“Day by day, we have worked together to get our city back on the right track – restoring parks, reducing the crime rate, and getting Downtown bustling again,” said Harrell. “I think there’s a different mood in this city – a renewed spark, belief and optimism that we are on the right trajectory.”
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Speaking from the stage at Benaroya Hall, Mayor Bruce Harrell delivered his annual State of the City address Tuesday to an audience of department heads, City Councilmembers, city staff and civic leaders.
It was the fourth and final address of Harrell’s first term in office. In it, the mayor, who’s seeking reelection this year, highlighted the progress the city has made since he took office in 2022 amid pandemic turmoil, Seattle’s commitment to fighting back against harmful federal policies and what’s in store in 2025.
“Day by day, we have worked together to get our city back on the right track – restoring parks, reducing the crime rate, and getting Downtown bustling again,” said Harrell. “I think there’s a different mood in this city – a renewed spark, belief and optimism that we are on the right trajectory.”
Most of the nearly hour-long speech focused on what Harrell’s office plans to do this year. Here are a few of the major highlights:
A car-free Pike Place Market
Harrell wants to make the stretch of Seattle from the waterfront to Pike Place Market to “one of the greatest pedestrian experiences in the country.” The revamped waterfront park will open in 2025. The new Overlook Walk opened in 2024 connecting the waterfront and the Market with an elevated pedestrian walkway.
The last piece of the puzzle, said Harrell, is getting cars off the crowded street along the market. He said that the city will consider merchants, deliveries and ADA access, but it’s time for private cars to go. “It’s one thing to weave through crowds of enthusiastic shoppers, it’s another to weave through stop-and-go automobiles.”
The idea has been controversial for decades, with representatives from groups like Friends of the Market opposing past proposals to remove private vehicles. Harrell is sure to be met with resistance, but promised to bring stakeholders together to make it happen.
Faster construction of West Seattle and Ballard light rail
Sound Transit is in the planning stages of its third phase of light-rail expansion. As part of the project, West Seattle and Ballard will get light-rail lines of their own … eventually. The West Seattle line is projected to open in 2032 and Ballard in 2039 at the earliest.
To shorten that timeline, Harrell announced the expansion of the existing Office of Waterfront and Civic Projects to become the Office of Waterfront, Civic Projects and Sound Transit.
Sound Transit is the regional agency tasked with light-rail construction and operations. The expanded city office will take on Seattle’s pieces of the project, including expediting permitting and planning around future stations as well as assisting with project design and engineering. Harrell said doing so could speed project delivery by a year.
More housing in more of the city
Seattle is currently updating its Comprehensive Plan, a 20-year zoning blueprint that dictates where, what kind and how much housing and commercial development can be built around the city.
Harrell’s proposed comp plan update was released in 2024. It’s now in the City Council’s hands to modify and formally adopt by this June.
The plan has met tremendous pushback from neighborhood groups who oppose the proposed changes in their communities as well as concern from some councilmembers.
Harrell used his speech to make the case for passing the comprehensive plan as he proposed, without watering it down: “For Seattle to continue to rise, our neighborhoods can’t stay stagnant.”
The mayor also announced plans to redevelop Aurora Avenue North, a busy arterial with many strip malls, into a mixed-use neighborhood, as well as plans to cut red tape for residential and business permitting throughout the city.
Fort Lawton affordable housing might finally move forward
For nearly 20 years, Seattle leaders have been fighting to build affordable housing for low-income residents on the former Fort Lawton Army Reserve Center next to Discovery Park. In addition to building new homes, the plan would also expand the boundaries of the city park. But the project has been delayed time and again by lawsuits from neighbors.
The most recent proposal to build 500 homes on the site and add 22 acres of open space to Discovery Park got federal approval just before President Joe Biden’s administration ended, the mayor announced Tuesday. Harrell plans to send the proposal to the City Council this spring for final approval so the development can, perhaps, finally be completed.
In addition to highlighting plans for 2025, Harrell expressed “grave concerns” for what the Trump administration could attempt to do to Seattle and its residents and affirmed his commitments to Seattle values, including “our LGBTQ+ community, particularly trans individuals, our immigrant and refugee neighbors; women; working families.”
Harrell said he is working with state and local leaders to prepare to do, and will “not hesitate to do, everything in our power to defend our people and our rights” when unlawful federal actions threaten the city’s values, policies and priorities.
In February, the city of Seattle joined a lawsuit with other sanctuary jurisdictions over the threat by the Trump administration to cut off federal grants to sanctuary cities, counties and states.
