2030 Strategic Plan
Letter from the Executive Director
Dear Pioneer Square Community,
For more than a century, Pioneer Square has been the heart of Seattle’s story—its commerce, creativity, culture, and grit. That story continues today, and the Alliance for Pioneer Square is proud to share our 2030 Strategic Plan: a roadmap built to honor our history while boldly shaping our future.
This plan reflects hundreds of conversations with neighbors, small business owners, property managers, service providers, advocates, sports partners, artists, and city leaders. Their voices, your voices, guided every choice. The result is a clear and ambitious vision: a neighborhood that is vibrant, clean, and safe; a place where all feel welcome; and an economic and cultural destination that continues to grow without losing what makes it uniquely Pioneer Square.
Pioneer Square is resilient. We have weathered economic shifts, a pandemic, changing office patterns, and an evolving city landscape. Through it all, the neighborhood’s character has remained rooted in ingenuity, perseverance, and community.
This strategic plan is our commitment to stability, momentum, and thoughtful transformation. It outlines practical steps to strengthen small businesses, activate our public spaces, improve neighborhood safety, expand housing opportunities, and elevate the voice of the community in city-level decisions. We will continue to advocate fiercely, convene partners, and bring resources together to support the people who live, work, visit, and create here.
The Alliance is ready for this work, and we are grateful to every partner walking alongside us.
Thank you for believing in Pioneer Square. Thank you for investing time, resources, energy, and heart. Together, we will build a thriving future that reflects the very best of this historic and extraordinary neighborhood.
With appreciation,
Lisa Howard Executive Director Alliance for Pioneer
Square
Welcome to Pioneer Square
Our Mission & Vision
Mission
The Alliance for Pioneer Square is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to preserving and enhancing what makes Pioneer Square the most authentic, engaging, and dynamic neighborhood in Seattle. We serve as a connector and convener—bringing people, ideas, and resources together to support a thriving community. We fiercely advocate for the neighborhood while implementing programs across five core areas:
• Economic Vitality
• Urban Design & Planning
• Quality of Life & Community Safety
• Communications & Marketing
• Leadership Development & Organizational Strength
Vision for 2030
Pioneer Square is a vibrant, clean, and safe neighborhood with thriving small businesses, activated storefronts, and a diverse residential population. It is a model for historic preservation and creative adaptation, and a place where all feel welcome.
Goals & Strategies
Goal: Economic Vitality
Strengthen Pioneer Square’s economy by supporting independent businesses, enhancing the neighborhood’s creative assets, connecting to the growing sports tourism market, and advocating for a diversity of housing types.
Strategies:
1. Reduce business vacancy rate by retaining existing businesses and recruiting quality office and retail
2. Support and improve the neighborhood’s creative assets and businesses
3. Partner with the City and sports and event facilities to position Pioneer Square as Seattle’s sports economy hub, promoting policies and programs that drive event-related spending to neighborhood businesses
4. Advocate for balanced housing diversity in the neighborhood with a priority on workforce housing, while retaining community characteristics
Strategies:
1. Secure continued support from City staff and Council for neighborhood plans, housing development, community-led projects, and Waterfront connections
Goal:
Urban Design & Planning
Protect and improve the vibrancy and visual interest of Pioneer Square’s public spaces through promoting active use of spaces, supporting physical improvements and amenities, and initiating and implementing long-range planning.
2. Work with the Pioneer Square Preservation Board to make their process more transparent, accessible, and effective
3. Advocate on behalf of stakeholders to ensure transit and mobility services meet community needs
4. Advocate for improvements to areaways, street walls, and adjacent infrastructure
5. Work with Sound Transit and City of Seattle to incorporate community needs into designs of current and future Pioneer Square and International District light rail stations
Goal:
Quality of Life & Community Safety
Advocate for improvements so that Pioneer Square is perceived as a safe and accessible urban environment.
Strategies:
1. Create and implement an advocacy agenda to inform leaders about Pioneer Square quality of life issues
2. Implement place-based public safety initiatives to solve specific area safety concerns
3. Conduct an annual public safety and perception survey
4. Provide connections to public safety agencies for Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) and de-escalation training
Strategies:
Goal:
Communications & Marketing
Provide quality advertising, marketing, and event support to promote Pioneer Square as the most authentic Seattle destination and maintain clear, effective communication with neighborhood stakeholders.
1. Create an effective media strategy to promote Pioneer Square as a high-quality experience
2. Develop and support high-quality events that attract visitors and highlight Pioneer Square’s unique attributes
3. Communicate the role of the Alliance and improve understanding among stakeholders
Goal:
Leadership Development & Organizational Strength
Deliver professional management of the organization and programs, lead an effective advocacy agenda, and build policy competencies within Pioneer Square stakeholders.
Strategies:
1. Manage the Alliance and BIA Programs to ensure oversight, transparency, and success
2. Advocate for the neighborhood and the issues that impact Pioneer Square at city, county, and state levels and cultivate neighborhood capacity to strengthen those advocacy efforts
3. Increase awareness of the Alliance’s programs and work in the community
5. Encourage Washington State to include an Urban Main Street program in the state program
Thank you to our stakeholders!
Steering Committee
Heather Hodge
Leila Kirske
Jane Nelson
Tija Petrovich
Ryan Smith
Henry Watson
Alliance Board of Directors
Charles Beall
Barry Blanton
Kim Cook
Jennie Dorsett
Adam Hasson
Heather Hodge
Leila Kirske
Jane Nelson
Justin Nikbakhsh
Tija Petrovich
Ryan Smith
Steve VanDerhoef
Henry Watson
Grant Wojahn
BIA Stakeholder Board Members
Barry Blanton
Dani Cone
Adam Hasson
Emily Kim
Paul McKee
Jane Nelson
Matthew Remington
Judith Rinehart
Aidan Sakakini
Jesse Spring
Alliance Staff
Anahí Bendeck, Design & Planning Manager
Katie Bishop, Programs & Administration Manager
Alissa Bolla, Business Strategy Manager
Nadia Flusche, Sports Economy Coordinator
Lisa Howard, Executive Director
Angela Nguyen, Marketing & Communications Manager
Jessa Timmer, Deputy Director
Susan Stoltzfus, Communications Specialist
Consultants
Kate Joncas, Place Strategic
Julie Rey, Greenside Consulting