Maintenance Question | newyorkurbancouncil

Question from the Downtown Committee of Syracuse:

The Downtown Committee of Syracuse is looking for examples of innovative downtown maintenance strategies, with a focus on creative partnerships (city-county, public-private), and funding strategies (endowments, voluntary contributions, etc.).

Ithaca Downtown Partnership:

The Downtown Ithaca Alliance has worked with our County Strategic Tourism Planning Board and our CVB to allocate room tax funds from tourism to support our ambassador program (both clean crew and hospitality kiosk). While we always worry about potential cuts, we have been successful in retaining this funding to support downtown ambassadors. - Gary Ferguson, Executive Director

Downtown Auburn BID:

The Downtown Auburn BID contracts with the City to maintain the Downtown area. The BID receives $40,000 per year for this purpose. The BID is responsible for picking up street litter, emptying the 40 or so street trash cans, mowing public areas in the summer, clearing snow from crosswalks in the winter, maintaining a flower program, and a few other items. The City contract helps the BID pay for a full-time maintenance staff person, limited summer help, and a truck. It does NOT cover all of the BID maintenance costs, so the BID must budget accordingly. - Dan Schuster, Executive Director

Corning's Gaffer District:

Our downtown maintenance strategies are developed through our public and private partnerships. We have a Safety & Physical Infrastructure Work Plan Group which meets monthly (or as needed) to provide recommendations on our list of maintenance priorities. The group, which is comprised of public and private sector representatives (BID management representatives, business and property owners, the City of Corning, etc.) has developed a Multi-Year Ancillary Capital Plan. This is the guiding tool for the ongoing maintenance of our parking garage, parking lots, sidewalks, streets, alleys, etc. In addition, we continue to improve our partnerships in specific maintenance areas such as snow removal, sidewalk maintenance, and managing the ripple effect of ongoing economic development within our Business District. - Coleen Fabrizi, Executive Director

Reply

Maintenance (3-9-09)