Is downtown Bellingham becoming safer? Here’s what the latest report shows
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- City crews removed 26 tons of garbage and 1,332 graffiti tags since Sept. 2024.
- Drug-related EMS calls dropped to 0.7 per day, down from 1.3 a year earlier.
- Downtown foot traffic rebounded, surpassing pre-2019 levels by 65,000 visits.
There’s been a lot of talk in recent years about downtown Bellingham’s reputation for being unsafe due to homelessness, drug use and crime, but Mayor Kim Lund is striving to improve the area through the implementation of her executive order from February 2024 implementing an initiative known as “Downtown Forward.”
The initiative was introduced with the goal to make downtown “safer, cleaner and more welcoming” through increased police patrols, clearing out illegal drugs, cleaning streets, alleyways and sidewalks, and adding a downtown office for emergency medical services.
In August 2024 the Downtown Forward’s six-month progress report was released, stating that Public Works spent 3,000 hours cleaning downtown, 28 tons of garbage was removed, 441 graffiti tags were removed, 53 drug citations were given and there were 91 emphasis patrols from January through August. EMS calls for drug overdoses also decreased from March 2024 to July 2024, according to previous reporting by The Bellingham Herald.
The city released a new progress report this month showing promising developments since the August update.
From Sept. 2024 through spring 2025 there were 1,115 call responses by the bike patrol; 26 tons of garbage was removed; 1,332 graffiti tags were removed; and 123 general citations/infractions and 88 drug citations were issued, according to the report.
The number of EMS calls for suspected drug overdoses also has decreased downtown. From Oct. 2023 through March 2024, there was an average of 1.3 overdose calls per day. From Oct. 2024 through March 2025, EMS overdose calls decreased to an average of 0.7 per day.
The executive order’s progress can also be seen as foot traffic downtown has returned to pre-pandemic levels, according to the report:
“Downtown foot traffic was at its highest point in the last five years during summer 2024, with about 65,000 more visits downtown than in the summer of 2019. Part of this recovery is substantial growth in resident foot traffic. In Q3 2019, resident visits made up 4.5% of the total; in Q3 2024 they were more than double that, making up 9.6% of the total. We attribute this to several new housing developments in around the Downtown core, bringing more than 600 new units to this urban center.”
Beyond making downtown seem more welcoming and safe, the Downtown Forward initiative also strives to show that downtown “has active public spaces and thriving arts and culture;” “is a top destination to work, shop, invest and enjoy;” “is walkable, bikeable and resilient;” and “is a desirable, lively and affordable neighborhood to live in,” according to the progress report.
The city is continuing to organize downtown events, work on improving bike lanes and parking and create more housing downtown to make progress on the executive order.
Upcoming projects in the executive order also include the renovation of the central library, an affordable housing development at Flora and Unity and a downtown transportation plan.
