I've been hearing lots of negativity — and lots of hype — about downtown Seattle (usually to prove some political point). So here’s a little reality check from Belltown, immediately adjacent to the downtown core. Overall, Belltown is doing ok, with some caveats. Consumer spending is up. Visitor traffic is up. Hotel demand is up. And I can say from personal experience: restaurant business is up. In Q1, downtown consumer spending was up 17% over 2025. August visitor traffic was up 24% year over year, and hotel room demand was up 3%. August seemed especially good, thankfully because FIFA actually sucked for us (lots of spun hype on that as well). We have had about 5 new restaurants open in the neighborhood over the last 18 months. BUT — some serious shit. Belltown/Denny Regrade office vacancy is about 32%, compared with about 28% for Seattle overall. And violent crime. Through May, Seattle’s West Precinct — which includes Belltown as well as the downtown core, CID and SLU — reported violent crime up 14%, robberies up 27% and shots fired up almost 47%. But also imprtant to note: property crime was actually down about 2%, and overall reported crime was up only about 2%. So be cynical when you read “downtown is dying” or “everything is great.” More people are visiting. They’re spending more money. Hotels are doing more business. Our business is up. At the same time, office vacancies remain extremely high and Belltown has a serious violent-crime problem.