What the Hell?!

from
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/weyerhaeuser-cites-crime-in-pioneer-square-for-delay-in-reopening-its-seattle-headquarters/

Weyerhaeuser cites crime in Pioneer Square for delay in reopening its
Seattle headquarters
Oct. 1, 2021 at 6:59 pm Updated Oct. 1, 2021 at 8:25 pm
The Weyerhaeuser company’s Pioneer Square headquarters is on Occidental
Avenue South, across from Occidental Park, at left. (Greg Gilbert / The
Seattle Times)

Paul Roberts By Paul Roberts
Seattle Times business reporter

Concerns over crime in downtown Seattle escalated sharply this week
after Weyerhaeuser reportedly delayed its return to its Pioneer Square
headquarters due to neighborhood safety issues.

In an email to employees, Denise Merle, Weyerhaeuser’s chief
administration officer, said the timber company won’t bring workers back
to the offices overlooking Occidental Park without “significant and
sustained improvements in neighborhood safety,” according to a media
report Thursday.

Weyerhaeuser declined to confirm the message or comment on the matter.

But Jon Scholes, president and CEO of the Downtown Seattle Association,
said that during a conversation with Weyerhaeuser officials in
mid-September, “it was certainly made clear to me that they have not
made a decision to return and won’t until they see some improvement to
safety in the neighborhood.”

The conversation took place shortly after the Sept. 13 stabbing of a man
who was walking his dog in Pioneer Square, Scholes said.

Many employers have delayed their office returns due to surging COVID-19
cases and the delta variant. But Weyerhaeuser appears to be the first
major employer to explicitly link its delay not only to COVID-19 but
also to public safety concerns.

Other neighborhood business owners and organizations weren’t surprised
that Weyerhaeuser had balked over public safety following a recent spate
of shootings and assaults and the presence of a tent encampment in the
neighborhood’s landmark pergola.

Absent effective policies to address public safety, said Scholes, those
concerns “could become part of other employers’ reasoning, if it isn’t
already.”

“It’s hard to bring your staff back when we’ve got so many issues,” said
Ali Ghambari, owner of Cherry Street Coffee House. He said he had to
install buzz-in door security at his Pioneer Square store to keep his
employees from quitting over safety concerns.

Some Pioneer Square businesses welcomed news of Weyerhaeuser’s delay,
saying it might be a wake-up call for city officials who some merchants
say haven’t given enough attention or resources to the iconic neighborhood.

“I’m glad they said it, because you know what? They’ll pay attention to
Weyerhaeuser,” said Darcy Hanson, whose Merchants Cafe and Saloon sits
across Yesler Way from the tent encampment.

Weyerhaeuser’s decision to delay, first reported by the Puget Sound
Business Journal, comes at a delicate moment for downtown Seattle.
The area is struggling to come back from the pandemic, which emptied it
of most of the tourists and office workers that keep many downtown
businesses alive.

But the Weyerhaeuser decision also comes at a critical moment for
Pioneer Square in particular. Many of the iconic neighborhood’s
restaurants, bars, galleries and other businesses have begun to see
signs of economic recovery, driven in part by a return of tourists and
fans attending Mariners, Sounders and Seahawks games.

But many fear that momentum could be stalled by the perception of
unchecked homelessness and street crime, said Seattle City Councilmember
Andrew Lewis, whose district covers Pioneer Square.

“You can see the blossoms of a very strong recovery in Pioneer Square,
especially relative to a year ago,” Lewis said. “But you can just really
see the tension where this recovery is coinciding with ongoing very real
public safety challenges and very visible urban poverty that we have to
address.”

According to the Seattle Police Department crime dashboard, reports of
violent crime in Pioneer Square through September are up by around 14%
over the same period in 2020, but are down 17% compared with the same
period in 2019. Reports of property crime this year are down 26% and 49%
from 2020 and 2019, respectively.

Merchants say concerns about street crime and homelessness affect their
customers and their employees. Hanson says one of her bartenders was
assaulted by a person staying at the homeless encampment, which has also
prompted “reviews from hell” from customers who have stayed at the hotel
she runs above the bar.

“I wouldn’t bring my staff down there if you could ‘remote’ bartend,”
she says. “But you can’t.”

Lewis and other council members say they’re trying to address those
challenges. In September, the council approved roughly $10 million in
Police Department funding for community service officers and crime
prevention coordinators, said Councilmember Lisa Herbold, chair of
public safety and human services committee, in a statement Friday.

The council is also funding an alternative emergency response system
that “will allow us to deploy the right response rather than sending an
armed police office to every 911 call,” Herbold said.

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The city has also committed to spending a record $200 million on
affordable housing under Mayor Jenny Durkan’s recent released budget.

Whether those fixes can provide a sufficient sense of safety for
downtown merchants, workers, and tourists — and employers — remains to
be seen.

In the meantime, Pioneer Square’s problems — and Weyerhaeuser’s delay —
could well become fodder in the intensifying campaigns for mayor and
City Council, which have already been heavily shaped by a fierce debate
about the city’s response to crime and homelessness.

Paul Roberts: proberts@seattletimes.com; on Twitter: @Pauledroberts.