Get ready for peak season with our Spring Cleaning Checklist for improvement districts!

With peak season right around the corner for most downtown districts, spring is the perfect time to tackle those cleaning projects that keep your district from looking its best.

Our Spring Cleaning Checklist is full of ways to dramatically improve the appearance of your district. Download your free copy to learn useful tips and tricks for getting your city in top shape this season.

Simply complete our online form to get your free copy.

The snow is melting and the days are getting longer. That can only mean one thing: my favorite season, baseball season, is right around the corner!

Many of our cities have their own professional baseball teams, from the Class A South Bend Indiana Silver Hawks to the major league Pittsburgh Pirates. While the excitement for a new season is building in each city, these teams know that now is the time to put in the practice and preparation that will lead to a successful season.

The same is true for your downtown Ambassador team. Putting in a little extra work now to get the team in top shape could mean a record-breaking season.

Review Your Stats

Before your team hits the field, managers should take a critical look at their program, evaluating their resources and the strengths and weaknesses of key players. Take time to review your annual statistics in order to identify opportunities and plan new initiatives.

• How did we perform last year?
•  What are our strengths and weaknesses?
• What changes are needed to put a championship team in play for the coming season?

Spring Training

As with almost every team, there comes a time when we need to get back to the basics. For Ambassador teams in downtown improvement districts, that means reviewing fundamental customer service skills and cleaning and safety procedures, and assessing your deployment assignments. Spring is also a great time to perform pre-season equipment maintenance and review your inventory of uniforms and supplies.

•  What skills and procedures need to be reinforced?
• Should training programs or schedules be adjusted?
• Are deployment assignments as efficient and effective as possible?

Opening Day

As opening day approaches, pump up Ambassador training to ensure skills stay fresh. You might even want to kick off the season with a team photo and lunch featuring ballpark favorites.

If you’ve carefully reviewed your stats and worked hard during Spring Training, your Ambassador team will be ready for an exciting season full of activities, events and — most importantly — baseball.

By the way, MLB Opening Day is April 4. Happy baseball season!
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Charlie Stevens serves as Block by Block's Regional Vice President of the Great Lakes Region, based in Cleveland, Ohio.

City Small Businesses Services Commissioner Robert Walsh said the 82nd Street Business Improvement District has a new name and a new sanitation contract as part of the ongoing campaign to turn the organization, and the business strip it serves, around.

To solve the street’s trash and graffiti problems, the board hired Block by Block to remove graffiti and plant and water trees. Walsh said the sanitation workers will have 82nd Street logos and will be a visible presence in the district.

To read more on Block by Block's cleanup of the 82nd Street Business Improvement District, visit the Times Ledger.

The New Orleans Downtown Development District praised the efforts of Block by Block’s Clean Team on their hard work and dedication to the clean-up not just before and after, but during, the 2012 Mardi Gras festivities. DDD President and CEO, Kurt Weigle, stated, “This was our best year yet!”

Since 2007, Block by Block has served the DDD which is responsible for the New Orleans Central Business District. During the Mardi Gras season, Block by Block expands the usual 20-person team to nearly 60 in support of the substantial clean-up efforts.

“Once again, I would like to thank and commend the entire Block by Block team for its hard work. Special kudos to the team leaders for stepping up!  It would not have been as smooth without their effort and the rest of the regular crew,” said Richard McCall, Director of Operations.

See below for photos of Block by Block’s clean-up efforts before, during, and after Mardi Gras events.

In many industries, eight years is just a drop in the bucket of time; but in the improvement district world, eight years is time enough to see a myriad of changes and transformations occur. 

What is so magical about eight years?  Nothing really – except that it’s the amount of time I’ve spent in this industry, which has also proven to be a period of continual change in our nation’s city centers along with the mission of downtown organizations.

So then what’s changed?  While that list is quite lengthy, one that I find particularly of interest is how Block by Block delivers basic services through events.

When I entered the industry as an Operations Manager assigned to the Louisville Downtown Management District, my district and those of my peers at Block By Block were focused primarily on supplementing supporting the mission of our downtown organizations to ensure basic expectations of a safe and clean environment were met. Sure, some downtown organizations had a research staff or advocated for downtown development; but beyond providing personnel for safety and cleaning purposes, most had little to do with event planning or production.

Today, districts of every size are moving beyond creating the great environment and are finding that events are engines that drive community involvement in and visitors to downtown.  Organizations with which I’m involved in my role as a Regional Vice President are taking on an increased role in planning and implementation of highly successful annual, seasonal and weekly events. For example, the farmer’s market produced by the Downtown Community Alliance/Operation Downtown in Des Moines, IA, draws upwards of 30,000 visitors every Saturday morning from late spring through early fall and a mid-week market. Starting just this past summer, it saw several thousand lunch time participants.  During my tenure, I’ve witnessed the farmer’s market concept take flight in our other cities with great success such as Raleigh, NC (Downtown Raleigh Alliance) and Columbia, SC (City Center Partnership). Both of these cities use them to cultivate involvement in downtown and to prime interest in other downtown-centric events and businesses.

Start Small

This brings me to another point that events have helped me recognize, starting small is OK, but the real key is starting.  Raleigh’s initial market started slow, but the seeds were sown; and through commitment and solid leadership, those early efforts have paid off and spawned not only a successful weekly market but other events as well. 

I’ve recognized a large staff isn’t a necessity to pull off a successful event, as many of our cities have found success with volunteer groups and partner organizations that can and will assist. 

Connect Volunteers and Community Groups

In many instances, you may find that others in the community have similar ideas and initiatives. Often they have the energy, expertise, and resources but lack the contacts necessary to make it happen.  Simply helping locate available space and putting the right people in contact with one another is all it may take to see events go from concept to reality and ultimately meet the desired objective – increased awareness of and demand for downtown.

As an operational minded person, I’m always intrigued with not only the events themselves, but how they are produced. Obviously there must be a contingent that is responsible for setting up and dismantling the event venue along with staff that will help in delivering day-of operational support, which usually comes in the form of ongoing cleaning and security.

Utilize Your Ambassador Team

If your organization has a safety or cleaning program, your existing team can usually serve as a contingency of capable personnel that will allow you to ramp up and back down quickly. Most of our partner cities have found that the same staff that provides hospitality, safety and cleaning on a daily basis is more than capable of handling events. This concept is furthered in our programs based on Block by Block’s mantra of hiring for personality and training for skills. 

In planning for events, you should expect a cost to using your existing Ambassador team.  You may have to adjust your coverage expectations on event days as staff are focused on pulling off a successful event; but time and time again, our partners have found that the positive dynamics of a successful event more than offset a couple of extra pieces of litter in the far flung reaches of the district in order to support the event within the existing pool of resources.

I wish you the best as you find your own unique reasons for gathering that will draw folks from near and far to experience the best of what your downtown has to offer!

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James Wells serves as Block by Block’s Regional Vice President of the Midwest Region, based in Louisville, KY. James is a ten year employee of Block by Block after starting his career as the Operations Manager assigned to lead the Louisville Downtown Management District’s Safety and Clean Team in March 2003.

The cleanup of Downtown Bridgeport, CT is off and running with a great day so far!

Shared below are a series of six before-and after-photos that will provide Block by Block's vision of our detailed approach to cleaning that is being implemented today.

Over the course of the last eight years of traveling to districts across the country, I’ve become more mesmerized by the level of negative impact our communities allow to be communicated through visible cleaning issues present in our downtowns. I’m even more engrossed with the messages that are allowed to be communicated by our downtowns.

Identified cleaning issues tell the world vast stories about our American cities – where they are and where they’ve been – but more importantly they tell stories of where they are going. Cleaning issues, such as litter, graffiti, abandoned news racks, and neglected infrastructure are open books that tell the complete stories of cities, leadership of the cities, and where the district is headed.

Savvy developers don’t need to see a Target or a Whole Foods; what they do need to see is a district that seems to have its priorities straight in respect to litter, weeds, graffiti and other details that support a positive district experience.  While your district may have holes in the retail mix and your fair share of creative window coverings to block the pedestrians ability to see the shell of the store from the front window, a clean district will communicate that everyone in your district and city is committed to creating the right environment.

Every district and city is tight on resources; but if you have only one arrow in your quiver today, make graffiti you’re number one target. If you want to run off a qualified developer (yes, some still do have financing!) in a New York minute, leave the graffiti on your public infrastructure. If you want to make sure they write you off for good, make sure your graffiti is allowed to fester on building facades. Nothing screams “buyer beware” more than tagged brick or masonry.

If you’re ready to learn more about how to further prioritize your available resources, we’re always up for a good challenge!

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Blair McBride is the Executive Vice President of Block by Block and has designed safety and cleaning programs for more than 25 BIDs of all sizes across the country. Blair can be reached at bmcbride@blockbyblock.com.