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Dear friends and neighbors,
Spring is a time to reflect on how far we’ve come and set our sights on the work ahead. We’re continuing our forward progress toward making Seattle a stronger, more vibrant, and inclusive city. We must further build on our efforts to deliver for all our residents.
My office released a summary report, outlining key achievements from 2024. For the first time in five years, we hired more police officers than we lost, a critical step toward enhancing safety citywide. We launched the Downtown Activation Team pilot, which contributed to a significant decrease in violent crime downtown. Beyond law enforcement, we strengthened our behavioral health response through the new CARE department, which handled over 1,400 crisis calls and expanded non-police intervention efforts.
We are committed to building on this strong foundation. We will continue to advance our public safety efforts by hiring more officers, expanding crisis response teams, and launching new community safety initiatives. We are advancing efforts to bring down costs by increasing housing choices and creating affordable places to live for young people, working families, and seniors. Revitalizing downtown remains a key initiative, with plans to activate storefronts, enhance arts and culture investments, and ensure public spaces are welcoming to everyone.
Seattle is on the rise. Together, we will make 2025 a year defined by action, tangible results, and progress toward a safe, thriving, and equitable One Seattle. Thank you for joining in this shared vision as we continue moving our city forward.
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Bruce A. Harrell
Mayor of Seattle
Working Together to Build One Seattle
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 The beginning of 2025 included major achievements driven by Mayor Harrell and his administration to build a build a safer, more accessible, and thriving Seattle. Some key highlights of accomplishments over the last three months include:
- Mayor Bruce Harrell joined City and community leaders to mark the rollout of CARE department responders to neighborhoods in South and Southwest Seattle. This completes the citywide expansion announced last summer, after the pilot initially launched in downtown and has steadily grown as the model has proven successful.
- Mayor Bruce Harrell joined outgoing police chief Sue Rahr and incoming chief Shon Barnes in celebrating the surge in police officer applications. In 2024, we had the highest rate of applications in over a decade and were net positive for the first time since 2019. In 2025, we’ve hired over 30 officers so far this year, compared to 10 at this point in 2024.
- Mayor Harrell issued a new Executive Order to expedite the delivery of light rail extensions to West Seattle and Ballard. Part of the voter-approved Sound Transit 3 project, this initiative represents one of Seattle's largest infrastructure undertakings and the most significant transit expansion currently underway in the nation.
- A $108 million investment in affordable housing, announced by Mayor Harrell will mark the first full allocation of funds from Seattle’s newly approved 2023 Housing Levy. This funding will support the construction of 655 new affordable homes, an important step in increasing homes available to meet Seattle’s growing need and reduce costs for working people.
- Mayor Bruce Harrell and Councilmember Mark Solomon celebrated the adoption of new legislation that will create a tax exemption for the conversion of underutilized commercial property into residential housing.
- To address displacement challenges, Mayor Bruce Harrell issued an Executive Order designed to align and strengthen citywide anti-displacement efforts, reflecting his commitment to equitable housing opportunities.
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New overhead and tree lights were installed in the Chinatown-International District, celebrated by Mayor Harrell and community members to create a safer, more vibrant space for residents, workers, and visitors.
- Mayor Bruce Harrell announced the launch of the Seattle Climate Innovation Hub (SCIH), the first downtown space dedicated to investing in and designing technology to combat climate change.
- Set to expire at the end of this year, Mayor Bruce Harrell joined a coalition of community leaders and civic engagement organizations to announce his proposal to renew Seattle’s Democracy Voucher Program.
 Mayor Bruce Harrell presented the 2025 State of the City address at Benaroya Hall, reflecting on the progress made over the last three years and outlining bold priorities for the year ahead.
Announcements of the State of the City 2025:
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Pike Place Walkability: Mayor Harrell is bringing together City departments, Market leadership, and other stakeholders to improve the pedestrian experience and significantly reduce vehicle traffic at Pike Place Market, while including considerations for merchant unloading/loading, deliveries, and ADA access for seniors and people with disabilities.
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Bringing more people indoors: Using new investments in the City’s 2025-2026 budget and building on the strong work of the Unified Care Team to connect people experiencing homelessness with shelter and services, the City will open additional non-congregate shelter this year.
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Helping small businesses: To make it easier and more affordable to operate a small business in Seattle, Mayor Harrell will advance a suite of actions, including reopening the popular Storefront Repair Fund and launching a new innovative marketing campaign.
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Building housing faster and streamlining permitting: Mayor Harrell will issue an Executive Order on permitting and customer service to create more accountability, consistency, and transparency, forming the new Permitting and Customer Service Team (PACT), a first step in creating a team to identify and solve bottlenecks. The mayor will also transmit new legislation to streamline the design review process for new developments, reducing timelines by up to 50% and making it easier to build needed housing.
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Breaking ground on Memorial Stadium: With a new partnership between the City, Seattle Public Schools, One Roof, and philanthropists, Memorial Stadium will break ground this summer to build the next world-class sporting and entertainment venue in the city.
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 Mayor Harrell raised the Black History Month flag alongside Councilmembers Saka, Solomon, and Hollingsworth.
 Mayor Bruce Harrell announced $22 million in awards to 42 projects through the Equitable Development Initiative (EDI), part of the City’s effort to support property ownership among Seattle’s diverse communities in neighborhoods at high risk of displacement.
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  Mayor Harrell celebrated Lunar New Year at Donnie Chin Park and Seattle Chinese Garden.
 Mayor Bruce Harrell joined education and public health partners to announce a $7 million investment that expands access to telehealth and in-person counseling services for Seattle youth.
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 Mayor Harrell welcomed Chief Shon Barnes on his first day as Chief of Police at the Seattle Police Department (SPD).
 Mayor Harrell presented Rebecca Benaroya the Key to the City to honor Becky and Jack Benaroya’s legacy of philanthropy and leadership.
He also presented a Key to the City to David Baker, 2024 Nobel Prize winner and UW professor, for his contributions to computational protein design.
 Mayor Harrell announced the opening of AI House, located at the historic Pier 70 on the Waterfront. It is a first-in-the-nation AI hub, launched through a public-private partnership, focused on entrepreneurs, startups, investors, and community leaders building the next era of AI in Seattle.
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Stay connected with all of the latest news from Mayor Harrell's office on social media.
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