Chinatown International District (CID)

Acknowledging Harm

The Chinatown International District (CID) is a historically significant and culturally rich community in Seattle’s south downtown that has seen decades of insufficient investment, harmful public policies, and institutional racism. In recent years, the community has faced new public and private development pressures, the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and a rise in anti-Asian hate crimes and violence.

In 2023, the National Trust for Historic Preservation named the CID to its list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places—marking Washington state’s first inclusion on the list since it was established in 1988.

The City of Seattle acknowledges the harmful and cumulative impact of governmental policies and projects on the CID. This community-led visioning for equity and justice is a call to action for sustained investments, trusted relationships, and capacity building.

CID Visioning Advisory Group: Community Self-Determination

In 2019, a group of CID organizations came together informally as the CID Visioning Advisory Group to identify how the community can have a stronger voice and influence in the face of multiple pressures. With funding from the City of Seattle, the group has sponsored a community process to:

  • build a structure for inclusive community engagement and decision- making,
  • ensure community self-determination in projects that impact the CID, and
  • create a long-term community vision and plan.

A large group of Asian, Pacific Islander, and Native Hawaiian people pose for a group shot in rain gear outside Mike's Noodles.

Photo courtesy of SCIDpda

CID Program Deliverables & Implementation Resources

Use this Toolkit to ensure opportunities for meaningful participation of diverse communities in the CID. It will also help you build powerful community voices and advocacy for projects and policies that affect the CID. Implementation of those projects in a way that supports community goals and needs is also covered.

The Toolkit has three parts:

  1. Workbook - A comprehensive guide for planning a community engagement process.
  2. Research & Resources - Additional information to supplement the Workbook.
  3. Planning Guide - A streamlined overview of the Workbook and Research & Resources.

Based on input from hundreds of CID community members from 2020-2022, the CID Neighborhood Strategic Plan shares community concerns and strengths, while outlining a 10-year vision, goals and strategies for the CID.

The Neighborhood Strategic Plan is focused on 6 community-identified priorities.

  1. Community Safety and Health: Individual and community safety, health and wellness.
  2. Business and Economic Strength: Thriving neighborhood businesses, including preservation of longstanding/legacy businesses who wish to stay in the CID.
  3. Neighborhood Character, History and Culture: The culture and history central to the CID's identity is preserved and honored, and other communities that are part of the neighborhood's diverse history and identity are also recognized and celebrated.
  4. Housing: Available for both longtime/existing residents, particularly elders and families, and for residents who can strengthen a customer base to support neighborhood businesses.
  5. Transportation and Mobility: Ease of getting around, within, to and from the neighborhood, with a priority on residents, particularly elders.
  6. Community Strength and Self-Determination: A CID inclusive of diverse groups and across generations, who use collective voice and power for community self-determination of the CID's growth and development.

The CID Vision Group, along with direct input from residents, community-based organizations, and small business owners, have directed this effort to translate the Vision Group’s 2022-2023 Neighborhood Strategic Plan into this Implementation Plan. The solutions here result from years of coordination, volunteer time, and community-led engagement. The neighborhood comprises diverse stakeholders of many cultural backgrounds, however, the thinking here represents an exceptionally unified voice of the community.

This Implementation Plan is designed to solicit action. The intention is to combine context and direction in order for the City of Seattle along with other responsible governments and additional community partners to translate the CID Vision Group’s 10-year vision into accountable tasks. Operationalizing these will take iteration. A neighborhood engaging the City's multiple departments and internal dynamics in a district-wide plan that they have designed is innovative. Successfully aligning the expectations of community members and the City in a process that meets the needs of community and government stakeholders will be a challenge. However, acknowledging the missteps and broken trust of the past, the actions outlined in this plan assume some basic measures of Accountability.

In June 2025, the CID Visioning Advisory Group officially submitted the CID Implementation Plan to the City of Seattle.

As of September 2025, the CID Visioning Advisory Group is working in subcommittees focused on 5 priority areas:

  • Strategic Planning for FIFA Event Impact: We will need to develop a resourced strategy for 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will bring massive influx of visitors into Seattle, to maximize the potential economic benefit for neighborhood businesses and create mitigation tactics for the unintended costs of parking access and safety property damage. Trust needs to be earned here with the city’s clear, thoughtful, and community-led commitment to determine the specifics risks and strategy to mitigate them. Similarly, we need a particular plan for the benefits of FIFA and to secure the neighborhood.
  • Local Business Needs Assessment: We know that businesses will identify safety and property damage, parking challenges, and tenant improvements as priorities. We also that the specific solutions that they may require are diverse. We need linguistically accessible surveying of neighborhood businesses to ensure we have well-informed date on what businesses need and what solutions will fit.
  • Public Safety Support: The neighborhood’s public safety issues will not be solved quickly or easily. The problems are systemic and generations in the making. Even through addressing the full scope of the myriads of issues will take time, delaying action that leads to immediate relief and gets us closer to success is unacceptable. We need responsive in-language capacity
  • Community Health & Wellness: The diverse groups and organizations operating within the CID—ranging from the Chinese Information and Service Center and International District Emergency Center to larger healthcare providers like International Community Health Services and Seattle Indian Health Board—highlight the rich tapestry of support available in the neighborhood. From food distribution programs for low-income elders to block watch programs enhancing public safety, the scope of services is broad, yet there’s a recognized need for a more coordinated approach to map these resources effectively. This call for an accurate inventory of health program and service assets underscores a crucial step towards identifying gaps, streamlining efforts, and ensuring all community members' needs are met.
  • Coordination and Support for Building Repairs: Risks to residents and commercial tenants, landowners, and the cultural identity of the district are converging. Without careful coordination, adequate resources identified, and community leadership integrated into the necessary policy and procedure changes, failing buildings will have massive consequences. We need to identify technical support and funding to support building repair, engage building owners, and coordinate conversations in the community about URM. This is an essential priority because of the catastrophic danger of an earthquake, the devastating risk of displacement without coordination and funding, and how long this process will take. Local government needs to act now to help the process keep moving, to secure responsive and informed communication with tenants and building owners, and to coordinate the city departments to have the capacity to be a proactive partner. Technical expertise for activating New Market and Historic Tax Credit opportunities should be engaged immediately.

Ongoing City Partnership 

The City of Seattle is partnering with the CID Visioning Advisory Group to understand the needs, priorities, and impacts of our work in the CID. We are supporting the efforts of the CID community convening the City’s internal CID team, piloting new neighborhood-based tools for transparency, and supporting the CID community in amplifying their work and the implementation of their plans.

Two people paint a mural on a boarded up storefront.

Photo courtesy of SCIDpda

Neighborhoods

Quynh Pham, Acting Director
Address: 600 4th Avenue, 4th Floor, Seattle, WA , 98104
Mailing Address: PO Box 94649, Seattle, WA, 98124-4649
Phone: (206) 684-0464
Fax: (206) 233-5142
seattleneighborhoods@seattle.gov

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Seattle Department of Neighborhoods provides resources and opportunities for community members to build strong communities and improve their quality of life.