WPCNR MAIN STREET JOURNAL. From The Mayor's Office. July 15, 2003: White Plains Mayor Joseph Delfino announced the start of a new program Tuesday which features a corps of uniformed Downtown Street Ambassadors to aid shoppers, residents, and office workers in finding their way around the City’s growing and busy business district.
The program, part of the Mayor’s Phase Three Economic Development Plan, is a unique public/private partnership between the City’s Youth Bureau and Public Safety Department, the Mayor’s Office, the White Plains Downtown Business Improvement District (BID) and Nextel.
"We're experiencing tremendous and rapid growth in our City and we're seeing an increasing number of office workers, students and residents who are new to our City and our downtown. Soon, there will be even more new residents and hotel guests coming into downtown," Mayor Delfino said at a news conference on Mamaroneck Avenue Tuesday announcing the initiative. "In order to make the downtown more accessible to these new visitors, the street ambassadors will be available to give directions, point out shoppin locations for those seeking specific items and provide a comfortaing presence on our downtown streets."
The ambassadors for this pilot program were selected from the Youth Bureau’s Summer Employment Program and received training from the Youth Bureau and the City’s Public Safety Department. In addition, they were given an orientation of the downtown by representatives of the BID. The $8,000 cost for the pilot program is being paid for with $5,000 from Public Safety’s Drug Conviction Asset Forfeiture Fund, and $1,500 each from the Youth Bureau and the BID. In addition, Nextel has donated phones for use by the ambassadors.
The ambassadors will be equipped with lunch guides, maps and lists of stores that are available in the downtown. They have undergone training by the City’s Public Safety Department about what to do and who to contact in case of an emergency. The ambassadors will help keep the downtown streets clean by communicating with the BID when they observe a messy area or problem.
“Most importantly, the ambassadors will put an even friendlier face on our growing downtown for the increasing numbers of new residents, office workers and shoppers,” said Mayor Delfino.
The ambassadors will take the streets beginning Wednesday, July 16th. The program will run through the summer and will be evaluated following that.
