Seeing Downtown Through the Eyes of Austin’s Caretakers
An afternoon with Austin’s Ambassadors
By Benton Graham, Fri., Dec. 27, 2024 | This article was originally shared on The Austin Chronicle
Taylor Sole (left) and Erik Mendoza of the Downtown Austin Alliance (photo by Benton Graham)
When Erik Mendoza visits other cities he has to stop himself from picking up litter off the sidewalks. That’s what happens when you’ve been a Downtown Austin Alliance Ambassador for eight years. “Our motto is, ‘No one walks by litter,’” he said.
In recent years, the folks in red shirts who clean the sidewalks, give directions to tourists, and paint over graffiti have become a staple of Downtown Austin. The DAA, which contracts with a company called Block by Block for the program, launched the program in 2016 and now has around 90 ambassadors.
The Ambassadors fall into different job buckets: hospitality, cleaning, special projects, and power washing. It also has representatives in green shirts at Waterloo Park and Republic Square, a Downtown Safety Team in fluorescent yellow, and one person on South Congress in a blue shirt.
I decided to tag along with Mendoza, an Operations Manager, as well as Taylor Sole, a General Manager, to see what Downtown looks like from Ambassadors’ eyes.
Keep Austin Nice
From Seguin, Ruben Alvarado had been in an Ambassador role as a cleaner for two months when we spoke. When he was in his early 20s, he frequented Downtown Austin. It was a big town, and he loved the music.
One time, he went Downtown to celebrate his cousin’s 21st birthday. At the end of the night, Alvarado recalled that the group was ravenous. They got a pizza … and promptly dropped the pizza on the street. When they woke up in their hotel room the next morning, their stomachs felt off. “What did we eat?” they asked each other. Then, they saw the pizza box covered in dirt and completely empty.
“There’s a lot of work for me to do, but there would be a lot more if people weren’t so polite.”–Downtown Austin Ambassador Ruben Alvarado
Alvarado moved to Austin 10 years ago. The job as an Ambassador has given him a new perspective on Downtown. The bigness of it feels normal now. He’s already seen Josh Brolin trying to secretly leave an event through a back alley. But the smaller side of Austin has been more interesting to him. He’s been surprised by how much residents seem inclined to chat or roll up their sleeves and clean alongside him. “There’s a lot of work for me to do, but there would be a lot more if people weren’t so polite,” he said.
Dream Pants
Sarah Marks also has a deep history with Austin. She was born in the city. In a Downtown where new skyscrapers seem to go up every other week, she said that Waterloo Park is one of the biggest changes that she’s seen. Back in the 1980s and 1990s, she wasn’t a big fan of Downtown, but it’s grown on her – particularly since she became an Ambassador six years ago. Now, if someone visits her from out of town she takes them to the 2nd Street District and then to Waterloo Park.
One of Marks’ favorite things about the park is the Creek Show. Her favorite installation was the Dream Pants from 2022. “They had some that were on bikes, some that were crossing the river, some that were doing a picnic, one reading a book,” she said. “That was pretty cool.”
Bigbellies
Taylor Sole is new to town. When we spoke, he’d been living in Austin for 30 days, but he’s been working with Block by Block for nine years. Like Mendoza, the job has infected the way Sole thinks about cities. “Oh my gosh, I haven’t seen that kind of trash can before,” he’ll catch himself thinking.
Downtown Austin Alliance Ambassadors do a little Abbey Road action (courtesy of Downtown Austin Alliance)
The two main trash cans are Victor Stanley, which has an opening on the top, and Bigbelly, which has a handle and a foot press to open. The Bigbellies are less vulnerable to dumpster diving, but they have a lower capacity, Sole said. Downtown Austin mainly employs trash cans that look like Victor Stanleys.
From the Medical Field to Waterloo Park
Much of VJ Durairaj’s family works in the medical field. His brother is an ophthalmologist, his sister-in-law is in internal medicine, and his father was an orthopedic surgeon in San Antonio. Durairaj has his own medical story too. He was born three months early at 1 pound. He also previously worked as a certified nursing assistant.
But he decided to hang up his nursing career. He has been one of the Ambassadors in a green shirt that takes care of Waterloo Park since January 2021. He said he enjoys talking to people who visit the park. “We just try to clean up the park and clean the restrooms,” he said. “Make it nice for people to come back.”
Above and Beyond
Mendoza takes pride in how the Ambassadors keep Downtown clean. “If you look around, you’d be pretty hard-pressed to find any stickers, posters, except Sixth Street. Sixth Street’s a whole different beast,” Mendoza told me as we stood at the corner of Sixth Street and Congress Avenue – what he calls the mecca of Downtown Austin.
As an Operations Manager, Mendoza’s radio nickname is “Ops-1.” Mind your feet if you hear “foxtrot” over their radios, as that is the code for feces.
After we traced some of the 120 blocks that the Ambassadors cover, my phone calculates that I walked 1.72 miles during our tour, but I feared I was slowing down Mendoza, who often walks 10 miles on the job. “The first month your feet are just tore up, but after that, you just kind of get acclimated to it,” he said.
Born in Chihuahua, Mexico, Mendoza moved to a town in the Texas Panhandle called Dumas and eventually to Austin. He’s now been in the city for 24 years. He has seen many of the different Ambassador roles, including cleaner, safety, and parks.
Mendoza marveled at how the Ambassadors go above and beyond their job descriptions. When Winter Storm Uri blanketed the city in snow and ice, the Ambassadors were given the week off. But Mendoza, along with his manager at the time and a few other Ambassadors, decided to come Downtown anyway. Mendoza didn’t live far, so he borrowed his dad’s truck and made the drive.
With ice picks, hammers, and other landscaping tools, they began to break up the ice that covered the sidewalks. By the end of the day, the group of eight Ambassadors had cleared about 30 blocks, Mendoza estimated. For Mendoza, that day was representative of the spirit of Ambassadors. “Nine times out of 10, if we have the tools to do it, we’re gonna step up.”