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Scratched windows, tagged walls, busted glass — some say it is the cost of doing business on Capitol Hill and across Seattle. Now, the city is launching a $2 million Seattle Storefront Repair Fund powered by federal dollars to help small business owners deal with vandalism and damage.
Details of the new grant program were being announced Tuesday by Mayor Bruce Harrell and Councilmember Sara Nelson in the University District. The program will leverage nearly $2 million dollars of federal funding “to repair or reimburse damage to small business storefronts,” a City Hall announcement reads.
UPDATE: The Harrell administration tells CHS the new fund will cover glass and windows but not graffiti — “this fund does not cover costs for graffiti removal, however with existing funding and partnerships OED continues to support businesses who need assistance with graffiti removal.”
Details will include grants of up to $2,000 per business and claims on damages as far back as January 2021. To qualify, businesses must have under $7 million in annual revenue and fewer than 50 employees. Covered damage includes broken windows, broken doors, broken locks and etching on glass.
The new fund comes amid increased efforts led by the Harrell administration and public safety-focused councilmembers like Nelson that have also focused on issues like graffiti and trash in addition to increasing police resources in areas of the city.
Meanwhile, the city has also expanded programs to better activate empty storefronts to also help cut down on crime and vandalism — though Capitol Hill’s relatively robust commercial real estate market may not have a need.
The fund program is growing out of existing efforts in the city that have used funding from community groups in Pioneer Square and the University District to pay for window replacement grants there.
The pandemic and the 2020 protests saw an explosion in graffiti and vandalism in the city created partly by fewer people on the streets. Many Capitol Hill targets were part of major chains like the E Olive Way Starbucks that was targeted repeatedly in 2020 before the company shuttered it this year amid a swirl of controversy over its politics and labor tactics. It is unlikely the new fund will be geared toward helping the coffee giant.
The pandemic’s anti vandalism efforts also created some of the bright spots of Capitol Hill’s COVID era as “plywood art galleries” sprung up around the neighborhood to help protect windows and glass doors during long closures.
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Might as well stifle any remaining personality from Cap Hill. As I’ve said before, New Seattle – sanitized for your protection. I wonder if anyone in gov realizes how this escalates the opposite of what’s intended. There are other ways to deal with this besides the hammer.
Yeah…. trying to help small businesses recover from being vandalized, over and over again until they cannot afford to stay here totally destroys the character of a neighborhood 🤦
Yeah, we all love the “personality” that broken windows and vandalized buildings bring to our neighborhood! Who might want to live in a place where the buildings are in good repair??
lol, yes, seattle is so sqeaky clean and sanitized, lol. shiny needles and glimmering broken glass, bliss!
Graffiti=”personality”? Perhaps you’d like some “personality” sprayed all over your car, house or apartment building.
I personally do love the graffiti around cap hill but the busted glass isn’t an aesthetic and it does cost small businesses, especially if they’re targeted consistently. This sounds like an actual helpful move from the gov, so good on them for once.
On the up side, there seems to be a lot more dog shit on the sidewalks.
Why are we not giving 2 million to help homeless? Why help businesses over PEOPLE?
We’re already giving 155 million to homelessness… and you want want this 2 million too….
Businesses are people!!!
Good!
Also, consider the irreparable damage you would be doing to the graffiti eradication small business owner.
Wrong. The program, if it addressed graffiti, would simply pay or reimburse small business owners for their graffiti removal costs. They would still have to hire someone to remove the graffiti. So, no damage to graffiti removal businesses. But thanks for bending over backwards to offer yet another ridiculous argument against a completely sensible idea. Why would you be against a city program to try to assist small businesses who have been vandalized? Is it good that they’ve been vandalized? Does it make our city stronger? More diverse? What is your point in offering arguments in opposition ?
Hopefully they can also do better at preventing some of these messes in the first place. But the root causes run deep so this is a band aid.
The root cause is lack of consequences for the jackoffs who destroy property
Don’t most businesses (or the property owner) have insurance that covers the cost of repair when their property is damaged?
Once you enter the adult world and have bills of your own, you will learn that insurance isn’t free money. The business owner must file a claim and pay a deductible. If you file too many claims in a given timeframe, insurance premiums will go up. If there are too many incidents in a specific neighborhood, insurance companies will raise rates to provide insurance in those areas or pull out of the market. The higher cost of business forces out small local businesses because they don’t have as deep of pockets at chains.
Yes, at least at first. At some point they will increase premiums or refuse to provide coverage. There have been multiple articles about this in our area. Personally, our car has been broken into enough times that we are experiencing this ourselves.
Yes, but just like with your car your deductable may be more than just paying for the damage out of pocket.
In Viet Wah one day, a young man attempted to walk out without paying for a large carton of oranges. When confronted by the manager, he said “This is what your insurance is for.”
I wonder why they just closed up shop.
Oh please. What a simpleton. Even if they have insurance it doesn’t cover the full cost. Deductibles can be quite large. Do you even know what a deductible is? And repeated incidents lead to policy price increases or cancellations. Do you think insurance companies will just keep eating the costs of replacement without adjusting rates upwards? And consider disruptions to businesses just trying to operate in an environment where their front door might be shattered every three months. I know people who have gone through that in our neighborhood and it is demoralizing, depressing, and expensive. I am so sick of imbeciles with no understanding of life endorsing idiocy and stupidity in our neighborhood.
Glenn, I was only asking the question, not advocating for not helping business owners as the city is proposing. Thanks for the explanation. I don’t think I deserve your vitriol.
There’s vitriol because there seems to be at least some belief in the window breaking crowed that it’s a “victimless crime” and that businesses just get compensated for all of their merry prankstering and/or that the businesses owners somehow deserve it for not giving their product away…
Maybe you do kind of deserve it. It’s quite easy to do research about what insurance covers, what it doesn’t, and the costs. It shouldn’t be up to an internet comment section to explain and educate you on life.
It would be really great if our businesses and homeowners didn’t have to deal with this in the first place but I’m glad the city is stepping up to help. These extra costs can kill small businesses.