Downtown Fort Worth Inc. (DFWI) has added Downtown Ambassadors to the services provided by the Downtown Public Improvement District (PID).
The Ambassadors will be circulating throughout downtown in their green pick up, on foot, on bicycles, and on Segways assisting visitors, with the aim of creating a friendly and welcoming environment, as well as adding extra eyes and ears on the street.
They’ll be easy to spot, wearing bright green T-shirts.
On Sept. 12, 2017, the Fort Worth City Council unanimously approved a downtown PID assessment rate increase from 10 cents per $100 of value on taxable downtown properties to 12.5 cents to fund the program. DFWI manages the PID and has been working with downtown property owners for nearly a year to develop this new program.
DFWI conducted a national search for service providers, and selected Block by Block to manage the program. Block By Block manages services for 94 districts across the county, including Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, and Uptown Dallas.
“This is a value added service,” said DFWI Chair, Rick Baumeister. “Downtown has new office space coming on line, new residential developments and hotels being added at record pace and more conventioneers than ever before. We have more people in downtown needing assistance. The Ambassadors will do everything from help with a package and give restaurant recommendations to changing a tire and helping get appropriate social services to those in need,”
“This will also be an ‘observe, report and deter’ team,” said Jed Wagenknecht, PID Advisory Committee Chair. “The Ambassadors will provide additional sets of eyes and ears on the street. They will help the police and sheriff’s departments and private security teams by reporting suspicious behavior and they will help discourage bad behavior by their presence.”