The Convention City Dispatch covers Seattle's geographic center — the intersection of Downtown, Capitol Hill, First Hill, and Denny Triangle — with the close attention that place deserves.

The Washington State Convention Center's Arch building anchors this stretch of the city. So does the light rail, the Pike/Pine corridor, and a dense cluster of hotels, hospitals, and civic institutions. The decisions made about this block affect the whole city. Most of the coverage doesn't reflect that.

We're trying to do something different: patient, place-based reporting that shows what's actually happening here, with enough context to make sense of it. Field observations. Civic analysis. Profiles of people doing consequential work in an underreported neighborhood.

The Dispatch is a companion publication to Seattle Commons, a civic proposal for converting the Arch building into a year-round public commons operated by Seattle Center.

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I worked at the Seattle Convention Center in 2023 as an on-call attendant and guest services lead. After leaving, I built Convention City Seattle — digital trail maps for visitors to the Summit.

In February 2026, a Seattle Times article on the convention center's finances sparked an idea. I wrote a LinkedIn post. Then I built a site making the case. The Dispatch followed: a place to publish ongoing reporting while the proposal moves through the civic process.