By Kai Curry
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
Phố Đẹp meaning “Beautiful City,” is an initiative launched in February 2025 to address safety and security concerns in Seattle’s Little Saigon neighborhood. The Friends of Little Sài Gòn (FLS), based on Weller Street, hope it will be a self-fulfilling prophecy—transforming the area into a safer, more vibrant community through partnerships with the City of Seattle and organizations like the Seattle Indian Commission.
Phase 1 of Phố Đẹp could be called the planning phase. It began last spring and continued until February of this year. A working group of community members formed to brainstorm problems and solutions. The impetus was an increase of insecurity in Little Saigon, worsened during the pandemic, including harassment of shop owners and a general decline in the beautification of the area due to the proximity of rescue shelters.
“A lot of our public safety issues have been issues we’ve been dealing with for a long time,” said FLS Executive Director Quynh Pham. Pham explained, “With COVID-19 and the economic changes in the neighborhood, losing businesses and having high vacancies” have created opportunities for illicit and illegal activities. The conclusion of Phase 1 coincided with the creation of a Safety Plan, announced in a kickoff gathering Feb. 27 in the Chinatown-International District (CID).
The recommendations in this plan come directly from the discussions and ideas proposed at the community gatherings.
“Phố Đẹp represents a long-overdue investment in the heart of Little Saigon, a neighborhood that has long been overlooked despite its rich cultural heritage and deep community ties,” said Tanya Woo, who recently held a related news conference on the closing and relocation of the Navigation Center. “Many of us have been advocating for meaningful support for Little Saigon for years, and while this initiative is a step in the right direction, it must be paired with sustained commitment and resources to truly meet the needs of the community.”
Phase 2 of Phố Đẹp will be the implementation and hopefully the sustaining of the Safety Plan, which identifies problems and proposes strategies to fight those problems. Problems identified by the plan include “an unwelcoming and unclean environment,” “public drug use and overdoses,” “theft, property crime, and violent crime,” and “slow police response time.” Desirable outcomes listed in a chart in the plan would be for Little Saigon to be welcoming, accessible, thriving, and safe, with consistent support from the community, city, and county.
Quynh Pham
Pham said a lot of the efforts made so far “have been Band-Aid solutions or have been piecemealed together, rather than feeling like it was an intentional effort to resolve the problems we’re dealing with. Phố Đẹp, said Pham, looks at “all the causes and issues” and at “how do we bring people together, both community and decision makers, to invest in sustainable solutions and push forward action.” It holds people accountable, she said, and also will help “build up the capacity” of the neighborhood to help itself. FLS can’t be the only ones doing the heavy lifting.
“Phố Đẹp aligns with some of the priorities we’ve all been pushing for,” said Woo. “However, it remains to be seen whether it will fully address the urgent concerns raised at the press conference regarding the Navigation Center. We need real solutions to the homelessness and fentanyl crisis that protect both our unhoused neighbors and the small businesses struggling to stay afloat.”
Four focus areas
The Safety Plan categorizes Little Saigon into four focus areas by color. The “red” area is the “commercial heart” of Little Saigon and includes its busiest intersections at 12th and Jackson Street, and 12th and King Street. Yet, there are many vacant lots in what should be the most bustling part of Little Saigon. The only school in the neighborhood, Summit Sierra High School, is here, as well as new housing and affordable housing. The only park is also here: Hoa Mai Park. The “purple” area is where the Navigation Center can be found, which is scheduled to close in March 2025. The steep hill that many associate with this area consists of unmaintained and undeveloped parcels of land leading towards Goodwill. The “yellow” area is the eastern edge, including an affordable apartment building, with small businesses and offices; while the “green” area marks the northern boundary around 12th and Main Street. Hookah lounges are found here more than in other areas, and it is also the location of the famous restaurant, the Phở Bắc Sup Shop.
The strategies to address the neighborhood’s challenges fall into four key areas: enhancing safety through environmental design—like adding lighting, art, and trimming overgrown foliage; increasing guardianship by attracting more people to public spaces, ensuring more eyes on the area and more help if a crime occurs; changing or enforcing policies, such as improving signage to communicate expected norms in public places; and fostering social cohesion by building a stronger sense of community that brings people together for the common good.
“We all will continue to push for investments that prioritize the wellbeing of our entire community, ensuring that projects like Phố Đẹp lead to lasting, positive change rather than temporary relief,” said Woo.
“This is a vulnerable community that’s already underserved,” said Pham. “We’re looking to inspire community members to take action.” To this end, FLS has launched, along with the initiative, a “100 day challenge” to find out what can be accomplished within 100 days, “so that the community feels ownership over the neighborhood” and to push for more resources.
The Phố Đẹp Safety Plan can be viewed here: Learn more about the Friends of Little Sài Gòn at flsseattle.org.
Kai can be reached at newstips@nwasianweekly.com.