Downtown ambassadors make an impact

160 warnings delivered to cyclists, skateboaders on sidewalks during two-month pilot project

Three “ambassadors” hired to patrol the downtown in August and September issued more than 160 warnings to cyclists and skateboarders to get off the sidewalks, one official said, making the downtown safer for pedestrians.

Terry Guiel is executive director of the Downtown Business Improvement Area, the organization that ran the pilot project that saw ambassadors from a security company walking the downtown sidewalks for two months.

Guiel said the ambassadors were busy: in addition to warning cyclists and skateboarders to get off the sidewalks, they also administered first aid, picked up a few used syringes in an alley and directed panhandlers to the food bank.

Most of all, Guiel said, the ambassadors gave directions to tourists: “That was probably 90 per cent of what they did,” he said.

Although Guiel called project worthwhile, it’s unclear whether it will be repeated: the DBIA board is expected to discuss it at their meeting in November.

If the program is repeated, Guiel said the ambassadors would probably serve from the beginning of June until the end of September, during weekday business hours – the busiest time, downtown.

When the program was introduced in early August, it was controversial: some citizens saw it as a means to chase marginalized people away from downtown.

But Guiel said that instead, the “good-will ambassadors” spoke to panhandlers and made sure they knew where the shelters, food banks and soup kitchens are located. “It was very positive,” he said. The ambassadors noticed a sharp decline in bikes and skateboards on sidewalks in September, after they issued more than warnings to people in August, he said.

The ambassadors’ daily logbooks show they issued 113 warnings about skateboards and bikes on sidewalks in August; in September, they only had to issue 51 warnings.

Guiel attributes that decrease to the ambassadors – and he thinks it’s a good thing. Bikes and skateboards on sidewalks are treacherous, he said, particularly for older pedestrians.

“It’s quite dangerous – and it shouldn’t be happening,” Guiel said.

Guiel also said the ambassadors carried naloxone – the antidote for opioid overdose – and were trained to use it, although they never had to do so.

On one occasion an ambassador flagged down police, Guiel said, when a person was brandishing scissors downtown in a threatening manner. One ambassador stayed at the scene, he said, while another went to get an officer.

The DBIA paid $15,000 for the two-month program, Guiel said, and he thinks it would cost somewhere around $35,000 or $40,000 to run it from June to September.

Allan Seabrooke, the city CAO, also saw the ambassadors’ logbooks.

He wrote in an email that he thinks the program was effective in helping to get skateboards and bikes off the sidewalks, for example, and that it was good for visitors and shoppers who needed directions to specific places (such as the coach bus terminal or the city’s outdoor patios.)

“I see this as a very positive customer service initiative, and I congratulate the DBIA on the program and its outcomes,” he wrote.