake of the pandemic, and that, for people who don’t live or work downtown, that’s a hard narrative to shake. A study from the Brookings Institute took a close look at where crime was being committed in New York City, Philadelphia, Seattle, and Chicago between 2019 and 2022, finding crime in all four cities’ downtowns actually remained relatively stable between 2019 and 2022. Downtown Seattle accounted for just 1% of the city’s 17% overall increase in property crime and less than 1% of its 22% increase in violent crime. Furthermore, the share of crimes that occurred downtown actually declined — though downtown Seattle still had the greatest share of both violent and property crimes across the four cities. 

Why? So why do so many Americans see downtowns as dangerous places to be? The researchers concluded that a mix of disproportionate media attention, correlating crime with “disorder” (like public drug use and homeless encampments), and national and citywide trends factored into creating a “significant mismatch between residents’ perceived understanding of where crime occurs in their city versus its actual spatial distribution.”

What it means: In late 2020, Whitepages moved its downtown Seattle headquarters from the Rainier Tower on Fifth Avenue in the heart of the city’s financial district to a spot less than a mile away in Belltown, which has a mix of residential and office spaces. “A group of employees were on a committee to select the new office space in 2020 and multiple potential locations were dismissed because of safety concerns voiced by female employees,” said Whitepages CEO Leigh McMillan. “Since the end of Covid, a handful of male and female employees have at times expressed reluctance due to safety concerns as well as lack of vibrancy.” McMillan added that these concerns have largely ceased, partly due to the new office’s proximity to Amazon buildings, including the Spheres. 

The stats: Violent crime in downtown Seattle decreased by 10% from 2022 to 2023, falling to 1,352 incidents — the lowest tally since 2018, according to the Downtown Seattle Association. And one measure of downtown economic recovery, foot traffic, shows promising progress: Downtown Seattle saw nearly 2.4 million visitors this October, which is about 93% of the visitors in October 2019. But McMillan said the area is still “noticeably quieter post-pandemic with the absence of the workforce.” That could change, however, when Amazon workers return to the office five days a week in January. Other cities are seeing similar improvements as workers return to the office.

What happens now: Aligning public perception of downtown crime with factual evidence is largely in the hands of municipal governments and policymakers. In downtown Seattle, at least one working woman is optimistic. “I commute from West Seattle via the water taxi, walking to Belltown from the waterfront,” McMillan said, a distance of about a dozen city blocks.  “As recent as a year ago, it was a tragic, depressing, and frequently, scary walk both in the mornings and evenings. Fortunately, there are clear, significant improvements throughout downtown with Mayor Bruce Harrell’s administration.”