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"title": "Mayor announces new investments in Chinatown-International District",
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"text": "♪♪\n♪♪\n-Good morning, everybody.\nI'm really excited here to share some great news\nthat we're trying to do here.\nI have a superstar of speakers in back of me,\nso I'm actually going to be brief.\nI'm just going to sort of give the parameters\nof what we're announcing.\nAnd I have a lot of thank yous,\nbut I'll thank these speakers after they speak.\nI've already forewarned Gary Locke that he is the closer,\nlike we close -- like the Mariners closed last night.\nHe's the closer.\nSo you've got to -- you've got to win the game for us, Gary.\nThe most important concept of what we're trying\nto do in making sure this community here,\nthe Chinatown International District,\nelders and family and friends around here at any block here,\nany restaurant, any business and feel safe and be safe.\nAnd this exciting investment,\na million dollar investment from the city,\nthe Asian-American Foundation known as TAAF,\nAmazon is designed to do that,\nto help our businesses,\nthese blocks that we walk and treasure for decades and decades\nand the lives here be safe in Chinatown, Japantown,\nand Little Saigon.\nNow, we know for too long that we've had conditions\nthat are intolerable.\nPeople are struggling with health issues, addictions.\nThere's been public safety issues.\nAnd we're trying and trying and trying,\nand we keep pushing that boulder up a hill.\nAnd we think we're making considerable progress\nwhen you look at the data.\nTheir program, it has a simple but very important mission,\nto provide regular, visible,\nand reliable support to the neighborhood;\nto activate it through these fine people\nthat believe in protecting and saving lives and helping people.\nAnd sometimes it could be as easy\nas giving some fine human beings\nthat are capable of doing this work.\nAnd I want to thank you for coming this morning.\nLet's give them a hand right now.\nThis program is modeled after other\nsuccessful Ambassador Programs\nthat we partner with like we're doing with\nthe downtown Seattle Association,\nthe MID ambassadors, the Ballard Alliance.\nThese on-the-ground teams will serve\nas safety partners and neighborhood stewards.\nAgain, they'll help connect people to services.\nYou want to come and get a close-up shot.\nThis is -- this is the better side over here, by the way.\nI'm just messing with you.\nThey'll support tourists\nand local residents navigating the district.\nThey'll build relationships\nand provide assistance to business owners.\nThey'll emphasize enough\nthat a strong partnership with the county\nthat runs the health system is needed in this kind of work.\nA lot of these people are sick. They need to be treated.\nThey need services.\nAnd so I wanted to impress upon you\nthat our partnership with the county that runs that system,\nthe only thing we're doing, of course,\nthis is one piece of the puzzle;\nand it builds on a lot of work\nwe're continuing to do through the district.\nYou know that our investments are helping improve\nthe built environment through graffiti removal,\nart and better lighting here -- and here, for example,\nin Hing Hay Park and King Street,\nwe're expanding affordable housing\nand strengthening small business support\nand supporting more neighborhood activation.\nYou've heard me use that term a lot since I've been mayor,\nactivation, because, at the end of the day,\nwe want areas to be vibrant and active\nwith the right kinds of activity.\nWe're supporting community driven efforts\nlike the CID visioning group\nand the full depth initiative led by Friends of Little Saigon.\nThey're doing amazing work.\nWe've doubled down on addressing the public safety\nand economic challenges facing Little Saigon.\nYou see it.\nYou see the work we're doing since November 20 --\nsince November 1, 2024,\nour downtown activation team has completed three\nscheduled restoration actions,\nthree completed scheduled restoration actions every day\nin the Little Saigon neighborhood.\nWe're putting our resources where we believe our values are,\nwhich is to keep this community safe.\nBut, once again, change and progress\ndoesn't come alone in City Hall.\nMy style of leadership is one that is collaborative;\nand I look for great partners, great teams.\nThe public sector, the private sector, our BIA,\nthe businesses, advocates, you, community members and leaders\nworking together toward a shared vision.\nAnd that is a great segue into listening to our next speaker.\nI'd like to introduce Georgette Bhathena,\nthe chief programs officer at the Asian-American Foundation.\nAnd we're so excited to partner with T-A-A-F,\nTAFF -- am I saying it right?\nOkay -- TAFF on this exciting work.\nAnd Georgette will be sharing a very special announcement about\nhow TAAF, along with their partners,\nare investing right here in Seattle to advance safety\nand economic prosperity for the AAPI community.\nWe are very blessed\nand fortunate to have Georgette's leadership\nand her organization.\nAnd, Georgette, I'm going to leave all this stuff up here\nbecause I'm sort of the MC.\nI hope it doesn't mess you up a little bit.\nLet's give Georgette a hand.\n-Great. Good morning, everyone.\nIt's a pleasure to be here with you today.\nSo I'm Georgette Bhathena, the chief programs officer at TAAF.\nAnd TAAF was launched in 2021\nin response to the rise of anti-Asian hate\nand to address the long-standing underinvestment\nin our communities.\nOur mission is to promote safety, foster belonging,\nand advance prosperity for our AANHPI communities\nacross the country.\nThe Chinatown International District\nhas always felt like home to me.\nI was born and raised in South Seattle\nand spent a lot of time in the CID growing up.\nAnd, during college,\nI was a docent at the Wing Luke Asian Museum.\nAnd I served as a student consultant\nto the Northwest Asian-American Theater,\nas well as the CID BIA\nwhile at the University of Washington's\nFoster School of Business.\nGo Huskies.\nSo I'm very excited about the CID Ambassadors Program\non a personal level.\nThis program marks the launch of TAAF Cities Initiative\nand is aimed at catalyzing cross-sector collaboration\nto support Seattle's AANHPI communities.\nAnd we're also honored to have the support of Amazon\nas well as Bank of America join us as founding partners.\nTAAF Cities is focused on driving place-based change.\nSo, while we're a national organization,\nwe know that a lot of important change and investment\nis needed and required at a local level.\nAnd we do that by working hand in hand with local leaders\nbecause, across the country,\nAANHPI communities are shaping the future of cities.\nBut too often they're expected to do it\nwithout real investment.\nSo, to address this challenge,\nTAAF is supporting coalitions like this one across sectors,\ngovernment, business, and community.\nAnd Seattle was chosen as a pilot city in this initiative\nbecause of its history as a major cultural\nand economic hub with a strong and vibrant AANHPI community.\nSo we're coming together to invest in neighborhoods\nlike the CID,\nnot as problems to fix but foundations to build upon.\nAnd how do we do this? So, to begin with,\nwe can't talk about community investment\nwithout talking about the importance of safety.\nThrough our partners,\nwe have learned about the urgency\nand the need to develop solutions to prioritize safety,\nand we admire the work that's already being done here\nby community based organizations\nlike the Chinese Information and Service Center,\nCISC -- and I see Michael in the audience --\na leading organization responding to hate incidents\nand also a partner who has been leading the way\nin providing services to our immigrant communities.\nAnd we released our Seattle safety study last fall\nto help identify gaps in public safety,\nareas for investment in city infrastructure,\nand also community resources\nthat would help the city become safer for the AANHPI community.\nThere are two statistics that I want to share briefly.\nSo, according to the study,\n54% of AANHPIs in the city said that public safety is\neither a major problem or somewhat of a problem\nthat needed to be addressed.\nSadly, the study also showed\nthat nearly 1 in 3 AANHPIs in Seattle\nsaid they personally feared being attacked.\nSo, with the CID Ambassadors Program,\nwe're supporting a community based solution\nto address these problems.\nThe CID Ambassadors will walk\nand watch over neighborhood blocks to ensure\nthat they are safer, cleaner, and cared for.\nSo we believe that,\nworking together with coalitions like this one,\nwe can strengthen neighborhoods,\nwe can empower small businesses, and we can build cities\nwhere everyone belongs.\nThank you. -Thank you, Georgette.\nIn order -- in order to give a good speech,\nsometimes it's necessary to steal things.\nAnd what I loved what Georgette said\nwas this is not perceived as a problem to fix\nbut a foundation to build upon.\nI'll be stealing that in another speech,\nso I'm just giving you forewarning.\nThat is exactly how we are approaching this.\nSo next we're going to hear from who you know,\nTaylor Wong, Senior Manager of Community Engagement in Amazon,\nto bring some brief remarks.\nBut I want to thank Taylor for a strong commitment\nto our community here\nand to the city of Seattle through Amazon's efforts.\nAnd we are very fortunate\nthat we have her at that position at Amazon.\nSo, Taylor, take it away.\n-Thank you, Mayor.\nI can't tell you how deeply moved\nand excited I am to be here today\nas we announce the CID Ambassador Program.\nThis neighborhood holds a very special place in my heart.\nIt's where my parents have their business,\nwhere I grew up,\nand where I've spent countless hours working with many of you,\nour partners in the community,\nto make this a safe and vibrant --\nthe Chinatown International\nDistrict Business Improvement Area, Friends of Little Saigon\nand many more partners in this coordinated\n$1 million investment. Last September,\nAmazon was honored to help bring back the night market,\nand we're excited to return this fall.\nOur commitment, our $250,000 commitment,\ncontribution to Friends of Little Saigon,\nin addition to what TAAF and the mayor has already announced,\nwill help further demonstrate our commitment\nto supporting economic development and public safety\nin this neighborhood.\nThis public-private partnership shows that we can achieve\nwhen government, business,\nand community organizations work with shared purpose.\nAs someone who has witnessed this neighborhood's challenges,\ntriumphs firsthand, I'm grateful for Amazon\nand their continued support and excitement\nthat we will bring to this neighborhood.\nSo thank you to all the partners and Mayor.\n-Thank you, Taylor.\n-Thank you, Taylor.\nNext, I'd like to invite Tuyen Than,\nthe new executive director for the CID BIA, to bring remarks.\nAnd, you know, a couple of weeks ago,\nTuyen and I and others\nannounced the launch\nof the Comcast RISE Small Business Grant Program.\nAnd that was indeed exciting,\nand she has hit the ground running.\nI'm very excited to reintroduce to most of you\nbecause you already know her Tuyen.\nPlease take it away.\n-Hello, hello, hello. Good morning, everybody.\nIt might be a long one, but we --\nas you can see, we all have our pieces of paper\nthat we're going to read from.\nSo thank you for -- all for being here today.\nI want to share a moment that stuck with me.\nA few months ago,\na small business owner in the CID told me,\nI just want to feel like someone has our back.\nAnd that stuck with me\nbecause it captured what so many in our community\nhave been feeling for years:\nunseen, unheard, and left to fend for ourselves.\nGetting to this point took a tremendous amount of work.\nIt took long meetings, a lot of them;\ndifficult conversations; and people who refused to give up.\nSo I want to thank Natalie, the CID BIA team,\nJeff Liang, TAAF, the City of Seattle,\nOffice of Economic Development,\nand all the other -- and Amazon, Bank of America,\nand all the other hands and hearts\nwho helped make this possible.\nToday is a turning point.\nThe launch of the Safety Ambassadors\nisn't just about visibility.\nIt's about trust, presence, and hope.\nThis is what the community asked for,\nand it's a step toward reclaiming our streets\nwith dignity and care.\nWe still have a lot of work ahead, but this moment matters.\nAnd it's a reminder that when we listen, invest, and show up,\nwe can move toward the kind of neighborhood we all deserve.\nThank you. -Thank you, Tuyen.\nBefore I introduce our next speaker,\nI'd like to just recognize\nthat former council member Tanya Wu is here.\nThank you for being here.\nAnd former council member David Della is here.\nOnce a community public servant,\nalways a community public servant.\nAnd we know how much you love this community.\nThank you. Let's see here.\nGoing down the list of superstars,\nanother critical partner, Quynh Pham.\nMany of you know Quynh, Executive Director,\nFriends of Little Saigon.\nAnd we want to recognize\nthe outstanding leadership Quynh is shown.\nAnd, Quynh, please bring us some remarks.\n-Hi, everyone. Good morning. Are you still awake?\nYeah. Hi. My name is Quynh Pham.\nI am the Executive Director of the Friends of Little Saigon.\nWe're a place-based community development organization\ndedicated to preserving and enhancing the cultural,\neconomic, and historic vitality of Little Saigon.\nOver the past year,\nFriends of Little Saigon\nhas engaged more than 100 stakeholders in conversations\nabout community safety, identifying our challenges\nand working together on potential solutions.\nThis collective effort has led to the launch of the Pho Dep,\nBeautiful Neighborhood initiative.\nThrough it, we developed a comprehensive safety plan,\nformed a community coalition,\nand secured financial investments,\nnot just for Little Saigon but\nfor the Chinatown International District as a whole.\nThis initiative has fostered true,\nmeaningful collaborations and partnerships,\nstrengthened trust,\nand helped us leverage community and local government resources.\nTogether, we are implementing very tailored,\nimmediate solutions,\nwhile also building momentum for longer-term progress.\nOur interventions really briefly are really grounded\nin three strategic areas.\nIt's around improving neighborhood conditions\nusing crime prevention through environmental design principles,\nbolstering our small businesses, and building community capacity\nand providing human-centered services.\nShout-out to We Deliver Care.\nThank you all for your work.\nIn other words, improving the neighborhood block by block,\nstrengthening our small businesses,\nand truly investing in the people\nand the lives in this neighborhood.\nAnd this work is made possible by both public\nand private partnerships.\nSo I want to again thank the City of Seattle\nfor their commitment\nand continue to work towards this shared community vision.\nWe're grateful for this ongoing partnership and support\nfor our neighborhood,\nbut we know that there's still a lot more to be done.\nAnd, with this public partnership,\nas you've heard,\nwe've been able to leverage our private investments.\nAs mentioned, Amazon is contributing another $250,000\nwhich will specifically go to support safety,\nsecurity, and culturally specific capital improvements\nin Little Saigon.\nSo thank you again to our city leadership, TAAF,\nand Amazon for your commitment to the CID and\nfor helping us expand the impact of this critical work.\nThank you.\n-Thank you, Quynh.\n-Thank you, Quynh. See how efficient we are here.\nThat's how we run the show here\nin Chinatown International District.\nYou know, not only is this Asian-American\nand Pacific Islander Heritage Month,\nit's also Small Business Awareness Month.\nAnd one of our strongest partners in the City of Seattle\nand strongest leaders in this area is Laura Clise.\nShe, of course, is from the Intentionalist,\nand she'll bring some brief remarks.\nAnd we just love working with Laura.\nLaura, take it away.\n-Good morning. I'm Laura Clise.\nI'm the founder and CEO of Intentionalist and\nself-proclaimed small business super fan.\nAt Intentionalist,\nwe believe that where we spend our money matters\nand that everyday decisions about where we eat,\ndrink, and shop are opportunities to connect with\nand intentionally spend money in support of the small businesses\nat the heart of our communities.\nWe're here today for the love of Seattle's\nChinatown International District,\nneighborhoods\nwhose story is still being written every day by the people\nand small businesses who call it home.\nWe're also here today\nbecause we believe in what's possible through community\nwhen we connect with,\nshow up for, and invest in people and places that matter.\nThe power of community and collective action is what\nAMPLIFY Chinatown International District is all about.\nAMPLIFY Chinatown International District is\na cross-sector collaboration with the City of Seattle,\nthe Asian-American Foundation, Visit Seattle,\nand Seattle's FIFA World Cup 2026 Local Organizing Committee.\nThe activation supports 35 small businesses throughout Chinatown,\nJapantown, and Little Saigon.\nI want to shout out Vlack Media who worked with us\nto capture professional photos of all of the businesses\nthat help tell the story behind every storefront.\nLocal Filipina artist Shayla Hufana created\nthe AMPLIFY Chinatown International District artwork\nand digital marketing assets\nthat partners are using to promote the businesses.\nAnd this Saturday, May 17,\nalongside the CID BIA and Friends of Little Saigon,\nwe're excited to welcome the community to come out,\nexplore the neighborhoods,\nand use the free AMPLIFY Chinatown International\nDistrict Small Business pass to enjoy free treats and discounts\nat 35 local businesses.\nAnd thanks to the Asian-American Foundation,\nthe cost of all of the discounts is covered,\nwhich means that the deals that we enjoy\ndon't come at the expense of the small businesses that we love.\nThe next chapter of the story of Seattle's\nChinatown International District is being written by all of us\nand the intentional decisions we make.\nAMPLIFY Chinatown International District is our way\nof saying these neighborhoods matter, these businesses matter.\nAnd we can all play a part in helping them thrive\nwhen we spend like it matters.\nThank you. -Thank you, Laura.\n-You know, our next speaker is Yenvy,\nand this is what it's all about, a small business owner.\nI was just trying to get to know her a little better,\nand I asked what high school she went to.\nShe didn't say Garfield or Franklin.\nSo I said, I'm not going to say that.\nI said, What's your favorite hobby?\nShe says, eating. So I'm going to go with that.\nAnd how -- how appropriate for what she does for a living.\nI think many of you know Yenvy.\nYenvy Pham is owner of Hello em and Pho Bac,\nand we are delighted to have her bring some remarks to us who --\nand she loves to eat.\nMeans she must love to cook.\nSo take it over, Yenvy.\n-Good morning. Y'all hear me? Wow.\nWhat a crowd. I was so unprepared.\nBut it's okay. That's what we do.\nAnyways, I'm Yenvy Pham.\nI grew up in Seattle, born at Swedish.\nMy parents opened the first Pho back in 1982.\nSo this is my hood. This is where home is, right.\nAnd we want to continue that home for generations to come.\nThe hope of this Ambassador Program\nis to kind of reconnect to each other,\nto have a human-to-human connection,\nand to break down the barriers between those who need help\nand an everyday person, right.\nIn my time here,\nit's been -- we've seen some really traumatic things.\nJust maybe two weeks ago,\nsomeone OD'd in front of soup shop, right?\nAnd it was like 8pm.\nThere was customers, and this guy was laying there.\nAnd everyone was just walking past him.\nLike, I wasn't there,\nbut I was watching my cameras\nbecause the cops asked for cameras.\nBut, anyways,\nbut I was watching the camera,\nand I just saw how sad it was that --\nhow easy it is to ignore, right?\nSo what is -- what is this Ambassador Program?\nThis Ambassador Program is to engage,\nto actually care for each other\nand see if everyone's doing okay because most of the time,\nif someone's acting a fool, they're in pain, you know.\nAnd most of the time they want someone to talk to.\nSo this is that little step,\nthat very obtainable thing to do is to engage and not ignore,\nto give attention to someone\nthat may not get attention, right?\nAnd that helps everyone because,\nyou know, we're not going to eradicate homelessness.\nWe're not going to eradicate drug use.\nIt's not going to happen.\nYou know, that's the reality of it.\nBut what we can do is just try to reach out\nand try to deescalate.\nAnd most of the time it's just people just want to feel loved,\nright?\nAnd this is what that Ambassador Program can do\nis just have that human connection,\nbreak down the barriers,\nand just get back to just talking to each other, right?\nAnd so I'm very excited for this.\nI'm really excited for all the organizations behind this.\nI don't -- everyone behind me,\ndo you see how they're all ladies, by the way?\nAll the ladies in the house.\nThat's right.\nAnd two gentlemen, of course. But thank you for your time.\nI'm really excited for the program, and let's do this.\nBye!\n-That's real talk from the Yenvy, real talk.\nAnd now the closer, standing at 6 foot wing, 190 pounds.\nYou know him as the governor.\nYou may know him as Commerce Secretary.\nYou may know him as the ambassador to China.\nI present to you -- by the way,\nathletes always exaggerate their size, Gary.\nThat's where I was going with that one.\nI present to you Gary Locke. -Thanks, Mayor.\nWe're talking about maintaining the vibrancy of our communities.\nAnd I can tell you that the Chinatown\nInternational District is very dear to my heart.\nAs a little kid,\nmy mom and dad used to come to some of the Chinese groceries\nand get Chinese food, herbs. I used to be in the Boy Scouts,\nand we met at Chinese Baptist Church\njust a few blocks up from here.\nMany of us have grown around this community,\nbut what does it take to be a vibrant community?\nYou want those small businesses run by mom\nand pops to be successful\nbecause they support their families.\nYou want the restaurants to be attractive\nand bringing people here.\nWe want open spaces where our seniors can play ping pong\nand just walk around and enjoy.\nBut everybody needs to feel safe.\nAnd it's -- government cannot do it by itself.\nIt's not just the police department\nbut it's human service organizations\nthat take care of the needs of the people,\nwhether it's mental illness or housing and healthcare and food.\nIt's the involvement of business associations\nthat advocate for the businesses that are here,\nagain, really run by mom and pop enterprises and families,\nnot big corporations and faceless people but people\nof our community. And, of course,\nwe really need to make sure that everybody is pulling together.\nNonprofits can't do it by itself.\nGovernment can't do it by itself.\nThe police can't do it by themselves.\nAnd so we have programs like the Ambassadorship Program,\nsponsored by nonprofits, sponsored by corporations,\nand pulling all the elements of this community\ntogether to make sure that it remains vibrant.\nThe Chinatown International District has seen\nsome hard times over the last several years,\nespecially during the COVID era.\nIt's hard to come back from that isolation and closure\nwhen shops are boarded up\nand people feel kind of out of place.\nBut that's what this program is all about.\nAnd so I'm really excited with the leadership of the mayor;\nnonprofit organizations, including TAAF,\nand the Ambassadors Program\nand the participation and contributions of corporations.\nWe're showing,\nwe're saying\nthat we want the Chinatown International District\nto remain vibrant and to be better than ever before.\nThank you very much.\n-Thank you very much, Gary.\nSo our Ambassadors will work seven days a week.\nLet me make that very clear.\nFrom 2pm to 10pm,\nour We Deliver Care investment and that fine organization\nwill work seven days a week, from 7:30 to 3.\nSo we're trying to demonstrate to the community\nthat we love that we're here for you.\nAnd, with that, if there are any questions,\nwe'd love to entertain a few questions.\nAnd I will say I want to thank the speakers for,\nto coin the phrase used by Yenvy, real talk.\nAnd, if there's any questions\nthat you would like to respond to you,\nyou have the license to do that.\nSo are there any questions that I could address?\nYes, sir Mr. Lynch. Yes. Yenvy. Encore, encore, encore.\n-What does all of this mean for your family businesses,\nand how excited are you?\n-And what to -- what's going forward.\nCorrect.\nWhat it means is that we're able to have a safe environment\nfor our staff,\nfor our customers, and to kind of -- and just really create --\nlike, for me, my personal goal is just to, like,\nenjoy my neighborhood, right; to, like, work in it,\nto hang out in it, you know,\nhave a few drinks, walk the streets\nand not have to worry about my public safety, right?\nThat's about -- that's about, like,\njust bringing people together\nand having this amazing energy in this neighborhood\nwhere we can enjoy one is just a place\nwhere we can really come together and gather.\nI think Seattle's missing gathering places, you know.\nAnd the CID is such --\nso much potential to bring back what it used to be of gathering\nand bringing people together again.\nYenvy is Y-E-N V as in Victor Y; P-H-A-M as in mother.\nThank you.\n-Thank you, Yenvy. -Yes, sir.\n-Downtown Ambassador Program has an ongoing revenue\n[inaudible]\nWhat are the prospects for the long-term sustainability?\n-Yes.\nSo the question is, for those that didn't hear it,\nwhat is the long-term sustainability plan,\nwhich is -- on this project, which is --\ncould be differentiated from some other Ambassador Programs.\nSo we're working through that.\nWe think that, once again,\nwe're going to demonstrate that this is a good investment.\nAnd, again, I want to thank Amazon and TAAF.\nWe're going to demonstrate there are other corporations out here\nthat would look at -- they see this as the economic vitality.\nSo my executive team are looking at sustainability streams,\nand we think we're going to make a good case with this,\nthis -- I don't want to call it a pilot.\nBut we'll look at that.\nAnd the City, of course, will step up, as we have in the past.\nWe have approximately $500,000 in this investment,\nand this is a treasured investment.\nSo we'll make our decisions accordingly.\nBut we feel like this is going to be a sustainable program.\nYes. -We see a lot [inaudible]\n-Yeah. The question is, what makes this different?\nWhy does this sort of stand out?\nAnd I guess I'll answer it this way.\nWe've seen the MID Ambassadors.\nWe've seen the Ballard Alliance Ambassadors,\nand we've seen members of our downtown activation team.\nSo it's not necessarily different in that sense.\nThis strategy works.\nSo we're not trying to create something\nthat is not working in other parts of the city.\nThe fine gentlemen standing in back of me\nare experienced doing this job.\nAnd we're actually looking for, I've been told,\nmore ambassadors.\nAnd so any of those that are interested\nin helping keep a community safe, come and join.\nSo we are employing what we can see --\nperceive as the best practice that works in communities,\npeople that actually love\nand want to protect their own community walking around here\nand being vibrant.\nSo we're just sort of continuing an air --\ncontinuing with a strategy that works.\n-Can you specifically address Hoa Mai Park for me.\nWe've talked to people just recently, just a week ago,\nwho refer to that as dope slope.\nAnd what is this plan going to do to rectify that situation?\nWhat's the plan?\n-So I'm not -- I couldn't even hear half the question.\nYeah, please.\nWhat -- specifically another part of Chinatown\nare you referring to?\nYeah. And I haven't heard the terms you're using.\nThat's why.\n-Oh. Hoa Mai Park. -Okay. Go ahead.\n-Are you familiar with that? That's that new park.\n-No. I'm familiar with that one.\nYes. -Okay. It's across from --\n-I just couldn't hear you.\n-Yeah.\nWhat I'm asking is, what does this plan do about that?\nJust last week,\nyou were talking to business owners of people who live here\nwho refer to that as dope slope.\nIt's a public safety concern and just keeps getting worse.\nSo how does this fix that? -Good question.\nSo, when we participated in the opening of that park,\nwe had so much excitement because this is an investment\nthat the City are making.\nAnd, again, I'm -- actually alluded to this\nin my earlier remarks.\nThere are people that are sick out there.\nI think Yenvy sort of alluded to that, as well.\nAnd we don't have the county standing with us right now.\nAnd what we think this strategy does is, number one,\nit gives more activation,\nmore people that can help get people services.\nA lot of these folks don't have any social ties.\nWe also have to get good information\nto our police department.\nSo what this does is basically gives us the ability\nto form relationships to let our police department know\nwhere there are serious criminal activity\nthat we have to investigate and possibly arrest,\nbut it gives us more eyes on the ground.\nAnd I've made it very clear\nthat my public safety strategy and enforcement\nability should not be confused with the public health approach,\nthat I do lead with empathy.\nWhen people are sick, I want them treated.\nAnd so I made comments earlier about improvements\nwith our health department\nand what we have to do when we look at what we're seeing.\nSo some people are bad actors,\nand we will take the appropriate action there.\nBut many of these people need help.\nSo these ambassadors are just that.\nThey are ambassadors. This is like a home for them.\nAnd so they'll make sure that we get the right information\nto take the right action.\nOkay. Yes, sir. -If someone point\n[inaudible]\nwhere are you going to be for that?\nThe crowd here, I live here a long time.\nI cannot find police [inaudible]\nI don't even know where the police station is,\nand I can only talk to the security guard\nat the library station.\nAnd they couldn't answer my question.\nAnd what should I do. -Okay.\nI'm going to talk to you\nbecause you're not with the press, correct?\nOkay.\nCan you just stick around after this,\nand we'll make sure we give you that information.\nThank you for being here, by the way.\nSo we'll talk to you off camera, answer your questions.\nOkay. David, you have another question.\n-What sort of reassurances can you give to this community?\nI remember when we talked to you in the past\nover the hot spots in 12th and Jackson in Little Saigon.\nAnd we're going to fix that, and that's an issue.\nHere we are years later, and it's still an issue.\nSo what can you -- what sort of reassurances\ncan you give this community this is going to make a difference?\n-So I'll look at the data.\nAnd, once again, we are here for a reason.\nThat is to show a continuum of investments\nin the Chinatown International District.\nThe fact of the matter is,\nis that crime rates are down across the board 18%.\nThe fact is that homicides are down in our city 27.5%.\nThe fact of the matter is,\nis that violent crimes are down 12.5%.\nThe fact of the matter is, is that shots fired are down 22%.\nWe lead with data.\nAnd what we're showing is, once again,\nwhen we're in Chinatown International District,\nthat this is an investment that we will continue to make.\nThese partnerships we formed with TAAF,\nthese partnerships we formed with Amazon\nare a result of them being willing to partner with us\nand the city being willing to look for partnerships.\nThis just doesn't happen organically.\nI love Laura Clise's organizations name,\nThe Intentionalist.\nWe are very intentional about protecting this community.\nThat's the assurance I'll give you.\nMany of you know my roots here in this community.\nMany of you know that my personal family\nof my aunts and uncles have owned property here.\nI'm not a stranger.\nI was only born a couple of miles from here.\nSo, under my administration,\nwe will continue to invest in this community\nbecause of what it means to this entire city.\nDare, Gary Locke,\ndid I say what this community means to the entire state.\nAnd, with that, I'm not going to take any more questions.\nAnd I want to welcome councilor -- Port Commissioner.\nWhere you looking, Sam Cho.\nPort Commissioner Sam Cho here.\nI'll take some more questions.\nDavid, did you have a question?\nThat was my mic drop, by the way.\nGo ahead. [inaudible] Because I --\nthe fact that I just can't hear.\n[ Inaudible Comments ]\nYeah. It's still being -- yeah. It's still at the --\nI believe it hasn't been finally passed yet.\nI think it's still in deliberation.\nYeah. Okay. Yeah. It's not in effect yet.\nBut, again, this is one of the areas among many\nthat we're looking at on how we could be smart\nand how we can enforce some of the laws on the books.\n-How are you going to measure this, Mayor?\nI mean, it's one thing to come here and say,\nWe're going to do this.\nAnd I get that it's a community, government,\nprivate partnership, public partnership.\nBut how are you going to measure whether it's successful?\nHow are we going to know? I know you're there with that.\n-Quarterly surveys with the businesses,\nthe residents, as well as visitors to the neighborhood.\nSo a text message. You know, fill it out.\n-Do you know any specifics about Hoa Mai Park\nand getting that area restored?\n-I don't know any specifics about it,\nbut I definitely see it.\nYeah. Tuyen, T-U-Y-E-N; last name Than, T-H-A-N.\nThanks. -Okay.\nIt looks like I'm going to -- yeah.\nCan I talk to you after? I'm going to respect the elder.\nGo ahead.\n[ Inaudible Comments ]\nYes.\nLet me say what Mr. Chucking said.\nWe're going to -- come on, come on.\nMr. Chucking said that he's been here a long time,\nand I'm the best mayor he's ever seen in his entire life.\nAnd he said that he's -- hopes that this works.\nAnd he's got a Husky shirt on -- coat on,\ntoo, so he's just really on all -- he's on fire, Mr. Chucking.\nThank you for your comments.\nAnd we're going to have another address to a previous question.\n-I don't -- okay.\nI just wanted to address the Hoa Mai Park question\nbecause I know that that has been one\nof the identified focus areas or hot spots.\nMany of you who passed by Hoa Mai,\nit's right across from Lam Seafood\non King between 12th and Rainier Avenue, our newest park.\nIt's been open less than a year.\nBut we're still seeing just the highest number\nof challenges there.\nLet's just put it that way.\nI think there has been a lot of focus\non addressing things like that, addressing the challenges there.\nWe see, like, We Deliver Care make their presence.\nThe City has done a lot with their --\nthe DAT, right, DAT team to do both outreach and clean up\nand all of those things.\nAnd so I think there is an effort,\nbut I believe there could be more done\nto prioritize the resources\nto at least address the problems in different phases.\nIt can't be a kind of piecemeal approach from services\nto activation to other physical and art investments.\nThey need to line up to see the actual impacts\nand improvements at the park.\nWe're also going to make it prettier\nand more activations there.\n-Again, thank you for being here.\nFollow up on the question May 19 is\nwhen the nightlife ordinance will kick in and is applied.\nSo I want to give you that information, David.\nThank you for being here. This means a lot to us.\nBut when you show up like this, community, and even the media,\nwhen you show up like this, it means you care as well.\nSo thank everyone for being here,\nand let's make it a great day.\nThank you very much."
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