{"id":5061,"date":"2025-02-03T20:29:23","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T20:29:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.blockbyblock.com\/?p=5061"},"modified":"2025-02-03T21:29:15","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T21:29:15","slug":"dcps-ambassador-team-preserves-beauty-of-downtown-wilkes-barre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blockbyblock.com\/news\/dcps-ambassador-team-preserves-beauty-of-downtown-wilkes-barre\/","title":{"rendered":"DCP\u2019s Ambassador Team preserves beauty of Downtown Wilkes-Barre"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article has been shared from: The Times Leader<\/a> | By Sam Zavada | szavada@timesleader.com<\/a><\/p>\n

WILKES BARRE \u2014 The Diamond City Partnership\u2019s Ambassador Team is in place to provide a sense of cleanliness, comfortability and attractiveness to the Downtown Wilkes-Barre Business Improvement District (BID). Dressed in fluorescent orange while roaming the streets \u2014 seven days a week \u2014 the Ambassadors have made themselves known downtown.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re there to really help build a sense of friendliness and vibrance for the community,\u201d said Jeff Mead, the Ambassador Team\u2019s leader and the Diamond City Partnership\u2019s operations manager.<\/p>\n

\"Ambassadors

Ambassadors pressure wash sidewalks in Downtown Wilkes-Barre.<\/p><\/div>\n

Mead\u2019s crew, originally called \u201cthe Clean Team,\u201d is responsible for a number of beautifying tasks, including sticker removal, cleaning up trash and graffiti, installing and maintaining baskets of flowers and shoveling snow. More recently, the team has emphasized community outreach, whether that be helping a person in need find a helpful service or offering a simple greeting as someone arrives at the James F. Conahan Intermodal Transportation Center.<\/p>\n

The team performs its tasks within the BID, a 232-acre stretch of Downtown Wilkes-Barre that includes more than 300 property owners and 4,000 residents. The BID itself is both a collective of property owners and a geographic rectangle, contained by North, River and Academy streets and Pennsylvania Avenue.<\/p>\n

The BID\u2019s borders encompass many of Wilkes-Barre\u2019s most crowded attractions, which also makes it the Wyoming Valley\u2019s most pedestrian-heavy area. Because of this, the work done by the ambassadors is crucial. They tie together what might otherwise devolve into a disjointed experience for those who live, work and visit Downtown Wilkes-Barre.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important that people are able to get around on foot, and that they see that they\u2019re in an environment that\u2019s beautiful,\u201d said Larry Newman, who serves as executive director for both the DCP and the BID. \u201cOne of the purposes of a BID is to allow a group of property owners and business owners \u2014 all of whom are independent \u2014 to work collaboratively together and in concert.\u201d<\/p>\n

Within the BID<\/strong><\/p>\n

The property owners that pay into the BID each bring their own thoughts and concerns to the table. For instance, a resident may have different priorities than a large business. In either case, the paying members of the BID want to see their investment appear in the look and feel of Downtown Wilkes-Barre.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe take very seriously our responsibility to [the BID property owners], to provide them with a return on their investment,\u201d said Newman. \u201cIt\u2019s an investment in creating a downtown with an improved level of economic vitality and an improved level of quality of place.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Newman, much of the work being done by the Ambassador Team is meant to reverse the effects of the so-called \u201cbroken windows theory,\u201d which, in part, suggests that visible signs of decay in an area will breed further decay in that same area.<\/p>\n

Regardless of that specific theory\u2019s viability, the BID\u2019s aesthetic improvements, brought on by the Ambassador Team, are perceived as an upgrade in the area\u2019s general condition.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what this is all about. It\u2019s about tending to the broken windows. It\u2019s about tending to the quality of the place, and raising the level of quality of the place \u2014 systematically, over time, day in and day out \u2014 to create a place where people understand that this is a managed place,\u201d Newman said.<\/p>\n

The Clean Team<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the end of 2024, the DCP shared statistics that show the Ambassador Team\u2019s work is making a difference. In 2024, they were responsible for the following improvements:<\/p>\n