On May 12 this year, Tuyen Than began work as Executive Director of the Chinatown International District Business Improvement Area (CIDBIA). Founded in 1994 by local businesses and property owners, the organization coordinates sanitation, public safety, events, and general advocacy for the neighborhoods’ needs. It is funded on a self-imposed assessment rate paid by local business and property owners.
When the Executive Director position came up, Than felt that her passion for the neighborhood might make her a good candidate. As she explained: “When I picture someone who’s the new Executive Director for the BIA, I picture someone who’s super connected to the neighborhood, who knows the history, who knows the businesses, who understands the relationships and nuance.”
After three rounds of interviews and a final round that involved a literal circle of around a dozen community members, Than was hired – her first time in a leadership role of this kind. Her previous experience includes being co-founder of Drag & Drop Creative along with her partner Ryan Catabay, a creative studio located in the CID which works extensively with small businesses. Than also founded the CID Block Party in 2016, an annual event which brings some 5,000 attendees underneath I-5 to celebrate and take in Asian American music, arts and culture, transforming a desolate concrete section of the CID. Than also serves on the board of Historic South Downtown, an organization that works to “preserve, restore, and promote the past, present, and future of Seattle’s Pioneer Square and Chinatown International District neighborhoods.”
“I see [the CIDBIA] as a leader for businesses, a resource — not only for marketing and figuring out and navigating permits and navigating government, but public safety and being an advocate, and connecting businesses to the city in a way… where businesses can be heard — their concerns, their issues,” Than said. “Chinatown… [just has] so many issues that, if you aren’t from the neighborhood, you wouldn’t think of as top of mind.”
Living and working in the CID for over a decade has allowed Than to witness the complexities of the neighborhood, in order to potentially find better solutions.
“I’m not a tourist. I’m always here,” she said. “The thing about living here and working here is that I never leave and I never want to, and I also see the neighborhood through everything and through all its cycles… not just when there’s an event and when there’s a lot of people here. I’m here when there’s stabbings and shootings and fires, and I’m here when all the businesses are boarded up. I’m still here, no matter what, through the good times and the bad times.”
Among the neighborhood’s uniquely large and looming challenges, Than identifies the Trump administration’s threats to implement tariffs upon global imports as potentially detrimental. Though the federal government’s plans have been unpredictable and shifting, high tariffs on countries from Asia may affect the rising cost of Asian groceries and food products, which are used extensively in CID restaurants.
“The increase in tariffs is going to affect inflation,” Than said. “I think all of that compounds for small businesses, and it makes it really challenging when you’re just trying to live and operate.”
Other issues Than identifies as important to the neighborhood include public safety, the increase in the city’s minimum wage this year, Sound Transit’s new light rail station in the neighborhood, and the upcoming World Cup in 2026, which is a global multicultural event that will bring an influx of tourists into downtown Seattle.
“I see Chinatown right now going through a lot of challenges, [but] it feels like there’s a lot of opportunity on top of all the things that are happening,” Than said. In particular, she added that audiences from the World Cup could meaningfully be activated to support CID businesses.
In her role as the CIDBIA’s Executive Director, Than also hopes to leverage her community-building skills. Among the questions she asks herself is how she might play a role in bringing different neighborhood organizations and groups together. She sees that in terms of the Sound Transit light rail station, which has divided the CID community between those who want it placed on 4th Avenue and those who want it in two locations outside of the neighborhood. She also wants to find ways that businesses and nonprofits can work together in the face of rising challenges.
“There’s a lack of resources, and there’s a lack of a unified voice,” she said, regarding the neighborhood. “Going into this role, I really want to prioritize working together. We might not agree on everything – on all the topics – but if we can all work towards a similar goal of making the CID [and] improving the CID, then I feel like we’ll be stronger together and also get more resources to the neighborhood.”
Such resourcefulness has long existed in the CID. Referring to local business owners, Than noted that when many of them first came to the CID, they may have given up their previous lives because their previous education or experience in their home countries was no longer valid in the United States.
“They had to create their own opportunity and just do what they knew how to do,” she said. “That’s why I’m drawn to this place, because it’s not about waiting for something to happen to you. You make things happen… when the Gang of Four and Uncle Bob and… all the nonprofits came up, it was because they saw a need, and they did something about it.”
“People are drawn to this community because of the history, because you come here and you feel comfortable and at home, and you want to protect that, because it’s worth protecting,” Than added.
This need for protection of a precious community is something Than knows from personal experience. Than’s parents met in a Thai refugee camp and the couple immigrated to the United States after being sponsored by another family. Than was later raised by her mother, a single parent, in Lacey, Washington, where she and her mother were the only Vietnamese American family they knew. Than and her mother lived in South Seattle and moved around a lot, but they would frequently visit restaurants and grocery stores in Little Saigon for cultural foods and a sense of community.
“Those are the places that my mom took me, because she could talk to people and ask them questions, and she felt really comfortable and felt part of a community,” she said.
Than’s long experience of being in the community is something that brings value to the work of the CIDBIA. Her continued choice to work and live in the CID speaks volumes about how she will bring community values forward.
“I’m here… and that’s the thing about building community — is you learn to just be around each other and not expect anything. It’s not transactional,” said Than. “If something happens, people are going to be there for you, and because they know that you would do the same for them.”
