Creating more third places in Little Saigon. Funding more drop-in centers for people experiencing homelessness (with community buy-in). Better coordination between City departments in serving Little Saigon. Building a Little Saigon small business coalition. Pruning trees; lighting up the streets.
These are some of the ideas community members want to see implemented in the next 100 days for Little Saigon – by mid-June.
The ideas came from a kick-off event on February 27 at the Nisei Veteran’s Committee Memorial Hall, for a new effort to make Little Saigon safer and easier to live in, work, and visit.
Named Phố Đẹp (Beautiful Neighborhood), the effort is led by Friends of Little Saigon in collaboration with the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods and Police Department.
The goals of the Phố Đẹp initiative include building a coalition of “community members, business owners, property managers, organizations, institutions, service providers, and local government to collectively improve public safety in Little Saigon,” as well as coming up with ideas and implementing strategies to address “the root causes and downstream effects of the neighborhood’s biggest challenges,” according to Friends of Little Saigon (FLS).
One element of the plan involves improving the public realm in Little Saigon using Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), which can include strategies like lighting, tree pruning, and public art. The initiative is also intended to leverage community resources to improve public safety, and advocate for local government support for actions that the community cannot achieve on its own.
Many of the ideas suggested in the 100-day challenge are already underway, said Quynh Pham, executive director of FLS, during the kick-off event. During the kick-off event, over 50 participants split into tables representing residents, business owners, community-based organizations, service providers, local government and others, and broke out into brainstorming sessions to generate the ideas.
The kick-off was intended to bolster community ownership in the Phố Đẹp initiative.
“FLS believes that the most sustainable solutions come from within the community,” said Pham in a statement. “Phố Đẹp is about reclaiming our neighborhood’s vitality through collaboration and strategic problem-solving, rooted in uplifting our cultural communities.”
The neighborhood has recently experienced acute challenges on its streets from drug activity and overdoses, violent crime, property crime, burglary and vandalism, illegal selling of stolen goods.
Open drug consumption, loitering, and illegal street markets have been persistent challenges in the neighborhood for the past four years, according to a report from the Seattle Police Department prepared by Barb Biondo, Seattle Police West Precinct Crime Prevention Coordinator.
“Many of Seattle’s social issues have centralized in Little Saigon, placing additional pressure on a historically underrepresented community dealing with high displacement, limited access to culturally responsive resources, and a lack of investment in essential amenities and infrastructure,” according to FLS.
Taking inspiration from a similarly placed-based effort in Rainier Reach in 2015, the effort started last year, with Friends of Little Saigon gathering partners, building capacity, and holding community stakeholder gatherings with residents, business owners, nonprofit partners, and local government agencies to brainstorm priorities, challenges, and resources, and solutions to root causes of crime in the neighborhood.
These brainstorming sessions resulted in a Little Saigon Safety Plan.
People who participated in the Safety Plan workshops leading up to the February kick-off event expressed dismay and frustration with conditions in the neighborhood, according to a report from SPD Crime Prevention Coordinator Biono. These concerns included “feeling overwhelmed by large gatherings of people exhibiting mental/behavioral health challenges engaging in drug use, selling stolen merchandise on the street, obstructing sidewalks, bus stops, entrances to business or residences or taking over the entire Hoa Mai Park.”
Participants also named graffiti, trash and biohazards such as human waste and discarded needles in public places, and expressed “frustration with local individuals and business involvement in EBT-for-cash fraud and fencing stolen property that contributes to the drug market and crime and makes the neighborhood feel unsafe and unwelcoming,” according to the report. Business owners said they worried about safety for their staff and that the costs to repair after a burglary or vandalism make it hard to stay in business.
The Little Saigon Safety Plan identified eight main challenges to safety in the neighborhood, and a variety of overlapping solutions.
To address “an unwelcoming and unclean environment,” the workshop participants suggested adding color and character to the neighborhood, organizing more community events, promoting volunteer cleanups, and getting dedicated funding for sanitation and cleaning services. For the problem of sidewalks and public spaces obstructed by drug use and illegal vending, they recommended improving sightlines, increasing social service outreach, and funding at least two consistent outreach staff for the CID.
When it comes to public drug use and overdoses, the stakeholders said increasing social service outreach and funding more accessible drop-in centers and treatment facilities would help. On homelessness and encampments, suggested solutions included social service outreach and improving communication between mutual aid groups and local businesses, to help people experiencing homelessness and substance abuse have a pathway to housing and resources. Stakeholders also suggested building more affordable housing citywide, including permanent supportive housing, would help alleviate the problem.
The participants recommended educating residents and businesses on EBT fraud and illegal street vending to cut down on these problems.
For theft, property crime, and violent crime, participants recommended improving sightlines, improving security on private property, launching a community block watch program, supporting the CIDBIA’s community ambassador program, and boosting City funding for small business support programs.
They also suggested addressing property neglect and vacancy rates by activating the neighborhood and businesses, facilitating the transfer of land and property into community hands, and reducing ISRD storefront design requirements for businesses in Little Saigon.
To address slow police response times and a lack of alternatives to calling 911, the stakeholders recommended a community block watch program as well as strengthening and spreading the word about language accessibility options for 911.
A core part of the Phố Đẹp plan is to “sustain momentum” to continue implementing the Phố Đẹp plan in the coming years.
From March 2025 to October 2027, Friends of Little Saigon will convene a coalition to implement the interventions in the Little Saigon Safety Plan, as well as identify resources to support implementation.
