by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
Even though we’re still in the grip of winter, spring cleaning for Downtown begins today when Downtown Vision, Inc. introduces its new Ambassador program and the power tools that will be used to scour the sidewalks and gutters and blast away graffiti.
In January, DVI’s board of directors made the decision to enter into a contract with Service Group, Inc. to manage cleaning and hospitality services in the 90-square-block Business Improvement District that includes Downtown north and south of the St. Johns River.
Shane Hillard, SGI director of Corporate Support Services, has been in Jacksonville from the company’s home office in Malvern, Pa. to ensure a smooth transition for the relaunch of the Ambassador program.
“We started as a regional cleaning company in 1989,” he said. “When Business Improvement Districts started being established worldwide, we made the decision to specialize in serving those areas.”
The company currently has more than 20 accounts from Los Angeles to New York. It provides personnel, training and equipment to achieve the goals of each city’s urban core stakeholders.
“Every BID is different. They all have their own ideas about how to promote their downtown areas, but the foundation is always cleanliness, hospitality and safety,” said Hillard.
One of the people SGI hired for the Ambassador corps is Gary Butler, the new program manager. He’s a longtime Jacksonville resident who went to work for Southern Bell 35 years ago and retired from the telecommunications industry last December. Butler soon discovered the traditional fishing pole and rocking chair weren’t for him.
“I was at a crossroads in my life,” he said. “I was too young to really retire and too antsy to just sit around the house. I was surfing the employment Web sites and discovered SGI then found out they were starting an operation here in Jacksonville. I decided it was a job that would be a lot of fun.”
One of the elements of the SGI contract is to enhance Downtown’s pedestrian experience through improved cleanliness. The Ambassadors will be using a walk-behind street sweeper and a similar sidewalk scrubber in conjunction with a pressure washer. Stains, spills and graffiti will begin disappearing on a block-by-block basis and after the initial cleanup is complete, service will be provided as needed through routine maintenance and especially when a cleanliness issue is reported to an Ambassador or to DVI’s office.
“We are always looking for ways to improve services and hospitality. The driving force behind bringing in SGI was that Downtown’s needs have increased and we were unable to take on that responsibility due to insurance regulations. We don’t have that issue with SGI,” said DVI Director of Marketing Pamela Elms.
The roster of Ambassadors has also changed with SGI putting six new faces on Downtown’s streets to offer hospitality services to people who live, work and play in the BID. The rookies, all hired locally, attended a curriculum of orientation and training sessions to help them get up to speed on what the area has to offer. Today they will don their khakis and bright orange shirts and hit the streets for the first time.
When asked what makes DVI’s different
from the other 15 programs he has helped get started, Hillard immediately responded, “What’s interesting about Jacksonville is that as big a city as it is, it still has a friendly small-town feel.”
Then he added, “And the pith helmets – this is our only city where the Ambassadors wear pith helmets.”
Part of the transition process has been a series of training classes for six new Downtown Ambassadors, including the day Kimberly Morgan from Visit Jacksonville presented the area’s tourist attractions.
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